The main event of UFC 182 saw Jon Jones retain his UFC Light Heayweight Championship in a victory over Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision.
Jones handed Cormier his first MMA loss in a thrilling fight that was scored 49-46 in favor of Bones by all thr…
The main event of UFC 182 saw Jon Jones retain his UFC Light Heayweight Championship in a victory over Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision.
Jones handed Cormier his first MMA loss in a thrilling fight that was scored 49-46 in favor of Bones by all three judges. Fox Sports’ Mike Chiappetta logged what Jones said about Cormier after the win, which shows how intense their rivalry had gotten before they entered the Octagon:
Fans at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas couldn’t have been disappointed, as Saturday’s fight card lived up to the hype in producing five bouts that went the distance.
Below is an overview of the complete results, along with analysis on what the future likely holds for both Jones and Cormier as they prepare to take the next step in their UFC careers.
Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier Post-Fight Analysis
It is evident that Jones isn’t going to be intimidated by anyone. He talked a big game prior to the bout with Cormier, gave the former Olympic wrestler his best shot by engaging in close quarters and still emerged as the clear-cut winner.
Jones could go to blows with anyone, and it would be a must-see fight. However, a couple of potential adversaries stand out. A rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, whom Jones beat in the main event of UFC 165 in September 2013, is one intriguing possibility.
Gustafsson appears to already be angling for another shot at Bones in light of his assessment of the champ’s win on Saturday:
In the event that Gustafsson loses to Anthony Johnson on January 24, though, Jones brought up a superior alternative in the post-fight press conference:
Cain Velasquez is the current UFC heavyweight champion, and it would be interesting to see whether he would come down to Jones’ weight, or if Jones would try to take the title belt in the higher weight class.
What makes this even more tantalizing is the fact that Velasquez is an American Kickboxing Academy teammate of Cormier’s. DC could relay a considerable amount of intelligence to Velasquez if the star heavyweight decides to take on Jones.
If Jones were to come out on top against Velasquez, the rivalry between AKA and Bones would only strengthen, creating an excellent subplot in the UFC.
After Jones came out on top against Cormier, though, UFC.com’s Damon Martin is among those who feel the champ can clear any hurdle ahead of him:
Jon Jones is just ridiculous good. I’ve said for years DC would be his toughest test. He passed with flying colors. GOAT now. Can’t deny it.
A triumph over Velasquez would only bolster Jones’ advocates in the conversation about the greatest fighter ever.
As for Cormier, he just has to make sure he gets back on track. Velasquez was there to embrace him after the loss to Jones (h/t MMAJunkie.com’s Ben Fowlkes), as DC was clearly emotional and crushed by his defeat.
It’s going to be a delicate balance for Cormier to face quality opponents who are still beatable and can help ensure another shot at Jones. Since he put so much stock into UFC 182, Cormier’s next step is difficult to discern.
The only man to defeat Gustafsson other than Jones is Phil Davis, so he would be an intriguing opponent for Cormier to consider.
MMA reached its zenith at UFC 182 on Saturday, but if you looked at and listened to the crowd throughout the night you’d have hardly recognized that.
The audience was sparse and half-dead. They’d have done a wave to entertain themselves if the first four fights of the PPV — four decisions featuring unimpressive and sluggish performances — hadn’t already put them to sleep. An incessant stream of “this event sucks” tweets rolled in. This script has played itself out in the past. A card that’s supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport turns out to be a boring, uninteresting, overhyped amalgam of everything wrong with it, only this time we spent an extra $5. It appeared the poor showings, as well as the restless (and partially absent) audience would ruin one of the most anticipated UFC cards in recent memory.
MMA reached its zenith at UFC 182 on Saturday, but if you looked at and listened to the crowd throughout the night you’d have hardly recognized that.
The audience was sparse and half-dead. They’d have done a wave to entertain themselves if the first four fights of the PPV — four decisions featuring unimpressive and sluggish performances — hadn’t already put them to sleep. An incessant stream of “this event sucks” tweets rolled in. This script has played itself out in the past. A card that’s supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport turns out to be a boring, uninteresting, overhyped amalgam of everything wrong with it, only this time we spent an extra $5. It appeared the poor showings, as well as the restless (and partially absent) audience would ruin one of the most anticipated UFC cards in recent memory.
“Domination” and “breaking your opponent” are cliched phrases in MMA, but when fans and pundits originally coined them they had performances like Jon Jones’ in mind. Not only did Jones beat Cormier, he beat Cormier at what he was best at — wrestling…and he made it look easy. Jon Jones took an Olympic wrestler to the mat multiple times just for kicks, broke his will in the later rounds through the same fabled “grind” Cormier was supposed to be the master of, and made him cry at the post-fight press conference.
