UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier won’t be fighting former UFC champion Brock Lesnar as the latter told the promotion’s president Dana White that he has retired, according to ESPN.
White said the UFC is now planning for Cormier (22-1), a former NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State, to fight another former champion in Stipe Miocic (18-3) for a pay-per-view card Aug. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Cormier and Miocic have verbally agreed to the fight, but contracts are not yet signed. Cormier knocked out Miocic in the first round at UFC 226 in July 2018 to claim the heavyweight belt and become a two-division champion as he also held the light heavyweight belt at the time.