Daniel Ryan Cormier is one name that is well renowned among wrestling fans and UFC fanatics.
Before making his name as an MMA fighter, he was a professional wrestler. The former wrestler is an Olympic semi-finalist and six times USA Senior National Championship winner.
The mixed martial artist earned fame after joining UFC. He also holds the record of winning two UFC titles in different weight divisions simultaneously and successfully defending both the titles.
The retired wrestler and MMA fighter has won the Xtreme MMA Heavyweight Championship as well.
As fans, you must be well excited to know more about the prolific fighter and his glorious career. Before we head into details about his career and personal life, we have some quick facts about him.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Daniel Ryan Cormier |
| Birth Date | March 20, 1979 |
| Age | 45 years old |
| Place of Birth | Lafayette, Louisiana, US |
| Nickname | DC |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Black |
| Education | Oklahoma State University, Stillwater |
| Profession | Wrestler, MMA Fighter |
| Father’s Name | Joseph Cormier |
| Mother’s Name | Audrey Cormier |
| Siblings | Joseph Cormier, Felicia Cormier, Feral Cormier |
| Wife | Salina Deleon |
| Children | Daniel Cormier II, Marquita Kalani Cormier |
| Height(in cm) | 181 cm |
| Weight | 240 lb (approx.) |
| Horoscope | Pisces |
| Eye color | Black |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Social Media | Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. |
| Retirement | 2020 |
| Net Worth | $ 6 million (approx.) |
| Merch | UFC Fight Club, Poster |
| Last Update | April, 2024 |
Daniel Cormier | Early Life, Family, and Education
The well-accomplished wrestler was born to Joseph and Audrey Cormier on March 20, 1979. He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, US. Cormier’s zodiac sign is Pisces.
Moreover, he had a big family of six, including himself. Daniel has three siblings, specifically Joseph, Felicia, and Feral.
However, he had a hard time growing up, as his father was shot dead; at that time, Daniel was only 7 years old.
Nonetheless, he attended Northside High School before joining Colby Community College for higher education. He later transferred to Oklahoma State University and graduated with a degree in sociology.
Daniel Cormier | Age, Height, and Weight
The American is 41 years old as of now. He stands 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) tall and weighs 240 lbs(approx.).
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Daniel Cormier | Olympic, Wrestling Career, Martial Arts, UFC, and Retirement
Wrestling Career
His MMA fighter career started early on from his high school days. During his time in high school, he managed to win 3 Louisiana State Championship titles in wrestling.
He had an outstanding record in high school, winning more than 100 fights and losing only 9.
Well, this might come as a surprise for a lot of fans, but little did you know that the former Olympian was also an all-state football player.
He played in the line-breaker position. Also, he declined the offer to play football to pursue his passion for wrestling.
Nevertheless, Cormier won the junior college national championship twice during his time at Colby Community College.
He then moved to Oklahoma State University, where he was an NCAA Division I freestyle wrestler. It was the year 2000 when he first entered the national tournament as a third seed at 184 pounds.
However, he just missed the mark by one match of turning into an All-American.
In 2001, the wrestler at 184 pounds weight class reached the finals and eventually turned into an all-American, though he lost the finals by 8-4 to Cael Sanderson.
With 27 falls, his last record was 53-10, where 6 of his misfortunes were against Cael Sanderson.
The veteran’s phenomenal performance continued at the highest level. He won the senior US national championship consecutively from 2003 until 2008.
That led him to represent the USA at the world level for every one of those years.
Olympics
Furthermore, at the 2004 Olympics, he represented Team USA. Despite good performances throughout the Olympics, his gold medal hunt concluded in the semifinals as he faced defeat against Khadzhimurat Gatsalov.
He was also named captain of the USA wrestling team in the 2008 Olympics but was later pulled out of the competition due to kidney failure.
Meanwhile, Cormier won a bronze medal in the 2007 Wrestling World Championships.
He continued on the same path to winning a gold medal at the Golden Grand-Prix Ivan Yarygin held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
The same wrestling tournament is considered one of the most extremely challenging matches in the world.
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Mixed Martial Arts and UFC Career
After his exclusion from the 2008 Olympics, the former olympian started to train alongside Cain Velasquez, Jon Fitch, and Josh Koscheck at American Kickboxing Academy to pursue a career in mixed martial arts.
In the wake of his professional appearance, Cormier made a trip to Australia and battled for Xtreme MMA; he crushed Lucas Browne to win the Xtreme MMA Heavyweight Championship on July 31, 2010.
A couple of weeks later, Cormier won his second MMA title by winning the KOTC Heavyweight Championship from Tony Johnson.
Moreover, he was also featured in Strikeforce Challengers. He had an eight-fight agreement with Strikeforce Organization.
You must have heard some big-time friendship fairy tale stories. But when it comes to Cormier, he did something impressive by moving down to UFC’s light heavyweight division, just because of his teammate, Cain Velasquez, as UFC heavyweight champion.
Before moving down to UFC’s light heavyweight division, he had won two out of two fights.
In 2015, then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was deprived of the light heavyweight title and suspended uncertainly in the wake of dealing with lawful offense indictments.
This created Daniel’s chance to replace Jon Jones to fight against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 for the void title on May 23, 2015.
In the initial seconds of the battle, Cormier was dropped by an overhand right by Johnson.
Subsequently, in the next two rounds, the former MMA fighter triumphed.
The win in the last two rounds was enough for Cormier to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion. This also earned him, a Performance of the Night bonus.
Heavyweight Champion
Additionally, in 2015, it was announced that the light heavyweight champion had signed a new eight-fight deal with UFC.
However, a rematch with the former light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, was to take place in April of 2016 but had to be called off due to Cormier’s foot injury.
Later, the fight was rescheduled for July 9, 2016, which was also canceled due to possible doping violations by Jon Jones.
Though a rematch with Anthony Johnson took place on April 8, 2017, at UFC 210, Cormier could retain his title with a win.
The long-awaited rematch with Jon Jones finally occurred on July 29, 2017, at UFC 214. Jones defeated Cormier to reclaim the title.
Afterward, it was found that Jon had violated doping law and tested positive for anabolic steroids. Thus, the title was returned to Cormier.
On July 7, 2018, the long human-made history became the 2nd fighter to hold two titles concurrently in the UFC.
In the process of doing so, he defeated Stipe Miocic for UFC heavyweight championship. Following his title win, he later made his first heavyweight title defense and crushed Derrick Lewis to defend the heavyweight championship successfully.
This fight made him the first UFC fighter to win and defend both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles and the first UFC fighter to defend both championships.
Later, on August 17, 2019, the heavyweight champion lost in a rematch with Stipe Miocic and ended his heavyweight championship reign.
Thus, a year later, on August 15, 2020, the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion decided to hang up his gloves.
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Awards and Achievements
- UFC Heavyweight Champion in 2018
- UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in 2015
- Xtreme MMA Heavyweight Champion
- First UFC fighter to successfully defend both UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles
- Bronze Medalist in the 2007 World Wrestling Championship
- Gold Medalist at Pan American Games(2002)
- Bronze Medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games
- Silver Medalist at Wrestling World Cup in 2005
- Two times Gold Medalist at Dave Schultz Memorial International Open(2001, 2007)
- Bronze Medalist at Dave Schultz Memorial International Open in 2002
- Six times USA Senior National Champion(20003-2008)
- John Smith Freestyle Wrestler of the Year award in 2007
- Most Outstanding Fighter of the Year in 2018
- Analyst of the Year award in 2018(World MMA Awards)
- Best MMA Fighter in 2018 (ESPY Award)
- ESPN Fighter of the Year(2018)
- Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion
- King of the Cage Heavyweight Champion
Daniel Cormier | Injury
As a professional fighter, not every day is a ray of sunshine; thus, you have to face rain in the middle.
Therefore, as you fight, you are bound to get hurt but at an uncertain timeframe. Likewise, Cormier has also undergone many injuries that have kept him away from the games.
For instance, his injury before UFC 197’s main event, was when he hurt his leg and got it all swollen.
Apparently, he didn’t even have any lateral movement. Likewise, his recent injury was an eye injury in 2020.
2020 Eye Injury
In August 2020, Cormier suffered a torn cornea in his UFC 252 fight with Stipe Miocic. As they fought for the Heavyweight Championship, they were part of one of the greatest trilogies of all time.
During the match, Cormier was leading with a score of 2-1; however, he lost the match eventually alongside sustaining a horrific eye injury. It was an unintentional poke from Miocic, which resulted in a torn cornea.
Daniel Cormier | Retirement
In August 2020, Daniel Cormier officially announced his retirement three weeks after his second loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 252.
As explained Cormier himself, stated he should have retired earlier before his match with Stipe Miocic.
However, he again added, it was fine, and this indicates he should now retire from the arena.
Additionally, he had also explained how his age also demands him to withdraw now. Having said this, Cormier will still have plenty to do after his retirement because many are joining hands with him for business.
Daniel Cormier | Relationships, Wife and Children
The 41-year-old is rumored to have had one previous relationship before getting married to the long-time love of his life, Salina Deleon.
The couple started dating back in 2010. The lovebirds finally tied the knot in 2017.
Though similar to most high-profile celebrities, Daniel keeps his personal life very much private.
However, it is well known Salina has been Cormier’s support system since 2010, the time when the MMA fighter was struggling to get fights and wasn’t financially fortunate. The two have a son and a daughter together.
Cormier has a son named Daniel Cormier II, born in 2011, and a daughter named Marquita Kalani Cormier, born in March 2012.
Cormier had a daughter with his previous girlfriend, named Kaedyn Cormier, who tragically died in a car accident back in 2003.
Daniel Cormier | Net Worth and Salary
The American wrestler had an illustrious career that extended over two decades. Regardless of his long career, most of his fortune came after his success in UFC.
His estimated net worth is around $6 million.
This wealth is estimated, excluding undisclosed amounts of bonuses. Besides this, his other source of wealth is from his job as an analyst and commentator for ESPN.
It is believed he also has endorsement deals with Rebook, Monster energy, and cbdMD.
Daniel Cormier | Movie debut and Social Media Presence
Daniel made his movie debut with the 2014 comedy movie Mantervention. He was also featured in some of the youtube series for a couple of different channels.
The passionate fan of the New Orleans Saints is available on three social media platforms, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In addition to that, he has around 2.6 million followers on Instagram, where he mostly shares photos of his kids, and himself, and some posts related to UFC.
Further, on his Twitter handle, he has 1 million followers. His Facebook page has above 500,000 likes, where he regularly shares videos and photos of his fights and other UFC-related videos.
Daniel Cormier | FAQs
How good is Daniel Cormier?
Since everyone has their own perception of things, some may refer to one skill as useful while some may not. However, Daniel Cormier was termed ‘the Greatest of All Time’ in general.
Has Daniel Cormier won an Olympic medal?
Although, Daniel Cormier hasn’t won the gold medal in the Olympics. However, he claimed a bronze medal; at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
What happened in the match between Daniel Cormier and Brock Lesnar?
As we are all well aware that Daniel Cormier vs. Brock Lesnar was quite an anticipated match in the arena.
Additionally, it is also the match that never happened as Brock Lesnar retired earlier in August 2020, which made Cormier face Miocic. Following it, Daniel Cormier has even now retired.
