Daniel Cormier was one of the breakthrough fighters in 2012. After making it all the way to the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Cormier put on a dazzling performance against the tough veteran Josh Barnett.Now Cormier has one fight lef…
Daniel Cormier was one of the breakthrough fighters in 2012. After making it all the way to the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Cormier put on a dazzling performance against the tough veteran Josh Barnett.
Now Cormier has one fight left before crossing over to the UFC, and he’s making some big plans inside the Octagon. Cormier laid out his immediate and future plans to MMA Junkie.
“So I go, ‘OK, Frank Mir and I are going to fight, then,'” Cormier said.
That was in response to Mir calling out the former Olympian after their initial matchup was scratched due to a knee injury by Mir. Cormier will first need to get past Dion Staring first if he wants to make any kind of run in the UFC.
Staring is widely picked to lose to Cormier, but the AKA fighter isn’t letting the success get to his head.
“There’s just too many ways to lose this fight,” he said. “You can actually lose this fight and win at the same time, so it’s a tough situation.”
Cormier is absolutely correct about the Staring bout. Anything less than complete domination on Cormier‘s part will lead to a myriad of questions as he crosses into the UFC’s heavyweight division.
The Strikeforce fighter could face some big headaches once he enters the UFC. His teammate is former champion and No. 1 contender Cain Velasquez. Velasquez is scheduled to face Junior dos Santos at UFC 155 and could be the heavyweight champion when Cormier joins the UFC’s ranks.
But Cormier has a plan should his teammate become champion. Besides wanting to fight three or four times a year (which in itself is a feat), Cormier plans to make his mark on the sport even if it’s without a title.
“I want to try to leave my mark on the sport,” he said. “I’m older, I started late, and imagine in this day and age a guy going up and down and being successful. That would make a mark, I think.”
Indeed that would be quite an accomplishment, as very few fighters have competed across multiple weight divisions and had that kind of success. Brandon Vera had dreams of owning both the heavyweight and light heavyweight titles and we all know how that idea turned out.
Not only would it be crazy for someone who started so late in MMA to have that kind of success, you have to also factor in that cutting weight gets harder as you age. And for someone who has already experienced kidney problems due to weight cutting, moving around weight classes isn’t something that’s ideal for Cormier.
I know Cormier has some ambitious plans, but it does seem as if the heavyweight contender has a solid head on his shoulders. He isn’t some young kid who doesn’t know what he’s doing, and although I’d rather not see him have to jump up and down a weight class, if Cormier is confident he can have success, than best of luck to him.
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