Daniel Cormier could retire if coronavirus pandemic doesn’t end by summer

UFC heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier says that if the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t end by the summer he may be forced to retire from MMA.

Cormier hasn’t fought since last August when he was knocked out by Miocic in the fourth round of the pair’s heavyweight title fight at UFC 241 to lose his belt. Since then, both DC and Miocic have been recovering from injuries, with the UFC planning on having them fight for a third and final time once both men are all healed up. The plan was for that to happen sometime this summer, but the coronavirus pandemic is throwing a wrench into things.

At this point, there are no guarantees that things will be back to normal by the summer, and if this trilogy fight between DC and Miocic is stretched into the fall or winter, it may be too long of a wait for the former champ, who has openly spoken of retirement in the past.

Speaking to Bloody Elbow, DC confirmed that he still plans on fighting Miocic for the third time, but that he may have to retire if the coronavirus pandemic isn’t by the summer.

“I don’t think it’s shifted too much. I think that we were looking at the summer, late summer, anyways. I think by late summer we should be getting back rolling as a country, as an organization. It affects the ability to go into the gym right now as I would be, but I don’t know the effects of that with some of these other things,” Cormier said.

“(But if) this thing starts going to late fall, getting into the winter, there’s no way. I’d be done. Yeah, I think it needs to happen by the summer.”

Cormier recently turned 41 years old and is still one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. But he has always said he didn’t want to fight much past 40, with the Miocic trilogy being the one thing that keeps him going. If that fight can’t happen in the next few months, though, this may very well be it for the former champion.

Do you think Daniel Cormier will get the Stipe Miocic trilogy fight or do you think he will end up retiring instead?