Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Daniel Cormier has made no secret that he intends to hang up his gloves by the end of March, before his 40th birthday.
With just over two months to go before that date, fans are eager to see what fights are left for the former dual divisional champ with UFC President Dana White stating that he hopes Cormier reconsiders his decision as there a number of very interesting potential fights in the future for Cormier.
Cormier is currently eyeing a huge payday heavyweight bout against World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Brock Lesnar and has stated if that fight doesn’t go ahead, he wants a rematch against former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, whom Cormier knocked out in 2018 to claim the belt.
“DC” is adamant he is a man of his word and will retire in March. He recently appeared on the “Jim Rome Podcast” and revealed what he’ll miss the most when he finally does retire (transcribed by MMA News):
“The walk, the tunnel. It is just fantastic,” Cormier said. “You walk out of that locker room and it’s almost like you’re about to head to a funeral. Everybody is worried and nervous and then the music hits the speakers and all that fear turns into butterflies and your skin starts to crawl and you’re like OK let’s go. Let’s go do what I really know I was made to do.
“You get to compete again, Daniel Cormier, so go out there and do it in a way that you know you can do it,” Cormier added. “Go and fight this man. Go and try to take this guy that’s trained and been living in the gym for the past eight weeks to prepare to try and beat you and take this title, you go out there and you give him no reason to believe he could ever be the champion. That just makes me shoot out of that tunnel. That’s why I run. I have a fire in my pants that tells me I need to go and do business. I’m going to miss the walk.
“I’m going to miss stepping into the Octagon,” he continued. “I’m going to miss that moment that it’s me in there and it’s [Bruce] Buffer and it’s my opponent and the referee and the commission and then I take three steps back after we shake hands and I look across and I look to my left and I look to my right and nobody else is there anymore. It’s just me, that official and that guy.
“From day one to now, every time they put that pin in the cage. 18,000, 20,000, 13,000 [people in attendance], I’ve heard it,” Cormier concluded. “I heard that little ping. I’ve heard that ping of that little pin dropping into that holster. I’ll miss hearing that and then the feeling that you get when you know that at this point it’s either you or him. That’s what I’m going to miss.”