Olympian, Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, UFC Heavyweight Champion, 3rd ever Two Division Champion in the UFC, and now you can add UFC Hall of Famer to the list of remarkable achievements for Daniel ”DC” Cormier.
Daniel Cormier: A Legendary Career
With an athlete of so many accolades, one may think this is an athlete who was born with amazing natural abilities and was destined for greatness. On the contrary, what really makes Daniel Cormier special is how he dealt with the ups and downs that he encountered throughout his career.
Blue Collar Title Reign
“You’re not the real champ”, “paper champ” are words that Cormier was very familiar with during his reign as the 205-lb champion. Fans have heard him say that this absurdness frustrated him, but these words never let it affect his performances inside the Octagon. From beating the biggest knockout threat in the sports history Anthony Johnson, dominating up-and-comer Volkan Ozdemir, fighting a legend in Anderson Silva with two days notice or defeating a fan favorite Alexander Gustafsson, DC kept proving that he was the best light heavyweight despite his loss to Jon Jones back in 2015.
UFC Immortality
Cormier got his crowning moment on July 7, 2018, when he defeated the longest-reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. The rare title of Two-Division Champion was bestowed onto DC an accolade and accomplishment that nobody could ever take away from him. His consistency and work ethic at light heavyweight got him a rare opportunity that only few had the chance at and only Conor McGregor had succeeded at the time.
A Humble Mindset
A young boy from the northside of Lafayette, Louisiana, who only started to pursue a career in MMA at 31 years old. Cormier did have any prior knowledge in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or striking. His physique was not one of the average fighter and standing at 5’11″, he would absolutely have physical disadvantages in almost every single one of his fights. Despite all of this, Cormier used the strengths he had and kept continuously improving. That was the work ethic that he credits his parents and his native community with and even more elevated by his family and team at American Kickboxing Academy. All of the hard work and support created a UFC Hall of Fame career. A career with moments of highs and lows, but most importantly one that told us how important it was to embrace the grind. That is the story of Daniel Cormier.
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