Daniel Cormier has the biggest and in all likelihood the last fight of his career against Stipe Miocic in August. While Cormier has started his training for the trilogy, he feels it is necessary to address certain allegations that were levied on him in the last two fights. The former double champ cleared his stand on the issue of eye pokes in his last two fights against Stipe.

It was due to Cormier’s eye pokes that Miocic had undergone surgery to repair an injured retina. The same led to the trilogy being possibly delayed. The heavyweight kingpin only wanted to fight when he was able to see clearly through both his eyes.

While certain fans think Cormier does the eye pokes on purpose, DC believes otherwise. Cormier thinks it is because of the change in the size of gloves in training and in actual fights that led to the eye pokes.

“I’m not purposely doing that. I’m not purposely poking him in the eye. That first fight, I kind of poked him in the eye but the issue with that was sometimes when I spar and because I’m shorter, I have the 16-ounce gloves, I can kind of flick my hand towards guys and hit them when they’re a little bit out of range. I think that’s what happened the first time,” Cormier said while talking to MMA Fighting.

“The second time, once I think my knuckle got jammed into his eye but that’s not a finger. I kind of punched and the thumb was tucked into a fist but the knuckle got him in the eye.”

Daniel Cormier doesn’t want Stipe Miocic to go through what Michael Bisping did

One aspect in which MMA gloves differ from the ones used in boxing is that they allow open fingers. This is to facilitate the grappling exchanges during the fight. However, the side effect of the same is that it allows fighters to poke their opponent, intentionally or unintentionally.

Several fighters in the past, such as Jon Jones, have gained notoriety for their eye pokes during the fights. While the referee reserves the right to disqualify a fighter for an intentional eye poke, the same happens very rarely. For instance, during the first fight between Miocic and Cormier, referee Marc Goddard warned DC repeatedly to check the eye pokes.

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Despite not enough jurisdiction regarding the matter, Cormier asserts that he can never poke someone in the eye intentionally. The former Olympian, who moonlights as a UFC commentator, knows the issues that his colleague Michael Bisping faces. The former middleweight champ fought through a major part of his career without his right eye.

“I’m not trying to poke the guy in the eye. That’s f**king stupid,” Cormier said. “Why would I ever do that? I don’t wish long term damage to this guy’s eye. I don’t wish that the guy can’t see out of his freaking eye. That’s crazy.”

“One of my friends and co-workers deals with that, Michael Bisping. I don’t want to see another guy having to deal with that. That’s crazy. I’m not trying to poke this guy in the eye.”

With the trilogy right around the corner, Daniel Cormier will be hoping to finish his illustrious career on a high. Surely he wouldn’t want any asterisk regarding eye pokes on his resume for his last fight.