Daniel Cormier Gets Desperate
Or man, that's an underhanded and shitty way to try and get what you want.
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Today’s post looks at a rare misstep from former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier.
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Daniel Cormier made a rare misstep on Monday when the former two-division UFC champion appeared on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show. It seems as if Cormier is getting a bit frustrated waiting for current UFC heavyweight kingpin Stipe Miocic to agree to a trilogy fight. Not to be too blunt in replying to Cormier, who is usually superb at reading the room, but too bad.
Some would say that Miocic suffered an eye injury during his August matchup with Cormier, and I guess that would be true if you completely ignore that the damage was caused by Cormier poking his opponent in the eye during that fight.
Miocic's agent, Jim Walter, released a statement to ESPN in September that read, "Mr. Miocic sustained a major retina injury from multiple eye pokes during his bout at UFC 241. Our client's health and safety is our top priority. We are excited for him to return to action when he is healthy to compete in his seventh consecutive world title fight."
Miocic won that fight by knockout in the fourth round. That win returned the title to Miocic after Cormier knocked him out in the first round of their July 2018 scrap.
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Last week, Miocic spoke to reporters after being named Pro Athlete of the Year at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. He addressed his eye injury at that time.
"I just got cleared, so take my time getting back in the swing of things. We'll figure it out. We'll see what happens," the champ said.
The most important thing for Miocic is his future.
"I want to be able to see out of both eyes when I get older, so that's all I really care about right now. I love fighting, but my health's more important," said Miocic.
That is an entirely reasonable stance from Miocic. The UFC provides some insurance when a fighter is under contract. Still, when that fighter leaves the organization, even under the best of relationships, they receive no pension and no ongoing medical care. Most fighters are lucky to get a handshake and an offer of good luck on their way out the door, well, unless they play the good dog during their careers and do whatever the UFC asks of them. In that case, they might get a job commentating. To his credit, Miocic has not been one to sit on command and wait for the half-chewed scraps that slide down the chest of the UFC's corpulent boss while he gorges himself on the blood of the UFC roster.
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Cormier, who let's not forget caused Miocic's injury, doesn't seem all that interested in considering that Miocic is putting his health and his future before fighting. In fact, Cormier, who has landed one of those cushy commentary jobs with the UFC, seems to be trying to get UFC president Dana White to maybe strip Miocic of the title or at the very least, plant the seed for (sigh) another interim title.
"I have faith in Dana White," Cormier told Helwani. "I have faith in all the things him and I have spoken about in regards to the fight. If (Miocic) doesn't (fight), we'll see what happens. We'll see if there's an opportunity for an interim championship or maybe he would strip him of the title. He's a guy that's won one fight in two years. Over the course of those two years he will have fought twice, so it's not like he's the most active fighter."
That my friends (we are friends right, I'm not being too presumptuous am I?), is a shitty and underhanded thing to do.
I understand Cormier wants another shot at Miocic, but to exploit a cozy relationship with the UFC brass to get his wish seems out of step with the way Cormier usually presents himself. It's underhanded and gross and to be honest, a bit desperate, but that's not to say it won't work. After all, White and the UFC once threatened to shutter an entire division if that division's champion didn't play ball and give into the UFC's demands to fight someone who had never competed in that division before.
