Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Fighters of the 2010s

4. Daniel Cormier

It says a lot about the greatness on display during this decade that Cormier, who became the UFC's first simultaneous champion at heavyweight and light heavyweight, with a superlative record of 21-2 during the 2010s, only takes fourth place. Cormier's career is a near-perfect match for this list, as only his 2009 professional debut against Gary Frazier and his August 2020 retirement fight against Stipe Miocic fall outside of the decade under examination. Cormier recorded the majority of his fights at heavyweight, but his actual prime was spent at light heavyweight. At the former weight class, even in 2018 when way past his prime physically, Cormier knocked out Stipe Miocic in Round 1, and in his 40s, dominated the first two and a half rounds of their rematch before gassing out and losing. I think a prime Cormier beats Miocic three times out of three, likely convincingly. Yet that was Cormier's only loss at heavyweight. He dominated Derrick Lewis en route to a Round 2 stoppage, won an easy decision over a prime Josh Barnett, with an iconic slam to the canvas, stopped a prime Antonio Silva in the first round, and destroyed only marginally past their prime versions of Frank Mir, Roy Nelson and Jeff Monson.

At light heavyweight, Cormier went undefeated with the exception of his encounters with one man, Jon Jones, whom we will see later on this list. He vanquished Alexander Gustafsson—which should not have been a split decision—Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva and Volkan Oezdemir. Unlike Jones, Cormier holds two stoppage victories over the incredibly dangerous contender Anthony Johnson. His amazing wrestling and brutal top control, with which he could either pound out or submit an opponent, and shockingly good cardio were too much for most, but Cormier's striking got better and better over his career, evolving into a very dangerous weapon as well. Cormier was also one of the smartest fighters the sport has ever seen, executing intricate gameplans perfectly, allowing him to beat many opponents who had athletic or physical advantages over him.

Continue Reading » Number 3