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International Fight Week is upon us and with that comes one of the most stacked cards of the year - UFC 226. It'll go down this Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada and it'll feature some of the biggest and baddest names on the UFC roster today. We here at Sportskeeda were lucky enough to be on the media conference call for the event, getting the chance to speak with the two fighters scheduled to battle it out for the Heavyweight Championship: Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. A big thanks to the UFC for the following transcription.
SK: DC as we know you’re a big professional wrestling fan. In the last fight in the fans eyes it was almost like that you completed your turn from heel to babyface with the fans chanting your name throughout the fight. Are you expecting another positive crowd next weekend? And in this stage of your career how much does that matter to you?
Daniel Cormier: It doesn’t matter much. I mean I don’t know. Stipe is a very likable guy. I think the fans choose who’s the lesser of two evils and most of the time I’m probably the most evil guy so I get booed. It’s okay. At this point, it doesn’t matter. I’ve heard both sides of it and generally speaking I can usually turn fans. Because usually the smaller guy but I’m also usually the guy that presses forward and bring in the fight. It doesn’t really matter to me at this point.
SK: With this fight being five and a half months in advance does that change the way you approach camp? Does it change the way you generally prepare for the fight?
Daniel Cormier: Yes. I didn’t go to training camp right away while I was at The Ultimate Fighter I worked out some. I went to the UFC PI while I was in Vegas to do some strength and conditioning. I took my time. I started camp at 12 weeks like I’d normally start camp. I just didn’t have to do a nutritionist. My nutritionist came at a month this time instead of seven weeks. That’s the only difference. I still carry the same workload, just without as much stress on my body.
SK: Stipe first of all, in the wake of your fight at UFC 220 in Boston when you got the victory did you anticipate it’d take such little time for your next fight to be booked? The amount of time between your victory over in Ngannou and the fight with Cormier being booked was very short. Did you enjoy the fact that it was really quickly had another fight hit the pipeline?
Stipe Miocic: No I didn’t worry about it. They asked about it before and I told them don’t talk to me until after my fight. After the fight, I and DC talked a little bit and made sure it was right for both of us and here we are today.
SK: And finally we have seen that you been getting behind Croatia during the World Cup. If they win their round of 16 games against Denmark then the quarterfinal game will actually be on the same night as UFC 226. Are you going to find the time and find a way in the hours before the fight to watch it if they get there?
Stipe Miocic: Yes of course. They’re going to win. Of course. It’s during the day so I’ll be all right.
