UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is now preparing a plan for his eventual retirement. However, the UFC title holder plans to retire sooner than some may have expected.
Cormier is currently set to face off against Volkan Oezdemir in the co-main event for Saturday night’s, Jan. 20, UFC 220. With that in mind, the reigning champion is already setting his sights on his future retirement.
Speaking to FloCombat, Cormier broke down his view on retirement.
“It’s just a personal preference of mine to be done by the time I was 40, especially when I started having kids,” Cormier said. “My boy is going to be 7 in February, my daughter’s going to be 6 in March.
“By the time I turn 40, they’ll be 8 and 7, and it will be time for me to start putting that focus on my children and their athletic careers. I know it seems young, but with the goals that my kids have for themselves and the goals I have for them, they’re going to have to be committed, and it’s tough when dad has to be at the gym every day from 12 to 2 and from 7 to 8 and up at seven in the morning.
“I don’t mind,” he continued. “I don’t mind making the commitment to the kids. I’ve spent my whole life with the focus being about me and my athletics. It’s not an issue. It’s not hard to think about putting that focus on my children.”
“It’s not like I don’t have much time left,” Cormier said. “As you see with guys like [Fabricio] Werdum, who’s still at the top of the sport, Mark Hunt is still fighting, Anderson Silva is still fighting, I have time. If I chose to fight to 42 or 43, I could.
“Randy Couture started at the same time as me, and he went until he was 47. It’s just my preference. If I felt like at 40 I was forced out the door [that’d be one thing], but I feel like I would be going of my own choosing to cap off my career at a young age to where I can give my kids 100-percent focus on what they’re doing.”
“Not many guys get to go out on top. Not many guys go out there, fight, win, get a belt wrapped around their waist and then say, ‘I think this is it.’ It’s just not reality for most of our champions,” Cormier said. “It’s the same in boxing. It’s the story of combat sports. I think professional wrestling does it best, and I know it’s scripted but that’s the best story. The older guy has to put over the younger guy, the guy that’s going to carry the flag into the next generation.
“In MMA, it almost feels like it happens the same way. Your greatest champions get beat and then they go on to become the next great champion. The only one that has really done it is Georges St-Pierre, and I applaud him for it.”
“It will get you. It will eat you up and spit you out,” Cormier said. “Guys are chasing that rush. We’re thrill seekers. Why else would guys go in there and fight? When it feels like that thrill is about to be taken away, people panic. You just have to relax and be OK with what’s next.”
