Daniel Cormier, Finally At Peace, Beginning Journey Atop UFC

It’s good to be the champ. In fact, Daniel Cormier can tell you that it’s actually great.

But even after winning the UFC light heavyweight title in May, Cormier remains pretty much the same guy. He drives a fuel-efficient Prius. He still lives in the same house in the decidedly un-hip city of Gilroy — the proud Garlic Capital of the World — where you’re likely to find him quietly hanging out with his fiancée and two young children.

And while it’s true that a whole new world of perks and opportunities have come along with his glitzy championship belt, the man known simply as DC says the most profound change in his life has been something that can’t be bought or given.

It’s a well-earned sense of relief.

“There is nothing lingering over me anymore,” Cormier recently said after a grueling workout at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. “I feel complete. I never could have imagined that I ever would have reached this point in life. I couldn’t have written this out any better. I’m a very lucky guy.”

He also is a fighter who, even at age 36, feels like he’s still getting started.