Daniel Cormier Suffers Torn Cornea In UFC 252 Loss To Stipe Miocic

Moments after his loss to Stipe Miocic in the main event of last night’s UFC 252 pay-per-view card, former two division UFC champion Daniel Cormier told UFC commentator Joe Rogan, “I can’t see.”

Near the end of Round 3, Cormier complained to referee Marc Goddard about an eye poke. During the action Goddard missed the foul. He rebuked Cormier by telling him Miocic punched him. The replay showed that Miocic poked Cormier in his left eye. Goddard apologized to Cormier after the event for missing the infraction.

“Look at my eye,” Cormier said to Rogan. “I couldn’t even (expletive) see. I couldn’t see the rest of the fight. I can’t see anything out of my left eye. It’s black. It is what it is. It doesn’t matter.”

“I told Marc that he poked me, but he said he thought it was a punch. After the fight he said, ‘Yeah, I saw it on the replay.’ So, I just can’t see out of my left eye. It doesn’t matter though, whatever, it is what it is.”

Cormier was taken to a Las Vegas hospital after the event.

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani spoke to Cormier and reported, “Daniel Cormier suffered a torn cornea last night, Cormier told me this morning. No timetable yet for recovery. Doctors said he won’t need surgery just yet but they have to monitor how it heals before knowing for sure. He was discharged from the hospital late Saturday night.”

Cormier retired after the contest, telling Rogan, “I’m not interested in fighting for anything but titles, and I don’t imagine there’s going to be a title in the future. That’ll be it for me. I’ve had a long run, it’s been great. I just fought my last fight for the heavyweight championship. It was a pretty good fight.”

The bout between Miocic and Cormier was the third meeting between the two. Cormier defeated Miocic to take the UFC title at UFC 226. In the rematch, Miocic evened the score. Miocic retained his title at UFC 252 with a decision win.

UFC 252 took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view card streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.