Daniel Cormier named honorary chairman of World Cup of Wrestling

Daniel Cormier has never strayed far from his wrestling roots and his involvement with USA Wrestling will continue next month.

The UFC light heavyweight champion has been named as the honorary chairman of this year's World Cup of Freestyle Wrestling, it was announced Thursday. Cormier's primary role for the event will be promotion, which he is certainly no stranger to in the world of prize fighting.

The event will take place June 11 and 12 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Coincidentally, that is the same venue for UFC 199 on a week earlier on June 4. UFC 199 is headlined by Cormier's American Kickboxing Academy teammate Luke Rockhold defending his middleweight title against Michael Bisping.

The U.S. World Cup team will feature all six of the country's 2016 Olympic freestyle wrestlers. Many other nations will also have Olympians on the roster. Last year, Stephen Neal, former wrestling world champion and three-time NFL Super Bowl champion, was the honorary chairman.

Cormier, who defends his belt against Jon Jones at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas, was a two-time Olympian in freestyle wresting himself. Cormier placed fourth at the 2004 games and won six straight U.S. Open national titles.

In MMA, Cormier (17-1) has solidified himself as an all-time great, competing at both heavyweight and light heavyweight. His only career loss came to Jones in 2015. Cormier, 37, is coming off wins over Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson. He also owns victories over the likes of Frank Mir, Josh Barnett, Dan Henderson and Roy Nelson.