Former two division UFC champion Daniel Cormier confesses he retired from MMA to late: “I should’ve stopped in ‘18”

UFC hall of famer Daniel Cormier confessed that he may have overdone his mixed martial arts career by two years.

Cormier ended his martial arts journey with one of the most credentialed résumés in the sport’s history. During the Lafayette-born’s eighteen-year career, he became a multiple-word champion across two weight divisions and was involved in numerous blockbuster fights.

After achieving more than he could have dreamed of and reflecting back, Cormier admits perhaps he should have closed the curtain on his career earlier than he did.

The 43-year-old announced his retirement in 2020, post his trilogy fight with Stipe Miocic. The trilogy settled the score with Miocic winning two back-to-back fights after Cormier slept the firefighter in the first meeting. In hindsight, Cormier wishes he rode off into the sunset after earning champ-champ status.

Daniel Cormier on fighting for too long

“I can’t train to fight the way I want to fight,” Cormier told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “Me fighting Stipe Miocic after my back surgery, those two times, that wasn’t the same fight. I couldn’t wrestle! I should’ve stopped in ‘18. I should’ve stopped in ‘18. I should have retired after Derrick Lewis. Especially when I had back surgery.

“I was so severely limited it was crazy. My wrestling workouts, I went from wrestling 30, 40 minutes rounds and matches to doing ropes and jump-roping and doing wrestling movements without the physical contact of the wrestling. It was crazy. I couldn’t wrestle like I wanted to.”

Daniel Cormier stated it would have been a smart idea to call it quits after undergoing back surgery after his fight with Derrick Lewis, but the two-division champion status spurred him to continue.

“I had surgery in December after Derrick Lewis. I blew my back out the morning of the fight. I should have just said, ‘I thank God, and I’m out.’ I got this extra money, I’m still the champ — I don’t think they’d even taken the light heavyweight belt from me yet, because Jones and [Alexander Gustafsson] fought at the end of the year. I could have been done, but I just didn’t.”

Watch ‘DC’ reflect on his career decisions