Issue 133
October 2015
UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier picks out the defining moments of his epic sporting career.
1. The redemption fight – Anthony Johnson, UFC 187
This is the redemption fight. Getting the second chance to do something great. A second chance to accomplish a goal that most guys don’t ever get the chance to do once. When I won and Anthony wrapped that belt around my waist I was appreciative. He made me getting crowned champion different. Most guys get Dana doing it and that would have been great, too. Being the classy guy he was he chose to make my experience different. Having the belt wrapped around my waist felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. When I won the Strikeforce championship I felt like I accomplished something great. But then when I won this one... Nothing compares to the UFC. To be crowned champion in the largest organization in the world, nothing beats it.”
2. Grappling greatness – Cael Sanderson, NCAA wrestling finals (2001)
“Just losing to him in the finals shifted the way I was going to try to chase my Olympic dream. Initially I was going to stay at 185lb and try to make the Olympic team, but Cael was still there. I started to gain weight after the nationals.
“I went up to 211lb and ended up making two Olympic teams, but that NCAA finals match was one of the closer matches we had in our series.
“Wrestling Cael so close just showed me that if I can compete against him, being the greatest college wrestler of all time, I would have an opportunity to make an Olympic team and I did it.”
3. Bar room brawler – Gary Frazier, Strikeforce Challengers 3
“That was my very first pro fight. It showed me I could actually do this. I trained for about three and a half weeks. Bob Cook came in and said, ‘Do you want a fight? Do you want to make some money? You’ll be fine. Let’s go.’
“I had a panic attack the day of the fight. I was like, ‘I am actually going to go into the cage and I am going to fight. I don’t know if I can do this.’
“I went in there and we swung wild punches like we were in a bar, and eventually I fell on top of him and then got behind him. In the little bit of time I was in a gi I knew if I could get behind someone I could get my hooks in. I started punching him and got a stoppage. It was unbelievable.”
4. Dealing with defeat – Jon Jones, UFC 182
“It was my first time dealing with a loss. It made me view things differently. I thought I was invincible, man. It made me realize I wasn’t. I beat all these guys leading up to this fight and I truly thought there wasn’t a guy on the planet that could match me in the fight game.
“Jon Jones showed me that wasn’t true. He had a better game plan than I did. He stuck to the game plan better than me. He relied on his experience at the championship level to get past me. I had to reevaluate a lot of things coming out of that fight. It taught me a lot.”
5. Becoming a man – Antonio Silva and Josh Barnett, Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix
“Let’s just call this choice the Strikeforce Grand Prix. Getting in there with Antonio Silva less than two years into my mixed martial arts career, after he just beat Fedor (Emelianenko), before they made him stop taking his medication for the pituitary gland issue… ‘Bigfoot’ was a beast! He’d just beat the greatest heavyweight of all time and I fought him on five weeks’ notice and I knocked him out.
“Then, right after that, I had to fight Josh Barnett, a former UFC heavyweight champion and a guy who I respected tremendously. He’s someone I’d watched for a long time.
“I wasn’t even in the top 25 when I fought those guys. To beat two top-five guys in the world after only being in the sport for two years, to cap off my Strikeforce career, it was a fairy-tale ending. I dealt with a lot of adversity leading up to the Barnett fight. I felt like I really grew up. I became a man in mixed martial arts.”
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