Dana White doesn’t want Daniel Cormier to retire, open to booking potential trilogy against Stipe Miocic

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Dana White still wants to be in the Daniel Cormier business.

This past Saturday night at UFC 241, Cormier suffered only the second loss of his professional career when he fell in the fourth round of his championship rematch against Stipe Miocic.

After controlling the majority of the fight, Cormier succumbed to a series of body shots that eventually allowed Miocic to go head hunting before earning the knockout to reclaim the heavyweight title.

Afterwards, Cormier said he wasn’t ready to make a decision on his future after hinting that the fight against Miocic could be the final bout of his career. For his part, the UFC president didn’t think Cormier looked over matched or out skilled against Miocic but rather he just got beat by the better fighter that night.

“He looked damn good until like I said after the fight, whoever came up with that go-to-the-body game plan in between rounds was f—king brilliant. Brilliant. And it was even more brilliant the way Stipe executed it,” White said when addressing Cormier’s future following the Contender Series on Tuesday night.

“So yes, I think he’s one of the best in the world and I don’t think he should retire but that’s up to him and his family.”

White also took exception to the new UFC rankings that were released on Tuesday that saw Cormier drop out of his top spot as the best pound-for-pound fighter following his loss to Miocic on Saturday night.

While a drop in rankings was inevitable, White didn’t agree with how far Cormier fell according to the journalists who vote on the panel to determine the rankings.

“I think he’s one of the best in the world,” White said about Cormier. “I was looking at the rankings today when they came out. It’s f—king insane to me but this guy on Saturday night was the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He loses and drops to No. 7 and he loses to the No. 1 heavyweight contender in the world and the guy who has the most consecutive title defenses in UFC history and Cormier drops to No. 7?

“It’s crazy. He’s much higher than that and he’s one of the best to ever do it and he’s still one of the best in the world.”

White added that he hasn’t spoken to Cormier or Miocic since Saturday night because he wants to give them plenty of time to heal up before approaching either of them about another fight.

When it comes to Cormier’s future, White said that he would give the former two-division champion virtually any fight he requested if it would keep him on the UFC roster a little while longer — including a potential trilogy with Miocic.

“I’ll do anything he wants to do and obviously anything that Stipe wants to do,” White said. “Stipe’s gotta want the trilogy, too.”