Daniel Cormier believes Dustin Poirier could also be making a mistake by speaking about probably retiring after his upcoming title battle vs. Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. In actual fact, Cormier “hates” it.
The UFC Corridor of Famer believes opening the door for retirement speak distracts from the duty at hand, which may forestall Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) from being the perfect model of himself contained in the octagon vs. Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) on June 1 in Newark, N.J. (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). It’s a stance Cormier believes strongly in as a result of he did it himself.
“I can’t stand listening to that it’s virtually over for a man that all of us universally love and luxuriate in when he’s contained in the octagon,” Cormier mentioned in a video on his YouTube channel. “I additionally hate it for one more cause: I hate it for the concept it could possibly be virtually over, and he acknowledges that. I don’t like when athletes as a result of I did it myself, I’m virtually judging myself; I don’t love when athletes put a timeline or a ending level on a profession that’s nonetheless actively happening. That may be a exhausting factor to do.”
Poirier hasn’t simply talked retirement forward of UFC 302. He additionally believes he’ll end Makhachev. “I’m going to knock him unconscious and the ref goes to be pulling me off of him,” Poirier mentioned in a latest interview.
In the end, Cormier sees Poirier partaking in a “grass is greener” state of affairs when speaking retirement, which can or is probably not true for a specific athlete.
Whereas it was greener for Cormier, as he has completely loved his post-fight profession, he believes pondering retirement earlier than a battle was in the end a distraction – one that might forestall former interim light-weight champ Poirier from lastly reaching his purpose of changing into an undisputed UFC titleholder in his third likelihood.
“I began trying to a time the place I didn’t have to fret about chopping the burden and doing all this different stuff,” Cormier mentioned. “That’s depressing. Life afterwards is holidays, seashores, consuming what you need and doing what you need.
“I don’t love that there’s so many references to, ‘My final likelihood or my final dance. I’m not committing to retirement.’ It’s like, when you’ve got any want to battle, you must be so within the battle that there is no such thing as a considered what comes subsequent. I don’t love that. I simply don’t love that.”
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