“Today, I'm going to vacate UFC light heavyweight title,” Cormier wrote in a statement. “I don’t want to be deprived of a belt that I defended with all my strength for three and a half years. When they take your belt away, it means that you did something wrong, but this does not apply to me".
“I prefer to leave with my head up, as it always has been. I don’t want to mention in history that I was stripped of my title. I defended the title this year, and then decided to fight in the heavyweights and had three fights in 2018 - not a single champion fought so much. I am a fighter of the year," Cormier added.