This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Daniel Cormier Celebrates No. 40

Whenever Daniel Cormier decides to put down the gloves, he will do so as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all-time. The American Kickboxing Academy captain turns 40 on March 20.

Cormier excelled as an amateur wrestler and won two national championships at Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas, before transferring to Oklahoma State University, where he was an NCAA All-American, finished with 53 victories in two years and reached the national final as a senior before losing to the great Cael Sanderson. “DC” went on to qualify for two Olympic teams, finishing fourth at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece. Cormier entered MMA to great expectations in 2009 and did nothing to disappoint. Now nearly a decade into his career, the Lafayette, Louisiana, native has compiled a stellar 22-1 record -- his only official defeat resulted from a five-round decision to Jon Jones at UFC 182 -- and remains one of only three fighters, along with Conor McGregor and Amanda Nunes, who have held Ultimate Fighting Championship titles in two weight classes simultaneously. Cormier last appeared at UFC 230 on Nov. 3, when he retained his heavyweight crown with a rear-naked choke submission of Derrick Lewis.

Others in MMA who are celebrating a birthday in March:

MARCH 1

Taisuke Okuno, 42
Danielle West, 42
Anthony Njokuani, 39
Dominique Robinson, 37
John Howard, 36
Wuliji Buren, 29
Zabit Magomedsharipov, 28
Thanh Vu, 27
Aspen Ladd, 24
Sage Northcutt, 23

MARCH 2

Soichi Nishida, 52
Kito Andrews, 41
Heath Herring, 41
Lorenzo Hood, 30
Joel Alvarez, 26

MARCH 3

Rob Broughton, 36
Augusto Mendes, 36
Renato Velame, 36
Richard White, 32
Rodrigo Goiana de Lima, 28

MARCH 4

Jordan Radev, 43
Abe Wagner, 39
Josh Emmett, 33
Kazuki Tokudome, 32
Jim Crute, 23

MARCH 5

Tim Sylvia, 43
Chris Cope, 36
Roberto Sanchez, 33
Ericka Almeida, 30
Martin Nguyen, 30

MARCH 6

Tsuyoshi Kosaka, 49
David Perron, 38
Anthony Johnson, 35
Brandon Girtz, 34
Mads Burnell, 25

MARCH 7

Eun Soo Lee, 37
Xavier Foupa-Pokam, 37
Steve Kennedy, 36
Joe Merritt, 35
Valentina Shevchenko, 31
Nikita Krylov, 27

MARCH 8

Marlon Sandro, 42
Genki Sudo, 41
Viscardi Andrade, 35
Eddie Ng, 33
Seo Hee Ham, 32

MARCH 9

Pat Miletich, 51
Chinzo Machida, 42
Jun Nakamura, 35
Koji Ando, 34
Drakkar Klose, 31

MARCH 10

Sean Pierson, 43
Wilson Gouveia, 41
Vitor Miranda, 40
Jesse Lennox, 37
Anton Zafir, 32
Lipeng Zhang, 29
Clay Collard, 26

MARCH 11

Renzo Gracie, 52
Rodrigo Gracie, 44
Sako Chivitchyan, 35
Chris Saunders, 33
Livinha Souza, 28

MARCH 12

Antonio McKee, 49
Alexis Vila, 48
Justin Wilcox, 40
Colleen Schneider, 37
Ricky Musgrave, 35
Rad Martinez, 32

MARCH 13

Kazuo Takahashi, 50
George Sullivan, 38
Lina Lansberg, 37
Justin Salas, 37
Nam Phan, 36
Timothy Johnson, 34

MARCH 14

Josh Samman, 1988-2016
Kiyotaka Shimizu, 35
“Judo” Jim Wallhead, 35
Guan Wang, 33
Lando Vannata, 27

MARCH 15

Norifumi Yamamoto, 1977-2018
Travis Wiuff, 41
Kyoko Takabayashi, 38
Juliana Lima, 37
Junior Albini, 28

MARCH 16

Shawn Tompkins, 1974-2011
Brad Imes, 42
Josh Pulsifer, 36
Vanessa Porto, 35
Antonio Carlos Jr., 29
Aaron Roberson, 29

MARCH 17

Antoine Hayes, 43
Fabio Maldonado, 39
Bae Yong Kwon, 38
Chan Sung Jung, 32
Jose Flores, 31
Jamie Moyle, 30

MARCH 18

Nate Quarry, 47
Kyle Noke, 39
Julie Kedzie, 38
Brendan Schaub, 36
Tyler Diamond, 28

MARCH 19

Shawn Bunch, 36
Ryuichi Miki, 36
Magomedbag Agaev, 34
Jake Norsworthy, 29
Shane Burgos, 28

MARCH 20

Daniel Cormier, 40
Rogent Lloret, 40
Robbie Lawler, 37
John Moraga, 35
Goran Reljic, 35
Jingliang Li, 31
Aya Saied Saber, 28
Joe Hamilton, 27

MARCH 21

Rony Mariano Bezerra, 35
John Salter, 34
Brice Ritani-Coe, 33
Austin Vanderford, 29
Alex Perez, 27

MARCH 22

Andre Pederneiras, 52
Houston Alexander, 47
Jamal Patterson, 45
Kyle Kingsbury, 37
Joe Soto, 32
Minna Grusander, 30

MARCH 23

Moti Horenstein, 55
Mark Hunt, 45
Leo Leite, 41
Mukai Maromo, 36
Yuri Villefort, 28

MARCH 24

Jake Hager, 37
Brandon Melendez, 36
Josh Neer, 36
Andy Main, 30
Mackenzie Dern, 26

MARCH 25

Rory Markham, 37
Besam Yousef, 34
Ben Wall, 30
Steven Ray, 29
Sabina Mazo, 22

MARCH 26

Tony Fryklund, 47
Bor Bratovz, 36
Irene Aldana, 31
Calvin Kattar, 31
Paige VanZant, 24

MARCH 27

Nuri Shakir, 40
Tat Romero, 39
Noah Thomas, 38
Matt Jaggers, 34
Alptekin Ozkilic, 33

MARCH 28

Hector Ramirez, 43
Joe Pearson, 41
Jake Ellenberger, 34
Joe Ellenberger, 34
Matt Rizzo, 33

MARCH 29

Donald Cerrone, 36
Stephen Eakin, 36
Chase Beebe, 34
Jesse Chaffin, 30
Cristina Stanciu, 25

MARCH 30

Bibiano Fernandes, 39
Bojan Mihajlovic, 39
Melvin Guillard, 36
Rasul Mirzaev, 33
Dan Lauzon, 31

MARCH 31

Naoya Ogawa, 51
Reese Andy, 46
Rich Clementi, 43
James Zikic, 42
Mike Kyle, 39
Marloes Coenen, 38
Ayaka Hamasaki, 37
Fabio Silva, 37
Richardson Moreira, 35
David Parker, 34
Frank Gomez, 33
Terrion Ware, 33