Olympic wrestling champion Amit Elor touted by former UFC champion Daniel Cormier for MMA future after LA 2028
Amit Elor wrote history at Paris 2024, but her sporting stardom has only just begun.
The 20-year-old became the youngest American wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal, as she secured the Olympic women’s freestyle 68kg title with a tournament aggregate score of 31-2.
Elor dominated the competition and announced herself on the world wrestling stage, but could she end up bringing her qualities to another sport?
That is what Daniel Cormier, Olympian and former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, reckons.
‘They’re going to be in trouble’
Cormier said of Elor on ‘The Fighter vs. The Writer’ podcast, “She’s going to fight. She’s going to be a fighter. For as good as she is in wrestling, she does really well in judo, she does tremendous in jiu-jitsu.
“If she does start doing [mixed martial arts, MMA] competitively, they’re going to be in trouble.”
If anyone knows what they are talking about in this realm, it is Cormier. He has competed on both the Olympic and UFC stage, previously the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight champion in the latter.
Cormier also competed in the men’s -96kg event at Athens 2004, narrowly missing out on a medal to Alireza Heidari. He was also selected to compete as team captain at Beijing 2008 four years later but had to withdraw from competition after suffering kidney failure ahead of his inaugural bout.
Daniel Cormier (in blue, on top) competing in the men's freestyle wrestling 96 kg bronze medal match against Alireza Heidari at Athens 2004.
Amit Elor and the prospect of LA 2028
Though Cormier is confident that Elor can handle the move into mixed martial arts (MMA) from the wrestling world, he explained that he hopes she is not considering it too soon.
“We can’t lose Amit Elor,” he stated. “I love when great wrestlers come into [MMA], but I’m always for them doing it after they’re done chasing their Olympic dreams. You don’t get to do that again.
“If you have an opportunity to be the best in the world, you chase that as long as you can and then you go do something different. I don’t think it should be coming earlier than needed.”
A key motive for Elor to not rush into making the switch is the prospect of competing at a home Olympic Games at LA 2028.
The California native will be 24 by then, and as defending Olympic champion will no doubt be in contention for Team USA. She spoke about the prospect of competing in LA right after her Paris 2024 gold medal bout against Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova.
Elor said. "Other than becoming an Olympic champion, my biggest dream of all-time is to go to the 2028 Olympics, because I'm from California. California is my favourite place to live - I was born and raised in California.”
“To have the opportunity to compete and represent not only my country, but my state, and to compete in my own state, is incredible. I have been excited for that ever since I heard about it."