Following the recent news that Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson are going to fight for the UFC’s light-heavyweight title on December 29th, a lot of folks closed the book on Daniel Cormier facing “Bones” for a third time. But, recently “DC” reported he’s still eyeing the possibility of fighting his rival one more time.
Cormier has repeatedly said that he intends to retire next March, when he turns 40. So, after Cormier took out Stipe Miocic this past July to secure the heavyweight title, and following the revelation Brock Lesnar would receive a title shot, many concluded “DC” wouldn’t fight at 205 again. After all, Lesnar will not be eligible to fight until early 2019.
But, more recently, it was announced that Cormier’s going to fight Derrick Lewis at UFC 230, November 3rd, and that Jones – Gustafsson will go down at UFC 232. These bookings only bolstered the opinion that Cormier – Jones III won’t happen.
Well, recently the champ-champ spoke with ESPN, and Cormier revealed he’s not necessarily committed to fighting Lesnar after all (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“Counting the Lewis fight, I think I’m down to two fights left,” Cormier said. “Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise, the fact that I don’t have a crazy, long fight camp to beat myself down. That may prolong it for me, but right now, I think I have this one and maybe one more. I can still fight in March and hit my retirement date. The one opponent that would matter to me most is Jones, because he’s beaten me twice.”
“The one that would mean more financially would be Lesnar. I think I would always pick the one that means more, but my wife might have something to say about that.”
So this is pretty interesting to hear, as not that long ago, Cormier talked about the fact he has a fight, and that it’s against Lesnar. But, it would seem like the UFC 230 booking has changed his mindset here.
Now, what would the UFC prefer? While Cormier – Lesnar would very likely generate more PPV buys than Cormier – Jones III, it might not sell that many more, particularly if Jones scores an impressive, win over Gustafsson in December. You would think that if Cormier beats Lewis, and if Jones gets by “The Mauler”, than there would be a lot of buzz for the rivals to fight again.
But, lets say all that happened, and the UFC agreed to move forward with Cormier – Jones III, who would fight for the vacated heavyweight belt? Lesnar and Miocic?