More from The Q&A: Daniel Cormier
Former Oklahoma State and Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier has turned his competitive juices to mixed martial arts.
He made his debut in the sport last week, more than a year after his wrestling career came to an unceremonious end. He suffered a severe kidney problem after his weight cut before the 2008 Olympics and was unable to compete in Beijing.
Now, Cormier is back in the fray.
Jenni Carlson: What was it like to be competing again? Obviously, a different sport, but still a competition.
Daniel Cormie: It was awesome. To have those competitive nerves before the fight. To have those butterflies walking to the cage. Then to actually get that feeling after a year of doing no competitive thing … as soon as that cage closed, I was OK. People say, “DC, how were you so composed in there?” It’s because I know that I’ve competed my whole entire life. The funny thing is, I’d never been in a cage before.
JC: Really?
DC: Not even in training. We trained in a ring.
JC: With the decision to go to MMA, did you give yourself any sort of out? Like, try it for a month or two and see what happens? Or were you all in from the beginning?
DC: You know, I kind of thought like that a little bit, but if I’m going to do something, I have to commit to it a hundred percent. And I did. I went out to California and trained hard. Training isn’t a problem. I did that my whole life. But getting hit initially was like, “Whoa.” But then after you get over that, the initial shock of that, it’s really not that hard.
JC: Those first few punches, you’re probably thinking, “Hey, ref, where’s the whistle?”
DC: As a wrestler, I’ve got that good ace in the hole; I just take them down. Guys start kicking my tail too much, I take ‘em down, and once they’re down, it’s harder for them to really compete with me because of my ability to hold guys down on the mat. But you’re got to be really careful with the submission holds. I really don’t feel those yet as well as I need to. As I progress in my career, I’m going to have to feel them better, but right now, I think I’m doing pretty good where I am.
JC: When you progress in your career? You mean, like, when you’re six months or a year in? You’re in the infancy of this.
DC: I’m a baby in this thing. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on my first fight. It was on national TV. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on my ability to stay composed. That goes back to wrestling with holding up under pressure, but I’m not stupid. I’m not a delusional person. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m a world beater because I’m not. I’m just really learning. In time, I think I will be pretty good at it. Like wrestling, I didn’t step onto a wrestling mat like I was a natural. It takes some time. That ended up working out pretty good for me. I’m committed to this sport, and with the commitment I’ve shown to wrestling, if I do the same thing, I’ll be OK.
JC: So, what’s next?
DC: I’m trying to fight again before the end of the year. It’s awesome because you train hard and your compensation is so over the top. When you were trying to go to wrestling competitions, you couldn’t find sponsors. Now, you’ve got people just throwing sponsorships at you. It’s just insane.
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