#18: Daniel Cormier
Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images
“By not accepting loss, it makes you ensure that you don't do it very often.”
This quote taken from Daniel Cormier after his devastating fourth round knockout loss to former UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic that saw him relinquish his hard earned UFC heavyweight title that he took from Miocic back in July of 2017 with a spectacular first round knockout. Cormier is a man to whom many will be considered one of the best to have never truly been at the top of the hill, a great existing in an era of legends. Whether he rebounds from his loss to Miocic is yet to be seen, but Cormier has made a living out of overcoming adversity showcasing incredible durability both inside and outside of the octagon.
From personal loss to Olympic dreams dashed to a crushing knockout defeat by his brash, controversial arch nemesis Jon Jones. Cormier’s legacy in MMA and wrestling are defined by the most crucial component of competition: Rivalry. Fighters, more so then any other athlete in any sport, due to the intense one on one nature of their sport are as defined by their own performance as they are by the opponent standing across from them. Like Ali & Frazier or Sadulaev & Snyder, a true rivalry brings something out of the two combatants that they alone could not muster, it serves as a catalyst to bring out greatness. However, fighting even being an art is a rather cruel one and all rivalries are inevitably defined by the domination of one of the other, and this state of inevitable entropy has defined Cormier’s combat career.
Daniel spent his time in wrestling against premier athletes such as 6x World/Olympic champ Khadzhimurat Gatsalov of Russia, 4x NCAA champ Cael Sanderson, 6x World/Olympic medalist Alireza Heydari of Iran. His most memorable fights in the UFC were no less significant, as he battled against the likes of thirteen-time UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, and three-time UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic. Cormier is notorious for the times he has gone out on his shield, as well as the times he has come back victorious from battle. Even with this being the case, it is absolutely necessary that Cormier is accredited with the proper respect as being one of the all-time greats in a era of legends.
Lafayette Legend
Cormier’s combat sports career began in Louisiana, where he would have an illustrious high school career that saw him win three state titles and tally up a record of 101-9 along with making 1995 cadet world team at 83 KG where he would win a world bronze medal. Daniel would see immediate success at the college level as he would compete in his first two years for Colby Community College where he would notch two JUCO national titles in 1998 and 1999. After his stint at CCC, Cormier made the move over to one of if not the most prestigious wrestling programs there ever has been in the form of Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State wrestling has a rich, storied tradition in folkstyle and freestyle wrestling. In folkstyle (the primary one practiced in America and what is competed in in college competition), the Cowboys have 34 team national championships, 213 wrestlers with 425 All-American honors, 40 Olympians with 10 champions bringing home 13 gold medals in total marked by legends of the sport (such as 6x World/Olympic champ John Smith with his titles in 1988 and 1992 and Yojiro Uetake of Japan who won Olympic titles in 1964 and 1968).
In his first year at Oklahoma State, Cormier stormed right out of the gate all the way to the #3 seed at the NCAA championships, but disaster would strike as Cormier would fall to Doug Lee of Oregon 6-4 in the quarters and dropping down into the consolation bracket where he would fall in the round of 12 to Cash Edwards of Boise State in a wild 15-10 match and end the 2000 NCAA tournament off the podium. Cormier would come back a man possessed for the 2001 NCAA tournament and would make the 184 pound finals off the win of a pin via lateral drop over future Olympian and teammate Andy Hrovat of Michian. In the finals, Cormier was faced with 2004 Olympic champ and 4x undefeated NCAA champ Cael Sanderson of Iowa State in the finals. Cormier would hang in there with Sanderson but drop an 8-4 match off of the the strength of Sanderson’s ankle picks and low singles, with Cormier scoring an over collar tie snapdown to go-behind to get his sole takedown of the match.
