UFC light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was slated to return this past Saturday (April 23, 2016) at UFC 197, but was forced off the card with an injury just two weeks prior. His bitter rival and former champ Jon Jones instead faced Ovince St-Preux in the main event of the Las Vegas pay-per-view, defeating him by unanimous decision and winning the interim title in the process. The win set up the inevitable rematch between “DC” and “Bones,” which has been brewing since their first fight back in January 015.
So much has happened in that time, and Jones came very close to serving a prison sentence while Cormier was enjoying the life of the 205-pound champion. Taking on and submitting Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, “DC” would go on to defed once against Alexander Gustafsso while Jones worked out his troubles following the infamous New Mexico hit-and-run.
Cormier’s loss that night on January 3 at UFC 182 left a lot of questions unanswered, and did little to settle the beef between the two light-heavyweight titans. Although there was no question who’d won the fight, it was clearly neither man’s greatest performance. Fast forward to present day, and “DC” said he could’ve easily beaten the “Bones” that showed up against OSP, and suddenly a spot on a huge PPV card had opened up unexpectedly.
Once Conor McGregor was pulled from UFC 200 for refusing to attend his first media obligations for the event, speculation raged as to who would replace ‘The Notorious’ opposite Nate Diaz in the main event. Then Diaz declared he was now ‘on vacation,’ and all of a sudden there’s scope for a big title fight to headline the landmark event. A perfect opportunity for Cormier vs. Jones 2? Yup, and here’s the condition “DC” laid out for taking that spot:
If we main event @ufc 200. We do press tour. One of the stops needs to be New Orleans. I want my state to be apart of this. #my1demand
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) 25 April 2016
With the super stacked UFC 198 card in Brazil, and also to an extent UFC 199, taking up a whole bunch of the promotion’s top talent, is there really any other option for UFC 200? With McGregor declaring he was back on the card before being shot down by Dana White, the rift between their marquis star and the organization could potentially be growing.
How would you feel about the UFC 200 card if it was headlined by Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2, and Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar for the interim (or maybe undisputed?) featherweight strap?
The post Daniel Cormier Says He’ll Headline UFC 200 On One Condition appeared first on LowKick MMA.