Daniel Cormier ponders which UFC rivalry he considers his biggest

Daniel Cormier has taken part in a number of big-time rivalries during his UFC career.

The out-of-the-cage heat between DC and Jon Jones was unlike anything we’ve seen in mixed martial arts before or since. The rivalry between Cormier and Stipe Miocic is an epic pure sports matchup between two world-class champions. Cormier’s fights with Anthony Johnson were big deals, too.

But there’s a common thread among the six fights DC had with his most notable foes: All of them were for a championship, either an interim title or the undisputed version. A third title fight with Miocic is likely to follow, too.

So, when MMA Junkie Radio asked Cormier – who is expected to retire, win or lose, after the next Miocic fight – which rivalry her considers the biggest of his career, he settled on one fact: that all of his fights with Jones, Miocic, and Johnson were such high-stakes affairs, the rivalries were of secondary importance when they stepped into the cage on fight night.

Sure, it makes for fun bar banter on who might have been his single biggest rival. But a career spent in championship fights against the best over a span of several years speaks to Cormier’s legacy better than any one fight could.

“The importance of the fight is because of the belt,” Cormier said. “You can fight guys multiple times. But if you’re fighting these guys so many times with the belt on the line, that speaks to you and your opponent and the ability of both of these guys.”

Once you bring it down to a one-on-one level, of course, there are differences. At the end of the day, Jones beating Cormier twice (one of which was later ruled a no contest due to Jones flunking a drug test) and Cormier defeating Johnson twice matters. And, regardless of who takes the final fight between Cormier and Miocic, the fact they both hold a knockout win over the other puts them on equal footing.

“The reality is, for everything else that Jon and I were, I think that’s going to be the one that stands the test of time because it was so bitter,” Cormier said. “But on the competitive side, I think Miocic will be that guy that, when we walk away from this game, you go, ‘Wow, DC had two really big series of fights,’ and I think three, honestly, because Anthony Johnson falls in line with that, too.

“I’m just one of those guys who was lucky enough to fight big fights, fight big fights often, and have guys that were good enough to, win or lose, get right back to those big, big fights. The great thing about those rivalries – between the three guys, seven fights – is that every one of them was for a UFC championship. That, to me, is a bigger deal than even having those rivalries.”