For the last six months, they were the best of enemies, and on Saturday at UFC 182, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier proved to be pretty much perfect dance partners, too.
Jones got the last laugh—retaining his title and sending the 35-year-old Cormier spinning into uncertainty with a unanimous-decision win—but not before the challenger brought out the best (and worst) in the polarizing light heavyweight champion.
It was fitting that their intense personal feud ended with a fight as emotionally charged and layered as the bad blood itself. Also, that the two did not immediately kiss and make up afterward.
“The respect just wasn’t there,” Jones told Fox Sports 1’s Brian Stann, after the judges awarded him victory (49-46 x 3). “I don’t like Daniel Cormier. I don’t respect Daniel Cormier. I hope he’s somewhere crying right now.”
If this victory turns out to be the defining moment of Jones’ career, it will be because all facets of him were on display during the back-and-forth, 25-minute battle.
We saw clearly his greatness—his unique complement of size and athleticism, his creativity, his ability to adapt and to marshal his forces during the championship rounds. Simultaneously, we were reminded that the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet can still be childish, arrogant and utterly ruthless.
In the first round, it seemed like Jones’ imposing height and reach advantage would be enough, as he winged kicks and rangy punches at his more diminutive opponent. Even when Cormier managed to close the distance and score with strikes from the clinch, it felt like Jones was just waiting to uncork something spectacular.
Soon, however, the challenger started to find more success. Certainly Jones’ game plan was to keep Cormier at distance, but once the former Olympic wrestler proved capable of regularly bulling through his defenses during the second stanza, Jones had to find a different way.
By the final two periods, he’d largely taken over the clinch game, too, and an increasingly gassed Cormier had nowhere left to turn. He rarely succeeded in taking Jones down—and when he did, the champion popped right back to his feet.
Meanwhile, Jones racked up the first three takedowns ever scored on Cormier during his now 15-1 MMA career. He lashed the challenger with standing elbows inside and brought the hard-charging Cormier to a near standstill against the fence down the stretch.
This was that rare MMA fight that told as rich a story as an epic boxing match, and it was magnificent to watch. Make no mistake, a big part of the plot was Jones also appearing to finally embrace the role of villain.
He taunted Cormier, throwing up his hands in celebration before the final seconds of the fifth were quite gone, then punched the wrestler in the face when Cormier turned him loose. The challenger fired back just as the horn sounded, and referee Herb Dean nearly caught a blow while separating the fighters.
His victory secured, Jones strolled away, then turned back toward Cormier and gestured at his crotch like a 1990s pro wrestler.
Message received.
Later, when the ever-likable Cormier broke down during the post-fight press conference, Jones applauded his effort along with the rest, but mostly sat on stage looking like the cat that ate the canary.
“I’ve had to rebuild myself a number of times, like people can’t even imagine,” Cormier said as he fought back tears, via MMA Fighting.com’s Dave Doyle. “And, this is no different. This is not going to ruin me.”
Through it all, Jones inched ever closer to becoming the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Just maybe, an important part of that journey is finally marrying the great and terrible parts of his personality. If he someday becomes the mainstream crossover star he appeared destined to be years ago, we could look back on the Cormier fight as the catalyst.
If he’s dropped any pretense of pretending to be something he’s not, perhaps fans will finally go all-in on Jones, even if it’s in hopes of one day seeing him fall.
The Cormier feud was definitely a start. Their months-long beef enabled UFC 182 to recapture some of the spark the fight company had lost during a difficult 2014. The Jones-Cormier bout once again made UFC programming feel like an event, like necessary appointment viewing, regardless of the extra $5 the organization tagged onto the pay-per-view price.
Even though most of the rest of the main card fighters sleepwalked through a tepid four-fight lead-up, the main event proved as electric as ever.
Credit both guys with doing the yeoman’s work of even briefly waking the UFC from its long slumber.
Credit both with putting on a bout that may have wrapped up Fight of the Year honors during the first event of 2015.
Credit Jones with being the man to finally have Cormier‘s number. In the process, he once again reminded us all why he’s so very good.
And, sometimes, so very not.
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