Could Stipe Miocic be stripped of the UFC Heavyweight title?
Back in August 2019, the 37-year-old reclaimed his top spot in the heavyweight division by beating Daniel Cormier to capture the UFC Heavyweight title for the second time in his career; however, Miocic was forced to get retina surgery due to suffering the injury during his fight against DC.
Earlier this year, Miocic was cleared to get back into the octagon and Cormier was hoping to fight again in August, but the UFC Heavyweight Champion didn’t seem to be in a rush by saying, "There’s bigger things going on in the world right now, fighting will be there forever."
Well, that phrase didn’t sit well with the UFC President despite the fact Miocic has stated that he hasn’t had a chance to train for a fight against Cormier due to his gym being closed down, and White made it clear that he wants the 235-pound champion to lace up the gloves sometime soon:
“I saw a quote from Stipe recently where Stipe said, ‘There’s bigger things going on in the world right now, fighting will be there forever.’ – it’s not true,” White told UFC Unfiltered this week. “Fighting will not be here forever. When you’re a professional athlete, your window of opportunity is very small. So, hopefully we can get Stipe back in there soon with Cormier and get the heavyweight division rolling.”
When questioned whether Miocic could be stripped of the prestigious championship, White responded with “possibly”; however, he doesn’t out right give Miocic an ultimatum to fight around a certain date.
The UFC Heavyweight Champion caught wind of Dana White’s comments and responded by saying that he’s not ducking Cormier and that his current situation is out of his control:
As of this writing, Cormier hasn’t responded to the latest comments by White or Miocic.