Tag: Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson

Jon Jones Offers His Prediction For UFC 210 Main Event

Former UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones is still waiting for his USADA suspension to expire in July, but he’ll make his first public appearance at tonight’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from Buffalo, N.Y. since his scheduled UFC 200 main event against longtime rival Daniel Cormier fell apart due to a failed drug test. Jones

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Former UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones is still waiting for his USADA suspension to expire in July, but he’ll make his first public appearance at tonight’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from Buffalo, N.Y. since his scheduled UFC 200 main event against longtime rival Daniel Cormier fell apart due to a failed drug test.

Jones claimed it was a tainted sexual performance enhancer, but his arbitration ultimately led to a one-year suspension anyway. “Bones” is understandably looking to return against the winner of tonight’s Cormier vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson main event, and during a pre-fight media conference (via MMA Fighting), he told the press whom he thinks is going to win the bout from his birthplace of upstate New York:

“Do I think he [Johnson] beats DC? I think he has a very strong chance to do it, a puncher’s chance. But if I were to bet, I’d put my money on Daniel Cormier just because the last performance and it boils right down to what I was saying, you have to have the total package to be at a certain level of the sport and DC is closer to that level of having that complete game. So I think Anthony has a chance, but if I had to bet, I would definitely go with Cormier.”

The formerly dominant and currently disheveled MMA great opened up about that belief, noting that he believed “Rumble” is too much of a one-dimensional fighter to beat Cormier:

“I feel like he’s [Johnson] a very one-dimensional fighter,” Jones explained. “And I know he has that wrestling base and once a wrestler, always a wrestler, but you know I think he’s pretty much fallen in love with his striking and his power. I really think that to beat a guy like me, you really have to whole game down, your jiu-jitsu, your takedown defense, your takedowns, the whole shebang, and I just don’t feel like he’s that fighter. He’s extremely talented with God-given knockout power, he’s got a great kickboxing coach, but this sport is mixed martial arts.”

So “Bones” expects he’ll return to battle Cormier, whom he beat by unanimous decision at their long-awaited first match-up at UFC 182 two years ago. They’e seen multiple rematches fall apart since due to legal trouble and numerous drug issues from Jones and injuries from Cormier.

If a second fight finally does happen, however, Jone doesn’t feel like he has any unfinished business with Cormier; in fact, he believes it’s “DC” who still has something to prove against him:

“I really don’t feel like I have unfinished business with Cormier,” Jones said. “But I do feel like I do have unfinished business with Anthony Johnson. We’ve had quite a few fights that fell through. And Daniel Cormier, I beat him fare and square, I’m the only guy to ever beat him. So if anything, he has unfinished business with me. Daniel is no greater than any other person that I defeated, he just happened to be undefeated outside myself. So I just look at him like like he’s Stephan Bonnar or whoever I’ve beaten in the past.”

That’s a bit of a backhanded dig at Cormier, because while Bonnar was no doubt an entertaining competitor who helped the UFC into their current era of popularity when he fought Forrest Griffin in a classic war on TUF 1, it’s plain to see that Cormier is a champion in multiple organizations with only one loss on his record to arguably the best fighter in MMA history.

Regardless, Jones and Cormier will most likely be scheduled to fight once again and finally settle their long-standing beef. Let’s just hope they can make it to the fight if and when they are.

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Video: Daniel Cormier & Anthony Johnson Share Intense Faceoff At UFC 210 Weigh-Ins

The light heavyweight championship rematch between Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson may have nearly been called off when “DC” came in overweight at today’s early weigh-ins, but somehow the champ miraculously lost 1.2 pounds in less than two-and-a-half minutes to make the fight official this morning. With that controversy out of the way, the two

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The light heavyweight championship rematch between Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson may have nearly been called off when “DC” came in overweight at today’s early weigh-ins, but somehow the champ miraculously lost 1.2 pounds in less than two-and-a-half minutes to make the fight official this morning.

With that controversy out of the way, the two elite fighters met up for an intense faceoff at this afternoon’s UFC 210 ceremonial weigh-ins. While the bout has been preceded by a decent amount of trash talk from Cormier that “Rumble” has largely shrugged off in an effort to let his fists do the talking, this staredown captured the intense emotion of the pivotal clash. Check it out courtesy of the UFC here:

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NYSAC Exec Reacts To Daniel Cormier Weigh-in Debacle

UFC 210 is set to take place tomorrow night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from Buffalo, New York. The main event will feature a light heavyweight title rematch between champion Daniel Cormier and No. 1-contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. The early weigh-ins for the event took place this morning and there was quite a bit of drama,

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UFC 210 is set to take place tomorrow night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from Buffalo, New York. The main event will feature a light heavyweight title rematch between champion Daniel Cormier and No. 1-contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

The early weigh-ins for the event took place this morning and there was quite a bit of drama, specifically surrounding “DC”.

With just minutes to spare, Cormier weighed in over the light heavyweight limit at 206.2 pounds. He then left only to return a few minutes later and weigh in at 205 pounds.

Many were confused at the situation, as it was unclear if Cormier was even allowed to weigh in twice. Also, many said that the champion had his hands on a towel during his second attempt, which may have affected the result.

Check out the reaction of an NYSAC (New York State Athletic Commission) executive below courtesy of MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani and ESPN’s Brett Okamoto:

What do you make of the situation?

