American athlete Daniel Cormier performs in mixed martial arts. Former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, participant in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, was a member of the US freestyle wrestling team. The reigning UFC champion is called the strongest wrestler, regardless of weight category.
For three decades, Daniel Ryan Cormier managed to overcome many famous masters, but even a solid age for an athlete does not prevent him from entering the ring.
The path to victories
The biography of the future athlete began in 1979. The boy was born in the city of Lafayette on March 20. In the family, he became the third of four children.
The father passed away when his son was 7. Not many joyful events happened to the teenager at Northside High. The only salvation for the guy was sports. He chose to fight.
At first, Dan tried to throw out all the accumulated negativity during a regular fight, and then began to practice purposefully. He successfully represented in competitions for Louisiana. By the time he graduated from high school, Cormier had already won more than 100 victories, losing only 9 times.
The promising athlete was named the best among juniors in the national tournament. In 1995, he received bronze at the world championship in Greco-Roman wrestling in his age category.
Dan played football at the same time. As a midfielder, he was distinguished by amazing speed. However, Cormier refused the offered football player scholarship for the sake of single combats. After high school, the graduate continued his education at Colby Community College.
Fight
He did not stop training. In 1998-1999, Daniel became the champion in the weight category of 90 kg. He has not lost a single fight out of 61. In 2000, the student transferred to Stillwater University, which was a member of the National Collegiate Sports Association. The newcomer got into the first division. Immediately, Cormier showed good results. He entered the national team, but intense excitement prevented him from entering the top eight athletes. The wrestler did not repeat his mistakes at the next competitions.
After graduation, Dan received a degree in sociology and took up sports seriously. At the prestigious world competitions, he represented the country from 2003 to 2008. Many times Cormier climbed to the top step of the podium in the category up to 96 kg. The American won the championship in the Real Pro Wrestling league in 2004. A month later he already played at the Olympics, but lost third place to Khadzhimurat Gatsalov.
In 2005 Dan won gold at the Ivan Yarygin Russian Grand Prix, the world's toughest wrestling tournament. The 2008 wrestler decided to make it a rematch time. At the Olympics on August 21, he was preparing for a fight with the Cuban Michel Batista. The fight was interrupted by Cormier's hospitalization. The victory was awarded to the opponent. The reason for the sudden deterioration in health was a sharp weight loss during preparation.
In 2007, the American won the United States Freestyle Wrestler of the Year award. After that, Cormier moved to the heavyweight category. The athlete successfully debuted in it at the Xtreme MMA Championship in September 2009.
After completing a career in freestyle wrestling, the athlete moved on to mixed martial arts. At the Kickboxing Academy, he trained with the best MMA fighters.
Mixed fights
With the Strikeforce promotion, the contract was signed in 2010. Daniel did not know defeat in all of them. After completing the contract, the American moved to the UFC. He returned to the light heavyweight category and won 3 fights victoriously.
The debut fight ended with a victory over Gary Fraser. Then there was a win over John Devine. Daniel took the XMMA Heavyweight Title on July 31, 2010 after beating Lucas Brown at the Xtreme MMA 2 tournament. Newly won over Tony Johnson in the second MMA championship.
In 2011, on September 10, the American defeated Antonio Silva, and in the final of the tournament defeated Josh Barnett. Cormier won the championship as heavyweight champion.
The first defeat in his professional career was the match on January 3, 2015 with John Jones. The victory was given to the opponent by the judges. A new meeting at the Octagon took place on July 29, 2017. The fight was fought for the UFC light heavyweight title. The fight was lost. However, a month later, Jones' use of doping was confirmed. Cormier regained the title.
Almost immediately after the end of the fight with Stipe Miocic on July 7, 2018, the American challenged Brock Lesnar, the former MMA champion. No one expected that the answer would follow immediately in the form of an attempt to start a fight in the octagon.
The wrestler defended his champion title on October 9 in a fight with Derrick Lewis. The first heavyweight fight at UFC 230 ended in victory. Ozdemira defeated Cormier on January 20, winning the Performance of the Evening award. The American refused to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title. Jones regained the title, and Cormier lost the title.
Family and sports
The rematch with Miocic took place on August 17, 2019. After the fight, Cormier was left without a champion title in the heavy category.
The athlete's personal life was not just developing. He became his first chosen one. In a relationship with athlete Carolyn Flower, a child appeared, the daughter of Kaden Imri. The athlete's wife was Robin. However, their union did not last long.
Salina became the fiancee of the athlete, and then his wife. In 2011, on February 6, the couple had their first child, Daniel Jr. The boy goes in for sports, he continued his father's work and chose wrestling.
On March 4, 2012, Cormier became a father again. He had a daughter, Marquita Keilani. In June 2017, Salina and Daniel officially became husband and wife.
The wrestler maintains a page on Instagram. On it, he often uploads pictures of his family. The athlete is the head coach at Gilroy High School.
Often in the American Kickboxing Academy hall, he leads training fights with Khabib Nurmagomedov, delighting fans then with videos of his meetings.
