Cormier: I'm faster than Big Foot, more athletic, and a better wrestler

by Maggie Hendricks 

When Alistair Overeem dropped out of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix fans groaned in frustration. Not so Daniel Cormier. Cormier got the call of his MMA lifetime.

"Obviously, I had no reservations. I'm a person who thinks things through, and when I weighed out the positives and negatives, there was no reason for me to not take the fight," Cormier told Cagewriter.

"People are saying that the tournament means nothing because Overeem is out, it's the biggest thing in my life. When I first saw the tournament started, I thought it was the greatest collection of heavyweights in one bracket. I still get to fight some of the best heavyweights in the world, and if I string this together, I think it validates me as a mixed martial artist."

"I'm faster than (Big Foot) is, I'm more athletic and a better wrestler, and I think I'm a pretty decent mixed martial artist. I've gotten better to the point that I think I'm ready to compete with the best guys in the world. I won't know how far I am in this journey until I do test myself with someone like that."

"In wrestling, everything was tournament-based. It's not like I haven't had to set my mind for a tournament before. I'll just draw back on my wrestling experience, the Olympics, U.S. Nationals, world team trials, every other tournament I've been in my whole life. I've been going to tournaments since I was seven."

"I'm on my way to becoming a full-fledged mixed martial artist. I spend a lot of times covering all disciplines of MMA. With the Monson fight, I was fighting someone much more experienced than me, and I was able to outstrike him. At the same time, I don't ever want the Olympic tag to be lifted from my name. I worked my whole life for that. No matter what I do in my life, I will always be an Olympian."

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Daniel Cormier fights Antonio "Big Foot" Silva, in the semifinals of theStrikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, which takes place Sept. 10 at U.S. Bank Arena/ The night's main card airs on Showtime.

The latest "Strikeforce: Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals" card now includes:
Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio Silva (heavyweight grand prix semifinal)
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov (heavyweight grand prix semifinal)
Champ Ronaldo Souza vs. Luke Rockhold (for middleweight title)
Roger Gracie vs. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero*
Maximo Blanco vs. Josh Thomson
Jordan Mein vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos