Cory Devela is a hard-nosed middleweight fighter currently signed to the Strikeforce roster. Always coming out fighting with a lot of hustle, Devela pushes forward and is constantly staying active whether the fight goes to the ground or stays standing, trying to outwork and outwill his opponent and often turning his matches into a battle of attrition.

While he'll likely never be considered a world class wrestler, Devela had been wrestling at the amateur level his whole life up until the point he got involved in mixed martial arts, and his experience in the area has served him well thus far in his career. Devela shows good takedowns, has solid takedown defense, and has a knack for getting the fight back on the feet as he is very hard at keeping down if he does end up on the bottom. On the ground, Devela is good at defending against submissions while at the same time is also constantly "working" and looking for submission attempts of his own. (The majority of his wins have come via sub).

On his feet Devela is good at mixing up his strikes with effective jabs, hooks, standing elbows, solid clinch work, leg kicks and push kicks all being part of his repertoire, and while he hasn't displayed significant power in his strikes, Devela is constantly throwing them. Not the most technically sound striker, Devela often turns his matches into brawls - trying to outwork and outwill his opponents on the feet, but at times tends to drop his guard and get wild and loopy with his punches when stringing together combinations and has a habit of rushing in with his head straight up - a tendency which has cost him his last two matches against both Luke Rockhold, when he was dropped while charging in and eventually submitted via rear naked choke and against Terry Martin, when he was KO'd standing, and he was also hurt badly during an early exchange in his bout with Lodune Sincaid. Training at Victory Athletics alongside notable fighters Denis Hallman and Brad Blackburn, Devela started opening some eyes after piecing together a seven fight win streak that included a stoppage victory over Joe Riggs, whom he submitted when Riggs injured his back after Devela caught him with a beautiful Harai Goshi (sweeping hip throw), and a dominating decision win over Ultimate Fighter 1 alumni, Lodune Sincaid, but has since dropped his last two bouts.