Cormier: If Lesnar doesn’t fight, Miocic rematch has to be first

Bloodyelbow.com

Shortly after Daniel Cormier beat Stipe Miocic to take the heavyweight title and become a two-division champ, Brock Lesnar stepped into the cage and built up a future match between the two.

The plan was to have Cormier and Lesnar fight early in 2019, but nothing is set in stone just yet. Dana White states that it could still happen, but they won’t be waiting on the WWE star.

“He’s not out of the picture.” White said about Lesnar after UFC 232. “I think he’s already under contract with me. So we were talking about it and then he ended up signing a new deal with WWE… This is here no matter what. When he’s ready, he can come in here and fight and he’s going to make a s—t load of money here, too. So it makes sense.

“One of the things you guys know about me, I don’t wait for anybody. I’m not f—king waiting around for anybody,” he said. “I’m rolling with the business. Guy doesn’t want to fight this year? It’s all good. It doesn’t matter how big you are, what your deal is, you don’t want to fight, do your thing. When you’re ready to fight, you come back and you talk to me and we’ll figure something out.”

Cormier has since addressed the topic as well, saying that the Lesnar bout is “kinda still up in the air,” but if that doesn’t pan out, he’ll gladly give Miocic the rematch he deserves.

“If he doesn’t fight, then I’ll fight Stipe Miocic,” Cormier said on the MMA Hour. “I talked to the boss (Dana White) the other day and he’s talking to me about fights and Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones and everybody, and I said, ‘If Lesnar doesn’t go, Stipe has to be first. He deserves it, and I’ve said it from the beginning. If it ain’t Brock, I want to fight Stipe Miocic and give him what’s rightfully his, a rematch for this title.’ He’s going to get beat again, but at least he’ll get a chance to fight for that belt again.”

The two division champion has long stated that he will retire before his 40th birthday, but even those plans don’t seem set.

“I’ve had some things injury-wise that are really kinda holding me back right now,” Cormier explained. “I would prefer to be getting ready to train right now and fight, but there are a couple things that have happened that I can’t really get going like I want to.

“I became the heavyweight champion a few months ago, it’s not like I’m slowing down,” he said. “So we’ll see what it is. I really do still intend to be done with this thing really soon. It’s just a personal decision that I made with my family, and we’ll see what happens.”