Daniel Cormier captured the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight crown in stunning fashion, as he knocked out Stipe Miocic in the first round of their July 7 encounter. “DC” will defend the title for the first time when he meets Derrick Lewis in the UFC 230 main event this Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
As Cormier prepares for his showdown with Lewis, here are some of the numbers that have made the American Kickboxing Academy captain one of the greatest fighters of all-time:
101: Wins as a high school wrestler. He suffered only nine defeats. Eighty-nine of Cormier’s victories came by fall. Representing Northside High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, Cormier won three state championships and was twice voted as the state’s most outstanding wrestler.
61: Wins without a loss while wrestling for Colby Community College, with 33 of those victories coming by a fall. Cormier became a two-time junior college national champion (1998-99) at the school.
26: Wins in 2000, when he moved to NCAA powerhouse Oklahoma State University. Cormier, who lost only five matches in his first year with the Cowboys, nearly earned All-America status, falling one victory short.
27: Wins for Oklahoma State. Cormier went 27-5, became an All-American and made it to the national final.
2: Times an Olympian. Cormier placed fourth in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece, losing to Russian Khadzhimurat Gatsalov in the semifinals. At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, he was named team captain but was pulled from the competition for health concerns.
2: Bouts with Strikeforce to start his professional MMA run. Following a stellar amateur wrestling career, Cormier signed with Strikeforce and went 2-0 with finishes of Gary Frazier and John Devine.
2: Mixed martial arts championships won in less than one month. Cormier claimed the Xtreme MMA heavyweight title at the expense of Lucas Brown on July 31, 2010 and captured the King of the Cage heavyweight championship from Tony Johnson two weeks later.
4: Takedowns executed against Josh Barnett in the final of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix. Cormier defeated the catch-wrestler and former UFC heavyweight champion by unanimous decision. According to FightMetric, Cormier outlanded Barnett 84-53 in terms of significant strikes.
1: Round needed to beat Patrick Cummins in Cormier’s light heavyweight debut at UFC 170. “DC” ended the fight by technical knockout 1:19 into the first round. In his next fight, Cormier choked out Dan Henderson.
5: Rounds fought with Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship at UFC 182. Jones outpointed Cormier to win by unanimous decision, only to be infamously stripped of the title following a hit-and-run incident.
1: Submission attempt needed to sink the rear-naked choke that stopped Anthony Johnson at UFC 187. In victory, Cormier captured the vacant light heavyweight belt.
3: Successful title defenses at 205 pounds. Cormier retained the championship against Alexander Gustafsson, Johnson and Volkan Oezdemir.
1: Right hand needed to drop Miocic. Cormier followed it with a few more punches to seal the deal, win the heavyweight strap and become the second fighter in history to hold UFC championships in two weight classes simultaneously.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.