Daniel Cormier Has Made Peace With Idea Retirement Fight May Be In Empty Arena

daniel cormier ufc 200

Daniel Cormier wants one last fight with current heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic before retiring, and he’s willing to have his swan song be held in an empty arena if that’s what it takes.

“It’s going to end that way,” Cormier told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. “Empty arena and if it’s at the (UFC) Apex, I think the cage is smaller. It’s like the Ultimate Fighter cage, so that’s a whole other fight. It’s a smaller cage than the one we fight in for pay-per-views. But yeah, I’ll go fight this guy in the empty arena. I want to fight him.

“Yeah, you know, it could end like that or it could end like Vince Carter. Vince actually got lucky that they got to finish their game. Vince got to finish their game and everybody kind of moved off the side and he shot a three-pointer.

“You can not have a chance to finish, so at least I get an opportunity to finish.”

Cormier and Miocic have already fought twice before. DC seized the bull by the horns in their first encounter in 2018, KO’ing Miocic late in the opening round, but two years later Miocic returned the favor by TKO’ing him in the fourth to reclaim the belt.

That set up a trilogy fight that everyone wants to see, but potentially no-one will actually be able to witness live and in-person if it takes place in the coming months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ross Cole
Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.