Daniel Cormier says he should’ve retired after beating Derrick Lewis and having back surgery: “It was over”

Daniel Cormier believes he should’ve ended his career after UFC 230.

In the main event of the pay-per-view card, Cormier defended his heavyweight title for the first and only time as he submitted Derrick Lewis. However, after the event, “DC” was forced to have a back surgery but decided to fight two more times against Stipe Miocic and lost both.

Now, reflecting back on 2020, Cormier admits he should have never fought Miocic at UFC 241 or 252.

“When I had that back surgery in 2018 after Derrick Lewis it was over. It was over. Like I mean, it was absolutely, it was over. I fought twice since and I possibly should not have. You can find those things in hindsight. But, when I had that back surgery it so severely limited what I could do that it was pretty much over. I wasn’t the same guy. I trained hard last fight and Stipe beat me,” Cormier said on DC & Helwani. “But, I just wasn’t the same guy no more after the back surgery. I should’ve probably stopped, I should’ve probably stopped. I wasn’t the same guy, I couldn’t train as I trained before and that is about as honest as I could be with everyone.”

Although Daniel Cormier will go down as one of the best ever, he knows if he had retired following the back surgery, he could be the GOAT.

“I think you can’t live with regret. Living with regret is tough. It sucks because at the end of 2018 I was atop the world,” Cormier said. “I was the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, I beat Stipe, I had won back the light heavyweight championship, I defeated Derrick Lewis. Anytime you are the first at anything in the UFC, it is massive. At the end of 2018, I was riding that wave but then my back was just so bad.

“It was bad for a long time, right, there were a lot of times in the middle of training camp I would have to take days off because my back was so beat up. Legimtately, break everything down to the core, all the wear and tear in order to get back to my feet. I remember times in the middle of my championship run or before when I was crawling up the stairs at my house because my back was so jacked up. I was always able to manage it but once I had that surgery it was done,” Daniel Cormier concluded.

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This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/21/2020.