Daniel Cormier Believes Stipe Miocic Will Be the Biggest Challenge of His Career
Daniel Cormier is no stranger to facing top competition.
Throughout his career from heavyweight down to light heavyweight, Cormier has faced the best of the best in both divisions and never backed down from any challenge that’s put in front of him.
The list of champions, former champions and future Hall of Fame candidates on his resume is quite extensive but despite all those past fighters who have challenged him, Cormier feels like his upcoming fight will be the biggest test of his entire career.
At UFC 226, Cormier will attempt to become only the second ever simultaneous two division champion in UFC history when he faces heavyweight king Stipe Miocic in Las Vegas. Miocic is the longest reigning heavyweight champion in the UFC already and he’s proven his worth with a string of performances that is virtually unmatched in the division.
That’s why Cormier is paying so much attention to his preparation to face Miocic because he knows this will be the toughest test of his entire career.
“I think he’ll be the best,” Cormier answered when asked where he would rank Miocic among the best fighters he’s ever faced. “He is who he is for that reason that he’s the baddest man on the planet. They call the heavyweight champ the baddest man on the planet and for a long time, guys got to have that title for a short period of time because they would get knocked off.
“Stipe has proven that he can sustain his success and also we got to watch him from day one. You watched a guy that went to war with [Joey Beltran], Stipe went to war with him and as he continues to fight, you see him evolve. That’s why I’m fighting him.”
The magnitude of the fight is also not lost on Cormier, who has already taken part in some of the biggest events in UFC history.
Just over the past three years, Cormier has been a part of cards that have sold more than 3.5 million pay-per-view buys including his pair of fights against Jon Jones that both did over 800,000 buys on their own.
That being said, Cormier still feels his upcoming fight against Miocic will be the biggest of his career because of what’s on the line.
“This is the biggest fight of my career cause I’m fighting the heavyweight champ of the world,” Cormier said. “The most successful heavyweight champ in the world. I think Stipe is great. Do I think he’s the best heavyweight of all time? No. I still believe Cain Velasquez is but I do believe he’s the most successful heavyweight champion of all time. Yeah, it’s a big fight.
“I’ve been in a lot of big spots. I’ve fought Jones twice. I fought at UFC 200. I fought main events and Stipe has too, but I’ve fought in a lot of big, big spots and I believe this one ranks as high if not higher than everything I’ve ever competed at.”
