Former UFC double champion Daniel Cormier, during a recent sit-down with Megan Olivi, shared how he was introduced to wrestling and how the sport shaped him as a fighter and as a man.
The Olympic wrestler started by revealing that he and his siblings in Lafayette, Louisiana, used to wrestle in their home’s backyard on old mattresses from a very tender age.
Daniel Cormier then talked about the first fight he had in school with a kid named Gilbert. He added that Gilbert would beat him all the time, and initially, “DC” didn’t fight the bully back. However, once Cormier learned how to wrestle, he ‘kicked Gilbert’s a*s.’
“I bet the first fight I had was probably with the kid I speak about him constantly, and he gets mad at me. His name is Gilbert. He used to beat me up all the time. All the time… I remember one time he hit me so hard I fell on the ground, and I could hear the other kids saying, ‘Oh, he’s going to do this, he’s going to do this.’ I got up off the ground, picked myself up, and walked home. I didn’t even fight. It honestly built a fear of confrontation that I had for a long time until I learned how to wrestle. And then it changed everything because I kicked his *ss.”
While discussing how he started wrestling, Daniel Cormier shared another interesting incident from the past. “DC” told Megan Olivi that when he was 10-11 years old, his high school wrestling coach, Tank Lotiv, saw him and his other mates scrapping in the parking lot one day. Seeing the kids brawl, the coach said:
“Why don’t you guys come try wrestling?”
That was just the beginning of Daniel Cormier’s journey.
From a kid who started wrestling to defend himself to building a decorated career in the sport and eventually becoming a double champion in the UFC, his legacy is now etched in history.
Daniel Cormier Discusses the Two Most Important Lessons He Learned from Wrestling
During the same sit-down, “DC” also spoke about the two major life lessons wrestling taught him. He added:
“I went from being afraid to not afraid because I had the tools with wrestling to defend myself. It also built a desire to never take bullying again. Any time I was in a situation face to face and someone challenged me, I never backed away from the challenge. Maybe that’s why I didn’t quit, because it felt like I was presented with a challenge again… Through wrestling and that confidence it gave me, I literally never back down to anyone in any one‑on‑one situation.”
Check out Daniel Cormier’s comments below (7:40):
