January 3, 2015, in Las Vegas gives us the biggest MMA fight since the rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva at UFC 168. The main event of UFC 182 features a towering title fight between two essentially undefeated titans in Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
The fight was originally scheduled for UFC 178 on September 27. But Jones was injured in training camp during a sparring session gone sideways with Alistair Overeem, and the fight was pushed to the January 3 date.
In the lead-up to the fight, during a media event at the MGM Grand, Jones and Cormier got into an altercation that escalated into a melee. You can relive the craziness in the below video.
Jones, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, boasts a 21-1 career record—his lone loss coming via disqualification (illegal downward elbows) against Matt Hamill. Jones was dominating the fight up until the point when the referee DQ’d him.
Cormier, a former Olympic wrestler and one of the most pedigreed challengers of all time, comes into the fight with an unblemished 15-0 record. Thirteen of those wins came at heavyweight, where he took out four top-10 fighters: Antonio Silva, Josh Barnett, Frank Mir and Roy Nelson.
If Jones is victorious, it will constitute his eighth consecutive title defense, which would put him one defense behind Georges St-Pierre (nine) and two behind Anderson Silva (10). Some already consider Jones the greatest fighter in MMA history with how many impressive finishes he’s racked up against former champions in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort.
A win over Cormier would likely move even more fans onto that bandwagon given Cormier‘s MMA record and Olympic wrestling credentials. Many consider Cormier the better wrestler of the two, an assertion Jones has never come up against in MMA competition and one that could prove to be his kryptonite if Cormier is able to win rounds with takedowns, top control and ground-and-pound.
Past the impeccable light heavyweight title fight, UFC 182 features a co-main event between two streaking lightweights: grizzled and possibly better-than-ever veteran Donald Cerrone and hot prospect and possibly the future of the division, Myles Jury.
A win for Cerrone would improve his UFC record to 13-3 and position him as a potential title contender in 2015. A win for Jury would run his UFC record to a perfect 7-0 and would also set him up as a potential title contender next year. Old lion vs. young lion matchups are almost always compelling, and this fight could end up challenging Jones vs. Cormier for Fight of the Night.
Below is a look at the full fight card for UFC 182 on January 3 in Las Vegas:
Main Card (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier
- Donald Cerrone vs. Myles Jury
- Nate Marquardt vs. Brad Tavares
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Louis Gaudinot
- Hector Lombard vs. Josh Burkman
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)
- Danny Castillo vs. Paul Felder
- Marcus Brimage vs. Cody Garbrandt
- Shawn Jordan vs. Jared Cannonier
- Evan Dunham vs. Rodrigo Damm
Preliminary Card (Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)
- Omari Akhmedov vs. Mats Nilsson
- Alexis Dufresne vs. Marion Reneau
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