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You’ve Been Warned
©
Marc Wickert Special
thanks to Heidi Seibert Photos
by Danielle Hobeika / www.AmateurWrestlingPhotos.com The
MMA world is about to receive a new gladiator in the form of two-time
Olympic wrestler and six-time National Freestyle Champion, Daniel
Cormier. And this elite athlete is here for the maximum ride: He
intends taking the ultimate fighting competition by the horns and
wrestling it to the ground. Born
in LaFayette, Los Angeles, Daniel moved to Louisiana where he took up
freestyle wrestling at the age of 11 years before relocating to
Stillwater, Oklahoma 10 years ago. It’s
now four in the afternoon in Stillwater, and Daniel has just finished
chatting on the phone to Fight Network Radio when Knucklepit.com
catches up with him as he spends his last days at home for a while.
“I’m
going to San Jose next week. I’ll be living there part-time: I
have a family here in Oklahoma, so I’ll be back from time to time.
I’m not sure how often, but I’ll spend most of my time in San Jose
and my wife will visit me there. Other times I’ll come home and
visit Stillwater – after fights I’ll come home and kinda relax a bit
before I head back to San Jose. It’s exciting,” says Cormier. It’s
been a long and hard road for this incredibly talented athlete who was
originally coerced into amateur wrestling. “I
started wrestling because the coach asked me to. He saw my friend
and me fighting in the front yard of our high school, and the coach
goes, ‘Why don’t you guys do something productive and try
wrestling?’ We went in there and I thought it was going to be
some WWF stuff before finding out it was amateur wrestling. “When
I first saw the moves I thought, ‘What’s going on here?
Where’s the ring?’ They were going, ‘Get on your knees,
we’re going top and bottom.’ And I’m like, ‘What the
hell’s top and bottom?’ I couldn’t imagine a guy climbing on the
back of me. “It was tough for me in the beginning, but as I got my feet grounded I started going pretty good and I really enjoyed it. It’s a great, great sport.”
Daniel,
Greco-Roman wrestling is supposed to be a style that can be easily
adapted to MMA. Do you believe freestyle wrestling also adapts
easily to MMA? “I
think it does… Matt Lindland, Randy Couture and Dan Henderson were all
Greco guys… King Mo and Mark Coleman, those guys were all
freestyle guys and most of the college guys like Jake Rosholt, Johny
Hedricks and John Jones – they’re all freestyle wrestlers.
They’re not Greco wrestlers; they’re guys who attack the legs.
So I think it transitions well because with the ability to attack legs
as we can, freestyle closes the distance a lot faster to grapple an
opponent than from the Greco position. “I
was a Greco wrestler when I was younger, and I don’t think it’s much
of a difference for me: I’ve been able to wrestle both styles for a
long time. I think the way I wrestle is going to transition well
into the sport.” A
lot of wrestlers are glad MMA came along because it gives them the
opportunity to continue their athletic careers after they finish
wrestling. Is that the way you feel? “I
think that MMA is great because it gives us an outlet, and there are
just so few Olympic spots, so for guys to stay around 10 years after
college and get beat by the best guys… Sometimes you’ll see
the number one wrestler stays the same for a little bit if he’s better
than the competition, and MMA gives everyone the opportunity to do
something after wrestling. “Even
for the number one guy like myself, it gives me the chance to do
something later because when you retire from wrestling that doesn’t
mean the competitive spirit dies within you. And you need
something to fuel that flame, and mixed martial arts is great in that
aspect as well as giving you a chance to find some financial
security.” Have
you commenced training at American Kickboxing Academy yet? “I went last month for a week to see, because when I was making a decision I had other training opportunities and I wanted to see firsthand if I enjoyed it, and I loved it. It’s a great situation with a lot of great fighters. I fell in love with the place and with the coaches. Every one of the coaches is wonderful.”
Did
you meet Bob Cook? “Oh,
Bob Cook is my man. I call him ‘Honest’ Bob – he always
tells you the truth, man, even if it’s not what you want to hear.
They call him ‘Crazy’ Bob; I call him ‘Honest’ Bob Cook. “And
I like Javier Mendez. We clicked right away; he’s a guy who
knows how to throw punches and he’s a power guy… I’m more of a
compact person, so power’s going to be part of my game. “Dave
Camarillo has great jiu jitsu and he teaches me in a way that I can
understand. He kinda simplifies it for me, which is what I need
because it’s so different learning submissions and submission defense.
