Depending on a future decision, either the UFC heavyweight or light-heavyweight division has a new contender.
After turning out the lights on Strikeforce, Daniel Cormier, its heavyweight Grand Prix champion, finally made his octagon debut at UFC on FOX 7. Competing in his hometown of San Jose, California, Cormier found victory, earning a unanimous decision in the night’s co-main event.
All three judges scored it 30-27 for Cormier.
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The fight played out differently than most expected, as Cormier chose to mostly grind Mir along the cage, and Mir could never find a way to get the bout to the mat, not even by pulling guard.
That resulted in choppy action, but Cormier decisively outclassed Mir on the feet, out-landing him in total strikes 102-53, according to FightMetric.
Cormier did most of his best work from the clinch, where he mixed digging hooks to the body, uppercuts and head strikes to confuse Mir and rack up points. Cormier only went for a single takedown in the fight, content to let his standing firepower determine a winner.
That approach gave Mir trouble. He was fairly tentative early on, perhaps measuring Cormier’s strategy, but that left him trailing early.
Mir had his best moments in the third, when he fired off a series of kicks to the body. None ever had Cormier in any significant trouble, as the former Olympian was able to close the distance and take the weapon away at will.
Cormier, still unbeaten at 12-0, will now have an important decision to make, as he’s pondered a future at 205 pounds, where he might one day make an intriguing challenger for champ Jon Jones, as along as Jones gets by Chael Sonnen at UFC 159. His road to a title at heavyweight is currently blocked by his teammate and friend Cain Velasquez.
It was a second straight loss for Mir (16-7), who for this camp traveled to New Mexico for the first time to train with Greg Jackson.