With last night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York now in the books, we’re left to analyze and discuss another night of drama and intrigue, and needless to say, last night was one of the stragnest we’ve seen in quite awhile. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson retired after losing for a
With last night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York now in the books, we’re left to analyze and discuss another night of drama and intrigue, and needless to say, last night was one of the stragnest we’ve seen in quite awhile.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson retired after losing for a second time against Daniel Cormier. Mousasi and “kneegate,” where the Armenian landed a legal knee which at first was deemed illegal added a ton of controversy to the co-main. Canadian MMA pioneer Patrick Cote hung up the gloves following a loss as well.
UFC 210 was just one of those events where the excitement and unpredictability of this sport was on full display. Take a look at our five biggest takeaways from Saturday night.
5. Former middleweight title contender Patrick Cote retires:
Cote may not be the biggest name anymore, but it’s fair to say, for a time, that he and Georges Saint Pierre were the faces of Canadian MMA. He took on Anderson Silva for the middleweight belt back in 2008. He fought for the UFC for a whopping 20 time. The man has earned his retirement the hard way, after years of wading through some of the welterweight and middleweight divisions toughest fighters.
All of which made his retirement on Saturday night even more of a takeaway moment. Cote was battered and bettered for three rounds by Thiago Alves, eventually losing by unanimous decision after being rocked, dropped, and nearly finished by tbe Brazilian.
While only on a two-fight losing streak, Cote opted to walk away from the sport at 37 years old.
Daniel Cormier isn’t the most beloved champion on the UFC’s roster today, and he compares the hate he’s received to that of WWE Superstar Roman Reigns in the world of professional wrestling. Yesterday (Sat. April 8, 2017) Cormier successfully defended his 205-pound title against knockout artist Anthony Johnson, who subsequently announced his retirement from mixed
Daniel Cormier isn’t the most beloved champion on the UFC’s roster today, and he compares the hate he’s received to that of WWE Superstar Roman Reigns in the world of professional wrestling.
Yesterday (Sat. April 8, 2017) Cormier successfully defended his 205-pound title against knockout artist Anthony Johnson, who subsequently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) competition following the contest, for the second time in his championship career. Despite pulling off a great finish in the second round, the crowd was still unable to get on ‘DC’s’ side following the win.
During the post-fight press conference yesterday Cormier addressed his current heat with the MMA fan base, and compared it to the same hate that pro-wrestling champion Roman Reigns, who comes off of a big victory of his own when he retired The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 33 last week, suffers in the WWE (quotes via FOX Sports):
“I was watching WWE WrestleMania last weekend and I said wow it would be great if Roman Reigns pins the Undertaker clean. It’s how the old school guys do business. Monday night, Reigns walked out to the ring and they booed him for 10 minutes, would not allow him to talk but it was the most organic crowd that they’ve had in a really long time. He said ‘this is my yard’ and he left. It was perfect because they were playing the game for him. That’s me,” Cormier said.
“If I’m in the Octagon and I’m berating Jimi Manuwa and Jon Jones, it’s my Octagon. I’m the one in there fighting right now with that gold belt. So you’re going to sit there and you’re going to take it. I insisted they didn’t put a microphone by either one of them. Sit there with the camera in your face and just take it. Because I’m the one out there laying it on the line. They don’t like it, it’s fine.”
While Cormier was a little pondered as to why fans booed him at first, he’s grown to remain indifferent on the matter. As long as you’re invested in his fight, Cormier couldn’t care less for your reaction towards him:
“Initially, I was taken back a little bit by people booing me, but then I realized, anyone that knows me and anyone that has spent any time with me, they don’t feel that way. They don’t want to boo me. They don’t feel they want to be away from me. They enjoy the time that we spend together and those are the people that matter. If people want to boo, that’s fine, just don’t not care,” Cormier saod. “That’s all I care about. Just don’t be indifferent. As long as you care, I am fine.
“So when they’re booing in there, it’s fine. It just bounces off me.”
Following yesterday’s (Sat. April 8, 2017) UFC 210 pay-per-view (PPV), as No. 1-ranked light heavyweight Anthony Jonson was submitted by champ Daniel Cormier in the second round of their rematch, ‘Rumble’ decided to call it a career following a second unsuccessful title run. The mixed martial arts world was taken back by the news of
Following yesterday’s (Sat. April 8, 2017) UFC 210 pay-per-view (PPV), as No. 1-ranked light heavyweight Anthony Jonson was submitted by champ Daniel Cormier in the second round of their rematch, ‘Rumble’ decided to call it a career following a second unsuccessful title run.
