EXCLUSIVE | Javier Mendez gives his thoughts on what is next for Daniel Cormier

Daniel Cormier had originally planned to retire by his 40th birthday. Well, things may have changed.

“DC’s” birthday falls on March 20, and the only pay-per-view between now and then is UFC 235 – as UFC 234 is already finalized – which already has two title fights. Now, the question remains on whether or not Cormier will retire before then or stick around longer.

If he does stick around, he has options for his next fight. There is the Stipe Miocic rematch, the Brock Lesnar fight, or perhaps, a Jon Jones trilogy fight. That is if he sticks around past his 40th birthday. But, according to American Kickboxing Academy’s head coach Javier Mendez, the retirement may very well be prolonged.

“I don’t know what is going to happen now. So many things have changed, the landscape, things that were unforeseen,” Mendez said to BJPENN.com of what the future holds for Cormier. “Now, the retirement thing is going to be prolonged. I don’t know, one fight, two fight, three fights, who knows. The best scenario is for him to fight Brock Lesnar and finish. We will see what happens, it is hard to say.”

If the retirement is prolonged, know for sure, Cormier will not be going down to light heavyweight to take on Jones.

“Yeah. For me, he is done with the light heavyweight division so I think he fights Brock.” Mendez added.

The most likely scenario is Cormier will defend his heavyweight title one more time against the current WWE champion Brock Lesnar. Then, “DC” can retire and end his legendary career.

One thing that remains certain is when Cormier retires, he will once again be passing the torch to his friend and teammate, Cain Velasquez. Velasquez is back and could be one or two wins away from a title shot. Mendez’s dream scenario is for Cormier to retire and Velasquez takes over as the heavyweight champion in his following fight.

“For instance, my goal is to get Cain his title back after ‘DC’ vacates later this year,” he concluded. “Once that is achieved I am onto the next one, then it will be Justin Willis’ opportunity.”

Do you think Daniel Cormier will fight again after his 40th Birthday?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/22/2019.