[h=1]Daniel Cormier Commits to Dropping to Light Heavyweight by End of 2013[/h] [h=3]By Craig Amos [/h] Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports Heavyweight Daniel Cormier joined the UFC earlier this year as the crown jewel of the promotion's Strikeforce roster haul. He is in his prime. He is undefeated. He is a legitimate threat to win the UFC heavyweight title, and do it today. The problem is, the UFC heavyweight title current fits the waist of Cain Velasquez, who is a training partner and friend of Cormier. The pair's unwillingness to fight one another paints Cormier into a corner so long as he remains in the weight class, which is something that has fueled speculation about a possible drop to 205. Speaking at a group media interview (H/T MMA Weekly), Cormier finally committed to making the drop, something he has previously toyed with. "Before, you know, I've always kind of been, 'when I do, when I do.' Well, the truth of the matter is I am [moving to light heavyweight] now," Cormier explained. "It's no when I do, if I am. It's a matter of getting down there and doing it the correct way." When questioned about doing it by the end of the year, he answered with an emphatic "Yes." But even though Cormier wants to make the transition "the correct way" he has no intention of using the latter half of 2013 just to change his body. He wants to fight, and he wants to do it one last time at heavyweight. "I want to fight because I don't want to sit on the shelf," he exclaimed. "I went through 18 months with one fight after I fought Bigfoot [Silva] and broke my hand. I don’t want to be inactive." With Junior Dos Santos poised to settle the score with Velasquez, the Brazilian is one high-profile heavyweight who Cormier won't get on the way out of the division, but several intriguing possibilities remain. The winner of Roy Nelson vs. Stipe Miocic is a possibility, as is the winner of this weekend's showdown between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fabricio Werdum. Mark Hunt is another candidate for Cormier's exit fight. After Cormier's drop, the plan becomes a lot clearer. The end-game is apparently a fight with Jon Jones at 205. That match is most certainly an interesting one, as Jones continues to walk through the competition native to the 205-pound division. Should Cormier successfully make the drop and challenge Jones, he'd instantly become the biggest threat to the seemingly invulnerable reign of "Bones." The move is still not a guarantee, especially if Velasquez relinquishes his title before the end of the year. That scenario might cause Cormier to change his mind and instead make a run at heavyweight gold. But, if all goes to plan, Cormier vs. Jones is something for MMA fans to look forward to in 2014.
This will not end up good for Daniel. He's too old to be dropping so much weight. Plus him not dominating the elite or not bench mark that is Frank Mir made me a lot excited about a Jones fight. He should just stick around (which he actually is) until JDS takes Cain's head off again and that way he can go for that title.
CLEARLY he's Got Enough Excess Weight to CUT to 205...But Does he REALLY Want To???...Cormier's just Always Struck REED as Being LAZY... REED:hammert:
I think has wanted to for a while, but wanted to get his MMA career started. I dont see him as being lazy at all. Lets not forget this is an olympian here. He has also put in the hard work necessary to be champion and beat one of the best heavyweights in the world.
I am very impressed with him. With such few fights, he has done amazing. Check out his destruction of BigFoot and his destruction of Josh Barnett. You can find them on youtube. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BLws_jC48E4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I heard Cormier had some sort of kidney problems related to him cutting weight too much in his wrestling day's.
Yep and he was younger then and had less weight o cut. I thought his plan was to slowly lose the weight but he looked fatter than ever against Mir.
Based on what? History shows that he can't. The dude almost died making 211 lbs in the Olympics when he was 5 years younger and accustomed to consistently making the weight. Now he's been carrying the extra weight for years and you think it won't be a problem cutting to 205? Just curious why you're so confident.
Because i don't think he is will be cutting the weight. He will lose the weight. Instead of burning water he will be burning fat. I listened to him on a radio show a few months ago and says that he has learned a lot and weight cutting screwed him but losing weight is a different animal. Nothing unhealthy or unnatural about losing weight. Cutting however is very unhealthy and bad for you.
