Daniel Cormier took Derrick Lewis’s puncher’s chance and reduced it to rubble, completely exposing his larger opponent’s lack of a ground game en route to a second-round submission (rear-naked choke) at UFC 230 at Madison Square Garden.
The UFC keeps lining them up, and "DC" keeps dominating them with top-notch skills and Octagon savvy, with Saturday night’s victory marking his third win of the year. That’s three fights, three finishes in 2018. But the heavyweight and light heavyweight "Double Champ" knows that no matter how much he flexes his greatness, fans and critics will still bring up his loss to Jon Jones.
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After grappling Lewis to a victory, Cormier took the podium in the bowels of MSG and addressed his old nemesis during his post-fight press conference, while also having choice words for Brock Lesnar. Both could be part of Cormier’s ride off into the sunset, or perhaps just one. And if both don’t work out for any reason, Cormier is fine making a rematch with Stipe Miocic his farewell fight, too. Whatever transpires, Cormier seems content with his place in MMA history already cemented.
The recently-announced UFC 235 is two weeks before Cormier’s 40th birthday, and "DC" acknowledged that it could be the site of his final fight.
"Yup, that could be the retirement fight for ol' 'DC,'" Cormier said. "That’s crazy, right, when you start to think about it? Talk about having an opportunity to go out on an all-time high — headlining in Vegas against Brock Lesnar before I turn 40, two weeks before my birthday, having my biggest fight. It’s crazy."
He added: "I think [Lesnar] could test me. Brock is a beast, man. I know I talk a lot of trash about him, but he is a real-life beast. He’s a guy that’s going to really push me, and I’m excited about it. Could you imagine the visual? Me standing across the Octagon from Brock Lesnar. It’s going to be insane!"
While a Lesnar-Cormier fight could generate pay-per-view gold, Cormier knows that a win over Jones is the one thing missing from his MMA resume.
Cormier told reporters during the wee hours of Sunday morning that the only person that he’ll cut weight for, going from heavyweight back down to light heavyweight, is Jones. But he added: "That will only happen if Lesnar isn’t available, and then I get to fight Jones. That’s the only way."
That being said, Cormier also knows that when it comes to Jones, nothing is guaranteed, and that’s largely due to his rival’s own indiscretions.
"Here's the deal when it comes to Jones: It's hard for me to really take anything seriously," Cormier said. "Because you say, ‘I don't want to give you the shot, you don't deserve it, I beat you.' He said he knocked me out, which he did. You guys know I've always said he won the fight. And he once put a video up of a little girl kicking a girl in the head. I said, 'Look, man. She set the kick up perfect. But you were on steroids, dog. You can't use that.’"
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There’s no doubt that Jones possesses the entire MMA package. He is arguably the best talent the sport has ever seen. But it’s also true that the 31-year-old continues to be his own worst enemy outside of the Octagon, with failed drug tests and run-ins with the law attached to his name.
Ahead of his fight with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 on Dec. 29, Jones told reporters Friday that "there’s no reason to grant [Cormier] a fight. He got knocked out the last time we fought."
Jones is referring to the July 2017 KO of Cormier that was later overturned to a no-contest due to yet another failed drug test from Jones. So, to hear Jones say "no reason" irks Cormier enough to the point that he painted a picture of his rival suffering from delusions of grandeur.
"I'm sure USADA said, ‘whatever.’ But you still had steroids in your system," Cormier said. "It does not matter. You can't be on steroids in no way shape or form. That's not fair. So for him to say, 'I don't think he deserves a title shot' or, 'I'm not going to grant him (a title shot),' who are you to grant me anything?"
He added: "I'm the guy who's been here the whole time. Three years, I've been the light-heavyweight champion because this dude can't stay out of trouble. That dude actually got in so much s— that they just said, 'Here, 'DC,' you can just have the belt back' the last time after he knocked me out. Seriously. How crazy must the guy that won be for them to go, 'Hey, man. You can just have this one back.'"
A fight against Lesnar would be the kind of bout made for the Las Vegas Strip, an ideal matchup for Cormier's last hurrah.
A trilogy against Jones would give Cormier the opportunity to sew up his MMA ledger.
Both bouts could happen, perhaps one of the two ... or none.
But whatever happens, Cormier seems content. And perhaps due to the catalog that Cormier has given us, we should be, too.
