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Daniel Cormier Relinquishes Light Heavyweight Belt: ‘They Can Have It’



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UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Before being forced to turn over his light heavyweight strap to the winner of the UFC 232 main event between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, Daniel Cormier has elected to give up his belt of his own accord.

Cormier wrote in a statement to ESPN Friday saying he would rather give the belt up than it be stripped once the cage door closes behind Jones and Gustafsson at UFC 232 on Saturday.

“Today I am going to relinquish the UFC light heavyweight title,” wrote Cormier, “I am not going to be stripped of the belt that I've defended with my all for three and a half years. Being stripped of a title suggests you've done something wrong, and I haven't.”

Continuing, he explained, “I'd rather walk away this way, with my head held high as it always has been, than have the history books say I was stripped. I've defended this title this year. I was approached with the idea of fighting at heavyweight, so I took it. I fought three times in 2018. No champion has been more active than me.”

Winning the vacant light heavyweight belt in 2015 with a third-round submission over Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, Cormier went on to defend that belt against Gustafsson and Johnson again before briefly losing the belt to Jones at UFC 214 in 2017. As Jones tested positive for banned substances after the bout, and the loss was overturned to a no contest, Cormier retained his belt and defended it once more at UFC 220 in January against Volkan Oezdemir. He then went on to become the second two-division champion in Ultimate Fighting Championship history when he knocked out heavyweight kingpin Stipe Miocic in July, and defended that heavyweight belt against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 in November.

Cormier closed by stating, “I am the fighter of the year. My story and my legacy will not include me being stripped of a title. They can have it.”

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