The mixed martial arts world was taken back by the news of the beloved knockout artist’s decision, and some of the best reactions from the biggest names in the sport can be found here:
Best of luck in your future career @Anthony_Rumble The LHW will miss your bombs????????
— Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) April 9, 2017
Another hot topic of discussion from the event was Gegard Mousasi’s win over Chris Weidman. Mousasi landed a knee to Weidman’s skull while the New York native’s hands were down, and the referee called for a pause in action.
Soon after doctors ruled Weidman unfit to continue competing, and Mousasi was awarded a TKO victory:
UFC 210 will be live on pay-per-view (PPV) tonight (Sat. April 8, 2017) from the KeyBank Center arena in Buffalo, New York. The main event features a light heavyweight title defense when champion Daniel Cormier takes on No. 1-ranked knockout artist Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson. Also in the co-main event of the evening, former UFC middleweight
UFC 210 will be live on pay-per-view (PPV) tonight (Sat. April 8, 2017) from the KeyBank Center arena in Buffalo, New York. The main event features a light heavyweight title defense when champion Daniel Cormier takes on No. 1-ranked knockout artist Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson.
Also in the co-main event of the evening, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman looks to get back in the title hunt coming off back-to-back losses. When he meets No. 5-ranked Gegard Mousasi.
You can check out the full fight card for the PPV, including start times and how to watch, here:
Main Card (PPV at 10 p.m. ET) Light heavyweight title bout: (C) Daniel Cormier (205) vs. Anthony Johnson (203.8)
Middlweight: Chris Weidman (185.8) vs. Gegard Mousasi (185.8)
Women’s strawweight: Cynthia Calvillo (115.6) vs. Pearl Gonzalez (116)
Welterweight: Thiago Alves (170.6) vs. Patrick Cote (170)
Lightweight: Will Brooks (155.4) vs. Charles Oliveira (152.8)
Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET)
Featherweight: Myles Jury (145) vs. Mike De La Torre (146)
Welterweight: Kamaru Usman (170.2) vs. Sean Strickland (170)
Featherweight: Charles Rosa (145.2) vs. Shane Burgos (146)
Light heavyweight: Patrick Cummins (205.4) vs. Jan Blachowicz (204.2)
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass at 6:15 p.m. ET)
Lightweight: Gregor Gillespie (154.8) vs. Andrew Holbrook (156)
Lightweight: Josh Emmett (155.6) vs. Desmond Green (154.2)
Women’s bantamweight: Katlyn Chookagian (134.8) vs. Irene Aldana (135.6)
Flyweight: Jenel Lausa (124.8) vs. Magomed Bibulatov (126)
Jon Jones is ready to get back to work. The former UFC light heavyweight champion has been serving a one-year suspension after violating the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after being flagged prior to his scheduled title bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 last Summer. Jones was taken off from the card just two
The former UFC light heavyweight champion has been serving a one-year suspension after violating the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after being flagged prior to his scheduled title bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 last Summer. Jones was taken off from the card just two days out from the bout, and Cormier went on to defeat Anderson Silva in a non-title fight.
Cormier has since reigned as the 205-pound king, earning the title after Jones’ first run-in with adversity as he was stripped of his then-light heavyweight title and suspended indefinitely following a hit-and-run incident in which ‘Bones’ was at fault. He was scheduled to make his ninth title defense against Anthony Johnson, but was replaced by Cormier who went on to win the vacated title with a third round submission.
Now ‘DC’ is set to make his second title defense against Johnson tomorrow night (Sat. April 8, 2017) in the main event of the UFC 210 pay-per-view (PPV) from Buffalo, New York. With Jones’ suspension nearing its end the New York native will be in attendance to witness the fight cage-side, which will most likely determine his next opponent.
Jones spoke to the media today to discuss his time away from the Octagon and his expectations for tomorrow night. The Jackson-Wink product is ready to get back to work inside the cage and get his old life back, which he appreciates so much more now that its been taken away from him:
“The time off has been great, I think you don’t really appreciate what you have until you don’t have it anymore. I think this last year has given me a lot of time to realize how great my life was and how much I want it back.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with my family and training. Doing a whole bunch of jiu-jitsu and wrestling. If feel great, I feel well preserved, well rested, and I’m ready to get back to kicking ass.”
