Outside Source
If Daniel Cormier’s mixed martial arts career ends in a largely empty arena, that’s just fine with him.
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down professional sports organizations across the globe, and the UFC is no exception. The Las Vegas-based promotion hopes to resume its schedule beginning May 9 — albeit with no fans in attendance — and continue on a weekly basis from there. One venue under consideration is the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, although nothing has been finalized as of yet.
Even before the pandemic, the UFC was targeting the summer for a potential heavyweight championship trilogy between Stipe Miocic and Cormier. If that happens as planned, Cormier has made peace with the fact that it’s unlikely that fans will be able to attend events by that time.
“It’s going to end that way,” Cormier said on the “DC and Helwani” podcast. “Empty arena and if it’s at the Apex, I think the cage is smaller. It’s like the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ cage, so that’s a whole other fight. It’s a smaller cage than the one we fight in for pay-per-views. But yeah, I’ll go fight this guy in the empty arena. I want to fight him.”
Cormier hasn’t competed since losing to Miocic in their rematch at UFC 241 last August. The reigning heavyweight champion has been recovering from eye surgery since that bout, and more recently has been focused on his duties as a firefighter during the COVID-19 outbreak.
While “DC” still isn’t certain of a date for the trilogy, he is confident that there will be more interest in the matchup than ever when it does happen.
“I was pretty confident that it was gonna happen at the time in my head that I know, but right now I don’t know when in the summer it’s gonna happen,” Cormier concluded. “But I just can feel that when it does, it’s gonna be bigger than it was ever gonna be.
“More good fights, more people at home watching. It’s gonna be the perfect way to go out — on top, as the man.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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