Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier has built a reputation not only as one of MMA’s elite competitors but also as a coach with unorthodox methods. One of his most talked-about philosophies is requiring his wrestlers to train in the gi — an approach most wrestling coaches wouldn’t even consider.
During a recent conversation, Cormier explained why he insists on it:
“I got like a team of guys now. I’m training out of my gym and every week, two days a week, I send them over to my jiu-jitsu coach, put a gi on. They’re like, ‘We got to wear a gi, coach.’ I’m like, ‘If you can grapple with a gi.’”
Cormier points to his own career as proof of the method’s value:
“Oh, dude. You get when you take it off. Oh, it’s that made me training in the gi when I fought Adriano the second time. It made my grappling that much better because I’m so used to people breaking, trying to move and them holding me down. And so when he took me down I was like okay, well I can move, I can create space, elbow — it made my game that much better because of the amount of hours that I was spending in just grappling in it, it just made everything easier.”
For wrestlers making the jump to MMA, the gi creates a level of resistance that exposes weaknesses in control, posture and patience. Grips on the fabric mimic the kinds of friction and hold points that happen when an opponent grabs a cage or slows down scrambles. Once those grips disappear in no-gi or MMA, everything feels more fluid.
Cormier’s approach is rooted in what worked during his own competitive days.
“It’s just it’s a puzzle. It’s always so much gi jiu-jitsu when I was fighting. It was just mandatory. We had no choice but to grapple on the gi,”
he said.
It also reflects how other regions build their MMA stars. Cormier notes that athletes from Dagestan and Georgia often start combat sambo at an early age — a style that mixes gi grappling, striking and submissions from the beginning.
“They start wrestling and that wrestling in all these sports around 5 years old,”
he explained.
The gi does more than slow things down. It forces precision because raw power isn’t enough when grips control the pace. It builds patience and teaches how to escape against constant pressure. And it conditions wrestlers for the reality of MMA, where opponents will grab and hang on to anything they can.
When his wrestlers complain about the gi requirement, Cormier’s answer is simple: if they can deal with the friction and control that comes with it, everything else — including MMA — feels easier.
This approach has proven successful, as evidenced by his coaching achievements and the development of MMA stars who understand grappling not just as wrestling but as a complete martial art.
Cormier’s insistence on gi training represents an evolution in American wrestling coaching for MMA. By incorporating this element, he ensures his athletes develop the sophisticated grappling skills necessary to compete against opponents who may have trained in more comprehensive grappling systems from childhood. It’s a testament to his understanding that in modern MMA, adaptation and comprehensive training are essential for success at the highest levels.
