“Wrestling has been the foundation for everything I’ve done. I’m excited to coach a great team in Gilroy and excited to give back to the town that has accepted me and my family so openly.” Daniel Cormier said after the former UFC double champ took the job as the head wrestling coach at Gilroy High School in San Jose back in April 2018. If you remember, then just three months later, ‘DC’ made history by slaying Stipe Miocic and clinching the heavyweight crown while already holding the 205lbs crown. Impressive, right? Well, Cormier’s career is filled with accolades like these.
A three-time state champion from Louisiana, Cormier was recruited out of junior college by legendary coach John Smith and went on to become a two-time All-American at Oklahoma State. He transitioned seamlessly to the senior freestyle circuit, earning a spot on six consecutive U.S. world teams, including two Olympic squads. His best international finish came at the 2007 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he captured a bronze medal. And this is just about his amateur wrestling career!
After the 2008 Olympics, Cormier shifted his focus to MMA, where he quickly rose to prominence, ultimately becoming a champion. Cormier’s professional MMA debut came in Strikeforce against Gary Frazier. At 30 years old, he sparked some questions about how far he could go in a sport where most athletes hit their prime—or even start to decline—by that age. He later joined the UFC and achieved historic success, capturing titles in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. Following his retirement after UFC 252 in 2020, Cormier transitioned to a new role as one of the sport’s best analysts, offering expert commentary and insight.
And as already mentioned, Cormier had found his segway into the next phase of life when he took up the job at Gilroy. For the unversed, Cormier currently resides in Santa Clara County with his wife and two children. Gilroy High School, where he coaches, is also located in the county, as is the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, where Cormier continues to visit to see his champion teammates, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. And we have seen interactions between the former double champ and the Dagestani duo on multiple occasions. But do you know that Cormier did not wish to go the coaching way at all?
While training students at Eddie Alvarez’s Underground King gym, Cormier answered some of their questions. One of the first was about what inspired him to get into MMA. The former dual-weight champ said:
“What inspired me to do MMA? Wrestling. When I was done with the Olympics, I didn’t want to coach. Ultimately, I ended up going back to coaching, but I didn’t want to coach college. I wanted something competitive, but I didn’t wanna wrestle anymore. I was done. I was 29 years old, about to be 30. I could wrestle no more, so I went there fighting. And I fell in love with it right away.”
Answering the question about what stood out most to ‘DC’ during his AKA days, he said, “We had some great memories in the gym, man! You know, the one thing I miss now, I turned 46 years old last week. I thought I missed fighting, but I missed the camaraderie from the gym. Where it was like me, Cain, Luke, Khabib, Josh Thomson, Koscheck, Fitch, everybody just in the gym together. And it was those days after practice that were special. When it was time to go at 2, we would sit around till 2:30 or 3, just talking about things and fights. And what you hope to accomplish, and it was special. Because we all started together with nothing! Nobody was champion!”
Wrestling was clearly Daniel Cormier’s first love, as he started his combat sports journey by becoming a standout wrestler on the Olympic stage. Today, Cormier has transitioned into a respected MMA analyst after compiling a 22-3-0 record and earning numerous accolades throughout his fighting career. He retired at 41 years old, defying the usual expectations around age in the sport. But did he completely walk away from coaching? It doesn’t seem so. Although he no longer aims to be a full-time wrestling coach, destiny clearly had other plans for ‘DC’.
Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen will be coaching rivals on TUF
Cormier is not done with coaching, it seems, because he and ex-UFC star Chael Sonnen will go from friends to rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. Cormier and Sonnen will coach TUF 33, which is going to debut on May 27th. Both UFC Hall of Famers will go toe to toe against each other, even if it is as coaches and not fighters.
On TUF 33 media day, DC admitted, “We aren’t fighting. I told Dana this yesterday, I don’t wanna fight anybody because he was making fun of us. He goes, ‘Did the GFL call you guys?’ I was like, ‘They didn’t even call me because they know I don’t wanna fight, and Chael probably turned him down.’ So like, we’re good. I go, ‘I just have no desire to fight anyone.’”
‘The American Gangster’ and DC planned a way out so that they did not have to fight. Cormier had Michael Chiesa on his coaching team, while Sonnen had Colby Covington. DC suggested that ‘Chaos’ and Chiesa should clash against each other to finish TUF 33. He said during media day, “Why don’t they just fight, and Chael and I coach them? That’s about as close as we would both get to going back into the Octagon. So, why don’t those dudes just fight each other?”
Are you excited to see Daniel Cormier as a coach again? What do you think of his journey to MMA? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The post “I Didn’t Want to Coach” – Daniel Cormier Makes Intentions Clear Amid Training With Khabib, Islam & NCAA Stars appeared first on EssentiallySports.