From the Archives: Daniel Cormier: The Greatest That Could Have Been?
Dipping into the old Keyboard Kimura reserves following a request from a reader.
This feature was originally written last August ahead of Miocic-Cormier III and lived on the old Keyboard Kimura website before I killed it dead because SquareSpace is trash and I have all the files on my computer still.
A reader, Nanaimo Steve, reached out about this piece and if I’d be running archival material on this site, so I thought, ‘Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.’
So here you go. ESK
Daniel Cormier never won a National Championship as a wrestler at Oklahoma State University because he wrestled in the same division as Cael Sanderson, arguably the greatest American wrestler of all time.
According to his coach, the legendary John Smith, he could have competed in a couple different divisions higher up the scale and steamrolled the competition, but wrestling at the weight he did is what was best for the team, so Cormier sacrificed his personal achievements for the good of the squad, continually ran into Sanderson, and left Stillwater as a perpetual runner-up.
When he began his mixed martial arts career, Cormier competed at heavyweight. Two weeks prior to the two-year anniversary of his professional debut, the two-time Olympian knocked out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the semifinals of the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix.
That may not sound as impressive now given that the Brazilian’s career has fallen off a cliff as he hung on for far too long, piling up loses while picking up checks, but at the time, “Bigfoot” was fresh off his two-round mauling of Fedor Emelianenko and sporting a 16-2 record overall. Cormier, who entered the sport without any experience or foundation in the striking arts, dropped him cold in under four minutes.
Eight months later, he manhandled Josh Barnett to win the tournament, going from alternate to undeniable heavyweight contender in less than a year.
Following a second-round stoppage win over journeyman Dion Staring, Cormier transitioned to the UFC, earning a unanimous decision win over former champion Frank Mir in his promotional debut before outworking Roy “Big Country” Nelson in his sophomore appearance in the Octagon.
Revisionist history buffs will tell you that Mir and Nelson were well passed their primes — two name brand fighters trading on their reputations — but each remained active and competitive in the UFC heavyweight division for another three years. Though they had more setbacks than successes during that time, many of those losses came against fighters who were and in some cases still are contenders to this day, so to call them washed now in hindsight feels like a mistake.
Four years and one month into his career as a mixed martial artist, Cormier was 13-0 with wins over Soa Palelei, Jeff Monson, Silva, Barnett, Mir, and Nelson and seemed poised to become a fixture in the championship chase — if not potentially rule the division — for the next several years.
But just as he’d done at Oklahoma State, Cormier made the selfless choice, opting to clear out of the heavyweight division, where his teammate, training partner, and close friend Cain Velasquez has reclaimed his position atop the division and was fresh off his second drubbing of Junior dos Santos. Velasquez seemed primed to lord over the division for the foreseeable future and rather than deal with constant questions about fighting his friend, Cormier stepped aside, choosing instead to make the cut to light heavyweight.
While his divisional debut against Patrick Cummins at UFC 170 was a squash match marketed as a rivalry, his sophomore showing at 205 pounds was an instant indication that the ultra-talented Cormier was going to be a threat in the light heavyweight division, as he tossed veteran Dan Henderson around the Octagon like a wrestling dummy.
It was the kind of performance that made you question whether you were really seeing what you were seeing because no one hand manhandled Henderson in that fashion before and no one would after either. He’d lost some decisions and got stopped by TRT-era Vitor Belfort, but at one point, Cormier scooped him up and deposited him to the canvas in such a way that it looked like an indie wrestling match, only the guy getting slammed decided to bail at the last minute.
It didn’t matter, though — he still got tossed to the ground and mauled by the divisional newcomer before finally going night-night while stuck in a third-round rear-naked choke.
However just like during his collegiate wrestling days, Cormier’s classy decision to depart the heavyweight ranks put him in the same weight class as a generational talent who would become his rival.
The move to the 205-pound ranks aligned Cormier with Jon Jones, an incomparable talent inside the Octagon and trouble magnet away from the gym. Their intense, occasionally ugly rivalry is one of the greatest in UFC history, though, as Cormier himself has said, can you really call it a rivalry when Jones won both meetings between the two rather handily?
Three months after Jones registered a unanimous decision win in their initial encounter at UFC 182, he was stripped of the light heavyweight title and suspended by the promotion for his involvement in a hit-and-run accident where he fled the scene. Cormier claimed the vacant title a month later, submitting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the third round at UFC 187.
He’d follow that up with a split decision win over Alexander Gustafsson five months later in Houston, edging out the Swedish contender, who played the role of the bronze medalist in the division, having narrowly lost to both Jones and Cormier, giving each all they could handle before coming up heartbreakingly short.
Cormier would earn two additional victories — a non-title triumph over Anderson Silva at UFC 200 after Jones was pulled from their rematch at the 11th hour after tested positive for a banned substance, and a second submission finish against Johnson — before running it back with the returning Jones at UFC 214.
Though he had some success early, Jones chipped away over the opening two rounds before clobbering Cormier with a high kick that left him on rubber legs and gave “Bones” the opening he needed to finish. A few weeks later, it was announced that Jones had failed another drug test, resulting in the bout being declared a No Contest and Cormier being re-installed as the light heavyweight champion.
