The Nature Boy Ric Flair once said, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.” It is a saying that has carried on as a seamless slogan throughout every form of human competition. Yet standing before us is an empty UFC light heavyweight throne, and we are all pretending as if the real king doesn’t exist.
Jon Jones, who is widely considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world, is still out there somewhere fighting his own battles outside of the cage. Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier have both tipped their hats to Jones being the best.
They aren’t so naive to think that one mistake has somehow eradicated everything Jones has accomplished as champion.
However, they also won’t be apologetic for the incredible opportunity laid before them on May 23. Both men will vie for UFC gold in a division no longer ruled by Jones. When the smoke clears at UFC 187, Bruce Buffer will be attaching a new name to the light heavyweight title.
Jones, a king without a throne, will look on from afar as years of hard work and dedication get ripped away based on poor judgment. After being identified by an off-duty police officer in an alleged hit-and-run, per MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi, Jones was arrested on a felony charge. He was then stripped of the light heavyweight title and indefinitely suspended by the UFC.
During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa, hinted at the possibility Jones may never fight again. Perhaps his most recent run-in with law enforcement will finally be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Cormier claimed he was OK with Jones possibly never returning to MMA, although he did admit it would be unfortunate.
“I think he’ll be back. Jon Jones is a fighter, and I don’t think he’d want to walk away from the sport under the circumstances,” said Cormier during Wednesday’s UFC 187 media conference call.
“For everything he’s done positive for this sport—to walk away under this black cloud—it would be unfortunate so I do believe he’ll come back. But me personally? Do I care if he comes back? I would love to fight him again, but that’s really his decision. I’m not going to beg him to come back. He can come back if he wants to.”
Johnson echoed Cormier’s thoughts, simply adding, “I have the exact same feelings as DC has.”
Jones was initially slated to fight Johnson in the UFC 187 main event, but the company pulled him from the fight card a day after his arrest. Cormier, who lost a decision to Jones in January, was the obvious replacement, considering his rank in the division and the fact he was already training for a fight with Ryan Bader in June.
Under different circumstances, a fight between Johnson and Cormier would command the same amount of hype and praise justified for any blockbuster fight. But no matter how bright the sun shines, a storm is inevitable. The pouring rain is inevitable. Talk of Jon Jones is inevitable.
“Jon casts such a big shadow on the division. Anytime this weight class is going to be discussed, there’s going to be some mention of Jon Jones,” Cormier said.
“It’s expected obviously for me. I wasn’t scheduled to fight for the championship. Anthony was already fighting for the belt. He’s just getting what he was promised when he beat Alexander Gustafsson in January. So if anybody should be answering the question about whether or not the belt is real, it should be me because I just fought for it and lost.
“He’s only getting what he was promised when he earned the title shot in January. It’s not his fault that something happened to his opponent outside of the Octagon that was so big that the fight couldn’t go forward. So it’s not annoying for me because it’s expected, but if I was Anthony, I’d be a little annoyed because I’m only fighting for what I was promised when I beat the No. 1 guy in the division.”
Rumble, young man! Rumble!
The beast reincarnated has demonstrated complete dominance over his last nine opponents, including Alexander Gustafsson, a top contender in the light heavyweight division. To put it bluntly, Johnson left the pride of Sweden in tears in front of his hometown crowd in Stockholm.
It was the kind of jaw-dropping performance that added assurance to those already on Johnson’s bandwagon and enlightenment to those still on the fence. This isn’t the same fighter who dropped submission losses to Vitor Belfort, Josh Koscheck and Rich Clementi.
Cormier is up to the task of foiling the newfound hype behind the hottest fighter in the division. If he walks away victorious, he is open to giving Jones an immediate rematch upon his return.
“I believe he should [get an immediate title shot],” said Cormier. “Anytime you’ve ruled a division for as long as Jon did, when he comes back, he should get a title shot immediately. I think it does depend on the time. If he’s gone for a really long time, is he really going to want to fight for the belt right away, or would he want to take kind of a tuneup fight first? I think you leave it up to him.”
All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
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