Daniel Cormier Returns to Heavyweight to Cement His Legacy of Greatness

If you didn't think Daniel Cormier won over fans after UFC 220 at TD Garden last Saturday, you best believe he will be now after moving up in weight to take on UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic.

In a bombshell early Friday evening, the UFC announced the reigning light heavyweight champ would take on Miocic at UFC 226 on July 7 at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.            

Miocic had a dominant win over the highly touted Francis Ngannou to retain his title at UFC 220, and it took a mere six days for him and Cormier to decide they wanted to know which of them was the better fighter.

Beyond delighting fans with a rare "champ vs. champ" clash, the fight is a chance for Cormier to finish repurposing a legacy that has enjoyed a late-career makeover in the past year.

He lost his light heavyweight title to Jon Jones at UFC 214 in July—a fight in which he was cast as an unlikely villain.

After a third-round knockout loss to Jones, he delivered a memorable soliloquy in the cage through tears that connected with the fans.

Jones then famously failed his second drug test in three fights, and Cormier got his title back. It only made him hungrier.

It culminated in his UFC 220 performance, as he swaggered through challenger Volkan Oezdemir as the Boston faithful lapped it up. The arena itself shook with chants of "DC! DC! DC!" as he pounded his way to another world-title win—his third defense, or his first, depending on your perception of the Jones saga.

At 38 years old and in his 22nd professional bout, Cormier made a statement. And now, just days after he put an official expiration date on his career while speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, he's rolling that momentum into one of his biggest tests.

He can bring his career full circle in a way that nobody saw coming—it'll be the first time the reigning 205-pound champion has challenged for the heavyweight title. And if he were to pull off the upset and capture a second UFC belt in a second weight class, he'd without a doubt go down as one of MMA's greatest fighters, despite the losses to Jones.

This is about his legacy, and that legacy will be one of greatness or bust.

It will not be about his trials and tribulations or Jones. It will be on his terms.

That's admirable at a time in MMA when many are promoting themselves through Twitter beefs or searching for the easiest payday at the expense of the sport. Cormier is after the competitive glories.

"

I personally believe Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier is the best fight UFC can make above 155 pounds. Really, really excited for this.

And kudos to @dc_mma who is willing to take the risk. That's an old school fighter right there. pic.twitter.com/XCXhsPBUIt

— JE Snowden (@JESnowden) January 27, 2018"

And who better to get it against than Miocic?

He lets his actions do the talking and is the epitome of hard work paying off. The part-time firefighter blends blue collar and black-and-blue in a way no one else before him has. 

Now he'll serve as the perfect foil to Cormier as he attempts to prove that he's the baddest man on the planet.

The stakes for Miocic are real as well: With a win, he'll defend the heavyweight title an unprecedented fourth time over a former Olympian and Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner. One who was 13-0 as a heavyweight from 2009-13 before dropping to 205 pounds and becoming a champion there.

Beating Cormier will make Miocic a legend if he isn't already.

The lead-up will surely be about respect and honor and the fight about skill and will. No press conference dustups. No failed drug tests. Just champion vs. champion.

Cormier has been given a fight for a legacy he never could have imagined was possible.

He will be undeniably one of the best to ever do it should he beat Miocic, and he'll ride off into the sunset with a belt over each shoulder.     

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder.