‘I couldn’t see the rest of the fight’- Daniel Cormier lost his vision in the UFC 252 trilogy loss to Stipe Miocic
The heavyweight main event at UFC 252 featured the two best heavyweights of all time in a trilogy fight to decide once and for all who is the best heavyweight in the world is.
The fight was action-packed but once again eye pokes played a major role in the fight. Referee Marc Goddard temporarily stopped the fight in the first round following an accidental eye poke from Cormier.
At the end of the third round, Miocic returned the favor and accidentally poked Cormier’s eye. The poke seemed to have caused significant damage as he went back to his corner heading into the fourth, Cormier told his corner he couldn’t see.
“F*ck, look at my eye,” Cormier told UFC commentator Joe Rogan immediately after the title fight, which headlined Saturday’s pay-per-view event at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. “I couldn’t even f*cking – I couldn’t see the rest of the fight. I can’t see anything out of my left eye. It’s black. It is what it is. It doesn’t matter.
“I told [referee] Marc [Goddard] that he poked me, but he said it was a punch. But then after the fight, he said, ‘Yeah, I saw it on the replay.’ I just can’t see out of my left eye. It doesn’t matter, though. It is what it is.”
Referee Marc Goddard issued an apology following the fight admitted he missed the eye poke and realized his mistake only after reviewing the replay.
“I practice what I preach and as a man I stand tall and head on. If you accept plaudits then you must with mistakes too, that’s proof that you are listening, honest and implore improvement. Rough with the smooth, acceptance and ownership. Immediately after the fight when seeing the replay I apologized to Daniel and his team and I do so publicly and unreservedly for missing what I shouldn’t have – but I cannot call what I do not see. I don’t have replays and multiple angles, it’s a one shot take in real time. I cannot convey just how much I have both lived and loved this sport for the past 20 years. I truly appreciate all who understand.”
Cormier appeared to be comfortable with his path and although he did not officially retire he doesn’t see himself returning to the octagon.
“It just sucks,” he said. “Being on the losing end of two big fights and trilogies is a very sad position to be in, but I will deal with it as I’ve dealt with things in the past.”
Cormier didn’t admit whether he would retire, but he indicated that unless an unlikely scenario arose, he wouldn’t return to the octagon.
“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 will be it for me,” he said. “I’ve had a long run, it’s been great. I just fought my last fight for a heavyweight championship, and it was a pretty good fight.”
