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“I’m a big sports guy, so I am fully in tune with what getting into a hall of fame means,” said Cormier. “It’s one of the biggest honors I could ever hope for. Fighting has not only provided a life for me, provided a life for my family, but to be recognized as one of the ones that have done it the best in the history of the sport means the world. It’s been a very, very difficult year, but this is a nice pivot from all the negatives that I’ve had to go through in the last few months.”
In August 2020, Cormier retired after a loss in his third bout with Stipe Miocic. As soon as the Louisiana native made it official, it was a no brainer that as soon as he was eligible, he was getting inducted into the hall of fame. He was that good.
A two-time member of the U.S. Olympic team in freestyle wrestling, Cormier made a smooth transition to mixed martial arts, and within 10 pro fights, he had defeated Jeff Monson, Bigfoot Silva and Josh Barnett to win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
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In his 12th pro bout, he beat Frank Mir in his UFC debut, but it was at 205 pounds where he would make his first big mark in the Octagon, defeating Anthony Johnson in May 2015 to earn the vacant light heavyweight crown. During his time at 205, Cormier lost a pair of bouts to heated rival Jon Jones (the second one being overturned to a no contest), beat Johnson a second time and defeat fellow hall of famer Anderson Silva. But it was his UFC 192 win over Alexander Gustafsson in October 2015 that he believes showed who he was as a fighter.
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“Because there was so much that I’d been through in my fight career, I think that one showed all of me,” Cormier said. “It showed me wrestling, it showed me having to stand, it showed me having to bite down on the mouthguard and endure. It showed every part of who I was in this game. Just a guy that maybe didn’t have all the physical advantages but made do with what I had and absolutely maxed out my potential. I don’t believe that I could have done anything more in mixed martial arts with what I had. But through hard work, commitment and a competitive fire that was second to none, it allowed me to do some truly special things.”
If Cormier walked away as light heavyweight champion following his January 2018 stoppage of Volkan Oezdemir, a hall of fame nod would have been his regardless. But he wasn’t done yet, and when he returned to the heavyweight division later that year and knocked out Stipe Miocic to win another world title and become a simultaneous two-division champion, any doubts were erased.