Former UFC two-time middleweight title challenger and current Bellator fighter Chael Sonnen believes Daniel Cormier will likely retire if he loses to Stipe Miocic at UFC 226.
Cormier has options like Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones but those would make more sense if he wins his UFC 226 bout against Miocic.
“I’m not sure we see Daniel Cormier fight again,” Sonnen said on his very own Beyond the Fight podcast. “Interesting plot twist I just threw in there, isn’t it?”
“So, he’s moved up to heavyweight. Let’s say he succeeds and he wins, he would then be the heavyweight champion. I suspect that he would relinquish 205 pounds. So, if he wins and he’s the heavyweight champion, I think that he would stick around and get that other fight in that he’s been talking about he wants, whoever that would be against.”
Sonnen believes Cormier won’t be dropping to light heavyweight again keeping in mind the weight cutting issues he has had in the past. Cormier himself admitted that he feels rejuvenated as a heavyweight and is undefeated as a heavyweight.
Another reason according to Sonnen is that there are no exciting fights for Cormier to take at light heavyweight especially with arch rival Jones getting a four year ban.
“(There are) not a lot of compelling fights for him at 205 pounds,” Sonnen said. “That could change overnight with the insertion of Jon Jones, but I don’t think Jon’s gonna be back until next summer. That’s a year away.”
“To get to 205 pounds, you had to live a lifestyle with that goal in mind, and you gotta take your eye off the ball for seven months and go up to heavyweight, I don’t know about returning to 205. And I don’t know what the motivation would be.”
Read also:
UFC: Daniel Cormier wants to fight Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar before retirement
UFC: Daniel Cormier says that Stipe Miocic is the biggest challenge of his career
SHARE
