UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier began his professional MMA career in 2009 and has since achieved great success. Prior to this, he has been a decorated wrestler who has won multiple tournaments going back as far as his high school years.

As he turns 39 years of age in 2018, DC is now beginning to look towards retirement, after more than two decades of top-level competition.

"I've been pretty vocal about it, that you'll never see me at 40," Cormier told ESPN.com. "We may be going into my last year in 2018. And I'm completely at peace with that.”

"It's time for this dude [nods at his son, Daniel Jr.] to take precedent in terms of sports. I've been doing high-level sports since I was 15. I can't do it forever. I'm ready to give the commitment and focus to my boy, after a few fights. I've got a couple [fights] left in me."

The two losses on Cormier’s record were courtesy of Jon Jones, and he admits that these two fights have been defining moments of his career.

"I think one of my biggest mistakes has been hinging so much on one person," Cormier said of Jones. "It's unfair to my career to base it all on him, but yes, I do still feel he's the icing on the cake.”

"There's nothing like a loss. Some people take time and move past it. I never do. All those losses in the big spots -- NCAA finals, Olympic semifinals, Olympic bronze-medal match, the fights with Jones -- they all stay with me. I think that's what makes me, me."

The first on Cormier’s list for 2018 is also his first title defense as reinstated champion when he faces Volkan Oezdemir as the co-headliner for UFC 220 on January 20th in Boston.