He’d solidify his place as the top man in the division (in Jones’ stead) with a second-round stoppage win over Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220, then became the second man to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously when he knocked out Stipe Miocic late in the opening round of their “Champion vs. Champion” clash at UFC 226.
Cormier would retain the title with a second-round submission win over Derrick Lewis at UFC 230, then lose the belt back to Miocic at UFC 241, setting up this weekend’s trilogy bout between the two.
In the build to Saturday’s main event, there has been a lot of talk about whether Miocic is already the greatest heavyweight in UFC history and perhaps even all time, with plenty of people asking whether Cormier would be in the running for either distinction should he reclaim the belt in the rubber match?
Both are intriguing questions worthy of investigation, but neither is the question that interests me the most on the eve of their third encounter.
What I can’t stop thinking about is if Cormier’s decision to let Velasquez have the heavyweight division kept him from becoming the greatest heavyweight of all time well in advance of this weekend’s trilogy fight with Miocic?
There is no possible way to answer this definitively, but as far as thought exercises go, this is one I’ve pondered many times over the years.
Think about it: Cormier was a perfect 13-0 when he decided to depart the division and was still improving as a fighter. He’d only be a pro for four years, but he had legitimate world-class wrestling credentials, underrated athleticism, and he’d flashed power, plus he’s a maniacal competitor, which means the chances of him slacking off and failing to live up to his potential are non-existent.
He’s was ranked third in the division behind only Velasquez and Dos Santos at the time he opted to switch weight classes according to the historical rankings at Fight Matrix, and had already beaten Nos. 4 (Silva), 7 (Barnett), 9 (Mir), and 13 (Nelson).
If he’d stuck around, there is no way he’s not one of the two men competing in the title eliminator clash that headlined the April UFC on FOX event in Orlando where Fabricio Werdum thoroughly outworked and outclassed Travis Browne to establish himself as the No. 1 contender. Given everything he’d accomplished to that point and how good he’d look doing it, envisioning Cormier beating either man isn’t difficult.
Here’s where it gets real fun though: if Cormier sticks around the division and keeps stacking victories, wouldn’t he end up being the obvious choice to replace Velasquez when his buddy jacks up his knee and can’t fight Werdum at UFC 180 in Mexico City?
Would you really have picked Werdum to beat Cormier for the interim title?
Now, maybe he doesn’t want any part of an interim title given that Velasquez is still holding the belt and that would mean the two would have to fight, but even then, couldn’t he have stuck around and stayed in the mix by facing the likes of Dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt, all of whom were Top 10 fixtures and no worse than fringe contenders during that time?
Miocic is considered by most to be the greatest heavyweight in UFC history based on his 7-1 record over his last eight appearances, which includes wins over Hunt, Arlovski, Werdum, Overeem, Dos Santos, Francis Ngannou, and Cormier.
How many of those guys would you favor over Cormier had they met at the same point in their careers? Maybe Ngannou, but wouldn’t Cormier have done the same thing to the hulking knockout artist that Miocic did?
Plus, he’s 1-1 with Miocic and could win the series on Saturday, which would make it really difficult for me to declare Miocic the best heavyweight in UFC history because I just don’t think you can have two losses to the same person, in the same division, when you’re at roughly the same point in your career and be considered better than him or her.
I completely understand if you don’t want to bestow that title on Cormier either given that he spent a good chunk of his UFC career competing at light heavyweight, but if “DC” does win the series with Miocic this weekend, doesn’t he have to at least be in the conversation?
And if he’s in the conversation, is it really that much of a stretch to think that the guy who has gone 15-1 as a heavyweight with a “7 and Jon Jones” run at light heavyweight sandwiched in between might have just continued being championship tier talent he’s proven himself to be had he just stuck around and kept fighting at heavyweight the entire time?
Again, we’re never going to know because what’s done is done and we can’t go back, but given that Cormier’s only heavyweight loss to date came in his last meeting with Miocic, I’m inclined to believe he had the potential to dominate the division and probably would have challenged for the title sooner than UFC 226 had he never left in the first place.
What makes this “What If” all the more interesting in a “isn’t the world funny” kind of way is that Velasquez was never the same after that night he and Cormier both earned victories at UFC 166.
Cormier cleared out to give his friend the opportunity to rule the division, but Velasquez injured his knee, postponing his initial meeting with Werdum, and got choked out when he did return at UFC 188. He spent another year on the sidelines before beating Browne at UFC 200, and then had another two-and-a-half-year hiatus before returning last February and getting buckled by Ngannou in 26 seconds.
The fact that Cormier left, had tremendous success at light heavyweight, came back, beat the most successful heavyweight champion in UFC history plus a flawed Top 5 fixture (Lewis) before finally suffering his first heavyweight loss tells me that “DC” is a special kind of fighter, one who might have been able to craft an historic resume for himself at heavyweight if he wasn’t such a good friend and tremendous teammate.
There is no way to know for sure if this would have been the case, but if Cormier beats Miocic for a second time on Saturday night, the MMA world is going to have to have a larger conversation about what might have been if “DC” didn’t drop down to light heavyweight and whether he’s the greatest heavyweight in UFC history.