"I was the UFC champion at the time" - Daniel Cormier shares emotional story of how retroactive testing almost handed him an Olympic medal

Combat sports fans know that Daniel Cormier came within a heartbeat of winning an Olympic medal before he became a UFC legend. Cormier was a standout freestyle wrestler who made the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Olympic teams.

His 2004 journey in Athens ended in heartbreak when he lost the bronze medal match in the 96kg weight class. He remembers walking out of the semifinals, crushed and struggling to gather himself for the match that would determine a spot on the podium. Despite leading early, Cormier was overtaken in the final minute by Alireza Heidari of Iran, leaving him just shy of Olympic glory.

The International Olympic Committee began retroactively testing samples from past Games for banned substances. As medals were stripped from athletes in subsequent Olympics, Cormier held onto hope that his 2004 performance could be rewarded.

However, in 2005, the retroactive testing stopped, leaving Cormier without the medal he so desired. Speaking in a recent conversation with Aljamain Sterling on the former UFC bantamweight champion's YouTube channel, Cormier said:

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“Then, they started going back and testing people. They started going back and retroactively testing these Olympic Games. They went to ’08, mugs was getting medals. They went to ’07, mugs was getting medals. They went to ’06, mugs was getting medals! Everybody tested positive! I was sitting there when they got to ‘05, I was like, ‘One more year!’ [Laughs] I might have got second. I know a couple of these dudes were on steroids. That’s when I realized I really wanted that medal.”

He added:

“They stopped in ‘05! 2005 was the last year!” Cormier said. “I was so disappointed, bro. I was so disappointed. I was the UFC champion at the time, and I was like, ‘Please go back one more year!’ I wanted that bronze medal bad. I wanted it.”

Check out Daniel Cormier's comments below (5:45):

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Daniel Cormier claims teammate nearly cost him his UFC title

Daniel Cormier claims he came within moments of losing his UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 210 after missing weight by 1.2 pounds. The former two-division champion used a wrestling trick with a towel to make 205 pounds just in time.

Years later, Cormier revealed he blames teammate Luke Rockhold for the slip, as poor timing and distraction led him to leave the gym before fully shedding the weight. Addressing the incident in the aforementioned conversation with Aljamain Sterling, Cormier said:

"I’m at Buffalo University running. It was so cold. I had this draft coming in as I’m on the treadmill. I’m losing the weight, and it’s coming off, but it’s harder. So I’m, like, five [pounds] over. I tell Luke Rockhold, I go, 'I probably should get about two more pounds off before I leave.' Luke had a girl lined up. He wants nothing more than to leave the gym. So he convinces me. Everybody’s like, no, you gotta lose more weight. And then I look at Luke, and he’s like, he’s fine, let him go. I’m like, yo, we should listen to Luke."

Edited by Abhishek Nambiar