Heading into UFC 226, Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic were respectful towards one another - as respectful as two men who are planning on knocking each other’s heads off can be. But it looks like heading into the rematch things won’t be quite the same.

After Cormier knocked out Miocic to claim the UFC heavyweight title, Miocic began campaigning heavily for an immediate rematch, based on his previous accomplishments. But Cormier and the UFC had designs on a title fight with Brock Lesnar. As the months dragged on and Lesnar was still nowhere to be found, Miocic ramped up his calls for a title fight, to the point where Cormier got tired enough to dress down the “entitled” former champion.

Eventually, when Brock Lesnar decided he didn’t want to come back, the UFC went ahead and gave Miocic his rematch. Cormier was fine with that decision but he did reiterate his annoyance with how Miocic handled the loss. That seemed to really get under Miocic’s skin as earlier this week, the record holder for heavyweight title defenses called out Cormier for being ‘an idiot’. Now, Cormier has responded with a promise to break Miocic like Jon Jones almost did to him.

“Fighters, we’re a different breed,” Cormier said on his Talk and Talker podcast recently. “Right away I was like, ‘Oh Stipe, son of a b*tch.’ But I like it though because the first time he’s all chummy and he’s all quiet and he doesn’t want to build a fight. Now at least he’s being vocal about how he feels. Be vocal. Tell me how you feel and that you want to kick my ass so when I kick your ass again, then you’re like in a dark room, just done.

“He’s gonna be done. After this one, it will be very hard for Stipe to get back to where he once was because this one’s going to break him. I know what the second Jones fight did to me. It almost broke me. But all my life experiences - my father, my cousin, my daughter, my roommate - all those life experiences allowed me to keep things in perspective, whereas he hasn’t really had to do that. So when he loses in this spot, I don’t think he’ll be able to recover from it. It’ll be too much.”

Harsh words from the heavyweight champion but ones that will surely build the rematch up. At UFC 241, they will get to settle their differences and that’s why, despite the harsh things he said about Miocic, Cormier isn’t all that bothered by what the former champion has to say. At the end of the day, he’s already won once, and now he gets to do it again.

“Stipe can say, ‘Oh he’s and idiot’ and he’s this and he’s that, but then I can just kick his ass again,” Cormier said. “Ultimately I had the last laugh in the whole thing with me and Stipe and I get to do it again, so that’s kind of how that thing plays out.”

UFC 241 takes place on August 17 in Anaheim, Calif.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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