The light heavyweight division became the UFC’s most shallow division overnight.
As fast as Jon Jones rose to the top, the 205-pound division has disintegrated before our very eyes. You can label that the Jon Jones effect.
Should Jones get past Dan Henderson without any problems, he will face either Lyoto Machida, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, or Brandon Vera in a rematch for his light heavyweight championship.
Because Jones has already destroyed Vera and Rua with elbows and submitted/choked out Bader and Machida, much talk has been made about a potential move to heavyweight for the champion.
But here’s a better idea. What about a potential bout between Jones and Daniel Cormier? ESPN‘s Franklin McNeil reported a few weeks back that Cormier would entertain the notion of moving down to light heavyweight if Cain Velasquez regained his heavyweight championship.
“As I’ve said time and time again, if Cain is champion, in my heart of hearts, I know I don’t want to fight that guy,” Cormier said. “Then I will go fight Jon Jones. I will fight Jon Jones if I have to.”
Cormier doesn’t want to fight Velasquez because he took Cormier under his wing early in his MMA career, and they’ve trained together ever since. That’s understandable. And before Cormier even faces this dilemma, Velasquez has to beat Junior dos Santos first. Something he’s already failed to do.
But let’s just say Velasquez does beat JDS and Cormier does move down to the light heavyweight division. All of a sudden, Jones has a real threat to his title. A man that possesses better wrestling skills, for if there was ever a man to put Jones on his back, it would be Cormier.
Rather than beating up previous opponents, and trying to sell a rematch between Jones and a man he’s already demolished, the UFC could sell a real challenge for Jones. The man’s nickname is the “Black Fedor” for goodness sake.
Judging off of Jones previous championship performances, challenges for this guy are hard to find. Hardly any man has been able to put a chink in Jones’ armor, and Cormier could certainly do more than that.
Just thinking about the matchup sends chills down my spine. Jones would still hold a commanding advantage in the reach department, but Cormier is athletic and quick enough to get inside on him and inflict damage. Something that Henderson might not have at UFC 151. And once Cormier grabs a hold of Jones, he should be able to control the fight.
And while Jones has the experience edge over Cormier, Cormier’s participation in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix should help him tremendously. After all, he knocked out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and manhandled a highly-respected Josh Barnett.
If these two met, it could be the same as every other Jones fight–complete domination by the champion. But for once going into a Jones fight, fans could actually believe the challenger has a chance. That definitely wouldn’t be the case with any rematch the UFC offers.
For the sake of Jones getting tested, the UFC needs to make Jones vs. Cormier a reality. At this point, anything otherwise seems like an eventual patented Jones’ beatdown.
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