Daniel Cormier was confronted during his career with some of the most dangerous knockouts of the UFC.
Nevertheless, Cormier has only one stop loss on his file after the result of his UFC 214 -Rematch with Jon Jones was destroyed into a NO match.
'DC' was finished by Stipe Miocic in their second fight, but by that time he was already against several of the most feared knockout artists of the sport.
One of those opponents was Derrick Lewis who will try to expand his record for most knockouts in the UFC history when he returns to UFC Nashville this Saturday.
'The Black Beast' is perhaps the most productive ko artist of the promotion, but surprisingly he is not the name that comes to mind for the first time when Cormier looks back on the heaviest batters he met in the Octagon.
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Daniel Cormier then calls Henderson as the most difficult batter he encountered in the Octagon
In a recent episode of ESPN MMA's 'Good Guy / Bad Guy', Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen spoke about Charles Oliveira's recent comments about the power of Ilia Topuria.
'DC' continued talking about the most difficult batters with which he ever shared the cage before he mentioned the first to come to me.
Fighters such as Derrick Lewis and the late Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson may seem obvious, but Cormier faced another opponent who was known to release people in one shot.
'I think you and I can sometimes be with a man who hit harder than just about everyone. Then Henderson. Then Henderson never had to touch me. He never really beaten me and hit me on his back and touched me or in the clinch a few times. I could not believe how much impact he made of such a short distance.
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Although Henderson may not be as big as Lewis or Johnson, he still had the opportunity to close the lights in an instant.
With 18 pro victories by knockout, the notorious 'H-bomb' destroyed opponents such as Michael Bisping, Wanderlei Silva and Fedor Emelianko during the remarkable career of Henderson.
Sonnen, who trained with him, supported Cormier's claim by thinking about the time he was the wrong person of the power of Henderson.
“He would claim that he was wearing the big glove, it was good. I have never been eliminated in a fight, I have never been knocked down. Daniel, he hit me with that hand … I remember that I could not respond, as if I was still trying to find out [what happened]. “
Daniel Cormier chooses between Derrick Lewis and Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson
Daniel Cormier also spoke about the incredible knockout power that Derrick Lewis and Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson both owned.
He referred to his UFC 230 -Matchup with Lewis, where, despite not being cleaned by Lewis, he felt that he had been in the trenches with 'The Black Beast'.
“Rumble” Johnson also hit very hard. Derrick Lewis … he hit hard. I had his leg up, held a single leg and he inserted me and it just rolled over my face. I had a black eye as if I was fighting Lewis in a five -round war. The way this man touches. He kicked my arm, tree, club everywhere.
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Despite giving Johnson the speed benefit, Cormier said that Lewis hit harder than 'rumble', which compared the shocking impact of his strikes with Dan Henderson.
“In terms of Derrick with De Bonte, Derrick had that thing that 'Hendo' had. It was like that pounding force where they didn't even have to hit the glove. When they made contact with the glove, it was like a tree and everything that was just hit by Derrick Lewis.”