Fight with Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 another chance to chase history for Daniel Cormier

LAS VEGAS – Daniel Cormier wants to be part of MMA history in a big way. For a lot of reasons, he already is. But he believes his next fight could solidify things.

Cormier (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, will try to make history when he fights heavyewight champ Stipe Miocic (18-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in the UFC 226 main event in July. A win would give Cormier two belts, making him only the second to hold concurrent titles in UFC history.

Before he and Miocic battle in a legit superfight in Las Vegas, they’ll coach opposite each other on the 27th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

“You know what I chase,” Cormier said Friday at a media day in support of “TUF,” as well as the fight. “I want to be remembered. When I’m done, I want people to remember the things that I did in this sport.

“… Doing ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ is part of the necessary buildup. I’m excited about it. It’s just a way for me and Stipe to compete before we compete. I love it.”

A win over Miocic would lock that in, without question. Cormier even said again it would have him talked about as one of the greatest fighter in history.

And he believes he already is right there.

“I’m in the conversation,” Cormier said. “I’m in the conversation for the greatest fighter ever. I think that I should be talked about as one of the best fighters, regardless, because of what I’ve done in this sport in such a short period of time. But yeah, I believe that when you stack Stipe Miocic on top of (other big names I’ve beaten), then it starts to become a conversation, a real conversation as to when I do go in history.”

UFC 226 takes place July 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims expected for FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. Cormier and Miocic will headline the show, but there are two other champ-vs.-champ superfights being talked about for the card, as well: flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson vs. bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw, and women’s featherweight champ Cyborg Santos vs. women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes – though those two fights are still just in the talking stage.

Cormier plans on hanging up his gloves when he turns 40, which will happen in March 2019 a little more than a year from now. He wanted to fight as much as he could before then. And he still plans on fighting again after the Miocic fight.

Could one of those fights be a third against his arch-rival, Jon Jones? Jones is waiting for a potential suspension from a USADA violation. He may wind up being out longer than what would make another fight with Cormier possible.

But if Cormier became the heavyweight champion, and Jones was available to move up to heavyweight, something he has talked about for years … well …

“All I want to do is fight, and all I want to do is fight him,” Cormier said. “If you guys think for a second that (UFC President) Dana (White) goes, ‘OK, you’re going to fight Jones,’ and that I wouldn’t be ecstatic, that’s crazy. But again, that would take a lot of trust in a guy that we really haven’t been able to trust.”

Before that, though, Cormier first has a date with history and Cormier, not trying to beat the man who’s beaten him twice (though the second was wiped from their records after Jones’ positive drug test).

Once again, the UFC has put him in position to be in one of the biggest fights its ever done, like he’s had in front of him before. But a loss, like the Jones fights, would haunt him, Cormier said.

“I know that if I (lose), I know that I’ll have nightmares for the rest of my life just as I do with all those other things,” he said. “I do believe that this will be very satisfying. But all the losses, they don’t go anywhere. So this will not replace it. This won’t make me feel better about all the other things.”

For more on UFC 226, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.