UFC: Dana White tells Stipe Miocic ‘the division has to move on’ if he can’t defend heavyweight title
- UFC president White seemingly doubles down on threat to strip Miocic of his belt if he does not take trilogy fight with Daniel Cormier
- ‘You got the winner of Ngannou and Rozenstruik waiting in the wings, too. People are waiting. It’s the right thing to do,’ White says
The UFC heavyweight champion insisted “I want to fight” Daniel Cormier in a trilogy bout, stressing he would start camp “the second” his coach’s gym was legally allowed to open.
Miocic works part-time as a first responder in Ohio, seemingly stressing those duties were more important than defending his title during the coronavirus pandemic.
His comments came after White said it was “possible” Miocic could be stripped of the belt if he does not fight soon, and the UFC president appeared to double down on those words on Friday.
“This whole crew [fighting at UFC 249] trained, we have two more groups of fighters coming in this week that trained and got ready,” White told reporters in Jacksonville, Florida, where the UFC is making its return this weekend.
“The division has to move on for all the other people. We want to do that trilogy fight then you got the winner of Francis [Ngannou] and [Jairzinho] Rozenstruik waiting in the wings, too. People are waiting. It’s the right thing to do.”
Miocic has not fought since reclaiming the heavyweight title from Cormier at UFC 241 last August, after suffering an eye injury which kept him sidelined for months before the Covid-19 crisis eventually took hold and wreaked havoc with the UFC’s schedule.
“I think it speaks for itself,” White added of Miocic’s situation. “It is what it is. Most of these states are opening back up. Even Nevada. Nevada, California and New York, as far as I know, have been like the toughest states, and they’re starting to loosen up and open up. We should be able to get a fight by August.”
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