If I’m just lying on top of somebody I’m fine as it’s just like
top-and-bottom wrestling. But who wants to do that? That
makes for a boring fight.” You
also have to be able to end a fight, don’t you? “Yeah;
you don’t want to just lie on top of a guy. Nobody wants to see
that. In this day and age, if you’re not exciting, it doesn’t
matter how much you win: You have to be exciting. Getting
victories is unbelievable. It’s something I do and something I
want to do my whole life, but you have to be exciting in doing it,
because if you’re not, the fans won’t have any interest in you and a
big organization won’t have any interest in you.” The
other side of it is that you can’t let the fight go to the judges. “Even
at UFC 100, I thought Alan Belcher won that fight against Yoshihiro
Akiyama. You can’t chance it, and you have to go out and try to
put on an exciting fight. The only problem with that is it’s a
little more dangerous, but it kinda gives me a rush knowing that in the
fight game anything can happen, so you prepare yourself as best you
can.” Do
you do a lot of weight training? “I did towards the end of my wrestling career; I was into it pretty hard and pretty intense, but I haven’t lifted weights in almost a year now.”
Do
you intend getting back into it? “Yes,
I do. I think it’s key because by building strong muscles you
allow yourself to train at a higher level, which is something that I
want to do. It’s what I’ve done my entire career and something
I want to continue doing. Yeah, I’m going to get back into
lifting: I’ve hired a strength-and-conditioning coach now for getting
back into fighting, and it’s going to help me.” You
feel it helps to make you shockproof? “Oh,
definitely; and if you don’t have a strong body, how do you expect to
compete?” Do
you do powerlifting or weightlifting movements? “I’m
an explosive guy – I wasn’t really built for distance, so I’m more
a platform guy: box jumps, power cleans, squats, clean and jerk… I do
bench press and that kinda stuff, but I’m more a platform guy. I
like to build explosion. If you have explosion in your punches,
explosion in your double-leg and single-leg – that’s what
wins. It’s not really slick, slow attacks – it’s quick and
explosive. That’s how you see a guy hit a double-leg and put a
dude in the air. Georges St-Pierre has great explosiveness and
I’m pretty sure he does some platform stuff.” You
competed in wrestling at 211 lbs. What weight class do you intend
competing in for MMA? “In
the beginning I’m going to compete at heavyweight: With my skills, I
think I’ll be quicker than a lot of guys, and still strong enough to
compete at the weight class. If the correct opportunity arrives,
I’ll fight at 205pounds: It doesn’t really matter to me. I
think it’s just about fighting the best opponents and getting the best
competition. “I’m
going to do that wherever possible, but in the beginning I’m not going
to cut any weight. I’ve cut a lot of weight for my whole career
and I want to stay away from that before I start making my way back down
to 205 pounds.” You’ve
competed in 127 matches. “Uh-huh.” What
do you do in all your spare time? “I
competed in 127 in college, but I’ve competed in thousands throughout
my career; however, in terms of free time I read a lot, man. I
read James Patterson’s books all the time and I play a lot of sports
video games. And I have dogs – a really crazy mix, but I’ve
got four dogs and they’re great.” Are
you interested in competing in the next Olympics, or are you focusing
totally on MMA now? “Mixed
martial arts is going to be my focus now. The Olympics have been
great, amateur wrestling has been great to me and allowed me to have
these opportunities – without amateur wrestling I wouldn’t have the
opportunities that I’m going to have now, but MMA is going to be the
focus. “Will I compete in some wrestling competitions? Yes; definitely. I think that you can’t lose your base: I’ve seen wrestling guys go into jiu jitsu and grappling competitions and all these other competitions, but they don’t wrestle, and they lose their base. I think you should still go to wrestling competitions even if you are trying to learn jiu jitsu and stuff because wrestling keeps you sharp.”
It’s
funny you mentioned that because my next question was: Some stand-up
fighters start learning grappling skills and forget about their base,
electing to take fights to the ground. And some wrestlers learn a
bit of striking and they get into trouble when they want to fight a
toe-to-toe match. Do you intend keeping wrestling as your base? “Yes,
I will never abandon my wrestling. I’m going to add things to
complement my wrestling. I’m never going to be a striker first
and a wrestler second; I’m always going to be a wrestler first and
then striking and jiu jitsu is going to come afterwards because it’s
what I’ve done my entire life. If I get into some trouble in a
fight, my natural instinct is going to be to take a guy down.” Did
you have any stand-up experience prior to embarking on the transition? “I
had bar fights when I was a kid – 20, 22 years old, but for the last
two and a half months I’ve been doing striking with Pepe Johnson.
He lives in Tulsa and is about an hour away from me. Pepe is a
boxing trainer and owns a gym out there and trains some pretty decent
fighters. I go in there and box with those guys. I also
sparred a lot when I was in California, and I worked with Mel Menor when
I went down to Southern California. He’s King Mo’s kickboxing
coach.” Do
you have any idea when your MMA debut will be? “I
would like to get it done before the end of the year, like I really want
to get in the cage and fight. I don’t have anything set right
now, but when Bob Cook and those guys at AKA get to see me train and
they’re comfortable to put me in a cage, they’ll find me a fight.
