The second champ-champ in UFC history takes his place in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Daniel Cormier, the former heavyweight champion of UFC and Strikeforce, as well as a former UFC light heavyweight champion, will be enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame this July, the promotion announced during the UFC 274 pay-per-view broadcast.
“Daniel Cormier is one of the most badass competitors of all time,” said UFC President Dana White. “DC faced the greatest athletes in the world on every level of wrestling and MMA. He is also the ultimate professional. As an active fighter, he always took time for the media, which led him to become one of the best TV analysts in all of sports. DC is one of the greatest ambassadors UFC has ever had, and it’s going to be an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer.”
Cormier will be inducted alongside friend and teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov as the newest members of the Hall of Fame’s modern wing.
Daniel Cormier the latest inductee in the 2022 UFC Hall of Fame class
An All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State, Cormier went on to become a Pan-American and world champion in freestyle wrestling. He finished 4th in the sport at the 2004 Olympics and was team captain for Team USA in 2008, though he didn’t compete due to kidney failure.
Cormier made his professional MMA debut in Strikeforce, defeating Gary Frazier in September 2009. He went on to win 15 straight fights.
In 2011, Cormier placed himself in MMA lore by entering the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix as an alternate, scoring a first-round knockout of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and defeating Josh Barnett to win the tournament and become Strikeforce heavyweight champion.
Cormier went on to join the UFC after Strikeforce folded and made his way down to light heavyweight, earning a title shot after a win over Dan Henderson. Cormier lost his first UFC title fight to Jon Jones at UFC 182, which also marked the first loss of his MMA career.
Cormier became UFC light heavyweight champion with a submission of Anthony Johnson at UFC 187. He retained the title with wins over Alexander Gustafsson and Johnson at UFC 192 and UFC 210, respectively, and scored a non-title victory over Anderson Silva at UFC 200.
Cormier had lost the title to Jones at UFC 214 before the belt was awarded back to him upon Jones failing a drug test.
Following another successful defense against Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220, Cormier knocked out Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 to become the second champ-champ in UFC history.
He retained the heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 and vacated the light heavyweight title at the end of 2018 before dropping the heavyweight title back to Miocic. He then lost the rubber match with Miocic in his retirement fight.
Since the latter portion of his UFC career, Cormier has become one of the most entertaining color commentators on the UFC commentary staff.
He also serves as the co-host of DC & RC with NFL Super Bowl champion Ryan Clark.
