DANIEL CORMIER INSISTS he will not make a decision on his retirement based on emotion after the 40-year-old lost his heavyweight title to Stipe Miocic at UFC 241.

Cormier was stopped in the fourth round as Miocic, who was fighting for the first time since losing his title to Cormier in July 2018, landed a flurry of body shots.

Prior to the bout, Cormier’s coach Javier Mendez had suggested the fighter should retire, rather than take on Jon Jones – who labelled Miocic “the greatest heavyweight of all time” – in a trilogy fight.

Asked about the possibility of calling it a day, Cormier conceded he must take serious consideration over his next move.

“You don’t make decisions based on emotions. But this is a tough pill to swallow,” he said.

“At 40 years old, and so many other opportunities [available], I need to speak to my wife and make an educated decision as to what we’re going to do.”

Cormier added when asked where the fight went wrong for him: “I think [Miocic] made great body shots. He hit me with a number of right hands and I didn’t really feel anything, so maybe I took those for granted.

“He landed a great one and did a good job of following up. He’s a fantastic champion, congratulations to him and his team.”

UFC president Dana White, meanwhile, advised Cormier to take time over his decision.

“I don’t know what the future is for Cormier,” White said in the post-fight press conference.

“I told him, ‘Don’t think about whether you want to fight again, you don’t want to fight again and any of that stuff. Just relax. Go home and spend some time with your family and we’ll talk about all that s*** later’.”