Cormier looks for the next signing moment as his career comes to an end

Daniel Cormier insists he will end his career as an active MMA fighter if he turns 40 in five months. It seems a bit premature now that he is gaining the kind of adulation that has eluded him for a good part of his career.

Last July, Cormier became the first UFC light heavyweight champion to win the UFC heavyweight title when he stopped Stipe Miocic at UFC 226. This historic success will ultimately be the culmination From a 10-year MMA career and will allow him to accomplish his worst enemy, former light heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones may never again own.

"The fact that I'm a heavyweight light heavyweight champion and I won the belt is good," said Cormier this week. "For a long time, that's what people thought [Jones] would. He was light heavyweight champion for four years and never fought the heavyweight champion. I did it after three years. "

Cormier defends the heavyweight title for the first time on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden when he will face Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 230. In case of victory, Cormier plans to fight one, can -be twice more, before qualifying him as a full-time broadcasting career. He spent the big 4-0 in March and promised long ago that it would be the age when he retired.

"I knew it would happen when I left the sport and I accepted it a long time ago," said Cormier. "He's just coming to a head now."

He will leave without regret, even though he has technically lost twice against Jones. They met for the first time for the light heavyweight title in January 2015, with Jones winning a unanimous decision. Jones was quickly stripped of his titles and suspended by the UFC after being arrested for murder and misdemeanor. After regaining the title in 2016, Jones was dismissed again, this time for failing a USADA drug test a few days before a scheduled rematch with Cormier at the UFC 200.

The two rivals finally found themselves in the Octagon in July 2017 within UFC 214. Jones had won the third round TKO, but the fight was declared futile after an anti-doping test carried out after the fight.

All the while, Cormier was a critic at Jones' voice, calling him "cheater" and bad for the sport. But Jones was more popular and Cormier's reign as the light heavyweight champion during his absences was not validated until he had defeated Miocic. Now, his decade as a pure fighter and his behavior as a true professional of the Octagon have made his encounter with Jones more than a footnote than the base of his MMA legacy.

"I have provided a life that I would never have thought of," said Cormier, captain of the 2008 US Olympic Wrestling Team. "But I did it in a way which I can be proud of when I leave. It has not always been good. But overall, I tried to do things with a level of professionalism that many guys do not exhibit in today's mixed martial arts. "

Despite rumors about his upcoming retirement, Cormier insists he does not take Lewis lightly. A 6-foot-3, 265-pound Texan (21-5-1 with 18 KO's), Lewis got the title shot after dropping Alexander Volkov with a heavy right arm in the third round of their UFC showdown. 229 in October 6 in Las Vegas.

"It's a guy who can finish a fight in one go," said Cormier. "But where people see Derrick Lewis knocking out guys and it scares them, it fascinates me. Once the guys are in the Octagon with me, they're never the same again. I like to show them that they can get into a fight so uncomfortable that they will not be able to fight anymore. That's what I like. I like to break guys. "

Prediction: Cormier TKO 3rd round.