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The great @dc_mma went out like a warrior last night. Truly one of my favorite fights of all-time. Don't have anything profound to say about it, but I've been thinking about it all day, so you're gonna have to suffer through some unasked-for commentary. 1/x
His story gets framed as a guy always coming up just a little short. He clearly even thinks of himself that way. That is very sad, and completely inappropriate, but it shows how powerfully the way we tell our own story affects how we feel about our lives. 2/x
Amazing NCAA wrestler. Senior year, he was almost the best. Except in the national finals, he ran into The Best (as in, ever), Cael Sanderson. He was unbeatable at LHW in MMA, except The Best (as in, ever) happened to be a LHW during his run. Same thing happened at HW. 3/x
The greats often have chips on their shoulders. Wrestling legend Dan Gable went 117-1, only losing the very last match of his career. Becoming the most legendary coach of all-time didn't help him get over it. Cormier has been trying to erase the Sanderson loss since college. 4/x
Putting aside his first fight against Bones, consider his losses: He caught a kick upside the head from Bones' long legs, got caught by Stipe in their rematch, and then last night went still swinging and putting Stipe in danger when the final horn sounded. 5/x
After he was almost finished at the end of Round 2, he could hardly walk back to his corner or hear his coaches. Then the eye poke blinded him. But there wasn't one moment of mailing it in. He was firing artillery until the very end. 6/x
People often think of fighters like they're creating a character for Career Mode in the UFC game: a certain amount of ability points into kicks, certain amount into power, etc. But at the end of the day, what you've got is two tough, experienced men getting in a cage to fight.7/x
People look at physique, or relative mastery of specific aspects of fighting, but Cormier's Exhibit A for why you have to remember that as good as it is to be able to punch or kick or wrestle well, at the end of the day, it's 2 men fighting, and a bad MFer is just a bad MFer. 8/x
I don't like the story of Cormier as someone who always came up a bit short. He won a lot, he lost a few, and he was the HW champ. That's the story of his career. Stipe landed a few more than he did, but Cormier was far from a beaten man at the end. 9/x
I should say, btw, that for a long time I never really liked Cormier. I was always a Jones nuthugger, and rooted for Jones in their fights (hey, I root for the Empire when I watch Star Wars, too). But over the years it became impossible to deny how great he is. 10/x
Last night was not a letdown. He went out as 43-year-old fighter giving the best HW ever all he could handle for 25 mins, still threatening to the very end. Cormier is an all-time great. Is Jordan better than LeBron? I guess, maybe. But there's no letdown in being LeBron. /end
