The baddest man on the planet was decided July 7, 2018. The witnesses of this cataclysmic battle called the event "Judgement Day." The spectators were part of a new era—one that would change everything. UFC Fight Pass became self-aware and sent the DC-1000 (Daniel Cormier) unit back to become the greatest fighter of all time. He would have to destroy Jon Jones, the leader of the human resistance in the process. The first DC-1000 tried to eliminate Jones before and failed. Now, he's back to change history, but the resistance has sent their own Terminator to stop Cormier's pre-programmed destiny once and for all: An M10-CIC—the advanced and stoic prototype also known as Stipe Miocic. 

September 10, 2011 

A searing ball of blue light melts the drive-thru window of a Church's Chicken in downtown Cincinnati.

The hot glow fades to reveal a short but hulking figure shrouded in an aura of steam. It's Daniel Cormier. Nude in the cool night. 

He begins walking toward the U.S. Bank Arena with calculated focus. In multiple alternate timelines, Cormier is the baddest man on the planet. There's no way to know if this is one of them or not. The only thing certain is that he's going to shatter his metal fist on Bigfoot Silva's massive skull in a few hours, altering the course of history. First, he has to get some clothes. 

It took under four minutes for the DC-1000 to obliterate Silva in the semifinal of Strikeforce's heavyweight Grand Prix. He'd announce to the world that he was going to the finals to fight Josh Barnett, who hadn't even won his fight yet, to earn the title. Everything he said happened.

He hadn't lost up until this point and wouldn't lose for another four years.    

"Daniel Cormier—two-time Olympic wrestler—proving to be a striking machine, pulling off a major upset here tonight. The unpredictable world of mixed martial arts has just authored a dramatic chapter." - Mauro Ranallo       

May 14, 2016 

Fabricio Werdum shadowboxes before his life changes forever. 

Thunderous chants roar from thousands wishing death on his opponent. 

Stipe Miocic stands in the Octagon at UFC 198 looking mildly inconvenienced. That is, if machines had the capacity for nuisance or understood the concept of human mortality. He has no computing power to waste on the frailties of softer beings. He's locked on his objective, which is earning the UFC heavyweight title.  

Confidence isn't something Werdum lacks. It's believed he was the first man to kill a Terminator. However, those models are long obsolete. The M10-CIC is sophisticated, efficient, and equipped with state-of-the-art upgrades contained in the most durable frame yet. The bell rings. All of this becomes evident.  

History creates itself incredibly fast when you don't know you're watching it. After a few exchanges, the advanced targeting apparatus engages and rockets a punch into Werdum's jaw. The mortal stumbles. His human emotion takes over and storms forward to earn revenge. This time he's met with a kill shot. Miocic's voice screams into the silence of Brazil, "I'm a world champ."

"Everyone wants to talk about DC being undefeated at heavyweight. The only guy he ever lost to is Jon Jones. Well, guess what: He's going to lose to me too." - Stipe Miocic 

August 4, 2014

A torrential time storm infinitely rips through the continuum. 

Two chunks of matter collide together for all eternity with Dave Sholler in the middle. Daniel Cormier and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones have their first fight and it's in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Later this evening on "SportsCenter," the leader of the human resistance tells the DC-1000 unit he's going to kill him—not fight him, but literally kill him. 

"Do you think I'm just going to sit there and let you kill me? I'm a cybernetic organism. Living tissue over metal endoskeleton, Jon."   

No one could know the events put into place on this day would continue to unfold for years and years. Two official bouts between them would take place while three others fail. The title eventually changed hands regardless with incalculable circumstances interspliced everywhere in between. Whatever the configuration of dimension or strange iteration of the matrix, this is a constant through all timelines: Jon Jones beat Daniel Cormier. 

Through 20 wins over the best heavyweights and light heavyweights in the world, Cormier has only fallen to that one man, and it happened twice.  

...But he only has to beat Stipe Miocic once.  

“There was a side of Daniel Cormier you saw that day and you thought, ‘That’s not the same guy. This is wiring him differently.'” - Dave Sholler

January 20, 2018

The crossover blockbuster event of the first quarter: Terminator versus Predator.

After a few short years, the M10-CIC methodically took out the world's most dangerous men: Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski, Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, and Junior dos Santos. Now, a behemoth from a faraway land has arrived to usurp the throne. 

M10-CIC calculates the odds. He already knows the outcome.     

The beast threatens with mighty swats that wobble even Miocic, but every minute that passes, Francis Ngannou's arms become heavy. A machine never tires. A machine never gives up. Those are things that human bodies do, even if they're 6-foot-4, 263 pounds of fast-twitch muscle fiber. It was supposed to be a terrifying test. The arrival of a new beast. 

It was neither. 

After 25 grueling minutes, Miocic successfully defended the UFC heavyweight title longer than anyone in the promotion's history. He vows it will stay that way, but Daniel Cormier—who just decimated a surging knockout artist on the same card—has other plans.  

“I’m going to keep winning, keep shutting everyone up. That’s what I do. ‘And Still,’ nothing’s changed, and it won’t change.” - Stipe Miocic

March 20, 2019

Judgement Day came and went. The unknown future arrived.  

In this universe, Cormier became the baddest man on the planet at UFC 226 and retired today. 

C4IN-V uploaded his database inside the DC-1000 unit that night and made him more powerful than any could have imagined.  

Within a separate timeline, Miocic remained champion. In your universe, maybe it's Jones or Georges St-Pierre. It could still be Fedor Emelianenko or Anderson Silva. Regardless of who it is, it's only for the briefest of moments. 

The vast sea of time continues its tide and never dries. 

Even if Cormier assumes the mantle and becomes the greatest of all time, more will come as he walks away. Certainly and continually, more will come. That's what's more brutal than any never-ending war between martial artists: that history only matters as long as people remember it. 

And a decade-long career can be rewritten in an instant.