Daniel Cormier, who now owns the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles, is expected to defend his heavyweight belt against Brock Lesnar in the new year.

While this fight is sure to be huge, many fans feel that Brock Lesnar should not be anywhere near a heavyweight title shot. Many of these same fans feel that the first shot at Cormier’s title should go to Stipe Miocic — the very many Cormier beat to win that title.

Cormier has heard these criticisms.

“Obviously he feels he deserves a rematch,” Cormier said on a recent episode of The Steve Austin Show (transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting). “Again, for what he’s done in the sport, you would think that he would get a rematch, but when there’s a fight like Lesnar on the horizon, you don’t turn your back. Honestly, Stipe has a lot of really loyal fans, but you can’t think for a second that if he would have won that fight, he wouldn’t have wanted or taken that Lesnar fight. It’s the biggest fight in the sport outside of fighting Conor McGregor and he fights at 155 pounds. So yeah, I’m gonna fight Brock.”

For Daniel Cormier, of course, there are more reasons for fighting Lesnar than the financial benefits. He feels a win over the former champ will help solidify him as the heavyweight GOAT.

“Brock’s a big, bad, tough boy,” Cormier said. “A former UFC champ. Obviously he’s the WWE champion. Just a massive guy with a lot of fighting ability. I’ve known Brock a long, long time and I’m excited to compete against him. And really, not to compete against him, I want to put it on him because when you beat a guy like Brock Lesnar – if I beat the most dominant heavyweight champ of all time and then couple that with a fight over Brock, they may call me one of the great heavyweights of all time.”

What do you think a win over Brock Lesnar will do for Daniel Cormier’s heavyweight legacy?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/30/2018.