Thanks, but I understand the difference between losing weight and cutting weight. That difference was kind of my point. Cormier talks about losing the weight slowly rather than cutting down. Yet he was 5 pounds heavier against Mir than he was in his previous fight. So again, to say he makes it down to 205 easily by the end of the year when he is actually going the opposite direction just 7 months from the end of the year seems like wishful thinking to me. History and the scales say "no" but Antony says "yes"..... We shall see my friend.
ok, I wasn't sure because it didn't seem like you knew since you are comparing what he will do now, on his own time to what he did in the Olympics which was a dangerous cut in a small amount of time. I didn't catch that point of yours. Well he just made this announcement. I'm sure he want tring to slim down for a Mir fight. In fact, he probably purposely bulked up. Mir is huge and strong on the ground. Why would Cormier come in light against him? Again he determined this plan after the Mir fight. 7months is more than enough time to properly lose the pounds he needs to in order to get to 205. Actually, history and the scales do not say no. Again, he had a history of cutting weight for the Olympics. Which is dangerous. He will now attempt to lose weight. Which is healthy and actually not that hard for athlete. I thought you knew the difference?
I love it when Anthony dissects a response line-by-line but doesn't actually address any of the actual points. But what I really love is when his point of view is actually contradicted by the fighters themselves. As Exhibit "A", Anthony says it will be easy for Cormier to make 205. Meanwhile, the fighter himself says: So....... History, the scales and Cormier himself all say it will be difficult, but Anthony thinks it will be easy.
I addressed the point fine. Clearly i am not Cromier, so i dont speak for him. My opinion was that it will be easy for a dedicated olympian to lose weight. An athlete losing weight so much easier than a normal person at home losing it. If Cromier says it will hard, ok. I take him at his word. But again, history does not say no. History actually says yes. What history does show us is that Daniel has lost weight successfully before. Cromier use to weight 264. He would cut weight down to 250. Cromier use to weight 250 when he was wrestling. But now he said things have changed. He changed his lifestyle and actually wakes up at 234. "I had been cutting weight for a really long time," Cormier said. "I think I started when I was 13, but I was doing it the wrong way. I put (a plastic sweatsuit) on a week before I weighed in, and I would just start sucking out that water. ... Your body can only take so much. I was beating it down every time. It was very scary."Physically, I'm different now," said Cormier, 34, an All-America wrestler at Oklahoma State. When I was saying that I couldn't make light heavyweight, it wasn't happening. At my heaviest, I was 264 pounds. I was consistently weighing in for fights at 250 pounds, and that was after training camps. I was losing 7, 8 pounds and being 250 pounds at weigh-ins. Now, I wake up in the morning, and I'm 234 pounds. That's almost a 20-pound difference. Now it seems realistic. I'm lighter now than even when I was wrestling." So again, history and the scales actually show a dedicated cromier can make 205.
You are the one that said he couldnt make it. Making it easy or not was my opinion. So you should answer your own question Mr. "History and the scales say no", when in fact, history says yes.
it's funny cause my spell check corrected the spelling of his name and i couldn't figure out why it wasn't. Hey, my last name is Francois, but im not french.
Check your reading comprehension. I clearly said it was wishful thinking that he easily makes 205. Regardless, it's all in response to you saying he makes 205 with no problem by the end of the year. Let's get real. The dude is 34 years old and hasn't been below 211 lbs in like 2 decades. And you think he makes it down to 205 with no problem? That's just nuts. If he makes it down to 205, which is certainly POSSIBLE, it will be fucking difficult and he'll likely be a shell of what we've seen from him at HW. You don't need to paraphrase me or misquote me. I am clearly saying that he will have a difficult damn time getting down to 205 at his age. It is utterly naive to think anything else.
Yep, I think it will be a Chris Byrd or Roy Jones situation, losing that much weight, being lower than you have been in well over a decade can never be a good thing, surely. Less pronounced than Byrd or Jones because let's face it, he does have quite a bit of fat to lose - but still, he'll be weakened by going to 205. Francois will be a wee bit surprised if he thinks Danny is going to do it with no problem.
Whatever you say. I think losing. 30 pounds in 7 months isn't difficult at all. The difficult part will be adjusting to it. I have trained people to lose 50 pounds in less than 7 months. But yeah, I guess a world class athlete who has already lost 30 pounds will just kill himself doing it again.