The in-cage martial artistry isn’t even the best part. That came after the phantasmagoric displays of violence. Jones taunted a dejected Cormier with a “crotch chop” circa late 1990′s WWE. When Joe Rogan conducted a rushed (the PPV was about to hit the end of the allotted time) interview with Jones, the reigning light heavyweight champ chided Cormier’s supporters by telling them to burn their “Break Bones” t-shirts and buy his “Unbroken” t-shirt. Already guffawing (or seething, depending on your alignment) at these antics? There’s MORE. In the post-fight show on Fox Sports 1, Jones continued to bash his defeated foe.
“I hope he’s somewhere crying right now,” Jones said. “I’m sure he is.” He continued on, saying Cormier is the kind of fighter who breaks when fights get tough. Jones also said Cormier is no king of the grind like people thought.
When asked about a possible reconciliation, Jones refused to let up on his verbal onslaught.
“I know if he would have won, he would have been up here, talking all types of trash,” Jones told MMAJunkie. “So I don’t feel sorry for him. This is combat.”
The hashtag #TheTimeIsNow became the butt end of many jokes on MMA Twitter during the last few weeks. The UFC used the hashtag to promote their embarrassing “omg big announcement” press conference where they announced they had no big announcement. People used #TheTimeIsNow to mock the UFC’s recent legal troubles as well as the grim state of their PPV business.
Jon Jones is the best MMA fighter that any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. You can claim Fedor Emelianenko was the GOAT while clutching your Pride VHS collection, but you’d be wrong. Jon Jones is capable of violence and technique on a level we’ve never seen before, nor will we likely ever see again if MMA continues its current descent in popularity.
In addition to his fighting acumen, Jon Jones posses more personality and emotional magnetism than all the other UFC champions combined. Remember how MMA erupted when Ronda Rousey didn’t shake Miesha Tate’s hand after submitting her at UFC 168? What Jones did to Cormier after UFC 182 makes that look like a bro hug by comparison.
The best part is it’s not a gimmick. Jon Jones doesn’t caricature over-the-top professional wrestling promos from yesteryear. Jon Jones doesn’t exclaim that fighters from less fortunate countries mistake public transit for barnyard animals. Jon Jones breaks people. Jon Jones chokes people out and drops them on the canvas, limp and limbs quivering. Jon Jones makes people cry, then says he’s glad about it. Jon Jones is unabashedly himself. A large percentage of fans hate him for it — just look at the comments on any Jones-related article to see that. Hell, someone even tweeted to CagePotato last night saying they hope somebody shoots Jones. But despite the hate, they pay to see him. Estimates already state UFC 182 achieved over 750k buys. In an age where fighters who draw 400k are considered the company’s top stars, this is almost a miracle.
The time for watching the best MMA fighter of all time and the UFC’s current biggest star is right now. Jones is the light in the current dark age of MMA. Every second of watching Jon Jones display his craft is a gift from a Lovecraftian god of violence. Cherish this gift, even if you don’t like Jones as a person.
At UFC 182, Jon “Bones” Jones retained his UFC light heavyweight title and defended it for a record eighth time. He proved once again why he is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world in defeating one of his most formidable foes…
At UFC 182, Jon “Bones” Jones retained his UFC light heavyweight title and defended it for a record eighth time. He proved once again why he is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world in defeating one of his most formidable foes to date, Daniel Cormier.
A lot went well for the champion at UFC 182. Many wondered if Cormier would be able to get past the 12-inch reach advantage and either knock Jones out or score a big takedown. Jones used his sizable reach advantage to keep the challenger at bay, and his long arms helped when Cormier did close the distance, as Jones was able to avoid enough of Cormier’s onslaught in the clinch to win the fight.
The thing that worked best for Jones was his game plan throughout the fight. He implemented it very successfully and never strayed into a wild brawl with Cormier. There were a few certain aspects of his game plan that proved to make the difference in this fight.
Leg Kicks
One of the reasons why Alexander Gustafsson was able to do so much damage to Jones was because he effectively avoided the diagonal kicks to the leg that Jones has hurt so many past opponents with. He moved laterally and threw kicks of his own to keep the champion guessing, which was a strategy that didn’t work for the much-shorter Daniel Cormier.
Cormier chose to move forward more than circle throughout the fight, which left him walking right into kicks that were meant to bend his leg backwards in the most unethical of ways. Jones repeatedly nailed DC with kicks that undoubtedly frustrated the challenger. Jones’ legs were just too long, and he used his kicks too well for Cormier to come up with any real countermeasures.
Takedown Defense
Daniel Cormier embraces the grind. His walkout shirt read “King of the Grind,” and his plan was to “Break Bones.” With this fight being fought in such close quarters, Jones was able to use his underhooks to avoid being taken down by Cormier.
Cormier is known for being able to find the takedown regardless of where the fight is positioned. He wasn’t able to shoot in for single-leg attempts, and he couldn’t use his trips when in close with Jones.
Cormier finally scored a huge takedown late in the fifth round, but it was too little, too late against the prolific light heavyweight champ.
Strikes to the Body
Throughout the fight, Jones landed some hard punches and kicks to the body of Cormier. It helped keep the challenger guessing. At the points where he was able to time and avoid the oblique kicks, Jones would hammer Cormier to the body.
Jones wasn’t able to use his signature elbow strikes as much, but he sure wore down DC with strikes to the body. He chipped away at the challenger, and while in the clinch, Jones landed some well-placed knees to the midsection of Cormier.
As was evidenced in the fight, Cormier presented a very difficult challenge for Jones. Had Jones done anything other than thoroughly prepare and implement his game plan to a tee, he very well could have lost to DC at UFC 182.
Jones never lost his focus throughout the fight and never strayed away from his game plan. He did eat some punches from Cormier, but the champ was just too effective with his offense to be beaten.
After an abundance of trash talk, a pre-fight press conference brawl, asking pussies if they’re still there, technical breakdowns, and moving betting lines, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier duked it out for five rounds in an early “Fight of the Year” candidate, which went exactly how most of us thought it would. The main card of UFC 182, however, was pretty putrid.
Our excitement was at an all-time high, which is rare nowadays when it comes to MMA in general. This truly felt like 2008 all over again, but sometimes, we rely on nostalgia to compare upcoming fight cards that may or may not be worth viewing live.
Nevertheless, Jones vs. Cormier lived up to the billing, as both light heavyweights engaged in a dogfight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV., this past Saturday night.
After an abundance of trash talk, a pre-fight press conference brawl, asking pussies if they’re still there, technical breakdowns, and moving betting lines, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier duked it out for five rounds in an early “Fight of the Year” candidate, which went exactly how most of us thought it would. The main card of UFC 182, however, was pretty putrid.
Our excitement was at an all-time high, which is rare nowadays when it comes to MMA in general. This truly felt like 2008 all over again, but sometimes, we rely on nostalgia to compare upcoming fight cards that may or may not be worth viewing live.
Nevertheless, Jones vs. Cormier lived up to the billing, as both light heavyweights engaged in a dogfight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV., this past Saturday night.
Truth be told, their fight couldn’t have come any sooner to save the day. There was uncontrolled excitement running through our veins Saturday morning, but after the FOX Sports 1 and Fight Pass prelims concluded, we were better off rummaging through our Twin Peaks Definitive Gold Box Edition and watching some of our favorite episodes.
The prelims were off to a raucous start, with Marion Reneau pummeling Alexis Dufresne in a unanimous decision win, and making the latter look like she came straight out of those So You Wanna Fight? events we used to see on our PPV listing (they must be at #341 by now…talk about real oversaturation). The highlight from that fight was Dufresne’s pathetic corner, who had too much pride to throw in the towel and actually made it seen like their fighter could have bounced back when she lost every second of that fight.
After Omari Akhmedov and Evan Dunham returned to winning ways over Mats Nilsson and Rodrigo Damm, respectively, Shawn Jordan scored another highlight-reel knockout over the debuting Jared Cannonier. Then, Team Alpha Male witnessed some ups and downs, as rising prospect Cody Garbrandt scored a stoppage victory over Marcus Brimage with 10 seconds left in the round.
Although the happiness was short-lived, as Paul Felder, taking the fight on short notice, blasted Danny Castillo with a spinning back forearm that sent “Last Call” into the Himalayas. If Garbrandt was seen as one of the starlets of the under card, the undefeated lightweight stole his thunder minutes later, and even walked out of Las Vegas $50,000 richer. The downside is with the sheer volume of athletes competing inside the Octagon these days, it’s impossible for bar bros to remember their names come Monday morning.
The main card was supposed to be off to bang, since Hector Lombard was going to smother the returning Josh Burkman in seconds. However, the former WSOF welterweight title challenger hung in there, hands down and guns blazing, stepping up to “Showeather” and looked good early. Lombard eventually cracked Burkman enough times to convince us the scrap was a lot more lopsided than we initially thought, earning the unanimous decision victory and disappointing UFC President Dana White in the process, since he thought the winner should have tried harder to finish.
Then, it all went miserably downhill from there. You know, there are plenty of things to do on a Saturday night when staying in. MMA fans have sacrificed hitting the club or having a meaningful social life outside of the bubble, and that’s okay. But watching the next three fights (all involving popular fighters like Donald Cerrone, Nate Marquardt, and according to Fightland, the next Prime Minister of Japan, flyweight Kyoji Horiguchi), over the NFL wildcard playoff between the Steelers vs. the Ravens, Saturday Night Live, a black market copy of Birdman, or Louie on Netflix was an absurd decision. I’m not saying the main card of UFC 182 wins The 2015 Potato Award for Greatest-Hype Deflation, but it’s definitely worth consideration.
The main event was a straight-up dogfight, and even looked like a street fight at times. The battle was highly competitive for the first three rounds, as “Bones” was off to a flashy start, throwing strikes from every angle with every limb. It was the back-and-forth scuffle we hoped it would be, thanks to “D.C.” staying in Jones’ face and willing to close the distance, or better yet, nullify the champion’s reach advantage in the clinch. If the first round went to Jones, then it was fair to award Cormier the second.
The tide turned when Jones, who swore he could take down Cormier and presumably started this mess, took the Olympic wrestler down at will, and stuffed his adversary’s attempts, too. From that moment on, it seemed as if Cormier let the fight slip past him, with AKA’s Javier Mendez and Bob Cook yelling in his face while he sat on the stool before the fifth frame.
The challenger didn’t do much to finish the fight in the final round like he needed to, and instead, went for the takedown because of pride issues. He scored somewhat of a toss, and grappled with the champion when he should have separated and swung for the fences. As the fight concluded, Jones, who had given “D.C.” the crotch chop seconds after the final horn, blasted his adversary in his post-fight interview and told fans to return their “Break Bones” t-shirts. Finally, “Bones” embraced the heel persona, and did as good as Shawn Michaels did on The Barber Shop.
A while back, UFC announcer Bruce Buffer compared Jones to Muhammad Ali. Considering Jones was prepping for the Ryan Bader fight at UFC 126, and hadn’t even won his coveted 205-pound strap yet, some knew the comparison would eventually come to fruition, while others chose not to believe it. Ironically, leading up to this contest, there was a lot of talk as Jones being Ali, and Cormier serving as his Joe Frazier, even though “Bones” thought Alexander Gustafsson better suited the part.
However which way the media wants to spin it, Jones isn’t Ali, and quite frankly, he’s something even greater in the sport of MMA. Nobody talks the same way as they did when referring to Anderson Silva and Fedor Emilianenko, and with Georges St-Pierre absent from the whole scenario, Jones truly is the greatest fighter on planet earth right now, and maybe the greatest ever. It’s not like the main event was as close as Jones’ scrap against “The Mauler” at UFC 165.
When it comes to “Gus,” if the Swede beats Anthony Johnson later this month at UFC on FOX 14, he’s obviously next. But the division is so thin that “Rumble” would earn his spot against Jones if he pulls off the upset against the former title challenger.
But you have to wonder what happens after that. Jones sticking around to face his old foes would get tiresome, and maybe even pointless. Some are under the impression that “Bones” should move to heavyweight after his next fight, which would be the right call. If Jones was announced to face Cain Velasquez in four months from now, I’ll go out on a limb and say not only could he win the heavyweight title, he could even be favored. It’s all speculation at this point, yet this athlete is just too special, being 27 years old and already beating the division’s most dangerous fighters. We can say that he may not have even entered his prime yet, but we can also agree he’s wiped out everyone he’s had to in order to be called the greatest, with not much else to prove.
Apart from a lackluster PPV card, UFC 182’s main event was the perfect way to start off 2015, even though problems will continue to persist, like domestic abuse cases being thrown out the window, drug testing woes, odd MMA debuts, PPV price increases and the other nonsense we have to put up with. Apart from the cool Fight Pass library news, some other stuff has been getting us mildly intrigued, like Bellator in it to win it, Brock Lesnar’s rumored return, and the potential superfight involving Ariel Helwani vs. Front Row Brian at Cowboys Stadium (now the AT&T Stadium), stemming from their continued fight announcement rivalry.
Let’s not hold our hopes high for a groundbreaking year. We’re just praying it’s better than the last.
At UFC 182, Jon Jones faced one of the toughest tests of his prolific mixed martial arts career in Daniel Cormier. After fighting five hard rounds, Jones came out with the victory, leaving no doubt that he is the greatest light heavyweight f…
At UFC 182, Jon Jones faced one of the toughest tests of his prolific mixed martial arts career in Daniel Cormier. After fighting five hard rounds, Jones came out with the victory, leaving no doubt that he is the greatest light heavyweight fighter of all time and making a strong case for greatest fighter of all time.
Throughout the fight, Cormier showed perseverance and championship grit that truly tested Jones. Most of the contest was fought “in a phone booth,” which is to say close and personal. This was more because Cormier needed to be that close to Jones to mount any semblance of an effective offense, as the champ had a 12-inch reach advantage over Cormier and used his leg kicks very well.
It was a dogfight for nearly the entire 25 minutes, and there were a few pivotal moments that changed the course of the fight. There were plenty of hard shots and significant strikes landed by both men throughout the fight, but none of them really changed the direction of the contest. Both men have great striking resiliency, and they did seem affected by any shot landed by the other.
Most of the defining moments of the fight came in the struggle for grappling supremacy, which was a constant theme of this fight. Cormier avoided the unorthodox strikes that Jones has shown in the past, and Jones used his reach to avoid Cormier’s striking from distance, keeping the fight mostly standing.
There was no feeling-out process in this fight. Cormier immediately attempted to get inside the reach of Jones and avoided a few hard kicks thrown by the champ. Cormier threw a left kick to the body, which was caught by Jones, allowing the champ to trip Cormier and, within the first minute of the fight, become the first person to take DC down in MMA.
The challenger got right back to his feet and kept up the pressure on Jones, but the sting of being taken down so quickly put the momentum on the side of Jones very early on in the fight.
DC Takes Round 2
Towards the end of the first frame, Cormier started to find a bit of rhythm in getting past the arms and legs of Jones. The second round gave us his best offerings in the fight, as he worked hard in the clinch to tag the champ with uppercuts and punches to the body. He even landed a hard body kick in the final minute and briefly had the champion staggering.
Two of the three judges scored the close second round for Cormier, making it the only round he would officially win in the fight. This was a pivotal moment because after a solid first round for Jones, Cormier was able to make it a tie going into the third round and show glimpses of how to effectively negate the reach of Jones.
Jones’ Emphatic Takedowns in Round 4
A lot of the lead-up to this fight involved both men claiming they would be able to take the other one down in the fight. The most significant takedowns of the fight came in Round 4, when each fighter needed to pull ahead strongly, as the previous rounds were all very close and could have gone either way.
Cormier was exhausted going into the championship rounds, and about one minute into the fourth frame, Jones lifted DC off his feet against the fence for a big takedown. The challenger popped back up just to get taken down again.
Mike Goldberg commented right afterwards that the momentum of the fight was “rapidly rising for Jones,” and it was. This was the point where a Jones victory became the clearest, as Cormier was extremely tired and getting dumped on his back twice was the mental setback that allowed Jones to pull ahead in the fight.
Cormier’s Last-Minute Takedown
Joe Rogan said in the final round that Cormier was looking for a “moral victory” by continuing to try to take Jones down. It wouldn’t win him the fight, but he seemed to need to prove that on at least one front, he wouldn’t be completely outclassed.
With 53 seconds left in the 25-minute battle, Cormier picked Jones up and walked him towards the center for a big last-minute slam. Jones got right back up, but in that single moment when Cormier had Jones up off the ground, he was in charge. It was a very close fight, and Cormier was competitive throughout. As he looks forward to the climb back towards title contention, he can at least say that he scored a takedown on the greatest fighter of all time.
At UFC 182, Daniel Cormier came up short and was handed his first defeat in mixed martial arts in a close, five-round fight against Jon Jones. He is now in the position of being a title challenger coming off of a loss, and his next matchup will b…
At UFC 182, Daniel Cormier came up short and was handed his first defeat in mixed martial arts in a close, five-round fight against Jon Jones. He is now in the position of being a title challenger coming off of a loss, and his next matchup will be crucial.
He will need to put together a sizable winning streak to get another crack at Jones and the light heavyweight title, but his performance in the bout proved that he can certainly hang with Jones for five rounds and is still a legitimate threat to the rest of the 205-pound division.
Where does “DC” go from here? Let’s take a look at four options for Cormier after losing to Jon Jones.
The main event of UFC 182 saw Jon Jones retain his UFC Light Heayweight Championship in a victory over Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision.
