- Cormier’s coaches ‘beg’ him to wrestle in fourth round before resurgent Miocic secures TKO and regains UFC heavyweight title
- ‘I paid the ultimate price for not listening to my coaches, I feel pretty bad about that’
Daniel Cormier has admitted he "didn't do what I was trained to do" after ignoring his coaches' advice to use his wrestling against a surging Stipe Miocic in the championship rounds of their UFC 241 heavyweight title fight.
A former Olympic wrestler, "DC" used his elite wrestling skills to get Miocic to the ground in a dominant first round. But he chose to trade with his opponent from that point on " which is always a dangerous game against a man with Miocic's power.
Cormier's corner recognised the danger and implored him between the third and fourth rounds to take it back to the ground.
"That was the strategy, that's probably the biggest let down " they were begging me to wrestle," said a despondent Cormier, with his face heavily bruised, at the post event press conference. "That's the most disappointing thing. I didn't do what I was trained to do. And I feel like I let my coaches down.
"When you start finding success and landing things you fall in love with it. It feels like the (Alexander) Gustafsson fight all over again, when I wrestled a lot in first round, and in the last four rounds I didn't.
"They were begging me then. I paid the ultimate price for not listening to my coaches. I feel pretty bad about that."
UFC 241: Stipe Miocic stops Daniel Cormier by TKO to regain heavyweight title
In the decisive fourth round, Miocic made a title-winning adjustment on the advice of his own corner, who told him to start going to the body.
"I felt I was doing pretty good but then he landed that shot in the fourth round, some good body punches, he landed that right hand I didn't see and he got the finish," Cormier said. "He did a great job.
"I kinda took the pressure off a little bit, I don't know why, maybe to try to rest and recover for the fifth because it wasn't going anywhere. I don't know the reasoning why but it was a mistake.
"Problem is, he was hitting me and I didn't feel them that much. It's not about the shots you take, it's the one you just don't see coming and that was great combo by Stipe after the body shot, he threw that one-two right behind it. I didn't see it.
"A lot times I see punches and roll with them so I don't take the full brunt. On that one he landed it perfectly."
Cormier took no solace from his dominant performance up until the fourth round, after suffering his first loss in 15 heavyweight fights.
"Just losing is terrible for me, I'm a competitive guy," he said. "Being finished to me is insane, you know. That's twice I've been stopped. That's not good. I'm smart enough to understand that.
"I didn't know how many times I hit him. I just know I hit him, you fall in love with the visual of a guy's face getting marked up.
"I knew he had a good chin, I knew from the first time, I knew it would be different. I anticipated a long fight. I figured he wasn't going anywhere. I understand the motivation of a rematch, I figured he'd be there for long.
"He's always been very good, I guess tonight's fight was the fight I expected the first time. That's kinda what I felt it was.
"It's hard to be pleased in a loss but I felt like I was winning the fight, I was hitting him a lot more than I was getting hit. I guess even if I was winning, I was winning until I wasn't. It doesn't matter. The end result is what matters."
Cormier said he did not want to made a decision on retiring "in emotion" and would go back and talk to his wife and coaches to figure out his next move.
UFC president Dana White said he would see how the situation plays out, and whether Cormier wants the trilogy fight with Miocic " or if Miocic wants No 2-ranked Francis Ngannou.
"I don't know what his future is, I told him, 'Don't think about it, relax, go home and spend time with your family, we'll talk about all that s*** later'," White said. "But I don't want him to leave. He's one of the best ever.
"I just left his locker room right now, he's very bummed out. But there's nothing to be bummed out about. What a war. For two heavyweights to punch and take punches and keep coming forward … He (Miocic) got hit with everything but the kitchen sink."
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