Daniel Cormier - The Future?

Healing Like Wolverine, Daniel Cormier Readying Himself For Josh Barnett

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October 26, 2011
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When tournament alternate Daniel Cormier broke his hand in a semi-finals victory over Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva it was looking like the plagued Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix would never be concluded. However, thanks to the Olympic-caliber wrestler's mutant-like healing powers, he's on the mend and beginning preliminary training for his opponent in the finals,

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During a recent appearance on HDNEt's Inside MMA, Cormier discussed how his healing process has been going abnormally fast and, and a result, he'll likely be ready to face Barnett early next year.

"I'm not full-speed yet. I got my cast off a couple weeks ago and I really do attribute that to me basically being a living Wolverine," said Cormier, referencing Marvel Comics' notoriously resilient hero. "Only took three weeks for the bone to heal in my hand. Because I am Wolverine, I was able to get the cast off. Now I'm doing one-hand sparring, doing my kicking and working on my cardio. Training camp has started. For a guy like Josh Barnett, for me not to be working hard for him at this point and trying to do a basic seven- to ten-week camp, it's disrespectful to him and it doesn't give me the best opportunity to win that fight."

Let's just hope that Cormier is referencing Wolverine's comic book incarnation and not the movie version portrayed by Hugh Jackman.
The 32-year-old Cormier has only nine professional MMA bouts to his credit, but, under the tutelage of the American Kickboxing Academy, he has grown into a dangerous all-around MMA fighter. Looking better with each appearance, Cormier's most recent fight saw him starch Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva with punches in the first round of their grand prix semi-finals match-up.

 

This guy although light for the current crop of HW's, has all the tools to be the future of the division. His wrestling is among the best and his striking has come a long very well as we saw in his last two fights. He has also been coming into these successive fights in better shape then the previous.

Cormier vs Barnett (one of my all timer's) is very intriguing. My gut tells me that Barnett's got this, but Cormier is really something special IMO. Only time will tell (obviously) but if this guy wins the SF HW Grand Prix, where would that put him in the mix within the top ten?

MMA Weekly currently has Cormier as #9

Heavyweight MMA Top 10 (over 205 pounds)
Posted on November 15, 2011 by MMAWeekly.com Staff




1. Junior Dos Santos

2. Alistair Overeem

3. Cain Velasquez

4. Josh Barnett

5. Brock Lesnar

6. Fabricio Werdum

7. Shane Carwin

8. Frank Mir

9. Daniel Cormier

10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

 

Agreed. Him KTFO Bigfoot was a pleasant surprise. Good night for AKA that event.