Daniel Cormier is the former Olympian, two-weight champion and high school wrestling coach trying to cement legacy in Stipe Miocic trilogy at UFC 252
Win or lose against Stipe Miocic on Saturday, Daniel Cormier’s name will be etched into the UFC history books.
Cormier is still at the top of his game despite being 41 but will bow out of MMA after UFC 252 with the chance to take the heavyweight belt one final time.
Cormier is one of only four fighters to hold two titles simultaneously in UFC
The former Olympic wrestler is a former two-weight champion and arguably one of the greatest the sport has ever seen.
He takes on Miocic for the third and final time in Las Vegas with the winner likely to be hailed as the UFC’s greatest heavyweight and possibly in MMA history.
When asked by ESPN if this is going to be one of the best fights ever, president Dana White said: “I do agree with that you know. And the truth is, going into this fight with all the hype. One of these two that wins the fight definitely goes down as the best heavyweight, you know in UFC history.
“You look at what Stipe has accomplished and Cormier, I mean, in two different weight classes what this guy has accomplished is one of the greatest of all time.”
Cormier revealed he would only fight Miocic again before he retired as he looks to establish his status as one of the best ever.
Cormier has one once and lost once to Miocic
He wrote on ESPN: “There is one last thing to do, and that’s win back the UFC heavyweight championship from Stipe Miocic on Saturday. It just means everything to me. The fight, the rivalry, the trilogy, it’s crazy for a guy who has been in so many big things like this to have a fight like this one at the tail end of his career.
“This fight allows me to have a chance to go out on top, a chance to be the champion again. I believe this fight is to crown the best heavyweight fighter of all time. But I do believe that any time they make a short list of guys they consider the greatest fighters of all time, I have to be in the conversation. That’s all you can really hope for – that your accomplishments stand tall next to anybody’s.”
The 41-year-old has an impressive MMA record with just two official defeats. One of those was to Miocic in August last year when he lost the heavyweight title.
Cormier shocked the MMA world in 2018 by KO’ing heavyweight king Miocic and becoming a two-weight world champion
The other is against light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones. Cormier did actually lose against Jones a second time but that was declared a no contest after Jones failed a drug test.
The hatred between Cormier and Jones runs deep and it’s the one blot on the former’s record that he could be tempted to try and return for.
But that takes nothing away from his impressive CV with wins against the likes of Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Dan Henderson, Alexander Gustafsson, Anderson Silva and Miocic.
He became just the second person ever to hold two UFC titles at the same time, after Conor McGregor, when he beat Miocic in 2018.
He excelled in combat sports from a young age and was a three-time Louisiana state champion in high school.
Cormier was also a talented American football player and was offered a scholarship to play at Louisiana State University at linebacker but decided to pursue wrestling.
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He was fast too, with a reported best 40-yard dash time of 4.5 seconds – the average time for an outside linebacker at the NFL combine is 4.65 seconds.
He ended up at Oklahoma State University, a Division 1 school, and was named an all-American in 2001 (an accolade given to the top eight in each weight class in the country).
After graduating from OSU, he had a successful freestyle wrestling career and came fourth in the 96kg category at the 2004 Olympics.
He was supposed to go to the 2008 games in Beijing but had to withdraw due to kidney problems.
Cormier decided to pursue MMA after the 2008 Olympics and went on to win heavyweight titles in XMMA and Strikeforce before joining the UFC.
Miocic and Cormier have battled it out in two thrilling UFC bouts
Win or lose against Miocic, he will be remembered as one of the best to ever step into the Octagon.
He already has things lined-up for his post-competitive days as a high school wrestling coach.
In 2018, Cormier was appointed head wrestling coach at Gilroy High School in Northern California, where he lives with his family.
“This opportunity is huge for me,” Cormier told MMAFighting.com at the time.
“Wrestling has been the foundation for everything I’ve done. I’m excited to coach a great team in Gilroy and excited to give back to the town that has accepted me and my family so openly.”
Cormier vs Miocic at UFC 252 will be live on talkSPORT 2 this Sunday. Adam Catterall, Nick Peet and Dan Hardy will bring you all the action from 1am
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