5 things you might not know about Daniel Cormier

#2 There’s a reason he always avoided cutting to 205lbs

Cormier now comfortably makes 205lbs - but weight cutting hasn't always been easy for him

Even as far back as his StrikeForce run, many fans simply couldn’t figure out why Cormier was choosing to fight at Heavyweight. He looked massively undersized there and hardly cut the figure of a svelte athlete, instead sporting a sizeable gut. It wasn’t that he was out of shape per say, but it was certainly clear that he had the frame to make 205lbs comfortably.

There was a major reason for ‘DC’ deciding to stay at Heavyweight, though. Cormier’s background as an Olympic wrestler is often mentioned when analysts talk about his strengths – but few people are aware that in reality, his Olympic experience was actually a nightmare for him.

Athens 2004 went pretty well, admittedly – he took 4th place in the 96kg freestyle tournament, narrowly missing out on a medal, but if he expected to go a step further at Beijing 2008 he was sorely mistaken.

Cormier was named as team captain of the USA wrestling team that year but ended up being pulled from the competition due to kidney failure brought on by excessive weight cutting. According to a 2014 interview with Cormier, he felt like he was about to die during the cutting process – making it far more understandable why he chose to avoid weight cutting during his MMA career.

Of course, in 2014 he decided to make the plunge and moved to 205lbs for the first time in his career – and thankfully he’s had no dangerous occurrences around his weight cutting since, choosing to make the lower weight largely by dieting rather than stripping water weight.