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Daniel Cormier left the sport of MMA back in 2020, with his last UFC contest against Stipe Miocic ending in defeat. Cormier recently opened up about his retirement decision, and hinted that he should have left the sport much sooner.
While speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Cormier stated that he should have left professional MMA in 2018 with the former UFC champion having major injuries and surgeries in the latter stages of his career:
Me fighting Stipe Miocic after my back surgery those two times, that wasn’t the same fight. I couldn’t wrestle. I should’ve stopped in 2018. I should’ve retired after Derrick Lewis, especially when I had back surgery.
Watch the full interview here:
Daniel Cormier had a poor ending to his MMA career, with the former heavyweight champion losing back-to-back fights at the tailend of his career. Stipe Miocic beat 'DC' twice, first stopping Cormier in the fourth-round at UFC 241, with the 43-year-old losing his final fight via decision.
'DC' stated that he should have retired after beating Derrick Lewis at UFC 230. Cormier defeated 'The Black Beast' via submission in the second-round, retaining his UFC heavyweight title.
Watch Cormier in action here:
What was Daniel Cormier's overall UFC record?
Despite Daniel Cormier being a household name and former champion in the UFC, the 43-year-old only fought 15-times under the UFC banner. During his time in the organization, Cormier managed to win 11 fights, losing three outings.
'DC' also had one no-contest on his UFC record, with his bout against Jon Jones being highly-confidential. Jones was found to have used a banned substance and failed a drug test. This meant the contest had to be deemed a no-contest despite Cormier losing the inital bout.
Jon Jones defeated Cormier back in 2015, with the light-heavyweight king getting the better of 'DC' via the judges' scorecards. All three judges scored the contest 49-46 in favor of Jones after five rounds of fighting, with 'Bones' dominant on the ground for large portions of the fight.
Jones also outstriked his opponent, with 'DC' only landing 58 significant strikes throughout the bout. The former light-heavyweight champion landed 92 significant strikes.