Having had finished his collegiate wrestling career, Cormier would then go to the senior freestyle scene where he would make six World/Olympic teams with his best finishes coming at the 2007 world championships with a bronze medal at 97 KG and a 5th place finish at the 2003 world championships coupled with a 4th place finish at the 2004 Olympic games. Cormier’s freestyle career was defined by his domestic dominance, but also like his later MMA career by his rivals. These rivals were 6x World/Olympic champ Khadzhimurat Gatsalov of Russia and 1998 world champ Alireza Heydari of Iran. Heydari beat Cormier at the 2003 world championships, the 2004 Olympic bronze medal match, and the 2006 world championships, while Gatsalov would dash any of Cormier’s dreams for an Olympic gold medal with a win over the talented American in the semifinals of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Captain Cormier
Even not being able to get past these two great talents, Cormier still separated himself from the field notching incredibly impressive wins over the likes of World/Olympic medalists such as 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Michael Batista Martinez of Cuba, 8x World/Olympic medalist Khetag Gozyumov of Azerbaijan, 3x World bronze medalist Ruslan Sheikov of Belarus, 2005 world bronze medalist Alexei Krupniakov of Kyrgyzstan, and 2003 world bronze medalist Krassmir Krotchev of Bulgaria. It was Cormier’s final competition, the 2008 Olympics that would see him retire from the sport as he withdrew due to weight cutting complications that led to kidney failure. Now having finished his competitive wrestling career, Cormier needed an outlet to apply his skills and continue on his path towards gold and being able to become the best.
As a competitor, Cormier possesses absolutely punishing go-behinds that he likes to score off on their own or use to initiate a flurry to get to his favorite leg attack a snatch single. When getting his go-behind, Cormier will use a chest wrap set it up making his opponent flatten out their position lest they base up and pressure in too much and give up the exposure on the chest wrap, conceding the 1 instead of the 2 (in old freestyle rules, currently freestyle rules state that a takedown and exposure are both equal to 2 points). Cormier’s go-behinds serve two purposes: 1) setting up his own offense off the go-behind itself and 2) acting as the catalyst that opens up a flurry that would allow for him to get his opponent to get out of position and for Cormier to score off a reattack. This is much easier than a straight shot with an opponent in good position.
Cormier, a 1995 cadet Greco world bronze medalist, is an absolute terror to go upper body as the former UFC double champ has a beautiful step around knee block throw that he can hit from an over under or from double underhook and an absolutely lethal lat drop that he used to pin fellow Olympian Andy Hrovat in the 2001 184 pound NCAA semifinals match before he went on to lose an 8-4 decision to 4x NCAA champion Cael Sanderson of Iowa State, along with his step-around knee block throws and lat drops, Cormier boasts a brilliant inside trip that he would use to make opponents pay for competing in the upper body with him. DC has shown a proclivity towards using his fantastic strength and athleticism to power through his lengthier opponents at light heavyweight and heavyweight by using snatch single legs that he’ll either pop his hips through and lift and power finish bringing them to the mat or run his feet and double.
Cormier’s success in MMA has largely been predicated on his ability to blend his wrestling and his striking, handfighting, parrying, and slipping strikes to be able to get to an over-under or double-unders to get to his step around knee block throws or using collar ties as a means of breaking his opponent’s position to set up uppercuts which he used to knockout Stipe Miocic to take the heavyweight title. His snatch single is sharp, and it ensures that he’ll go a power finish, exemplified against Alexander Gustaffson and Stipe Miocic. Compounding the single leg, DC also owns a strong double leg, which propelled him to a win against a lethal Anthony Johnson in their first fight.
Conversely, there are aspects of Cormier’s game that have cost him in critical junctions in his biggest fights. Cormier’s insistence upon clinch fighting with one of the best clinch fighters in all MMA in the form of Jon Jones cost him dearly in their first fight. Jon was able to control the distance the whole time, forcing Cormier to extend and break his positioning, as well as take down the former Olympian with startling ease, especially considering both their respective wrestling pedigrees. In the second fight, Cormier revamped his approach, chucking the clinching and instead just saying in Jones’ face with punches. This opened up another problem, however. Cormier’s commitment to slipping his head to the right to block strikes meant that as soon as Jones got the rhythm down on it, he crushed Cormier with a left high kick in the third round to knock him out.
Yet another technical liability cost him in a legacy-defining rematch with Stipe Miocic. The Ohio native made a critical adjustment in the fourth round, seeing that every time DC slipped strikes he left his body wide open. Combined with a abhorrent lack of proper pressuring footwork to cut Miocic off and keep himself protected, Miocic went to work on DC’s body with brutal hooks to the body. Within one round, Cormier has been comprehensively solved and taken out, with Stipe avenging his loss to take back the UFC heavyweight title.
Across his entire combat career, we’ve seen someone who truly has the makings of an all-time great someone who truly is one of the best there has ever been. That said, even with this being the case, Cormier has been stuck in one of the most unenviable positions; an all-time great in an era of legends. It’s yet to be seen if Cormier will come back against Miocic, and Jones has created more competitive separation between the two. It appears the former double champ will have had his name stamped in the history books as one of the best to ever do it but never the best man at either weight.