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UFC 210: Daniel Cormier & Anthony Johnson Open Workouts

Following a late change of plans when their scheduled rematch was forced out of the UFC 206 main event last December, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and op contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will finally rematch for the gold in the main event of this Saturday night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo,

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Following a late change of plans when their scheduled rematch was forced out of the UFC 206 main event last December, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and op contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will finally rematch for the gold in the main event of this Saturday night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.

The odds are razor-thin in this one, with ‘Rumble’ actually rating a small favorite at most sports books; a somewhat surprising fact based on the sheer dominance with which Cormier handled him in their first match-up at 2015’s UFC 187 after getting dropped by a huge right hand early on. ‘Rumble’ has been on arguably the most torrid three-fight stretch of his career since, knocking out top contenders Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader, and Jimi Manuwa in rapid succession while “DC” has been on the sidelines nursing multiple leg injuries as he remains without an official title defense since October 2015.

The fight promises to be a close one where the fighter who can implement his polar opposite gameplan first will most likely win. Cormier and Johnson appeared in front of fans and media at today’s (Thurs., April 6, 2016) UFC 210 open workout sessions. Watch their full open workouts courtesy of MMA Fighting below and see if you can notice any slight edge each fighter may have on the other:

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Daniel Cormier Warns Jon Jones Ahead Of UFC 210

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will defend his 205-pound title for the second time in a rematch against No. 1-contender Anthony Johnson. The winner will likely go on to face former champion and former pound-for-pound king Jon Jones. Cormier and Jones have already faced off once before with Jones taking home a unanimous decision

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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will defend his 205-pound title for the second time in a rematch against No. 1-contender Anthony Johnson. The winner will likely go on to face former champion and former pound-for-pound king Jon Jones.

Cormier and Jones have already faced off once before with Jones taking home a unanimous decision victory at UFC 182. The two were supposed to rematch last July at UFC 200, but Jones was forced to withdraw after failing a drug test. He then received a suspension from USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) that will keep him out of action until this upcoming July.

As it turns out, “Bones” will be in attendance at UFC 210 and Cormier recently issued him a warning:

“He better not come in my cage after I win. He’s not welcome in there,” Cormier said on Thursday (Via FOX Sports). “He’s still suspended. When he’s eligible to fight then he can walk in the cage but if he dares to step into that Octagon, something bad will happen.”

Continuing on, “DC” said that if he were in Jones’ shoes, he wouldn’t even attend the event, which is taking place in Buffalo, New York, not too far from where Jones grew up in Rochester, New York:

“This is where he’s from, I get it, but if it was me and I was in his situation, I wouldn’t be here,” Cormier said.

At the end of the day, Cormier admitted that it’s ‘sad’ what Jones has put himself through, but he also said that he’s strictly focused on Johnson:

“The guy is the most talented human being I’ve ever competed against. He’s so good in every aspect of fighting but for him to have done the things he’s done to limit the history that he was making it’s crazy. It’s sad,” Cormier said about Jones. “But at the end of the day, I have to worry about myself and I have to worry about Anthony Johnson.”

What do you make of Cormier’s comments?

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Daniel Cormier Knows ‘Exactly What Jon Jones Did’

Heading into this his light heavyweight championship rematch with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, 205-pound titleholder Daniel Cormier knows his legacy will rest on his rivalry with troubled-yet-dominant former champ Jon Jones. Cormier recently admitted as much,

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Heading into this his light heavyweight championship rematch with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, 205-pound titleholder Daniel Cormier knows his legacy will rest on his rivalry with troubled-yet-dominant former champ Jon Jones.

Cormier recently admitted as much, and Johnson, the man he submitted to win the belt at UFC 187 in 2015, had a similar stance when he and Cormier appeared on ESPN’s “5ive Rounds’ Podcast earlier this week (via MMA Fighting), believing Jones to “always be around, regardless of what happened.”

That was where Cormier drew the line, however, noting that the fact he failed a drug test only three days before their scheduled rematch at last year’s UFC 200 should not be overlooked just because of how transcendent he was as a fighter:

“You kind of expect it, but there’s only one problem with Anthony’s answer,” Cormier said. “I think we’ve got to stop saying, ‘Regardless of what happened.’ We know what happened. We know exactly what he did. So when we say stuff like, ‘Regardless of what happened,’ or we don’t state the facts, it’s almost like we’re sweeping it under the rug. We know what he did. We know the bad things that he did. We know that he tried to cheat. We know all this stuff. So I get annoyed because I’m like, ‘Why are you asking me about a guy that, three days before we were supposed to fight, pissed hot?’ That’s the stuff that annoys me, not the fact that he’s a good fighter. He’s a great fighter.”

Jones unceremoniously tested positive for banned estrogen blockers heading into his anticipated second fight with Cormier, and the former champion and his team went on to defend their case by claiming sexual performance enhancement drugs were the culprit. There’s a large view that USADA accepted Jones’ defense following an arbitration hearing, but Cormier wanted to clear the air by detailing USADA did not accept his argument, which lead to the full one-year suspension as a sanction:

“He got that year [suspension] from USADA, right?” Cormier said. “He got a year suspension and there’s this misconception that USADA believed his excuse. They did not believe his excuse. They gave him the max amount of time that they could for what he did! The defense that he had didn’t prove anything. USADA gave him the max suspension that they could give him so, to me, he’s a cheater. They didn’t buy that whole — what was it, a fertility pill, or a sex pill? They didn’t buy it because if they bought the explanation, they would not have given him the max amount of time that they could have.”

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