Miocic took to social media late on Sunday, sharing an image of him walking to the cage with accompanying text saying, "The time has come. Who's ready?!"

And judging by his response hours later, Cormier seems more than ready to answer the call. 

The two consensus best heavyweights on the UFC roster have been linked to a fight for months. It would be the third meeting between the two fighters, with the scores currently tied one apiece since their fights in 2018 and 2019. 

Cormier, who lost the heavyweight title in their most recent bout last August, has long stated that he will entertain just one more fight in an athletic career which saw him selected for two US Olympic teams as well as winning world titles in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight categories in the UFC. 

However, plans for closure to the Cormier-Miocic rivalry have been slowed by a persistent eye injury currently being dealt with by the champion as well as concerns about the viability of holding fights during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

The UFC, though, have been among the world's first sports to reestablish their event schedule and with the Covid-19 concerns apparently bypassed (for now, at least), a path has been cleared to unscramble the logjam atop the heavyweight division. 

And Miocic says he is ready.

Cormier's reply, which came Monday morning, also contained a photograph of the fighter approaching the octagon, along with the text, "LFG" - or "let's f*cking go" - and came hours after he initially reacted to Miocic's message by saying, "You're done."

The delay in arranging the Cormier-Miocic decider has apparently irked some of the other fighters in the conversation for heavyweight supremacy. Francis Ngannou also responded to Miocic, telling the champion and his challenger that, "It’s been almost a year now so stop fighting on social media and sign the contract on your desks and let’s move on."

The Cameroonian fighter is the presumptive next man up to challenge the winner of the eventual rubber match after weaving a path of destruction through the UFC's heavyweight competition in recent fights. 

For Ngannou, it seems a case of 'if' not 'when' - but he is clearly growing weary of the melodrama ahead of what would be own potentially redemptive fight with Miocic, who thoroughly outclassed the green title challenger more than two years ago.