Issue 104
August 2013
Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champ Daniel Cormier is being touted as Jon Jones’ toughest challenge at 205lb, yet the unbeaten AKA Olympian is in no rush to drop into contention
ALIAS: DC
AGE: 34
PRO DEBUT: 2009
PRO RECORD: 12-0
TEAM: AKA
DIVISION: heavyweight
HEIGHT: five-foot-ten
STYLE: wrestling/striking
With question marks remaining over dislocated-toe victim Jon Jones’ availability for the rest of the year, the remainder of the UFC 205lb division seems most likely to go back into elimination fight mode, whilst the champion makes a full recovery. However, at least one potential contender for the title is more than happy with the enforced delay.
Former Strikeforce heavyweight Daniel Cormier is in no rush to chase the carrot offered by UFC president Dana White earlier this year, when he stated that the former two-time Olympic wrestling star would get an immediate shot at the 205lb crown should he drop down a division.
Cormier, after all, has suffered at the hands of the dreaded weight cut more than most. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, USA team captain Cormier suffered kidney failure struggling to beat the scales – and he’s adamant he won’t make the same mistake twice. “I’ll make 205lb in my own time, and it may not happen this year,” he says.
“I can make 205lb and that’s my plan, but I want to do it over a period of six months at least. In the meantime, heavyweight is anything over 206lb so I’ll keep fighting as a heavyweight whilst I make my way down.”
And, naturally, a fight with current title-holder Jones is the long-term goal. “If I was to get the opportunity to fight Jon Jones down the line, it would be great. It’s a fight I want, because I’m a guy who wants to fight the best and Jon is the best. But I’m trying to let that talk die down right now. It was starting to take center stage when I have other things to worry about.”
Cormier’s glittering amateur wrestling career was also followed by a stint in Real Pro Wrestling. He was crowned the champion at 211lb in the only season of the organization, but the short-lived professional wrestling league, a showy and salaried version of amateur wrestling rules, failed to capture the attention of the masses. Yet the AKA star and wrestling coach believes MMA could help something similar take off next time.
Cormier says: “I think now, with the growth of mixed martial arts, there would be a better chance of it working. These two sports can work hand in hand. Before, people just didn’t get it. Wrestling is a hard sport to follow if you haven’t been doing it for a really long time.”
For 34-year-old Cormier that’s now well over two decades; 23 years in fact. He was aged 11 when he first started wrestling, and his introduction to the mats came about following a playground fist fight, meaning his career has now gone full circle – from fighting to wrestling and back to fighting again.
He reminisces: “We were playing football right in front of the high school. Back then nobody had kicking tees. If you had a kicking tee, you were the man. My friend was the only one with a kicking tee and he would take it every time he got mad at us. So we get in this fight in front of the high school and the wrestling coach comes out and said that we should be doing something positive with ourselves instead of going down the wrong road like most kids in the neighborhood. We all started wrestling but I was the only one who stuck with it.”
And, not surprisingly growing up in the ‘80s, pro wrestling WWF-style also made a huge impression on young Cormier; one fighter in particular. “Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage was my hero,” he says with a smile. “My cousin and I had the biggest rivalry. Do you remember those rubber WWF figures that didn’t really do anything? Well, it was difficult for me to get Macho Man to win the belt because my cousin had the Hulk Hogan figure. It was the most ridiculous thing; it was like the Hogan figure was built to wear the belt around his waist. But Macho Man was the man. I loved him.”
Away from wrestling, Cormier was also an All-State linebacker in high school, with a scholarship to play at LSU. Yet he refuses to even imagine how his life may have turned out had he gone down that route. “No, I never think about that,” he says. “The position they wanted me to play wasn’t right. I didn’t think I was fast enough to chase behind linebackers and chase down wide receivers.
“They wanted me to play strong safety and I wasn’t smart enough to know that strong safety was just another linebacker. I can’t chase down Randy Moss! I would get embarrassed. And back then LSU wasn’t the LSU it is today. It was a little different back in 1997 then it is now.”
Similarly, neither is the sport of MMA – Cormier’s ultimate destination on his career sporting journey. And in MMA he’s just getting started. Despite an unblemished 12-0 record and the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix title secured for eternity, Cormier has a new dream of becoming UFC champion, and all roads lead to the 205lb belt. For Cormier fans at least, 2014 can’t come soon enough.
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