With Brock Lesnar 'retired' from UFC, Dana White targets Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic rematch

Lesnar has informed White that his career in the Octagon is finished, according to UFC's president

The Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Cormier UFC heavyweight championship match that has been slowly building since July 2018 looks to now be completely off the table. Lesnar has informed Dana White that he is retiring from mixed martial arts, the UFC president told ESPN's Ariel Helwani and Brett Okamoto.

With Lesnar apparently hanging up the gloves for good, White admitted that it's time to move in a new direction for Cormier, the heavyweight title holder. 

"[Lesnar] told me he's done, he's retired," White told ESPN. "We're going to move in another direction with Cormier."

This new direction is a rather obvious one. With Lesnar no longer in the equation, White admitted that the new plan is for Cormier to defend his heavyweight title against the man he defeated to become a dual-champion at UFC 226, Stipe Miocic.

"I'm ready," Miocic told ESPN. "I've been ready. And I'm going to take back what's mine."

It was after Cormier's shocking first-round TKO of Miocic to end Miocic's historic reign that the road to a Lesnar-Cormier showdown seemingly began. The former heavyweight champ, who has not fought in the Octagon since a 2016 victory over Mark Hunt which was overturned due to Lesnar failing a pair of drug tests, entered the Octagon to confront the new champion. It appeared to be only a matter of time before the two would clash as White continually alleged it was slowly but surely coming together. 

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In between the initial confrontation with Cormier and news of his retirement on Tuesday night, Lesnar was still working for WWE, holding the universal championship for all but one month from April 2017 to April 7 when he dropped the title to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35. Should this indeed be the end of Lesnar in the Octagon, he will end his MMA career with a record of 5-3-1. 

Now the attention turns to the title fight that many die-hard UFC fans would have preferred to see in the first place. Despite the stunningly quick loss at UFC 226 to Cormier, Miocic defended the heavyweight title a record three consecutive times. In the eyes of many, that entitled him to an opportunity to immediately regain it back. 

According to Okamoto, both Cormier and Miocic have confirmed their rematch is tentatively scheduled to take place on Aug. 17 in Anaheim, California, and the process of finalizing the deal is underway.