Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame 2024: Early fracas led to Daniel Cormier’s mantra — ‘just fight’

Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a series of stories on the 2024 inductees to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Induction festivities are June 20-22 in Natchitoches.

Don’t overthink it. Just wrestle.

That’s what UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier tells his wrestling team at Gilroy High School in California.

Rest assured, Cormier practiced what he now preaches. He wrestled most of his life, more times than he can count, but he wasn’t born a wrestler. He was born a fighter.

“Just fight.”

That was Cormier’s internal monologue after receiving the dreaded phone call back in 2011. Trying to dip his toe into the mixed martial arts pond after a remarkable run in his amateur wrestling career, Cormier was an alternate in one of the most prestigious tournament brackets in MMA history.

Everything changed when the UFC purchased Strikeforce, causing a domino effect that would shake up Strikeforce’s tournament lineup and force Cormier’s entry.

“I was hoping not to get into the tournament, man,” said Cormier, laughing.

The Lafayette native, who started off as a relatively unknown in Strikeforce, couldn’t be found in the initial gambling futures for a tournament concept borrowed from the start-up days of the UFC and further popularized by PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan years later.

Potentially serving as a crowning moment for one of several heavyweight legends occupying the bracket, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix instead gave birth to a rising star.

But Cormier had to walk through fire in a decision victory against Josh Barnett in the tournament finals on May 19, 2012, before being christened as MMA’s next big thing.

And that was unchartered territory. You see, in fights prior, the Olympic-level wrestler made the transition to MMA look darn near effortless.

From knocking out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva — a man that had a 10-inch reach advantage — to collecting a one-way traffic decision victory over Jeff Monson, Cormier often emerged victorious without a scratch.

Fighting Barnett in the main event on Showtime established a launching pad for Cormier’s career, but he didn’t clear the bar unscathed. Call it baptism by fire.

“That was the first time I really took damage,” Cormier said. “Barnett was elbowing me, punching me, grinding his hand on my face. It was awful.”

Before Cormier became one of only four UFC fighters to hold championship belts from multiple weight classes simultaneously, he was a tough youngster playing backyard football with older kids.

Back then, Cormier was running the football when a larger kid clotheslined him, knocking the future all-state football player to the ground and breaking his collarbone in the process.

Unwilling to show weakness, Cormier, who’ll be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches on June 22, fought back tears, then walked home across the street and kept his composure until he saw his mother.

Life hits hard, but Cormier always punched back. But let’s be honest — sometimes he threw the first punch.

Scrapping with friends in his neighborhood actually got him noticed by local wrestling coach Stephen “Tank” Lotief.

“One day on my way to practice at Northside High School, I saw him and two other kids playing football,” Lotief explained. “In the middle of the school parking lot, I’m watching them as I drive by and one of them tackled another and they started fighting.

“I asked them if they wanted to come out and join my wrestling team. I often think about, ‘What would have happened if I didn’t stop the car?’”

Cormier accepted the invitation fully prepared to swing a metal chair like one of his heroes on television.

“I thought I would be doing some WCW stuff, man, like Ric Flair and Lex Luger,” Cormier said, grinning. “But I liked it. I stuck with it.”

Success followed. With a 101-9 overall record at Northside High and three consecutive state titles, local newspaper clippings in the late ‘90s dubbed it a “moral victory” for his opponents to avoid being pinned.

While winning a bronze medal in the World Championships in the Greco-Roman Wrestling Cadet (15-16 years old) division, Cormier also gained recognition on the football field.

He chose to concentrate on wrestling upon graduation, though, and accumulated a 61-0 record at Colby (Kansas) Community College before becoming an All-American at Oklahoma State.

After falling short in the 2008 Summer Olympics, Cormier decided to give fighting a shot. He connected with Bob Cook in California, where he later became one of the “Four Kings” of AKA with UFC champions Cain Velasquez, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Luke Rockhold.

Though his 22-3 fighting record might suggest otherwise, nothing came easy for Cormier, at least not in the gym. Upon arrival, AKA coaches had him spar Velasquez in a sink-or-swim scenario.

“I will never in my life of fighting credit anyone more than Cain,” Cormier said. “I would have never fought (Velasquez). The money didn’t affect who I am because I knew I owed Cain far too much.”

From earning the title “double champ” by knocking out heavyweight great Stipe Miocic in 2018 to headlining against bitter rival Jon Jones on multiple occasions, Cormier earned all-time great status.

USA Today’s MMA Junkie ranked Cormier as the seventh best fighter in UFC history in 2023. His résumé includes the third-most victories in light heavyweight history and 10th most wins in heavyweight histor.

Wrestling was always the bedrock. Fighting functioned as the building blocks that made Cormier visible to mainstream combat sports fans all over the world.

It was the natural evolution for a young boy throwing punches in a parking lot. But the foundation would have collapsed without the work ethic instilled by his late parents.

Without it, Cormier’s days on the mat would have been numbered. Now, it’s his turn to mold a new generation of wrestlers.

“I’m a kid from Lafayette, Louisiana, that didn’t come from much,” he said. “No one could have thought that we would go on this journey.

“My mom and my dad never flew on an airplane until I made my first world team … they sacrificed so much for me. They’re both gone today, but these people showed me what life was supposed to be.”