Dana White baffled by Daniel Cormier’s drop in pound-for-pound rankings
UFC president Dana White still wants to see former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier compete again.
Cormier suffered just his second professional defeat when he was knocked out by Stipe Miocic in the fourth round of their UFC 241 headliner this past weekend.
Leading up to the fight, there was talk of “DC” being the greatest heavyweight of all time especially if he could register another win over Miocic. Cormier was also listed as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world according to the UFC rankings.
However, retirement seems to be a genuine possibility now while Cormier also dropped to #7 in the latest UFC pound-for-pound rankings.
The latter, in particular, baffles White who wants to see him reconsider retirement and return to the Octagon.
“I think he’s one of the best in the world,” White said in a post-fight scrum following the Contender Series this week.
“I was looking at the rankings today when they came out which is just f***ing insane to me. This guy, on Saturday night, was the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He loses and drops to number seven. And he loses to the number one heavyweight contender in the world and the guy who has the most consecutive title defenses in UFC [heavyweight] history. And Cormier drops to number seven? It’s crazy.
“He’s much higher than that. And he’s one of the best to ever do it. And he’s still one of the best in the world. He looked damn good until, like I said the night of the fight, [until] whoever came up with that go to the body gameplan in between rounds, was fucking brilliant. It was even more brilliant that Stipe executed it. So yes, I think he’s one of the best in the world and I don’t think he should retire. But that’s up to him and his family.”
White added that he would certainly be open to a trilogy fight between Cormier and Miocic, provided that’s what both parties wanted.