The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
White pressuring Miocic to fight Cormier by August
UFC president: Other fighters found a way to train and are waiting for shot at title
UFC President Dana White is threatening to strip reigning heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic of his belt if Miocic doesn’t get moving to defend his title in a third matchup with Daniel Cormier.
Cormier took the belt from Miocic in July 2018, then Miocic took it back on Aug. 17, 2019, when the Eastlake North High School graduate pummeled Cormier with vicious body blows to win by technical knockout in the fourth round.
A third fight between the two brawlers has been brewing since Miocic regained the championship. White, after successfully staging UFC 249 in Jacksonville on May 9, albeit without fans in attendance because of the novel coronavirus, wants to see them fight before September rolls around.
“This whole crew (fighting at UFC 249) trained. We have two more groups of fighters coming in this week that trained and got ready,” White told reporters covering UFC 249. “The division has to move on for all the other people. We want to do that trilogy fight, and then you got the winner of Francis (Ngannou) and (Jairzinho) Rozenstruik waiting in the wings, too. People are waiting. It’s the right thing to do.”
Miocic has said he will defend his title against Cormier at some point, but three things are holding him back currently: He is a first responder as a Cleveland firefighter during the COVID-19 crisis, he has no place to train because Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has closed all gyms because of COVID-19, and he is still recovering from surgery to repair a torn retina when Cormier poked him in the eye in their match nine months ago.
Miocic responded on Twitter on May 11: “I’ve already said I’m going to fight DC. He just likes to make noise. My team is working on securing a training location and dates w UFC. I have five belts at home. I don’t need to sit on anything. If I didn’t have a torn retina, I would’ve already fought & retired .”
Miocic was also interviewed by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto before UFC 249.
“I have no cage,” Miocic told Okamoto. “I have no (sparring partner). I have nothing. I need a full camp. I need to get back in the swing of things before I get into a full camp. I’m so used to training all the time. Now you can’t do anything. Stay at home. There’s no place for me to train. I literally can’t train. How am I going to take a fight?”
Cormier, who made Miocic wait 13 months for the first rematch, is trying nudge Miocic closer to the octagon. Miocic said similar things when he was the one wanting a rematch after losing to Cormier 22
months ago.
Cormier, 41, said he will fight top contender Ngannou if Miocic has to give up his belt.
“I would love to do my trilogy fight with Stipe Miocic,” Cormier told reporters at UFC 249. “But if Stipe won’t fight, they’re going to take his belt just like Henry (Cejudo) just gave up his and they’re going to make a fight between Francis and I for the belt. It’s simple as that. You’ve got to fight as the champ.”
Miocic, 37, will not be goaded into another rematch by White, Cormier or anyone else before he is ready to fight.
“I’ve worked hard to get where I’m at,” Miocic said in the Okamoto interview. “I’m not going to put half my effort into it just because (Cormier) wants to fight me in August.
“Listen, I’ll fight him. I’ve never said I’m ducking him or trying to fight someone else. Let me get a full camp in. When we get to that point, I’ll talk about it. Right now, I’m just waiting for my gym to open so I can train again. It’s completely out of my hands. It’s not going to be August, I can tell you that.”
But White apparently has not been following DeWine’s daily 2 p.m. news conferences.
“I think it speaks for itself,” White said. “It is what it is. Most of these states are opening back up. Even Nevada. Nevada, California and New York, as far as I know, have been like the toughest states, and they’re starting to loosen up and open up. We should be able to get a fight by August.”
Miocic has not fought since knocking out Cormier.