Cormier Believes Second Win over Miocic Will Cement Him as Greatest Heavyweight of All Time

Daniel Cormier is preparing to defend his heavyweight title for possibly the last time when he takes on Stipe Miocic in a rematch at UFC 241 next month and believes another win over the former champion should leave no doubt that he is the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time.

Cormier holds a flawless record at heavyweight in his professional career capturing both the Strikeforce and Ultimate Fighting Championship belts and has wins over the likes of Josh Barnett, Frank Mir and Miocic. The only losses in Cormier’s career have been against Jon Jones at light heavyweight with the result of their second fight -- originally a KO by Jones -- overturned to a no-contest after Jones tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

Prior to their first meeting, Miocic was considered by some as the greatest heavyweight of all time as the only fighter in UFC history to successfully defend the heavyweight belt on three occasions. When the pair met at UFC 226 back in July 2018, “DC” captured the heavyweight belt by knocking out Miocic in the first round.

The 40-year-old said in a recent ESPN interview that he believes it will be impossible to better that performance in 2018 against Miocic but is still confident he’ll get the job done and cement his legacy as the greatest heavyweight in MMA history:

“I can’t do this better than I did the first time,” Cormier said. “I’m not gonna knock Stipe Miocic out in four minutes. He’s got a great coach, and he’s a good fighter that’s gonna make adjustments to not get put to sleep. But that does not mean he’s gonna win the fight. I’m gonna win the fight. And I get to go out there and defeat the guy that people thought is the best of all time again.”

“So when you start to change the mentality, change the approach, change what the goals are, it starts to make sense. Because the more I do in this division, the more it cements a legacy in this division. Because after this, beating the guy that supposed to be the greatest of all time twice and never losing in this division ever, they gotta start to put me atop those leaderboards of the greatest heavyweight of all time.”