Daniel Cormier has outlined a multi-pronged strategy to restore American dominance in UFC, centered on recruiting collegiate wrestlers into MMA and exposing young wrestlers to Dagestani training methods. His comments come amid a significant shift in UFC demographics, with no American male champions currently holding titles and fighters from the Caucasus region comprising 37% of all champions despite representing 0.2% of the world’s population.
The former two-division UFC champion and Olympic wrestler spoke recently via YallStreetTV about his mission to recruit American wrestlers into mixed martial arts. Cormier praised the success of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev while making clear his ultimate goal is to see American wrestlers reclaim championship belts.
“American wrestlers aren’t as open to fighting as we need them to be. But I have a plan. I’m getting American wrestlers into fighting,” Cormier said. “I love those guys – I love Khabib, I love Islam. Those guys are the best. But I want American wrestlers as champions. I think that’s the only group of people to go and get it back. It’s the Eastern European wrestlers who are champions – very few strikers. They’re wrestlers who are champions. We’ve got to get our wrestlers back going into the sport of mixed martial arts.”
The Dagestan Dominance Problem
The numbers tell a stark story. As of early 2026, there are no American male champions across any UFC division. Fighters from the Caucasus region, specifically Dagestan, Chechnya, and Georgia, now hold approximately 37% of UFC titles despite representing 0.2% of the global population. Islam Makhachev currently holds the welterweight championship after vacating his lightweight belt, Khamzat Chimaev controls the middleweight division, and Georgian-born Ilia Topuria reigns at lightweight.
Makhachev himself addressed the shift in August 2025, pointing to cultural differences in motivation. “They just started signing more of our guys, that’s the reason,” Makhachev said. “Our guys live for this sport. In the USA, for example, they don’t worry even if they competed bad. Behind our guys there is a family, the whole city, the whole Republic. And he feels this responsibility, and goes out with full responsibility and wins.”
Daniel Cormier Breaks It Down
Cormier has identified a specific obstacle preventing elite American wrestlers from transitioning to MMA: college wrestling salaries. Speaking during the UFC 322 weigh-in show, Cormier explained that when he competed at Oklahoma State, his monthly stipend was raised from $750 to $1,000. Today, top collegiate wrestlers earn between $100,000 and $400,000 annually, with some high school prospects commanding six-figure deals before stepping onto a college mat.
“I used to think it was impossible that there would be no American fighters in the UFC pound-for-pound top 10. But now there really isn’t a single one,” Cormier said. “What’s killing us is that colleges started paying wrestlers. In the last five years they’ve started paying really well. They don’t need to go fight anymore.”
He pointed to the historical foundation of American UFC dominance, which reads like a wrestling roster: Jon Jones, Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, Chris Weidman, Henry Cejudo, and Cormier himself. In the past five years, only Bo Nickal and Gable Steveson have made the transition from elite collegiate wrestling to MMA.
Cormier’s approach includes sending his own youth wrestlers to train in Dagestan. He arranged for students from his Gilroy wrestling program to spend a month training in Russia alongside coaches from Khabib’s team. This week, Cormier is sending eight middle school wrestlers to Moscow and Dagestan for three weeks of training and competition, including a dual meet against Russian youth national champions at the Ivan Yarygin Sports Palace.
The wrestlers, all All-Americans from Tulsa Nationals, will face Russian counterparts hand-selected from various national championship programs. Cormier views this exposure to Dagestani training methods as essential for developing the next generation of American fighters who can compete at the highest level.
When I started fighting I said, man, when these Russian dudes from these regions start to come, it’s going to be a problem because you know how good they were as wrestlers,” Cormier previously told Joe Rogan. “What’s going to happen when these guys come into fighting? And it’s the same thing.”
Cormier’s strategy combines recruitment with education. He wants to convince elite American wrestlers that MMA remains a viable career path despite improved collegiate compensation, while simultaneously teaching young wrestlers the training philosophies that made Dagestani fighters dominant.
Under his coaching, the Gilroy High School wrestling team has achieved two consecutive runner-up finishes at the California state tournament in just three seasons. These wrestlers represent the long-term investment Cormier believes American MMA requires.