But it’s a team decision and we all have to feel confident that the
time is right.” Daniel,
is there anything you’d like to add? “Just
watch out for me and support me. I’m going to put on exciting
fights. And at the very end of this article I want you to put
these three letters. Okay?” No
worries, Daniel. We’ll look forward to your bringing on the
Season of the Machete. For
more on Daniel Comier: http://twitter.com/cormier2009 and
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=daniel+comier&init=quick
Zinkin
Entertainment & Sports Management News: U.S
OLYMPIAN & NATIONAL CHAMPION WRESTLER TO BEGIN HIS PRO MMA CAREER Daniel
Cormier,
2x US Olympic Wrestler and 6x U.S Senior National Champion, has just
signed on with Zinkin Entertainment & Sports Management, officially
beginning his professional career in MMA. Cormier adds his name to
other MMA stars under Zinkin Entertainment such as Chuck Liddell,
Forrest Griffin, Jon Fitch, Mike Swick, Josh Koscheck, Cain Velasquez,
Josh Thomson, Bobby Southworth and Paul Buentelllo. Cormier, resident
of Oklahoma since his collegiate wrestling career at
Oklahoma State University, is known for his extraordinary talent and
physically aggressive, explosive style of wrestling. Zinkin
Entertainment is excited to have Cormier as part of their team and have
high expectations for their latest MMA fighter. Daniel will
soon begin training at the world-renowned American Kickboxing Academy (AKA)
in San Jose, California under “Crazy” Bob Cook, Javier Mendez and
Dave Camarillo. With
a collegiate record of 117-10, Cormier is considered one
of the most decorated U.S wrestlers. Notable achievements include: 2x
United States Olympian: Freestyle ('08 Beijing, '04 Athens) 8x
U.S National Team Member 2002-2009
Ranked #1 in the U.S 2008
U.S National Champion 2008
U.S Olympic Trials, Champion 2008
U.S Olympic Team Captain 2008
NJCAA Hall of Fame Inductee 2007
World Championships, Bronze Medalist 2007
USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the
Year 2007
Pan Am Games, Bronze Medalist 2006
World Cup, Champion 2005
World Cup, Silver Medalist 2005
Yarygin International Tournament, Champion *toughest
tournament in the world, only 6th American to win 2005
Super Cup, Silver Medalist ( Russia ) 2004
Olympic
Games, 4th place ( Athens ) 2004
Titan games, Champion 2004
Boutiatyr Grand Prix, Champion ( Russia ) 2003
Pan Am Games, Champion 2003
Yarygin International Tournament, Bronze Medalist 2003
Absolute World Championships, Bronze Medalist 2002
Pan Am Games, Champion 2001
NCAA Championships, Silver Medalist 2x
NJCAA National Champion (‘97,’98) 1995 Cadet World Championships, Bronze Medalist
DANIEL
CORMIER TO DEBUT AT STRIKEFORCE courtesy
of Mike Afromowitz NEW
YORK (September 9, 2009) - Two-time United States Olympic wrestling team
member and former NCAA Division I national championship runner up Daniel
Cormier will make his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut at the STRIKEFORCE:
Challengers event at Tulsa, Oklahoma's SpiritBank Event Center on
Friday, September 25. Cormier
(0-0) will face an opponent that has yet to be determined on the live
SHOWTIME televised portion of the first-ever STRIKEFORCE card in the
state of Oklahoma. "I
think it's an honor to be fighting for one of the top organizations in
the world," said Cormier, who celebrated his 30th birthday on March
20. Since
graduating from Oklahoma State University (OSU) with a degree in
sociology in 2001, Cormier has continued to follow his passion for
playing human chess on the mat, earning a place on the 2004 and 2008
United States Olympic wrestling teams. "Making
the first Olympic team was like a culmination of everything I had worked
for," said Cormier, who took fourth place in The Olympic Games held
in Athens, Greece in 2004, but was unable to compete in the 2008 games
due to injury. "I'm a guy who really wants to make his mother proud
and this made her so proud. I could see the joy and pride in
her." His
storied run as an amateur wrestler began in high school where Cormier
was a three-time state champion in his native Louisiana, compiling a
remarkable 101-9 record over four years of competition. Before
joining OSU's powerhouse squad that has won a remarkable 34 national
wrestling championships since its first season in 1914, Cormier stopped
off at Colby Community College where he captured the junior college
national championship two years in a row. His unyielding
commitment to the sport stems from the fortitude it has added to his
character, according to Cormier. "Wrestling's
a sport that teaches you how to be strong physically and mentally,"
explained Cormier. "It really molds you and makes you take
responsibility for your actions. If you don't train hard, it's
going to be you out there getting embarrassed." Cormier
recently relocated to San Jose, California in order to train at the
famed American Kickboxing Academy, also home to STRIKEFORCE World
Lightweight (155 pounds) Champion Josh "The Punk" Thomson and
MMA superstars Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, amongst others. Of his decision to step into the cage, Cormier said, "I haven't done anything since the Olympics and that competitor fire in me started to build and build last year. When I started feeling that, I started pursuing all avenues."
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