Daniel Cormier stops Stipe Miocic to become two-weight UFC champion, then calls out Brock Lesnar

Daniel Cormier stopped Stipe Miocic in dramatic fashion during the first round of their heavyweight title fight at UFC 226, before challenging former champion and current WWE star Brock Lesnar.

Cormier (21-1, 1 no-contest) flattened Miocic (18-3) with a right elbow out of a clinch, before finishing him on the ground with 27 seconds left in the round by landing several shots to the defenceless champion's head.

Cormier became the second fighter in UFC history to hold two championship belts simultaneously. Conor McGregor was the UFC's featherweight champ in 2016 when he took the lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez.

"I was a heavyweight for a long time, and I left the division," Cormier said. "I never knew what I could become, but tonight I got the answer. I'm a two-division champion, baby!"

The 39-year-old Cormier has never lost to anyone except Jon Jones, the star-crossed former light-heavyweight champion who beat him twice.

Cormier's move up to challenge Miocic was only the third superfight in UFC history between reigning champions of two weight classes. Welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre defended his belt in 2009 by battering lightweight champ BJ Penn, and McGregor accomplished his feat less than two years ago in his most recent MMA fight.

After beating Miocic, Cormier called former UFC heavyweight champion Lesnar into the cage. Lesnar shoved Cormier in the chest before the fighters traded insults.

"Push me now, [and] you're going to sleep later," Cormier yelled at Lesnar. "Your days are in the past. In the stone age."

Afterwards, UFC President Dana White confirmed he intends for Cormier's next fight to be a defence of his heavyweight title against Lesnar.

"Yeah, we are definitely going to make that fight," White said. "So, Lesnar hit me up a couple of days ago and said sorry I went dark on you but I had some stuff I had to take care of and I am going to come to the fight this weekend. I said 'okay, see you Saturday'.

"He came here tonight and he was all fired up, if you couldn't tell. Right when he got to my seat on the side he was acting like a lunatic. He was fired up and excited for this fight."

Lesnar has not fought since beating Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in July 2016, after which he subsequently failed a doping test and was suspended for a year.

The 40-year-old Lesnar formally retired about six months into that suspension, meaning, under the UFC's anti-doping policy, he must serve another six months once he re-enters the company's USADA-run drug-testing pool.

White confirmed that process is underway, which would make Lesnar eligible for a return to the Octagon as early as January of next year.

"The process has started," White confirmed. "They started the process last week. I don't know where they are in the process but he is going to pop up on the board here soon."

Earlier in the night, heavyweight Derrick Lewis earned a decision over former title challenger Francis Ngannou in the co-main event at the UFC's biggest show of the summer. Welterweight Mike Perry also earned a bloody split-decision victory over Paul Felder.

The show capped the UFC's annual International Fight Week in early July in its hometown. For the fourth consecutive year, the weekend's pay-per-view card lost a major fight when featherweight champion Max Holloway was ruled out of his title defence with Brian Ortega due to symptoms of an apparent concussion.