Ariel and I had Daniel on twice, once the day before the weigh-ins, so the preshow,
and we also had him after the fact, and I also saw him a number of weeks ago before
my last fight.
I went out to his gym and did a workout, but it was a little one-on-one time with Daniel.
The reason I offer that to you is there is something significantly different about the
way he talks when he says, “I'm only going to do two more fights.”
Now, I have shared with you guys my opinion on that, that hey, look, nobody really knows
when they're done.
That's kind of a timeframe—two fights is kind of, “Hey, I want to be done by my 40th
birthday,” which he also said, and if you look at that in relation to the birthday and
in relation to how many fights that you get throughout the year, it equals two.
So my pushback was, “Look, Derrick Lewis was an extra fight, okay?
You weren't expecting to have it as you map out your career when you think that you're
going to take on Brock Lesnar in roughly January.
The birthday isn't until later in 2019.
Even if we operate within that evidence, Derrick Lewis fight still doesn’t count.”
Well, no, no.
Wrong.
He's saying it does, but there's something different about the way he's saying it.
He is saying the Brock one will be his first fight.
He is saying, “Not only do I not need—not even looking to a trilogy with Jon Jones,”
but there is something different about the way he is saying it.
There is something very matter-of-fact, “This is the reality,” very candid, very open.
There's no backdoor hustle going on here.
There's no “negotiating with Dana White but using the media and leaving of the sport
to do,” not at all.
In fact, he said, “I'm going to do two more fights.”
Many of us assume that would be Brock Lesnar in perhaps January and then Jon Jones later
in the year, to which Daniel said, “Yeah, maybe.
It's going to be two fights.
I don't know who it's going to be.
I do want the Brock one.
They promised me that.
I've always wanted Brock and in fairness there's a lot of prestige to come from a name like
Brock and a paycheck to come with it.”
He was very open about it, he was very honest, but he was also very open and honest at least
a way that made me believe enough to come and share with you guys that we're going to
get to see him one more time.
We're going to get to see him one more time.
I had a very similar reaction—again, fighters never know when they're done.
Sometimes they are telling the truth.
Sometimes they want to be begged.
You see a lot of that, too: “Oh no, you're so great.
Please don’t go.”
Yeah, there's that little kid aspect of it.
And then, largely, it is a negotiation.
Largely, the negotiation begins.
But I was on—not on this show—I was on Michael Bisping’s show, which you guys should
check out, by the way.
Very good podcast, lot of fun to listen to.
But I was a guest on his show and I turned the table and I asked him a question.
I said, “You know, I don’t think you're going to retire.
I don't think you are retired, as a matter of fact.”
He's still working out.
He's working out on the road doing shows.
He's in the gym when he's at home—those pictures are coming out on social media—and
he hasn’t gained a pound.
Every fighter gains weight.
Fighters gain weight between fights, let alone every time.
Michael Bisping looks great.
I said, “I don’t believe you.”
The way he responded, I knew he was telling the truth.
Michael Bisping was done.
I could tell by the way he responded there was no gamesmanship.
I just have that same feeling enough to come and tell you guys, and I'm well aware that
things change.
Well aware.
At least for right now, it is very sincere when Daniel Cormier says, “I am going to
fight Brock Lesnar and then I am done.”
I thought that as you back up to the fight, too, and the last thing was the interview
of the fight and Daniel Cormier goes out there and he has a lot of fun.
He loves having that microphone.
He loves working up the crowd for better or worse and he has fun.
But I did think it was very important to just make sure he did one thing, which was to focus
all of his venom and all of his effort and all of his words into Brock Lesnar and absolutely
nothing else, and the reason for that is Jon Jones, who has now emerged, is starting—Brock
Lesnar’s starting to come out of Jon’s mouth, and in the moving parts in the competitiveness
of what is mixed martial arts, things change and it's the fans’ reaction to certain things
that create said change.
So if Jon Jones is able to build enough energy and enough momentum that it should be him
versus Brock, there is a chance even if slight that something along those lines could happen.
I think that Daniel is protected, I think that that's a big fight, I thought they had
a great promo after the Stipe-DC fight, and I also think if you're going to get Brock
back, having the world championship on the line is part of the deal, all of which favor
Daniel Cormier.
But I think strategically speaking he's been very open to say, “That is the fight I want,”
that it did make sense, while Jon is now starting to speak up at least a little bit on Brock
that Daniel focus all of his efforts on Brock, and I think it's appropriate that he take
Jon Jones out of his mouth.
I've got no problem with that.
There seems to be schoolyard antics trying to goat DC into sticking around and fighting
Jon Jones, and people are using some very, very underhanded, very cold tactics to do
it, which is simply his legacy: “Hey Daniel, your legacy will always be in question unless
you go out there and you fight Jon Jones again.”
That's schoolyard.
That's not right to do to him.
His legacy is absolutely protected, guys.
I mean, let's be real fair here.
His legacy is protected, a two-division simultaneous champion who has now successfully defended
both belts.
He is safe.
He is protected.
Don't tell him that, just because out of your own greed and your own excitement and your
own curiosity and your own fun and your own fandom to which you have every right to, that
he has to go out and do something that is outside the parameters of what he wants to
do.
He was very open and honest to say, “I will do two fights.”
He went a step further to say, “Those can be against anybody, anybody you want, and
yeah, it may be against Jon Jones but it's still two.”
Slip Derrick Lewis in there, already has a promised fight with Brock Lesnar.
Should the story end that way, and I'll say it a third time, yes, I'm well aware that
thing do change, but should the story end that way, we all in sportsmanship and fairness
need to be able to admit the only reason that we are trying to goat him in and tease him
and torment him into a third Jon Jones fight is not about his legacy.
It is about our own selfish desire to see that contest one more time.