Daniel Cormier Announces Retirement from UFC After Trilogy Loss to Stipe Miocic

An impressive career for Daniel Cormier came to an end Saturday night in Las Vegas at UFC 252, with the heavyweight announcing his retirement following his unanimous-decision loss to Stipe Miocic:

"I'm not interested in fighting for anything but titles, and I don't imagine there's going to be a title in the future, so that'll be it for me," Cormier said.

It was his third fight with Miocic and the first that went the distance.

Cormier had previously won the heavyweight title with a knockout of Miocic in July 2018, following it up with a victory over Derrick Lewis. However, he has now had back-to-back defeats to Miocic.

Cormier told ESPN's Ariel Helwani in June: "I would not be goaded into fighting again after this. I'm going to ride off into the sunset."

Then again, he had also planned to retire by March 2019.

If this is it for Cormier, he retires as one of the top combat sports stars of his generation. The 41-year-old was an Olympic wrestler before beginning his MMA career, where he has gone 22-3 (plus one no contest against Jon Jones) with championships at both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.

His bouts against Miocic, Jones and Anderson Silva won't soon be forgotten.