Daniel Cormier Wants to Make 205 by Year’s End, But Plans to Fight His Way Out at Heavyweight

Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier was one of the most anticipated UFC arrivals in recent memory.

He’s been extremely successful at heavyweight, amassing a spotless 12-0 professional record in mixed martial arts, but now has aspirations of fighting his way down to light heavyweight.

Cormier’s Octagon debut was a grinding victory over Frank Mir at UFC on Fox 7, which only reinforced the idea that a drop to 205 pounds might be the best move for his future, especially considering his friend and teammate Cain Velasquez is the current UFC heavyweight champion.

Cormier and Velasquez had danced around the idea of having to one day fight each other until recently when Cormier committed to the idea of fighting in the light heavyweight division instead of just toying with the idea.

“The truth of the matter is when I am (moving to 205 pounds) now,” Cormier said in a recent group media interview. “It’s not when I do, if I am. It’s a matter of getting down there and doing it in the correct way.”

Cormier used to weigh near the top end of the 265-pound class, but fought Mir at 235 pounds. So doing it the correct way involves properly dieting to slowly shed the weight and continuing to fight along the way.

He hopes to join the light heavyweight class by the end of 2013, but with just 12 fights under his belt, Cormier doesn’t want to lose any valuable time in the Octagon. So he plans on taking at least one more heavyweight bout as his size diminishes.

“I wanna fight because I don’t want to sit on the shelf,” Cormier explained. “I went through 18 months with one fight after I fought Bigfoot (Silva) and broke my hand. I don’t want to be inactive.

“I’ve only been fighting for so long, and I lost a year with the broken hand injury.”

There have been several names bandied about for Cormier’s next opponent – Roy Nelson, the winner of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fabricio Werdum, and others – but as far as Cormier is concerned, the who of the matter doesn’t make much difference, as long as he’s fighting a top guy.

“If it wasn’t (the winner of Nogueira and Werdum), then okay, it’ll be someone else,” he added.

“I just want to fight someone on the way out (of the heavyweight division).”

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