Miocic cleared from eye injury, no timetable for return

UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic was medically cleared last week after dealing with an eye injury for the past five months.

"(I'm) better - a lot better," Miocic said Wednesday, according to WKYC Channel 3. "It's healed up. I'm taking my time with it because I'm 37, so I don’t want to injure it again or something. I want to be able to see out of both eyes when I get older."

Miocic added: "I've been trying to spar a little bit. It’s been rough because I've not sparred in over five months."

The Ohio native suffered the injury in his August title win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 241. "DC" accidentally poked him in the eye in the fight, which Miocic won by fourth-round TKO.

In their first meeting, Cormier knocked Miocic out to win the belt at UFC 226 in July 2018.

UFC president Dana White said the promotion plans to book a trilogy bout between Miocic and Cormier, but the champ said he's not yet thinking about his next fight.

"I'm taking my time getting back into the swing of things," he said. "We'll figure it out and see what happens."

Miocic's agent, Jim Walter, had a different opinion. He said the champ is looking at a new matchup.

"We hope to have Stipe back in competition this year in a fight that makes sense and against an opponent that Stipe has not beaten before," he said, according to ESPN's Marc Raimondi. "He is more than willing to defend his belt. If an opportunity presents itself outside the UFC, Tyson Fury and Stipe spoke face-to-face in Las Vegas at the Conor McGregor fight."