Daniel Cormier was a lock for the UFC Hall of Fame even before hanging up his gloves. On Saturday night, the UFC made it official, announcing that Cormier would officially be inducted with the class of 2022.
Cormier entered mixed martial arts after an accomplished amateur wrestling career that saw him qualify for the 2008 Olympics, being named captain of the American team before he was forced to withdraw from the competition after weight cutting led to kidney failure.
He would go on to debut in MMA in Strikeforce, the promotion where he’d rise to stardom by winning the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, defeating Jeff Monson, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Josh Barnett.
After Strikeforce’s acquisition by Zuffa, Cormier would move to the UFC, fighting twice at heavyweight before dropping to light heavyweight and sparking a legendary rivalry with Jon Jones. He would eventually win the light heavyweight championship before returning to heavyweight to become a two-division champion by knocking out Stipe Miocic.
“Daniel Cormier is one of the most badass competitors of all time,” UFC president Dana White said in a press release. “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 would lose the rematch and trilogy fights with Miocic as the final two bouts of his career, retiring with a record of 22-3, the only losses on his record coming against Miocic and Jones, two men with claims to possibly being the best fighters in the history of their respective divisions.
