Daniel Cormier took a precipitous slide on the official UFC rankings following his TKO loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 241.
“DC” went from No. 1 to No. 7 on the pound-for-pound list in just one fight. UFC president Dana White is not a fan of what went down. The UFC exec opened up on the situation to reporters including MMA Junkie following his “Contenders Series” 25 from Las Vegas last night. For Cormier to fall so far in just one loss was ludicrous according to White. In his eyes, Cormier is still one of the best in the world no matter what happened at UFC 241. He’s also one of the best of all-time:
“I think he’s one of the best in the world,” White said. “I was looking at the (official UFC) rankings today when they came out – it’s just (expletive) insane to me. 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. He’s still one of the best in the world.”
Cormier appeared to be winning his main event bout with Miocic for the majority of the first three rounds. But Miocic made a crucial adjustment in between the third and fourth rounds to begin targeting Cormier’s body, something that immediately paid huge dividends. An opening presented itself and Miocic swarmed for the TKO finish. White believes that was a ‘brilliant’ move by Miocic and his corner, and wouldn’t mind seeing a third fight between the two rivals.
After all, Cormier has a knockout win over Miocic last year, putting the score at one apiece. Cormier hasn’t decided if he’ll fight on or retire at this point, but he hasn’t stepped down as of yet. The 40-year-old previously planned to stop fighting this spring, but his rumored match-up with Brock Lesnar never happened. Now, if he fights, you’d think he’d be gunning for Miocic and Miocic alone.
Do you agree with Dana White that the UFC rankings were too harsh on Daniel Cormier?
