Coach Javier Mendez would prefer his pupil, Daniel Cormier, stay retired.
Cormier retired after a unanimous decision loss to UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 252. Mendez would rather D.C. move forward with life, citing the former two-division champion is not quite the competitor he once was.
“He needs to stop,” Mendez said on Hablemos MMA (via Danny Segura of MMA Junkie). “He’s 41, and the truth is that he’s not the same person I had when he was 27 years old. He’s gone down a bit. He’s got so many obligations with interviews, television, and it’s best that he doesn’t fight. It sucks that the fight went that way, and he had to leave like that, but you know, he’s one of the best in the world. What he’s done is very big. He doesn’t need to do any more. He’s not No. 1 or 2 pound-for-pound, but he’s four or seven or around that number. What he did is great. I don’t want him to fight, and he doesn’t want to fight because he only wants to fight for titles. And for what? He’s going to make more money with television and other things, and if he’s not fighting for a title, why fight? All the fights that he’s had, his last 11 fights have been for the title. So this time not fighting for a title? I don’t think so. And he wants to help me, help his kid and the wrestlers he has. He’s very proud, and it fills him with joy to be training them so they can be good men.”
Cormier did say that he would comeback for a shot at UFC gold, but DC also said in a post-fight interview that another title shot seemed unlikely. The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) coach would also like to see DC become a coach there as well.
“Yeah, that’s what he’s going to do, that’s what he wants to do,” Mendez said. “He wants to do other things too with television, but he wants to help me and ‘Crazy’ Bob Cook and the coaches, and be a coach with me. And that gives me a lot of pride.”
DC has yet to reveal many plans now that he is retired from professional MMA competition, other than appearing on his ESPN show with Ariel Helwani and provide color commentary for UFC cards.
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