Heading into his trilogy fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 252, Daniel Cormier had made it clear that this would almost certainly be the last time he steps foot into the Octagon. Unfortunately for the former double champion, his storybook professional career did not have a fairy tale ending.
The 41-year-old Cormier put up a good fight but ultimately lost via unanimous decision (49-46 x 2, 48-47) in his bid to reclaim the heavyweight title. Disappointed, but not surprised with the final result, Cormier announced his retirement from the sport with little fanfare.
"I'm not interested in fighting for anything but titles," a disappointed Cormier said in his postfight interview. "I don't imagine there's going to be a title in the future, so that will be it for me. I've had a long run. It's been great."
Daniel Cormier didn't have his picturesque ride into the sunset on Saturday night. He won't retire a two-time heavyweight champion, but he'll go down as one of the greatest combat sports athletes of all time.
Cormier's final fight in the UFC wasn't without a bit of controversy though. He took a really bad poke in the eye at the end of the third round that was missed by referee Marc Goddard. Cormier was seen telling his corner that his vision was compromised between rounds, but to Cormier's credit, he pressed on with limited vision.
But even before the eye poke, Cormier faced some adversity early on. He had a solid first round, scoring a takedown and catching Miocic with some hard shots. However, the champion dropped Miocic with a hard right hand in the preceeding round and followed up with a series of punches that almost certainly would've ended the fight if Cormier had not been saved by the horn at the end of the round.
The rest of the fight played out with each fighter having their moments. Most of the action was fought from the clinch with Miocic maintaining dominant control throughout.
It's another heartbreaking trilogy loss for Cormier who finishes his career with a 22-3 record. Besides his back-to-back losses to Miocic, Cormier's only other defeat came at the hands of light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Jones first beat Cormier by unanimous decision in 2015 to claim the light heavyweight belt, but was stripped of it for violating the UFC's Athlete Code of Conduct policy. Cormier beat Anthony Johnson shortly after to claim the vacant title and went on to defend it twice before meeting Jones for a rematch. Jones originally knocked out Cormier in the third round of their rematch but the results were overturned after he tested positive for a steroid metabolite turinabol. Those are the only other blemishes on Cormier's outstanding record.
However, not everyone believes he's done with professional mixed martial arts for good. "He'll say he's not going out like that. That's my prediction," UFC President Dana White said of Cormier.
Should Cormier really retire, he'll likely continue his career in broadcasting. If he returns, he probably won't get a heavyweight title shot for a while as there is a list of worthy contenders behind him, including Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes.