Former two-division UFC Champion Daniel Cormier thinks one of his former teammates would’ve given him a run for his money.
In a legendary career spanning 26 fights across two weight divisions, only a couple of men can lay claim to a victory over Cormier: Jon Jones at light heavyweight and Stipe Miocic at heavyweight.
Like his former foes, Cormier is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time with six UFC title fight wins. ‘DC’ fought some of the biggest names at light heavyweight: Jones (twice), Anderson Silva, Alexander Gustafsson and the late, great Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson (also twice).
Retired from MMA for nearly five years now, Cormier recently gave an interesting take on how a fight with the marquee Chael Sonnen would’ve gone at 205lbs.
Daniel Cormier says he ‘would’ve had his hands full’ with Chael Sonnen fight
Once former training partners, Daniel Cormier coached the latest season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter 33’ opposite Sonnen, one of the UFC’s biggest draws for his trash-talking skills.
Sonnen notably challenged for the UFC title three times across the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions where he lost to then champ Anderson Silva twice and Jon Jones. A wrestler, Sonnen went 7-7 in the premier promotion with wins over former champs Michael Bisping and Mauricio Rua.
The coaches on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality TV show often fight each other after filming is wrapped up. Of course, that won’t be the case for the retired Cormier and Sonnen—but the question was asked: who would’ve won at light heavyweight?
“It would have been such a hard [fight],” Cormier said of Sonnen in an interview with New York Post Sports.
“Chael was good, man…
“We’ve trained together and [Sonnen gave me] some of the hardest training sessions I’ve ever had and I’ve trained with Luke Rockhold and Cain Velasquez for my whole career.
“It was hard. Good, hard training sessions.
“I would have had my hands full because his style was very similar to mine,” Cormier added.
Chael Sonnen admits he never bested Daniel Cormier in training
Former analysts on UFC on FOX Tonight, Cormier said he and Sonnen would train together at Jay Glazer’s gym after working the broadcast desk.
Sitting next to ‘DC’ after he called his former teammate a tough fight, Sonnen replied:
“That’s a tremendous compliment from Daniel, and I will take it, but he’s being a nice guy.
“In those training sessions, I never got the best of him,” Sonnen explained.
“But we worked hard. I was able to push him. It wasn’t a waste of anybody’s time, and we’re both trying to get better. I was at a different weight class [middleweight].
“My ego can handle it, but I appreciate how nice he is when he says that,” Sonnen said of Cormier’s comments.