‘Disappointed’ Daniel Cormier not ruling out Heavyweight return following knockout loss to Jon Jones

Other than this social media post, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has kept quiet following his knockout loss to Jon Jones at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017, in Anaheim, California.

During a recent episode on “The MMA Hour,” however, “DC” spoke for the first time following his second defeat to “Bones,” discussing the loss and his mixed martial arts (MMA) future moving forward. And to hear Cormier tell it, he’s more disappointed that he let down his team of coaches.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Cormier said (via MMA Fighting). “You’ve got to remember, I’m a guy who wants to be the best. I train hard, I work hard and I feel like I was ready to go. I feel like I was prepared, and I was very disappointed in the result of the fight,” he said.

Many wondered of the former 205-pound champion would hang up his gloves following the loss. But, according the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) team captain, there is no reason for him to ride off into the sunset just yet.

“Why would I stop fighting?” Cormier said. “I feel like I still love the competition more than anything. That’s really what’s driving me. When I don’t have competition, I’m not in something like that, I’m miserable, man. I love to compete. I love to be in the environment.”

Furthermore, “DC” is confident he’ll cross paths with Jones again, despite saying during his post-fight speech that if a guy wins two fights there really is no rivalry. While that may be an admirable goal to try to obtain, getting back to a trilogy fight against “Bones” will be easier said than done, as the 205-pound division has experienced a re-emergence as of late.

Still, the former Olympian isn’t ruling out a return to Heavyweight if things don’t pan out down at Light Heavyweight.

“I really shrunk myself from Heavyweight,” Cormier said. “I used to have big ole’ traps and I was bigger guy when I fought at Heavyweight, but I’d entertain anything. The UFC values me and honestly, man, they’ve already reached out with some ideas about me fighting, and I was like, ‘Well, I need time,’ but there are options at Heavyweight and options at 205,” he said. “Obviously the Jimi Manuwa fight is a fight that could happen. Volkan Oezdemir has done fantastic for himself, a guy that’s a cool guy, but if the easiest path back to fighting the fights that I want is to go through somebody like that, then I’ll do it. So it’s a matter of just what I decide to do.”

At the end of the day, the opportunities for Cormier are endless inside the Octagon, who plans to return to “UFC Tonight” later this week, but will sit out the rest of 2017 from active competition.

“At this point, I’ve kinda gotten to a point in my career where UFC, they really are very open to a lot of my suggestions. This last 2.5 years since I fought Jones the first time through now, I’ve headlined cards, there were cards I was supposed to headline or had marquee fights on, I’ve sold millions and millions of pay-per-views, and with that comes some respect within the organization.”

Anyone care to see the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner return to land of the big men?