Cormier never wanted to fight Cain
Velasquez.
Velasquez (14-3) was on the cusp of
UFC heavyweight title contention when Cormier joined him at the
American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, in 2009.
Cormier saw Velasquez as the definition of a teammate and never
wanted to fight him. After joining the UFC in 2013, Cormier decided
to move down to light heavyweight after his sophomore outing in the
promotion. “DC” recently revealed that Velasquez never saw him as a
threat when he joined AKA. When Cormier started rising up the UFC
rankings, he felt compelled to avoid Velasquez.
‘He Uplifted Me’
“I went to AKA to train. I walked in as an Olympian and a
heavyweight, and Cain
Velasquez was the champion at the time,” Cormier told the UFC.
“He never saw me as a potential opponent down the line, and because
of that, when it was time, when I worked myself up to No. 2 in the
world, I said, I’m gonna go to 205 pounds because he set the
standard for what a teammate should be. And so I felt like I needed
to go down to avoid [fighting him]. I didn’t want to fight him as a
guy that was on the verge of a title fight. He uplifted me. And a
lot of times, a leader can do that for someone, and it really does
elevate them.”
Velasquez won the UFC heavyweight title against Brock
Lesnar in 2010 but failed to defend it against Junior dos
Santos. Velasquez reclaimed the title in a rematch against dos
Santos in 2012 and defended it twice before losing it to Fabricio
Werdum. After being sidelined with multiple injuries, Velasquez
returned after a three-year hiatus in 2019 and retired following a
loss against Francis
Ngannou.
Meanwhile, Cormier (22-3) won the light heavyweight title in 2015
and defended it thrice before relinquishing it. Cormier also won
the heavyweight title in 2018 and defended it against Derrick
Lewis before losing to Stipe
Miocic. Cormier retired following a trilogy loss against Miocic
in 2020.
Daniel
Cormier revealed he thought of moving down to 205 after
realizing Cain
Velasquez defined what a teammate should be 🥊🔥“I went to AKA to train. I walked in as an Olympian and a
heavyweight, and Cain
Velasquez was the champion at the time. He never saw me as a
potential… pic.twitter.com/FV5l0drQbA— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
February 2, 2026