Daniel Cormier

In mixed martial arts, there is hardly an athlete stronger than Daniel Cormier - the reigning UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, the leader of the Pound-for-Pound rating (in other words, the best regardless of the weight category). For three decades, the fighter has overcome many famous masters, from Jeff Monson to Antonio Silva. Despite his venerable age for an athlete, he never ceases to defend awards.

Daniel was born on March 20, 1979 in Lafayette, Louisiana, to Joseph and Audrey Cormier. The boy became the third of four children: he has an older brother Joseph and a sister Felicia, as well as a younger brother Ferral.

There are many tragic events in the biography of the future champion, and the first overtook him at the age of 7: in 1986, on Thanksgiving Day, his father was killed. Four kids were left in the care of Joseph's second wife, whose relative committed this crime.

Northside High didn't make Daniel happy. In his first year of study, his close friend and football teammate died in a car accident while returning home from training, and a year later, a cousin died in the same accident.

The young man found salvation in the struggle. At first, he fought with negative emotions and experiences, and then began to successfully perform at the Louisiana championships. By the end of high school, Daniel had won 101 fights, losing only nine times. He was twice dubbed the best athlete of the national tournament among youth, and in 1995, Cormier won a bronze medal at the world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 15-16 age group.

In parallel with the fight, the guy was fond of football, played as a midfielder, developed incredible speed - he covered 30 meters in 4.5 seconds. Daniel was offered a football scholarship at Louisiana State University, but he turned it down in favor of martial arts.

After graduating from high school, Cormier attended Colby Community College, Kansas and continued to develop as a fighter. In 1998 and 1999 he won the title of champion among young men in the weight category of 90 kg. The American successfully fought 61 fights without losing a single time.

In 2000, Daniel transferred to Stillwater University, Oklahoma, which is part of the National Collegiate Sports Association. The young man was enrolled in the first division, where he showed a good result: 26 wins, 5 defeats. He was taken to the national team, but, overwhelmed, Cormier showed himself poorly in competitions and did not make it into the top eight fighters.

The next year turned out to be more successful in terms of fighting, but the guy was struck by another loss. In January 2001, a plane carrying the Oklahoma Cowboys men's youth team crashed due to weather conditions. Among the ten dead was Cormier's close friend Daniel Lawson.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in sociology, Daniel took up sports closely. From 2003 to 2008 he represented the USA at the world level, repeatedly becoming the champion in the weight category of 96 kg. And in 2005, Cormier became one of the few Americans who won gold at the Russian Grand Prix "Ivan Yarygin". It is considered to be the most difficult wrestling tournament.

In 2004, the fighter tried himself in wrestling, took part in the now defunct Real Pro Wrestling league competitions and won the championship in the 95 kg weight category. A month later, Daniel was due to compete in the Olympics. He did not make it to the podium: in the fight for 3rd place he lost to Russian Khadzhimurat Gatsalov.

In 2008, Daniel wanted to take revenge at the Olympics. On August 21, he had a fight with the Cuban Michel Batista, and in a day Cormier successfully passed the weigh-in with an indicator of 96 kg. However, a few hours later, the athlete became ill.

In a hospital in Beijing, he was diagnosed with kidney failure caused by a sudden weight loss. Despite the efforts of the doctors, Cormier never entered the octagon. His opponent was awarded a technical victory. But the American hoped to bring home a gold medal, as he repeatedly stated in an interview.

This incident prompted Cormier to try his hand at MMA in the heavyweight division (he now weighs 112 kg and is 180 cm tall). The debut, which took place in September 2009 at the Xtreme MMA Championship, was crowned with success. In 2010, the athlete signed a contract with the Strikeforce promotion for 8 fights and won each of them. Daniel's strength was so great that in three battles he broke his own hand on other people's bones.

At the end of the contract, Cormier came under the auspices of the UFC. Under the supervision of doctors, the fighter lost weight to 92 kg, moving to the light heavy weight category. The first 3 battles ended in favor of the American, and on January 3, 2015, he suffered the first defeat in his professional career. Daniel was opposed by John Jones. The athletes fought a busy 5-minute fight, but the judges assigned the victory to Jones.

Two years later, on July 29, 2017, the Americans met again in a fight for the UFC light heavyweight title. In the third round, Cormier was knocked out. In an interview after the fight, Daniel did not hold back sobs:

However, a month later, two of Jones' doping tests revealed a banned drug - the steroid turinabol. The fight was declared invalid, and the title of champion was returned to Cormier.

With the exception of John Jones, all opponents submitted to Cormier: Anthony Johnson, Volkan Ozdemir, Anderson Silva. And immediately after the fight with Stipe Miocic on July 7, 2018, Daniel challenged Brock Lesnar, a former undefeated MMA fighter, to a duel. In response, Lesnar rushed into the octagon and tried to start a fight.

Daniel Cormier's personal life was not without tragedies.

On March 6, 2003, his girlfriend, athlete Carolyn Flower, gave birth to a daughter, Kaedn Imri. A few months later, on June 14, Carolyn was returning home with friends to Killeen, Texas, in a car with a faulty air conditioning. The child was crying from the heat, and the girl moved the cradle to her friends' car. After a few kilometers, Flower turned into a gas station, and the second car moved forward and got into an accident at the turn. The adults were seriously injured, and the child died on the spot.

On February 6, 2011, Daniel and his bride Salina had a son, Daniel Jr. The boy followed in his father's footsteps and is now mastering wrestling. A year later, on March 4, the couple had a daughter, Marquita Keilani. Salina became Cormier's wife in June 2017. Photos of a happy family often appear on the fighter's Instagram.

It is known that before Salina, Daniel had another wife named Robin.

The fighter helped Khabib Narmagomedov prepare for a fight with Conor McGregor. Cormier said about the Russian:

The prophecy came true: on October 6, 2018, Khabib defeated the Irishman in the fourth round.

On October 9 of the same year, UFC promotion announced that Cormier would defend his heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion UFC Heavyweight Champion Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Winner KOTC Heavyweight Champion XMMA Heavyweight Champion Performance of the Night Award Winner against Anthony Johnson, Volkan Ozdemir and Stipe Miocic Best Fight Award Winner evenings "in the battle against John Jones, Alexander Gustafsson

Daniel Cormier 's estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.

Let's check, How Rich is Daniel Cormier in 2020 ?

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2021

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1.6M in 2021. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $814K - $1.1M.

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2020

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1.8M in 2020. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $891.1K - $1.9M.

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2019

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1.3M in 2019. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $661.5K - $1.6M.

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2018

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1.3M in 2018. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $900.6K - $1.5M.

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2017

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1M in 2017. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $828K - $1.4M.

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2016

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1.2M in 2016. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $954.1K - $1.3M.

Daniel Cormier Net Worth 2015

Daniel Cormier 's revenue is $1.1M in 2015. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Daniel Cormier and could vary in the range between $677.3K - $1M.

It is an overall forecast for the net worth of Daniel Cormier. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does Daniel Cormier makes a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from Daniel Cormier's projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.