Daniel Cormier Thinks He Could Still Keep Light Heavyweight Title If He Loses At UFC 230

Daniel Cormier thinks that he could still keep the UFC light heavyweight title even if he loses to Derrick Lewis.

This is an interesting fight for DC and some could even say that this is the easiest fight of his pro-MMA career. Cormier will defend his heavyweight belt against the hard-hitting veteran in the main event of UFC 230. As of this moment, technically, Cormier is still the current light heavyweight champion.

However, he won’t be for the champion for the division for much longer as the UFC has other plans. Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson meet for the vacant title come UFC 232 later this year. The promotion plans to strip Cormier of the title right before this show.

In the mind of Cormier, he thinks that the reason the UFC is stripping of the belt is due to their belief he has no current plans to defend it. However, if he loses to Lewis then that could all change because he would no longer be the heavyweight champ.

“Because if I lose to Derrick, then who is to say I don’t go, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go defend my light heavyweight title. Now you can’t take it,’” Cormier said to MMAFighting. “Maybe that adds a whole other part to the equation. You can’t take both of my belts if I lost that one. Right? So do I really have that much to lose if I have a second one? Look at it like that.”

Cormier has a certain plan in mind as he wants to beat Lewis then defend the heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar in early 2019.

With him already planning to retire in March, his fight against Lesnar would likely be his final bout. However, those plans could all change if he loses to Lewis.

“I am the light heavyweight champion until those guys fight,” Cormier said of Jones and Gustafsson. “So if the light heavyweight champion loses his heavyweight title and goes, ‘Wait I’m willing to defend my belt,’ now we have some conversations to have.”