While Conor McGregor deals with legal troubles and the fact he hasn’t been in the octagon ring in well over a year, UFC is desperately looking for their next big draw. Enter Daniel Cormier. Cormier became the new UFC heavyweight champion on Saturday night in quick and impressive fashion. After battling back and forth for a good portion of the opening round, Cormier landed a stiff right hook to the jaw of the seemingly unstoppable Miocic to shock the world and claim victory. Advertisement After getting his hand raised, Cormier played host to a ringside Brock Lesnar who decided to crash the festivities. Cormier figured it’s never to early to pick your next opponent. After a brief pause, Lesnar grabbed the mic and ripped the entire UFC heavyweight division, delivering numerous expletives in a 20-second tirade that showed more passion than anything he’s put forth in WWE over the last few years. “Let me tell you something. I walked into this building and watched the heavyweight disasters from the beginning. [Francis] Ngannou is a piece of shit. Miocic is a piece of shit. DC, I’m coming for you, motherf—er,” he screamed. In order to step into the Octagon again, Lesnar is required to spend six months in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug testing pool as the result of a performance-enhancing substance violation he committed in his UFC 200 win over Mark Hunt. Lesnar has held the WWE Universal Championship for over a year and recently re-signed a short-term deal after WrestleMania 34 in April continue holding the title. It is believed that he will next fight at WWE SummerSlam in August, where it would make sense to drop the title. All signs point towards a November showdown between Cormier and Lesnar. November would not only make a lot of sense, it’s also the company’s annual visit to the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.<doc-sep>Daniel Cormier will have the opportunity to make history later tonight (Sat., July 7, 2018) at UFC 226 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he challenges Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight championship. If “DC” is able to get past Miocic he will become just the second fighter in UFC history to simultaneously hold two belts in different weight classes (Conor McGregor being the first). It’s an incredibly opportunity to say the least, especially considering Cormier last fought at heavyweight back in 2013. But fight fans should not forget how dominate the UFC light heavyweight champion was back when he was competing at heavyweight. Cormier not only defeated the likes of Josh Barnett and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva en route to claiming the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, but he swiftly beat down Frank Mir and Roy Nelson after stepping over to UFC five years ago. After making a transition to light heavyweight in 2014 to avoid an eventual heavyweight showdown with teammate and best friend Cain Velasquez, Cormier is coming back home. It will be a chance for him to shed his past failures opposite nemesis Jon Jones at 205 pounds and prove once again that he’s one of the very best fighters in the world. It provides him the opportunity to separate himself from his divisional ties to “Bones” and create his own history in a different weight class. If Cormier can return to his old stomping grounds and knock off a champion who just set the UFC record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses (3) then it’s possible that the 39-year-old will go down as one of the top five best fighters of all time. Because even though Cormier was unable to get over the hump against Jones at light heavyweight, he’s on the cusp of doing something that Jones has only dreamed about. That’s the ultimate one-upper if you ask me. Unfortunately, it will have to come at the expense of Miocic this weekend in Las Vegas. MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 226 fight card, starting with the Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.<doc-sep>
Daniel Cormier delivered one of the most electrifying moments in the history of mixed martial arts on Saturday night. The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion went up in weight and challenged Stipe Miocic for the latter’s UFC heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 226 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In his biggest career moment, Cormier delivered, winning via knockout at the 4:33 mark of the opening round to claim the championship. With the win, the 39-year-old Cormier joins Conor McGregor as just the second simultaneous two-weight champion in the UFC’s 25-year history. He joins McGregor, Randy Couture, B.J. Penn, and Georges St-Pierre as the only fighters to hold belts in multiple weight classes any point in their UFC career. “I was a heavyweight for a long time and I left the division,” Cormier said. “I never knew what I could become, but tonight I got the answer. I’m a two-division champion, baby!” Cormier weighed in on Friday at 246 pounds, 3.5 heavier than Miocic. But Miocic nonetheless had a height and reach advantage that he exploited in the early going. But while Miocic stung Cormier on several occasions, Cormier never lost his composure. And he found his opening late in the round. Clinched in the middle of the Octagon, Cormier dropped Miocic with a brutal right uppercut which dropped Miocic, then landed four uncontested punches on the ground before referee Marc Goddard waved things off. “Watching the video, we noticed Stipe keeps his hands a little bit low coming out of the clinch,” Cormier said. With the victory, Cormier improved to 21-1 (1 NC). He also improved to 14-0 in his career at heavyweight. Miocic (18-3) had a six-fight winning streak snapped, ending a title reign in which he became the only fighter ever to successfully defend the UFC heavyweight title three consecutive times. After the bout, Cormier called out former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who came into the Octagon. The WWE star put on a pro-wrestling-like display to build up a presumed bout for later in the year.