Daniel Cormier: Is he a Threat to the Heavyweight Division?

After Saturday night's brutalization of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva by Daniel “DC” Cormier, the MMA heavyweight division must be quaking in its boots.

At Strikeforce 36, Cormier ruthlessly and clinically halted Silva’s ascendancy to the top of the heavyweight division, the same Silva who most recently violently violated Fedor Emelianenko’s MMA rights.

It’s amazing what a difference a day can make—in this case, what a fight can make. One minute Cormier was irrelevant—or should I say inconsequential—to the heavyweight division, but one hook-uppercut combination later, and all of a sudden he’s the talk of the MMA circuit.

Such was the furore surrounding his one-sided decimation of Silva that the word on the street is he might be the one person who could defeat Jon “Bones” Jones, emphasis being on could.

This, mind you, is dependent on whether Cormier makes the drop to light heavyweight or not, and it also hinges on Jones still being the champion by the time they eventually meet. That is, if they ever do.

Either way, Cormier has become consequential to the heavyweight picture and the division as a whole.

His time spent at American Kickboxing Academy has paid off, and with the likes of fellow AKA member UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez putting him through his strides, that must’ve done him the world of good.

If Cormier can spar and train with a beast such as Velasquez, is there any heavyweight he’d be afraid to throw down with? I don’t think so.

Cormier is now in the finals of the Strikeforce Grand Prix, and his opponent is none other than submission specialist Josh Barnett. If he gets past Barnett, which I think he will, the world will be his oyster. Even if he loses the match up, his name will still ring out.

I, for one, think Cormier will give any heavyweight a run for his money, be it Velasquez—whom he might or mightn’t agree to fight since they’re training partners—or the likes of Dos Santos or Brock Lesnar.

Cormier has some serious wrestling credentials (NCAA Division 1 and Olympic wrestler, to name a few). He’s also got great takedown defense; he negated both UFC title contender Jeff Monsoon’s and Silva’s takedown attempts.

Cormier’s jiu-jitsu is not too bad, either. He’s had three submissions in his nine victories. I know only one of those submissions was via rear-naked choke (Tony Johnson) and the other two by punches, but a submission is a submission, right?

He has shown he is quite nimble on his feet, which allows him to move out of harm's way and gives him the opportunity to execute his own strategy.

Last but not least, Cormier’s striking has come along leaps and bounds, and this was most evident in the destructive manner in which he dispatched Silva.

With what Cormier has achieved thus far—only nine fights in his short MMA career—he can only get better.

That’s great news for the MMA faithful, but bad news for the heavyweight elite.

Right now, Cormier is like a runaway train. The only difference is he has a direction, and it’s directed towards the heavyweight division and all its glory.

That the UFC will come calling sooner rather than later—it has to.

If you want to pee with the big dogs, you’re going to have to learn to pee on big trees.

Cormier has shown both.

He was recently interviewed by Bleacher Report; this sheds a little light into the mindset of Cormier.