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Daniel Cormier reveals why fighting UFC’s youngest heavyweight champion is one of his proudest moments

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Jan 6, 2026 1:35 PM ET

The UFC Hall of Famer has reflected on a pivotal moment in his career.

Daniel Cormier retired following his loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 252 inside the Apex in Las Vegas.

The former simultaneous two-division champion turned commentator left behind a great legacy following everything that he accomplished inside the Octagon.

While Cormier is open to competing against his greatest rival, Jon Jones, in a grappling ruleset, his MMA days are firmly behind him.

‘DC’ recently reflected on his career when naming a moment that comes to mind for him as an accomplishment that he’s proud of.

Daniel Cormier says he ‘grew up’ while fighting Josh Barnett over five rounds

Daniel Cormier followed in Conor McGregor’s footsteps by becoming the second fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two divisions at the same time.

‘DC’ didn’t mention his UFC title wins when he was recently asked by Josh Thomson in an interview for Weighing In about the moments in his career that he’s the most proud of.

Instead, the first memory that came to mind was the finals of the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, where he came out on top to prove himself as top fighter in the division.

Josh Barnett became the youngest UFC heavyweight champion ever when he stopped Randy Couture in 2002 before parting ways with the promotion shortly after.

In just his tenth fight, Cormier had to weather some difficult moments in order to win a unanimous decision over five rounds to become the Grand Prix champion.

“The first one for me was Josh Barnett in San Jose,” Cormier reflected. “I was getting beaten up bad, man. I had cuts all over my head, my eye, and I was just getting through it. I was so young in my career. I’d fought eight times and I was fighting Josh Barnett. It was just crazy.”

The UFC commentator went on to specifically highlight how difficult it was for him to go five rounds for the first time, with the fight being an incredibly valuable learning experience for him.

“I grew up that night because he was elbowing me. I was cut here, here, I had a cut in my head cuz he elbowed me on the top of my head. It was nuts.”

Daniel Cormier’s biggest regret is his rematch with Jon Jones

Daniel Cormier followed up this proud memory by talking about the fight that he wishes he could go back and do differently.

At UFC 214 in 2017, the defending light heavyweight champion started incredibly well in his rematch with Jon Jones.

He believes that his success in the early rounds led to him losing focus and fighting out of character, which led to him being hurt by a huge head kick and finished in the third round.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

“I’m doing all kinds of stuff that just was not me, and then I got kicked in the head,” Cormier told Thomson. “If I could relive that, I would have stayed locked in and not taken my eye off the ball.”

The result was overturned in the aftermath of the bout due to Jones testing positive for an anabolic steroid, with the belt being returned to Cormier.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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