Daniel Cormier is currently known by most as the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion of the world with a much anticipated upcoming bout against Jon Jones on July 9, 2016 at UFC 200. His storied wrestling career however is something that is oftentimes overlooked, barely mentioned, or even forgotten about.

Daniel Cormier was arguably one of the best college wrestlers of his generation attending Colby Community College and becoming a two-time junior college national champion and then transferring to Oklahoma State University where he became an all-American placing second in the NCAA tournament in 2001 at 184 lbs. Amassing a record of 53-10 in 2001 he lost the championship match to none other than Cael Sanderson who not only accounted for 6 of Cormier’s 10 losses but is arguably the best college wrestler in history going undefeated at 159-0 and winning 4 national championships.

Cormier went on to wrestle internationally and at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 ending his international career in 2007 with a bronze medal performance at the World Championships. Making the Olympic team in 2008 he failed to compete after a weight cutting disaster that left him hospitalized and experiencing organ failure.

Below we witness the very last wrestling match of Cormier’s storied and incredible career. The match took place at a UFC fan expo on July 5, 2014 against Oklahoma State University alum Chris Pendleton. Watching Cormier progress as an athlete as he turns his focus solely on MMA has been a joy and a pleasure. He is without a doubt one of the best mixed martial artists in the world and has been able to adapt his world class wrestling skills to the ring in a manner that we have yet to see matched.

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Jacob C. Stevens is a lifelong athlete and cerebral martial arts enthusiast who is also skilled in the art of linguistic manipulation, his published work, Afterthoughts and Handgrenades, can be found here…