Brock Lesnar? Jon Jones? Here's who Daniel Cormier could fight next
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The BBC MMA Show discusses who could be next on the hit list for the UFC's newest double division champ
After becoming only the second fighter to hold two UFC titles in different divisions simultaneously following his win over Stipe Miocic last week, Daniel 'DC' Cormier now has the UFC roster at his fingertips.
The UFC light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion has already had fighters knocking on his door since his latest win, but, at 39, it's likely we'll only be seeing him inside the octagon a few more times.
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Dan Hardy and Nick Peet, from the BBC MMA Show, assess the fighters who they think are tough enough to take on the UFC's new pound-for-pound champion.
"I think he'll have two more fights," Nick says. "There are only two fights out there for him right now. I don't think there's a leading contender in the heavyweight division other than... Brock Lesnar."
Cormier called out Lesnar after his win at UFC 226. Lesnar then stepped into the octagon resulting in a confrontation between the two that felt more WWE-like than UFC. Was it set up to get fans excited about a fight between the two?
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"The reason that was staged at the weekend was purely to get the sales ready for the DC fight," Nick says. "Regardless of what DC thinks, he will be fighting Brock Lesnar in January, as long as the fitness allows."
Lesnar failed two doping tests in 2016 following his comeback win at UFC 200, and subsequently retired from the sport. But a comeback fight could be on the cards as early as next year.
"He was fined and took a brief suspension after his last fight against Mark Hunt," says Nick. "But he is back in the USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) pool, and available to fight officially from 8 January 2019,, external as long as he has no positive tests between now and then."
At 6ft 3in, the former WWE star and NFL player towers over Cormier, who stands at 5ft 11in, but Nick doesn’t think that would an issue.
"He won't have any problems against Brock Lesnar, don't worry about that," he says. "That will push his second defence and the final fight of his career back until spring, and you know who I say that guy's going to be? One-million percent Jon Jones will come back, but it'll be on DC's terms, and it'll be at heavyweight."
Jon Jones
Cormier and Jones have already met twice in the UFC, in 2015 and 2017, with the latter claiming victories on both occasions (though the second win was later overturned).
Although a third fight against Jones could be on the cards, Dan Hardy also thinks Cormier will face Lesnar in the near future.
"Cormier has been focused on getting the Brock Lesnar fight because that's his golden ticket to retirement, and I think he'll stick around for as long as he needs to to get that fight, and it'll probably be the last fight of his career."
He adds: "My concern is Lesnar's size. That he might just be able to overwhelm Cormier and resist his pace enough to just weigh on him and beat him up – that's my concern.
"All the cards are in DC's hands, he should be able to beat him. The only downside is that we thought Stipe Miocic was big. Brock Lesnar's massive. There does come a point where it's David and Goliath, and the bigger man is always going to beat you, regardless of how good you are.
Brock Lesnar
"He's got a big old block of concrete for a head. He's got a really thick neck as well, which makes it even more difficult to knock him out. He's a big, strong, durable athlete."
Despite speculation around Lesnar and Jones, Dan reckons another fighter could be thrown into the mix should the cards fall in his favour.
"I would think the next person we'll see Cormier fight is Alexander Gustafsson," says Dan.
Alexander Gustafsson
But Nick isn't convinced. "I'm probably the biggest Gustafsson fan on the planet, but he isn't active enough," says Nick. "Whilst he's probably the number one contender in the light-heavyweight division, in my opinion, it's hard to make a case for him being worthy for the next title shot.
"There isn't a light-heavyweight that you would argue has got to get a chance at Cormier's belt right now. DC has beaten most of the light-heavyweight fighters already - Gustafsson included. It’d be different is Gustafsson had two or three fights in the last 18 months and was really banging on the door and ready to go.
"I still believe biggest fight out there would be a Jon Jones comeback."
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