Daniel Cormier used his outstanding wrestling skills to defeat 20-1 underdog Dion Staring in his former home of Oklahoma, then used his post-fight interview to serve notice to two of UFC’s biggest names.
Cormier, the former OSU standout and Olympic wrestler, owned the action on the mat and had Staring briefly trapped in a crucifix in the first round. Staring was escaped, but was hit with several hard shots on the feet and taken back down to the mat. Cormierfinished the round in mount position, landing heavy punches.
The second round saw more of the same as Cormier continued with his ground and pound assault. Staring had no answer from his back and referee “Big” John McCarthy called a halt to the action with fifty-eight seconds remaining.
After the fight, Cormier revealed he had a contract to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir on April 20th, and announced his intentions to drop down to the light heavyweight division after that fight and “kick [Jon Jones’] ass in the fall”.
