Nothing of late seems to suggest that current UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will postpone his retirement beyond his 40th birthday. Former heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic is perfectly okay with that, as long as he gets a title rematch before Cormier "blows the candles out on that cake."
Miocic lost the heavyweight title to Daniel Cormier back at UFC 226 last July via a first-round knockout. Cormier has since gone on to defend the belt against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 in November. Estimating he has one or two more fights left before retirement, Cormier has campaigned to fight Brock Lesnar and there's chatter about a possible rematch with longtime rival Jon Jones.
Of course, nothing is official yet and Stipe Miocic is using this period of uncertainty to throw his hat into the ring. On Monday, Miocic tweeted to Daniel Cormier that he wants a rematch before the soon-to-be 40-year-old retires in March.
From a competitive standpoint, an argument could be made that Miocic should get another shot at Cormier. From a financial standpoint, Cormier is better off going up against Brock Lesnar. The heavyweight champion admitted as much back in August when he said he'd be willing to face Miocic for a rematch if plans with Lesnar never come to fruition.
“[Miocic] should [get a rematch], but he went three [defenses]. Three is a lot different than 11,” Cormier said at the time. “And also, if Brock Lesnar was staring at Stipe, that would happen, but I’ll tell you this right now, I’ll tell you this on record: If Brock Lesnar doesn’t make it to the fight for any reason, I’ll fight Stipe again. That is not a problem. "
“There is no reason I wouldn’t fight Stipe. I’m only fighting Brock because I’m fighting Brock. But if he doesn’t make it, I’ll fight Stipe again. There you go.”