Seeing the jovial Daniel Cormier with his constant smile and friendly disposition has made many forget what a beast ‘DC’ was in his fighting days. One of the greatest ever to do it, the Olympian wrestler is in the conversation for the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time. But as we all know, there is another man who is widely considered the greatest heavyweight of all time. And it’s none other than the UFC’s former firefighter juggernaut, Stipe Miocic.
And one of the main reasons the Cleveland native is considered the greatest 265-pounder of all time is that he beat Cormier twice. Those two fights, of course, were Cormier’s last fights in the UFC before he called it quits in 2020 and became a full-time broadcaster and commentator. And speaking about how fighters should approach their retirement, the Louisiana native admitted to one (or rather two) big regrets about how he hung it up.
“Your mind will actually tell you. You know when it’s time. Not everybody gets what Khabib got. He and GSP got to leave on top. Not everybody gets that. Listen to what’s available—the signs, everything that’s pinging at your mind. When you don’t love to train anymore, you’re probably done. When you don’t love the competition or look forward to it anymore, you’re probably done,” ‘DC’ told Wendy Fortino in a recent interview.
“Honestly, I didn’t need to fight that last fight against Stipe. We did a training camp in my garage. The last two, I didn’t need to, but I just wanted to fight, and I wasn’t ready to. That was way too much money at the time, the money got way too good. But we did a training camp in my garage because they shut down AKA. I should have recognized it then, and listened to everything,” he added.
DC talks about the perfect time to retire from the sportand reveals he shouldn’t have taken those last two fights against Stipe
“Your mind will actually tell you. You know when it’s time. Not everybody gets what Khabib got. He and GSP got to leave on top. Not everybody gets… pic.twitter.com/YXO8PGZFBF
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) May 2, 2025
Indeed, fighters sticking around too long is a real problem in MMA. Often, fighting is the only way a fighter can earn a paycheck. And the money in MMA isn’t exactly like it is in the NBA or NFL, where playing even a couple of seasons could see you set for life financially. So, most fighters do fear retirement and how they will earn a living after that.
Moreover, long before that trilogy bout with Miocic, DC had promised that he would not compete beyond 40 years of age, no matter what. Considering he had a back surgery after defending the heavyweight strap at UFC 230 against Derrick Lewis. Even Javier Mendez, DC’s longtime coach at American Kickboxing Academy, admitted that Cormier was never the same after his back surgery.
“Well, you know, being that we’ve been in touch with DC, we’ve seen him, monitoring his progress and his decline a little bit. One hundred percent after the (back) surgery, he was never the same. Surgery and age. In all fairness, we still felt he was good enough to maintain that (UFC heavyweight) title. We still felt he could have still kept that title, but we knew he slowed down. One hundred percent; we knew he wasn’t the same.” And that is why ‘DC’ feels that fighters should be proactive about their retirement.
Daniel Cormier wants fighters to establish an alternate source of income before retiring
“And for all the young fighters– start to look down the line a little bit. There’s nothing wrong with looking at what’s next when the career is over. I was able to do that, and I’m lucky I did because look at my life today,” the former champ added.
‘DC’, of course, had already started his broadcast career with ESPN before his retirement. And the former concurrent UFC double champ wants all fighters to seriously think about and preferably establish an alternate source of income so they are set financially after retirement. And while Cormier lost those two fights to Miocic and somewhat regrets taking them, he did not go out with a whimper as fighters who are over the hill do.
Cormier fought Miocic thrice throughout his career. While he managed to win the first via a first-round knockout at UFC 226, he was stopped by Miocic in the fourth round of their second clash at UFC 241 despite ‘DC’ dominating the initial rounds. While their final fight at UFC 252 went the distance and was pretty close, Miocic again won a unanimous decision, meaning Cormier went out on a two-fight losing streak.
But even as a 40-year-old, he was able to give hell to the man considered the greatest heavyweight ever. So while ‘DC’ may regret, he has nothing to be ashamed of in his last two fights. What do you think about Daniel Cormier’s thoughts on his retirement?
The post Daniel Cormier Has Only One Regret From His Decision to Retire From MMA – “I Didn’t Need to Fight” appeared first on EssentiallySports.
