Daniel Cormier Thinks Stipe Miocic Trilogy Could Take A While To Make
If you’re waiting on the trilogy bout between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title, you could be waiting for quite a while.
While UFC president Dana White has suggested both men have agreed to the trilogy, Cormier himself says, given how the UFC’s 2020 schedule is stacking up, the fight could be pushed back until June.
“There’s no time for us to fight until maybe June,” Cormier told MMA Junkie. “The way the UFC quarterly schedule is looking, the UFC essentially, with them announcing Tony (Ferguson) and Khabib (Nurmagomedov) for April, there’s really no time. We’re going to be waiting a little bit.
Cormier would prefer for the fight to happen sooner rather than later, however, he acknowledges that the ball is in Miocic’s court, as he is the champion, and the champ makes the rules.
“It’s tricky,” Cormier said. “I would like it to happen sooner than later, that’s all I would like to say. I feel like the more time I get away from last year’s back surgery, the better I feel, and I’m starting to really feel like myself now. The further I get away from this surgery, the better I’ll be.
“They told me when I did it, after about a year is when it would really start to feel everything was back in order and I’m starting to feel that now. I’m ready to go, but he’s the champ. He’s the champ, he makes the rules. So I’m on standby and I’m waiting to see when this guy says that we’re going to fight.
“When he does, I’ll be prepared. I’ll be ready – even more prepared than the last time because I feel I can prepare better from the very start right now.”
“DC” and Miocic have met twice before. Cormier won the first meeting in the summer of last year, getting the first-round knockout to capture the heavyweight throne. However, this past August, Miocic took the title back with a late finish over “DC,” becoming just the second-ever fighter to do so. Cormier believes himself and Miocic have built up quite the rivalry.
“I think Stipe and I have a fantastic rivalry,” Cormier said. “I won the first fight in tremendous fashion, he won the second fight in tremendous fashion. I feel like we’ve had the first two acts of a three-act drama and we have to do the trilogy fight and eventually we’re going to do that.”
What do you think about Cormier’s comments suggesting a trilogy fight with Miocic could take a while to book?
