Strikeforce 36: Daniel Cormier Talks Strikeforce, Cain Velasquez, His Future

Although he has gotten a late start to his mixed martial arts career, Strikeforce heavyweight Daniel Cormier has done whatever necessary to gain the experience he needs to face off with the world's best heavyweights.

For instance, Cormier debuted in September 2009 on a Strikeforce Challengers card in Oklahoma. That night he dispatched of Gary Frazier via TKO late in the second round of their scheduled three-round contest. Little was known about Cormier back then, but those of us who were familiar with him knew it was just the beginning.

Since then Cormier has reeled off another seven wins in a row, capturing the XMMA Heavyweight Championship as well as the King of the Cage heavyweight title along the way. In the latter match, Cormier showed off his well-renowned wrestling skills and some slick jiu-jitsu as he choked Tony Johnson out midway through Round 1.

While capturing titles is always nice, Cormier knew he needed a step up in competition in order to prepare him for the next stage of his career. His wish was granted when Strikeforce matched him up against former UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson this past June. Cormier showed off much-improved striking skills to frustrate the American Top Team veteran en route to a unanimous decision win.

This coming Saturday, Cormier will face his toughest test to date as he fills in for the UFC-bound, former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. At 6'4" and 265 pounds, Antonio Silva is coming off a dominating second-round TKO of Fedor Emelianenko in the first round of the Grand Prix. His sheer size added to his strong jiu-jitsu background offer Cormier what he has been waiting for since he made his debut two years ago.

"I am so excited for this bout, I feel good and I've been training extremely hard," Cormier recently told BleacherReport.com. "I've been training smart and since I was only three weeks off of my fight with Monson I never had time to shift my focus to one particular opponent. I am always pretty close to the gym so it wasn't like I needed to get into fighting shape in order to face Silva."

Some younger fighters who get into MMA in their early 20s can afford to take their time and work their way up the ladder. They can start off against lower-quality opponents and take the time to learn from their mistakes without taking too much risk. For Cormier, he wasn't in all that much of a rush, but the fact that he was already 29 when he began his career made it clear he needed to be smart, but practical as well.

"I never gave the level of competition too much thought, I was just preparing for the opponents they were offering me," Cormier told Bleacher Report. "As I started getting better and getting a feel for being in the cage and getting more comfortable, I felt I was ready to move forward. Now after fighting Monson, a guy who has been around forever, I am to the point now where I need to test myself each and every fight to gauge my progress."

To go from fighting on the Challenger Series cards against fighters who were not much more experienced than Cormier to fighting a guy who challenged Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Championship a few years back is making a big leap. One would expect to have some butterflies or nerves facing off a fighter the caliber of Monson, but Cormier is a whole different fighter, and to say he was prepared is putting it lightly.

"To be honest with you I don't really get that nervous anymore," Cormier said. "I don't look it like it's a fight, another competition for me. This is something I really enjoy doing. When I was offered the fight with Jeff I actually felt privileged to face a guy who has been doing this for so long and at such a high level. I was so excited to have this opportunity to face a guy I watched when I was in college.

"I was originally scheduled to face Shane Del Rosario, but unfortunately he was injured in a car accident. Shane was in the same category as myself, we were fighting to see who was going to move forward and who would take a step back, but he got hurt and now I find myself in a great situation."

By being thrust into the Grand Prix on such short notice, Cormier is in a win-win situation. He is by far the least experienced of the four fighters left in the hunt and if he were to lose he could use it as a tool to make himself better. If he happens to win, he does something not too many people expected and puts himself in the driver's seat of the Strikeforce Heavyweight division.

"I think I match up well with Silva as well as the other guys on the other side of the bracket," Cormier said. "Like you said, it is a win-win situation for me to be put in this spot so early on in my career. Bigfoot has beaten Fedor and Arlovski, he's been in some battles. The opportunity is great and I believe your career can never advance without facing someone of his caliber. Worst case scenario, I lose the fight and go back to the drawing board and reevaluate and get it right. Also, the visibility I will gain from being in this tournament opens a lot of doors for me."

What can not be discounted is the fact that Cormier trains day in and day out with the UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Training at AKA has afforded him exposure to a slew of great fighters and fantastic coaches. A lot of fighters say the real work takes place in camp amongst their teammates. If that is true, Silva is in for a surprise on Saturday night because who could be a better training partner than Velasquez himself?

"We have a good group of hard working guys who really support one another," Cormier said. "That is what makes us so special. We don't have any guys who were champions before they joined the camp. Each man has grown up inside these four walls by pushing one another to the point of exhaustion. All of our guys basically started from the ground floor and started out with a solid wrestling core and not much else.

"It's great to train with someone like that, it gives you so much confidence as you head into your fight. I'm getting set to face the guy who is No. 5 in the world, but I train with the No. 1 guy in the world every day. There are days where I can barely move after training with him. Cain mixes all of his tools very well. He has good striking, jiu-jitsu and outstanding wrestling, he keeps me on my toes."

One thing Cormier isn't certain about is the future of Strikeforce. Ever since being purchased by Zuffa, the organization seems like it's on life support. It's lost its heavyweight champion in Overeem, Nick Diaz its welterweight champion and quite possibly its light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson to the UFC. To those of us on the outside it seems like it's only a matter of time before Strikeforce becomes a distant memory the same way Pride did.

"I try not to worry about about that stuff. I let my managers and coaches handle all of that," Cormier said. "We don't know what's going to happen. I've been here since day one, they gave me my first break and Showtime has been very good to me. At some point in my career I would like to fight in the UFC, I think every fighter wants to fight on the biggest stage in MMA, but right now I am with Strikeforce and that is where my loyalties lie."

Besides Cormier and Silva, the two other semifinalists are former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and his opponent on Saturday night, Sergei Kharitonov. After having some time to evaluate all three fighters, Cormier knows all three men are talented and have had big wins throughout their careers, but is there one fighter in particular who he feels would offer him the strongest test?

"Without a doubt it would be Barnett," Cormier said. "He has the experience, the catch wrestling. I think Barnett is the best all-around fighter in the Grand Prix. I thin Bigfoot is a great fighter as is Sergei, but Barnett has a whole different set of skills that the other two men do not offer. I am looking forward to hopefully getting the opportunity to face him. I see this tournament as a path towards me winning the Heavyweight Championship within the next year. Strikeforce really gave me a great opportunity that I don't plan on wasting."