When asked if he expects to take on the winner of tomorrow night’s title bout, Jones says he has no expectations for who he’ll fight next and has yet to speak with the UFC regarding the matter:
“I have no expectations right now, I haven’t really spoken to the UFC about any possible fights or match-ups. I’m just doing my part by remaining ready to go.”
Earlier this week during a media scrum champion Daniel Cormier offered a warning to Jones, saying that if he dared to step into his Octagon after his fight with ‘Rumble’ tomorrow – it won’t be pretty. Jones caught wind of this and pondered the idea of going into the cage after the bout just to see if the former Olympian is a man of his word, but he’ll let Cormier have his moment:
“I heard about it, I haven’t seen it for myself. I think he said something like if I come into the Octagon it won’t be pretty or something like that. I should just see what he meant by that and maybe go in there. But no I have no intention of going in there and harassing the guy. I want him to enjoy his moment, his last moments with the belt.”
Earlier this morning during the official weigh-ins for tomorrow’s show there was much controversy surrounding Cormier’s weight. At first the champion weighed in just over 206 pounds, one pound over the 205-pound weight limit.
Nearly three minutes later Cormier returned and made weight at 205 pounds, but it seemed as though he was leaning against the towel that was being used to cover him up to toggle with the scale’s reading. Jones called this action ‘one of the dirtiest things’ he’s seen in sports:
“Yeah man that was absolutely nuts. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean I watched the guy, if you focus on his hands you can see him looking down and balancing out his weight just right to make 205. What a clever trick, very dishonest of him. The crazy thing is that it was allowed to happen.
“I would imagine that there’s some kind of commission to go back and see this blatant foul play and address it. Nobody has addressed it, they just completely gotten away with doing one of the dirtiest things I’ve seen in sports.”
Cormier also recently stated that Jones shouldn’t be coming out to the public eye until his suspension is officially over. While he may assume that Jones is after his spotlight this weekend, ‘Bones’ stated that couldn’t be farther from the truth as he’s just in Buffalo to watch a good fight:
“Stupidest sh*t I’ve ever heard. I haven’t been out, I haven’t been to a UFC event throughout my whole suspension. I barely Tweet or Facebook or anything on social media. He’s saying okay now you’ve finally come out, you should be hiding from people. I haven’t been hiding from people, I’ve been living my life. Instead of being a professional athlete I’ve been being a father, fiancee, living my own private life.
“You just want me to hide forever? It’s some of the dumbest sh*t that I’ve ever heard really. I think he’s just upset I’m here and stealing some of his spotlight, but that wasn’t my intention. My intention was to come here and watch two guys that are going to be fighting. But yeah he hates me. He hates me and that’s safe to say. I annoy him a lot and it definitely works to my advantage to be in this guy’s head.”
To end his press conference Jones put the entire 205-pound division on notice by reminding them that he’s still the youngest fighter in the top 10, and that should be a scary thought for them:
“I’m still the youngest guy in the division that’s in the top 10 – and that should be a scary thought for a lot of these guys, how preserved I am, and how hungry and rejuvenated I am.”
Daniel Cormier missed weight this morning (Fri. April 7, 2017) prior to his scheduled title defense in the main event of the UFC 210 pay-per-view (PPV) tomorrow night. The UFC light heavyweight champion initially hit the scale at 206.2 pounds, leaving many to believe that the highly-anticipated title fight was to be called off after
Daniel Cormier missed weight this morning (Fri. April 7, 2017) prior to his scheduled title defense in the main event of the UFC 210 pay-per-view (PPV) tomorrow night.
The UFC light heavyweight champion initially hit the scale at 206.2 pounds, leaving many to believe that the highly-anticipated title fight was to be called off after ‘DC’ failed to meet the 205-pound weight limit. Cormier then returned 2:24 later and weighed in at 205 pounds.
Cormier was able to drop 1.2 pounds in a matter of two-and-a-half minutes, however, when he hit the scale the second time the light heavyweight champ seemed to be putting weight on the towel he was holding, but it is not known if that affected the scale’s reading. The New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) approved the weight as valid despite the fact that fighters are typically not given a second chance to make weight in the UFC’s new weigh-in format.
Soon after No. 1-ranked title challenger Anthony Johnson weighted in at 203.8 pounds, and the 205-pound title bout was confirmed. The controversy behind Cormier’s weight cut, however, will continue to be the talk of the town this weekend.
When asked if he expects to take on the winner of tomorrow night’s title bout, Jones says he has no expectations for who he’ll fight next and has yet to speak with the UFC regarding the matter: