When was the last time a main event was this hotly anticipated? Seriously, I’m asking.
Arguably, the answer might be that not since Anderson Silva took the cage against Chris Weidman for the second time have fans been in such a fervor. And before …
When was the last time a main event was this hotly anticipated? Seriously, I’m asking.
Arguably, the answer might be that not since Anderson Silva took the cage against Chris Weidman for the second time have fans been in such a fervor. And before that? Your guess is as good as mine.
The point is that there’s a lot of anticipation, a lot of heat and a lot of athletic intrigue surrounding Jon Jones‘ light heavyweight title defense against Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier, which goes down Saturday at UFC 182.
These two are a combined 35-1 as pro MMA fighters. Jones has defended his title seven consecutive times. Cormier has never lost or even been threatened. Jones is as innovative as he is physically gifted, as enigmatic as he is willful. Cormier is as strong as he is engaging, as finely honed as he is physically, well, jolly-looking.
And Cormier, with his powerful game, could be the man to finally defeat Jones fair and square.
Will he do it? I have a prediction for you. In fact, I have predictions for each of the 11 bouts on this UFC 182 card, which contains several interesting fights in addition to this titanic main event.
Read on for these picks as well as information capsules, analysis, viewing coordinates and jokes. Please enjoy.
Daniel Cormier has made a lot of smart choices during the extended lead-up to Saturday night’s UFC 182 clash against Jon Jones.
You could argue, in fact, that the undefeated former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain has yet to make a wrong turn during…
Daniel Cormier has made a lot of smart choices during the extended lead-up to Saturday night’s UFC 182 clash against Jon Jones.
You could argue, in fact, that the undefeated former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain has yet to make a wrong turn during his five-year MMA career. Certainly, Cormier‘s impressive amateur credentials had him set for success all along, but he’s also been savvy and thoughtful enough to cop to a certain amount of cold, hard pragmatism.
He was already 30 years old when he made his MMA debut in 2009 and will be just two-and-a-half months shy of turning 36 when he tangles with Jones this weekend. Cormier knows full well that the clock is ticking on his athletic prime and that this fight may well represent his last best chance both to win a world title and make a lot of money in the process.
His distaste for all things “Bones” Jones is obviously very real, but we’d be foolish not to acknowledge that these two guys have also put on a master class in fight promotion during the last six months or so—and that they both probably know exactly what they’re doing.
That trend continued during Monday’s media events. Cormier largely let Jones take the lead in playing the villain—always a clever gambit—but also confirmed along with the light heavyweight champ during an appearance on Fox Sports 1 that he can’t rule out the possibility of another huge on-stage brawl by the end of the week.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen at the weigh-in on Friday,” Jones said, via MMAJunkie.com. “I’m a guy who lives in my heart, so whatever happens, happens. I’ll be ready for combat. I’ll be ready to take it any way it goes.”
“As Jon says, we take it how it goes,” Cormier concurred. “It’s a matter of, ‘How are we going to do this?’ I would prefer to wait until Saturday, but if we had to fight on Friday, it would be OK, I guess.”
You don’t have to be P.T. Barnum to appreciate the genius at work here.
Of course, Jones and Cormier aren’t going to fight at the weigh-ins. After half a year’s worth of schtick, an unforeseen injury delay and just a couple days away from the first event of the UFC’s vitally important 2015? No way.
But there’s sure no harm in leaving the door cracked open just a little bit. The producers of Friday’s weigh-in show will no doubt thank them for it later.
You can’t blame Cormier—who in real life is by all accounts one of MMA’s nicest men—if he’s been more than just a willing participant in building this rivalry. Saturday night marks his first UFC main event, his first chance to win a major MMA title—apologies to the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix championship, but, yeah—and to capture the spoils that go along with it.
A victory etches his name into the history books as the guy who took the gold off the unbeatable No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. It also sets him up for a high-profile and extremely lucrative 2015, with a potential Jones rematch or a big-money fight with either Alexander Gustafsson or Anthony Johnson.
A loss? Cormier has known since the beginning what that would mean.
“I don’t have the luxury, at 35 years old, of having a hiccup,” he admitted to Philly.com’s Justin Klugh in March as he prepared to take on Dan Henderson. “The pressure’s more on me because I know that this is my last chance to do something really special in regards to my athletic career.”
It was Cormier, remember, who called out Jones in the first place after dispensing Henderson by easy-peasy rear-naked choke at UFC 173. The speech he gave to UFC color commentator Joe Rogan sounded both rehearsed (“I’m that kid at the wrestling tournament that’s always in your bracket.”) and a touch out of character for the mild-mannered Cormier (“You can’t run from me forever. Wherever you go, boy, I’ll be coming.”).
In any case, it was shrewd. Cormier clearly knew the shortest distance between his 2-0 mark at 205 pounds and a title shot was to needle the division’s notoriously needle-able champion.
Since then, their trash talk—which had been copious—unfolded in more or less the same fashion. Whether it’s Jones prompting his six-year-old daughter to enter the fray on Instagram (“DC, my dad’s going to beat you up.”) or Cormier blasting Jones when they thought ESPN’s cameras weren’t rolling (“You are the fakest person. I actually admire that you can be this fake.”), there’s been an awkward undercurrent to it all. (Warning: Link contains NSFW language.)
It’s been Jones admitting he’s embracing his role as the bad guy while Cormier chuckles to himself and smiles like he can’t quite believe the words that are coming out of either of their mouths. It’s been wonderful TV, but it also hasn’t happened by accident. Even when it did.
The enmity between these two men isn’t fake. It’s not staged. But it’s also not not staged, right?
In 2014-15, we must assume any time two professional fighters engage in an over-the-top public beef that at least some of it is for our benefit. Two guys as smart, disciplined and experienced as Jones and Cormier don’t topple off the stage, all arms and legs in the middle of a Las Vegas casino, without a sly wink to the fourth wall. They don’t do it without—as UFC President Dana White once urged Nick Diaz—playing the game just a little bit.
In Cormier‘s case, we know it’s because he understands the gravity of the moment. No way does he want to lose this fight, only to spend another year he doesn’t have rebuilding himself at light heavyweight or even heavyweight.
He wants to win, but if he can’t do that, he at least wants to go home knowing he pulled out all the stops in and out of the cage.
Wrestling is known as one of the original Olympic sports and a pillar to mixed martial arts. Many athletes with a strong base in wrestling have been successful in the world of MMA.
With standout wrestler Daniel Cormier in the main event of UF…
Wrestling is known as one of the original Olympic sports and a pillar to mixed martial arts. Many athletes with a strong base in wrestling have been successful in the world of MMA.
With standout wrestler Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 182 against Jon Jones on Saturday, here is a look at five individuals who attained great success when competing on the Olympic mats. Some are past names, and others are present competitors. These individuals deserve consideration as some of the best Olympic wrestlers to transition into mixed martial arts.
There have been many pay-per-views this year for the UFC, but few have as much mainstream appeal as Saturday’s UFC 182 event headlined by the Light Heavyweight Championship fight between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
Jones and Cormier have a simi…
There have been many pay-per-views this year for the UFC, but few have as much mainstream appeal as Saturday’s UFC 182 event headlined by the Light Heavyweight Championship fight between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
Jones and Cormier have a similar background and were friends for many years. After Cormier dropped weight and made it clear he was coming after Jones and the light heavyweight title, the friendship ended and the rivalry began.
For months, these two men have torn each other down publicly and now have the chance to prove their points in the Octagon.
Here is the full UFC 182 fight card, the predicted winner for every fight and a quick preview of the main event.
Quick Preview of Jones vs. Cormier
The UFC has saved the best for last in 2014. The battle between Jones and Cormier has been brewing for months. Jones was originally supposed to fight Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 178, but he pulled out with an injury and was replaced by Cormier.
Shortly after Cormier was awarded the fight, Jones was forced to pull out with an injury as well.
The fight was rescheduled for Saturday in the UFC 182 main event, but the two men have talked trash since the original fight was made. With over four months of material to build from in video packages, including a brawl at a press conference, hardcore and casual MMA fans alike are intrigued by this potential Fight of the Year candidate.
To show the true animosity between the two men, the trash-talking has even spilled over into the Friday weigh-ins, when Jones fold Fox’s America’s Pregame (h/t MMAJunkie.com) that he’d be ready to fight at the scales if necessary. When Cormier heard those comments, he responded to MMAJunkie.com:
I think you have to (keep your emotions in check). What’s the point of fighting on Friday when we’ve got to wait 24 hours to fight on Saturday? Right now, it’s about staying the course and being professional. It will be good to see him in that state.
As Jon says, we take it how it goes. It’s a matter of, ‘How are we going to do this?’ I would prefer to wait until Saturday, but if we had to fight on Friday, it would be OK, I guess.
Even UFC President Dana White can’t hide his excitement:
As great as the pre-hype for the fight has been, fans are even more excited to finally see the two former friends-turned-enemies step inside the Octagon. Both men have a wrestling background, but Cormier’s wrestling experience is far more impressive.
Add in the fact that Cormier has dropped a considerable amount of excessive fat to move down to the light heavyweight division, and he will be faster than ever while still possessing the same amount of power. Jones didn’t win 11 straight fights without knowing how to avoid his opponents’ biggest strengths, but Cormier knows Jones inside and out.
The two fighters are evenly matched in the Octagon and are intellectual equals. The difference in this fight will be the power Cormier possesses. As a former heavyweight star, Cormier has an incredible amount of strength and force behind his punches, and that will be a serious issue for Jones throughout the bout.
If Cormier catches Jones with one of his huge punches, there is little doubt the champion will find himself in serious trouble. After successfully defending the belt seven times, the end of this championship reign appears to be at hand.
Saturday night is the night we have all been waiting for—Jon Jones defends the UFC light heavyweight championship against Daniel Cormier.
Cormier is an elite-level wrestler, and that skill is seen as his path to victory this weekend. He has to ge…
Saturday night is the night we have all been waiting for—Jon Jones defends the UFC light heavyweight championship against Daniel Cormier.
Cormier is an elite-level wrestler, and that skill is seen as his path to victory this weekend. He has to get inside, use his wrestling and beat up Jones on the canvas. While that is his best path to capturing gold at UFC 182, no one should be sleeping on what he can do with his hands.
The former Olympian is in his fifth year as a pro. He has had a long time to develop his striking at AKA, one of the premier camps for MMA fighters to hone their striking skills. He got to show off his power in the heavyweight division with several knockouts. His knockout of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is what put him on the map as a top-tier heavyweight.
The concern with Jones is how well he can manage distance. Jones will not want Cormier in close because of his wrestling disadvantage, but this also plays to his advantage in striking, as he will have a substantial reach advantage. Cormier has a 72.5-inch reach, while Jones’ reach comes in at 84.5.
Jones has been touched before. His striking defense is not impenetrable. According to official UFC statistics provided by FightMetric, Jones only has 66 percent in the area of striking defense. He has been hit by plodding strikers like Glover Teixeira and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson—just at a lower rate than Cormier.
The champion’s striking accuracy is just over the halfway mark at 54 percent. Jones’ significant strikes landed per minute is only marginally better than Cormier. The challenger has an underrated boxing game, and has big power in his hands. If he can land a few on Jones, it could be a quick night.
Cormier‘s main striking success comes from in close, and has been achieved against slower heavyweights. That has to be noted. It will not be nearly as easy against Jones. It is just worth noting that he is not entirely out of his depth.
AKA prepares their fighters extraordinarily well. We have seen Cain Velasquez blossom from a collegiate wrestler into a fighter who out-struck Junior dos Santos with ease in their last two meetings. His hands looked outstanding. Cormier is likely on that same path.
All of the stats and video show that Cormier is a solid striker who continues to get better standing, but this is MMA. The effect of his wrestling on Jones will only assist his success on foot.
The more he can get the champion’s back against the fence, the more success he can have with dirty boxing, an area where Cormier has proven to excel. It will also help him fight at distance as Jones focuses on defending takedowns.
Jones is without question the more diverse striker in this matchup, but there is no reason to completely whitewash Cormier‘s chances on foot. He has good boxing technique, excellent power and possesses the ability to slip and counter effectively.
If Cormier goes in to stand and exchange with Jones, he will lose. If Jones can manage the distance effectively, he will retain. But Cormier has the ability to hold his own standing, and that will give him chances to either end this fight with one shot, or to capitalize on openings Jones leaves to turn this fight into a grappling affair.
No one should completely overlook Cormier‘s chances on foot. That is where the fight starts each round, and he will be prepared for Jones’ physical gifts. Saturday will be a very interesting day to see what the game plan is for Cormier on foot.
Is he at a disadvantage standing? Absolutely. Is he completely outclassed in that aspect? That video and those statistics say you may be surprised on Saturday night.
These are the times we should all hold dear.
Six months from now, if things go south again and 2015 turns into a repeat of this year’s drudgery, MMA fans will look back in awe at Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier.
The extended lead-up to Saturday night’s UF…
The extended lead-up to Saturday night’s UFC 182 main event has been pure pleasure, with Jones and Cormier establishing themselves as one of the greatest pairings in our sport’s short history.
At this point, their actual fight will merely be the icing on the cake.
Until it’s over, we won’t know for sure if we can consider their rivalry the best ever though it’s certainly already in the running.
MMA has perhaps never seen a matchup that can compete with Jones-Cormier in all categories—including sheer stakes, prestige, competitiveness and actual, honest-to-goodness dislike. If the bout itself can even halfway live up to the hype, we’re talking about a clash for the ages.
In many ways, Jones vs. Cormier is a throwback to the light heavyweight division’s glory days. Their names don’t feel at all out of place in the same sentence with all-time UFC greats Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz or iconic Pride standouts like Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson or Shogun Rua.
This feud has come close to matching the genuine bitterness of Ortiz’s trilogy with Ken Shamrock, which spanned 2002-06.
The two men now feel as intertwined in each other’s career paths as Georges St-Pierre and B.J. Penn did during their pair of fights in 2006 and 2009.
The on-stage brawl Jones and Cormier started at a media event in August bested anything ChaelSonnen and Anderson Silva did for actual fireworks back in 2010.
When they meet in the cage on Saturday, it’ll feel as significant as FedorEmelianenko finally getting together with Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic in 2005. It’ll seem as big a moment for the fight company as Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler was for Bellator in 2011. At least on paper, it could be as evenly matched as this year’s epic welterweight title bouts between Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks.
In fact, depending on exactly how things shake out this weekend, Jones-Cormier has a chance to surpass them all.
Jones has already established himself as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the greatest 205-pounder of all time. Back in 2011, he saved the vaunted light heavyweight division from the listlessness created by Liddell‘s decline and—with one notable exception against Alexander Gustafsson in Sept. 2013—has seemed all but untouchable.
He’s the odds-on favorite to go down as the best ever at any weight by the time his career is over. Yet all that doesn’t even tell the whole story.
Jones is a unique figure in the history of MMA. His signature complement of size, athleticism, creativity and occasional mean-spiritedness is unmatched even by the Emelianenkos, Anderson Silvas and St-Pierres of the world.
He’s so talented, he’s known to beat his opponents at their own game, attacking them where they are strongest in order to prove himself better there. When he takes on the former captain of the U.S. Olympic wrestling team, he says it’ll be no different, as he told MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti last week:
I will try to wrestle Daniel Cormier. I definitely plan on making him work extremely hard for any takedowns he’s going for, and I’m definitely going to be looking for takedowns myself. I’m more than capable of taking him down, and I believe in my top game. So I’ll definitely look to attack Daniel at his strengths, and weaknesses.
Jones was such an athletic revelation when he first broke into the big time back in 2008 that some fans flatly didn’t buy his humble, “nice guy” act. They charged him with being fake. When Jones opened up and showed the world a bit more of his true self, they called him arrogant.
He’s the sort of guy who could easily play either the hero or the villain in the greatest MMA story ever told. Depending on how you feel about him, he’s ever more detestable or likable simply because nobody’s really been able to beat him.
Now comes an undefeated challenger to test everything we think we know about Jones and every conclusion we’ve already jumped to about his legacy.
Cormier was 13-0 at heavyweight from 2009-13, and were he not close friends with reigning UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, he likely would’ve stayed there. Instead, Cormier dropped to light heavyweight early in 2014 and through two fights at 205 pounds has proved the weight cut doesn’t deprive him of any of the fearsome skills that made him a force in his previous division.
He figures to be the stiffest test of Jones’ career and was so confident about his chances, he let it be known he planned to fight the champion with an injured knee when their bout was first scheduled in July. When Jones himself dropped out with a knee injury a month later, Cormier couldn’t help but note the differences in their approaches.
“It can be a blessing,” he told Mike Hill of Fox Sports 1’s America’s Pregame (h/t UFC.com’s Thomas Gerbasi) at the time, “but I would be outside of myself to not say that I went into this fight knowing that my knee was pretty jacked up and I was gonna fight through it to get a title. I don’t think (Jones) is ducking me. … Sometimes, you gotta just tough it out and go in there and fight.”
When they finally do that this weekend, Cormier will have to overcome Jones’ significant size and reach advantages, but his previous experience at heavyweight makes that nothing new. It’s hard to think back on him beating up Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Roy Nelson or body-slamming Josh Barnett without figuring he’ll be a handful for Jones, too.
Nobody knows for sure how it’s going to play out—if they say they do, don’t trust them—and that just adds an extra layer to an already stellar fight.
This event likely won’t crush any pay-per-view buyrate records. It stands to be a nice little seller for the UFC, but it won’t match the huge numbers put up by guys like Brock Lesnar and St-Pierre during the prime of their careers. That says more about the slumping state of the sport at large than the greatness of this matchup, however.
If you spent much of 2014 waiting for something to cheer for, or if you were part of the throng who drifted away from this sport during the last few years, now is the time to go all in once again.
Daniel