LAS VEGAS—In pre-fight interviews leading up to UFC 182, Daniel Cormier told Jon Jones that he hoped Jones would finally be the man who could be his equal.
He got what he wanted, and then some.
Through five mostly-thrilling round atop an otherwise lackluster UFC 182 card, Jones cemented himself as the best pound for pound fighter in the history of mixed martial arts by doing, once again, what he likes to do best: fight his opponents in their strongest area. On this night, that meant Jones became the first man to take Cormier to the canvas. And then he did it again. And again. And again.
Cormier was game. This loss wasn’t a reflection of his own status as a mixed martial artist. He is clearly close to the top of the light heavyweight division. The problem is that Jones isn’t even on top of the heap any more. He’s in the stratosphere, looking down on a pile of ruined bodies.
Cormier took the fight to Jones early, pressing the action and landing plenty of big punches. But for the first time in his career, he wasn’t able to take his opponent to the canvas. He tried repeatedly with underhooks and double-legs; against the lanky and effective Jones, nothing worked. Not until the fifth round did Cormier get Jones to the canvas with an emphatic slam, and by then it was too late.
Cormier’s story going into this fight was one of a chance for redemption. He never won a collegiate wrestling championship. He didn’t win Olympic gold. This was his chance to finally finish on top and prove that he could be the best in the world at something. He came up short, but in doing so, proved he belonged with the elite of the light heavyweight division. He’d already proven as much at heavyweight. Tonight, he did it against the best fighter in the world.
“I just couldn’t find my rhythm tonight,” Cormier said in a quote emailed by the UFC after the fight. “Jon is the best for a reason and he was the better man tonight.”
Where does Cormier go from here? I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that we haven’t seen the last of him, or of him against Jones. Unless Jones decides to exit the division and move up to heavyweight to forever cement his legacy, you’ll see this fight again. Because there likely is not another light heavyweight on the planet who can beat Cormier, and the bad blood between the two is very real.
This is a rivalry that did not end tonight, even with the emphatic win by Jones. Cormier will continue training, continue trying to reach the gold ring he’s been looking for since the day he first discovered wrestling as a child in Lousiana. He wasn’t able to write a happy chapter to his story tonight, but there are more chapters to be written.
And he may never beat Jones, but there is no shame in that, because there may never be be a man who beats Jones. There is no shame in being second best. Not when the best is the greatest of all time.
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