Daniel Cormier concedes Stipe Miocic deserved judges’ decision in trilogy fight

Daniel Cormier believes Stipe Miocic deserved the judges’ decision in their UFC 252 trilogy fight for the promotion’s heavyweight championship.

On the latest episode of DC and Helwani on ESPN, Cormier opened up on his loss to Miocic—the final fight of his career—for the first time.

Ever the picture of class, the former heavyweight champion conceded that his rival did enough to warrant a decision win.

 

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DC believes Stipe was the rightful winner of their trilogy fight 🏆 (via @dc_mma)

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“I thought he won the fight,” Cormier said. “He did a good job and deserved to get his hand raised on that night. He won the fight.”

Speaking on the same episode of DC and Helwani, Cormier opened up on his decision to hang up the gloves after his loss to Miocic.

“I’m not going to fight anymore,” Cormier explained. I was talking to Joe Rogan after the fight, and I told him my interest is fighting for championships, and I can’t imagine with a loss that I’d be fighting for a belt again. I lost two fights in a row for the first time in my career. You’ve got to understand when it’s time, and the reality is part of the reason I got hit with that right hand by Stipe is because I’m older. You can’t fight father time.”

“At 41 years old, I fought the heavyweight champion of the world three rounds to two with the idea that I wanted to win,” Cormier added. “I didn’t go in there trying to give a good account of myself. I wanted to win the fight and I still believe I can beat Stipe Miocic. But every day that passes, it doesn’t work in my favor.”

How did you score the trilogy fight between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic?