Daniel Cormier reacts after defeating Volkan Oezdemir by TKO at UFC 220
Current UFC Light Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (20-1, NC) legitimately has a case for calling himself the most accomplished UFC champion of all-time.
His next challenge? Might be the greatest of his already mightily impressive, Hall of Fame caliber career, and should he overcome it, might vault him into places in the stratosphere only a select few (Randy Couture and Georges St. Pierre, for example) of UFC fighters have ever gone.
Seems like yesterday, I won the volkan fight and the boss @danawhite walks up and says how about a fight with @stipemiocic. I said show me the cash and I’ll be there to collect the belt and the bag! .6 days away now. #strapseason #beltcollector #doublechamp #ufc226 📷@Iamthebay
The next fight: Cormier challenges UFC Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 at T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, NV on Saturday.
Cormier, 39, carries his highly decorated background with honor and pride; he is a two-time Olympic wrestler (2004 and 2008) and six-time U.S. Open national champion; he won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix in 2012 by defeating Josh Barnett in the final; he defeated Anthony Johnson via third-round submission to win the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Controversially, Cormier’s only blemishes, if you want to call them that, both came against Jon Jones. He lose via unanimous decision at UFC 182 in January 2015, and what was originally ruled a third-round knockout at UFC 214 in July 2017, was overturned to a “no contest” following Jones testing positive for Turinabol, his second USADA violation. Cormier was later reinstated as the Light Heavyweight champion.
Like Jones, Miocic is a freakishly-huge-stud-super-athlete-specimen. Miocic has a known background in both wrestling, and boxing. Miocic’s weaknesses, which have been exposed in past fights, have been his propensity to stand and strike more often than he should and his ability to try and fend off other fighters from his back.
Cormier is not a striker, so surprisingly Miocic’s ability to land strikes will prove useful in a fight like this where both fighters will do everything in their power to prevent takedowns.
Should Cormier defeat Miocic, he would become the second fighter in UFC history to have held the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight titles, joining Couture. He would be the first to hold both championships simultaneously.
Cormier is currently +208 betting underdog heading into his massive showdown with Miocic on Saturday night, according to Oddsshark.com.