At UFC 182, Jon “Bones” Jones retained his UFC light heavyweight title and defended it for a record eighth time. He proved once again why he is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world in defeating one of his most formidable foes to date, Daniel Cormier.
A lot went well for the champion at UFC 182. Many wondered if Cormier would be able to get past the 12-inch reach advantage and either knock Jones out or score a big takedown. Jones used his sizable reach advantage to keep the challenger at bay, and his long arms helped when Cormier did close the distance, as Jones was able to avoid enough of Cormier’s onslaught in the clinch to win the fight.
The thing that worked best for Jones was his game plan throughout the fight. He implemented it very successfully and never strayed into a wild brawl with Cormier. There were a few certain aspects of his game plan that proved to make the difference in this fight.
Leg Kicks
One of the reasons why Alexander Gustafsson was able to do so much damage to Jones was because he effectively avoided the diagonal kicks to the leg that Jones has hurt so many past opponents with. He moved laterally and threw kicks of his own to keep the champion guessing, which was a strategy that didn’t work for the much-shorter Daniel Cormier.
Cormier chose to move forward more than circle throughout the fight, which left him walking right into kicks that were meant to bend his leg backwards in the most unethical of ways. Jones repeatedly nailed DC with kicks that undoubtedly frustrated the challenger. Jones’ legs were just too long, and he used his kicks too well for Cormier to come up with any real countermeasures.
Takedown Defense
Daniel Cormier embraces the grind. His walkout shirt read “King of the Grind,” and his plan was to “Break Bones.” With this fight being fought in such close quarters, Jones was able to use his underhooks to avoid being taken down by Cormier.
Cormier is known for being able to find the takedown regardless of where the fight is positioned. He wasn’t able to shoot in for single-leg attempts, and he couldn’t use his trips when in close with Jones.
Cormier finally scored a huge takedown late in the fifth round, but it was too little, too late against the prolific light heavyweight champ.
Strikes to the Body
Throughout the fight, Jones landed some hard punches and kicks to the body of Cormier. It helped keep the challenger guessing. At the points where he was able to time and avoid the oblique kicks, Jones would hammer Cormier to the body.
Jones wasn’t able to use his signature elbow strikes as much, but he sure wore down DC with strikes to the body. He chipped away at the challenger, and while in the clinch, Jones landed some well-placed knees to the midsection of Cormier.
As was evidenced in the fight, Cormier presented a very difficult challenge for Jones. Had Jones done anything other than thoroughly prepare and implement his game plan to a tee, he very well could have lost to DC at UFC 182.
Jones never lost his focus throughout the fight and never strayed away from his game plan. He did eat some punches from Cormier, but the champ was just too effective with his offense to be beaten.
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