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Daniel Cormier questions if Stipe Miocic bulking up to beat Francis Ngannou would work

Daniel Cormier thinks Stipe Miocic putting on size likely wouldn’t change the outcome he had against UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou in their last fight.

In a recent interview on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) admitted that he came in too light for his rematch with Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) at UFC 260. Miocic weighed in at 234 pounds, while Ngannou tipped the scale at 263. It was a formula that worked for Miocic in both his rematch and trilogy bout with Cormier, but not against Ngannou.

Miocic was unable to get Ngannou to the ground and wound up getting knocked out in Round 2 to lose his title. While Cormier thinks putting on an extra 20 pounds would be beneficial, it might not be enough to take down Ngannou, who’s on a five-fight winning streak since November 2018.

“I think you gotta be heavy to fight Francis Ngannou,” Cormier said on his “DC & Helwani” ESPN show. “Because Francis is so big and strong, and Stipe may believe that in that situation where Francis sprawled on him and took him down, maybe he sucks a leg in, maybe he can pull it in if he is a little bit stronger. I don’t know if that is necessarily going to equate to that, but I believe that that’s a good first step.

“I thought he was way too small going into there the last time. I even asked him about it in the fighter meeting. I’m like, ‘Man, do you think maybe you should get a little bigger?’ He’s like, ‘I only lost weight because I’m training so hard. It wasn’t to be faster,’ this, that and the other. I think it is a great idea by Miocic. Does it change anything in a rematch? I am not certain. … Great idea by Miocic, you gotta change something if you want a different result. I am just not certain if it is enough because of Ngannou’s ability to knock him out.”

In the meantime, newly crowned heavyweight champion Ngannou is projected to rematch Derrick Lewis this summer. UFC president Dana White mentioned the possibility of Jon Jones making his heavyweight debut against Miocic, but the former light heavyweight champ quickly shut that down in a series of tweets that he later deleted.

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