The UFC has plans to make 2015 its biggest year yet and the organization backed up its intentions by kicking off the new year with one of the most anticipated fights in light heavyweight history at UFC 182.
The main event title tilt between champion Jon Jones and challenger Daniel Cormier brought a culmination to one of the most intense rivalries to come along in the 21-year history of mixed martial arts. The buildup to the battle between the pound-for-pound great and the undefeated Olympian was as intense as it gets, and all the pre-fight ruckus and backstage squabbles all led up to their long-awaited showdown on Saturday night.
For the champion, it was his chance to further his dominant and historic reign over the 205-pound fold. For more than three years, the Jackson-Winkeljohn product had smashed his way through all comers to become the undisputed king of the light heavyweight division. Jones also became widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest fighters of all time in the process—and many figured the Louisiana native to be his greatest challenge to date.
On the other side of the equation, squaring off with the longtime champion was finally the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner’s chance to ascend to the championship realm. “D.C.” has been an unstoppable force since coming over to the UFC in 2013, rolling through all four of his opponents en route to earning a shot at the light heavyweight title.
Their rivalry leading up to the fight was as heated as any in UFC history, and when the cage door closed on Saturday night at UFC 182 the two best light heavyweights in the world went at it with everything they had. Jones and Cormier stood toe-to-toe for 25 minutes with each man working to impose their respective wills. Yet, while both had their moments, it was Jones who had more of them as he picked up the unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards to retain the undisputed light heavyweight crown.
Cormier certainly put up a valiant effort, but Jones once again proved why he’s the greatest fighter to ever compete at 205 pounds as he handed the AKA staple the first loss of his professional career and extended his current record-setting run of title defenses to eight.
There was a ton of action and face punching to be had on Saturday night, so let’s take a look at the good, bad and strange from UFC 182.
The Good
If there is a ceiling for Jon Jones’ talent we have yet to see it.
The reigning light heavyweight king and pound-for-pound great put his title on the line for the eighth time when he stepped in to square off with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Saturday night. There was certainly no love lost between the two men in the leadup to the bout, and the anticipation was high when they entered the Octagon to handle their business.
Many figured the former Olympian to be the champion’s greatest test to date, and while the AKA representative certainly put up a spirited fight, it wasn’t enough to derail the fighter widely recognized as the pound-for-pound best on the planet as Jones outworked the Louisiana native en route to the unanimous decision victory. While it wasn’t the cleanest work of his career, Jones once again proved too savvy and versatile for the opponent challenging for his title.
Furthermore, Jones added bonus points to winning the feud as he put the former Olympic wrestler down on the mat on two occasions during the fourth round, and that turn of events shifted the tide of the fight heavily in the champion’s favor. “Bones” would go on to win that frame and close out the fight by taking the final round on all three of the judges’ scorecards.
While his bout against Alexander Gustafsson was his closet battle to date, his fight with Cormier on Saturday night was perhaps his grittiest. Yet, Jones still emerged victorious and furthered the gap between him and everyone else in the light heavyweight fold.
Donald Cerrone is no stranger to putting together winning streaks and “Cowboy” cranked his current up to six straight by handing Myles Jury the first loss of his career on Saturday night. While the bout wasn’t one of Cerrone’s signature action-packed performances, it was still efficient enough to stifle any offense the Team Alliance representative attempted to put together in the fight. Cerrone was simply too crafty anywhere the fight took place and proved too much for the surging prospect to handle.
With his incredible winning streak, Cerrone should be knocking on the door of a title opportunity, but there is a bit of a logjam in the title tier of the lightweight fold at the current time. Champion Anthony Pettis is set to face Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185 in March, and current No. 1-ranked contender Khabib Nurmagomedov will be returning from injury in the coming months as well. That puts Cerrone sitting several spots out from a title opportunity, but he’s never been one to mind having to do a bit of extra work.
—The welterweight division is stacked with potential title contenders, and Hector Lombard made a strong case to enter the mix on Saturday night with his victory over Josh Burkman at UFC 172. “Showeather” had won both of his showings at 170 pounds coming into his tilt with the resurgent veteran, and a third-straight victory would keep him in the hunt for a championship opportunity.
Yet, while Burkman’s willingness to exchange with the Cuban powerhouse may have been the most memorable element of the fight, Lombard’s forward pressure and power shots secured the unanimous-decision victory on the judges’ scorecards.
Yet, even though he’s now won three consecutive showings inside the Octagon, the American Top Team representative is still several spots back in the hunt for a title shot. Champion Robbie Lawler and former champion Johny Hendricks are going to settle their trilogy later this year, and Canadian star Rory MacDonald is sitting in the next position.
With Tarec Saffiedine falling out of his bout with Matt Brown due to injury, UFC President Dana White suggested the former Bellator champion could possibly face “The Immortal” on Feb. 14 in Broomfield, Co., but there’s nothing concrete on that particular avenue at this time.
—The race for the next shot at Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight title is wide open at the current time and Kyoji Horiguchi had a great opportunity to make a strong case at UFC 182. The Japanese upstart squared off with Louis Gaudinot on Saturday night with the chance to pick up his fourth consecutive victory under the UFC banner, and that’s exactly what transpired as Horiguchi earned the unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards.
Yet, even with the win his performance was nothing too extraordinary and he most likely will not leapfrog the winner of the upcoming tilt between Ian McCall and John Lineker at UFC 183.
—There wasn’t anything pretty about it but Brad Tavares snapped a recent two-fight skid by outworking Nate Marquardt en route to a unanimous-decision victory on Saturday night. The 27-year-old Hawaiian fought at a measured pace as he launched strikes at the former title challenger from range, and Marquardt had zero answers for his attack. While the crowd at the MGM Grand Arena booed the fight, Tavares did enough to secure the victory and get back into the win column.
—Taking opportunities when they come is the name of the fight game, and Paul Felder absolutely made the most of his big shot at UFC 182. While the Jackson-Winkeljohn representative was originally supposed to compete on the card for Fight Night 59 in Boston, when a spot opposite Danny Castillo opened up at UFC 182, “The Irish Dragon” jumped at the chance.
He certainly capitalized on the moment with a spectacular knockout as Felder caught “Last Call” with a spinning back fist to bring the fight to an abrupt end. With the win, Felder has now picked up back-to-back victories inside the Octagon and brings his winning streak to 10 straight.
—Cody Garbrandt may not have started off strong against Marcus Brimage, but he surely finished business in spectacular fashion. The Team Alpha Male representative looked sluggish in the early stages of his UFC debut but turned it on late as the 23-year-old Sacramento-based fighter dotted up Brimage with big shots to finish the fight with an impressive flurry late in the final round.
The finish was the third-latest stoppage in the history of the UFC bantamweight division and in impressive first step for the talented young prospect.
—First impressions are crucial on the sport’s biggest stage, and Marion Reneau put on the ideal performance as she beat the proverbial brakes off of Alexis Dufresne to pick up her first victory inside the Octagon. While the bout should have probably been stopped in the second round, the referee allowed the drubbing to continue for 15 minutes as Reneau battered her opponent with a bevy of strikes en route to picking up the biggest win of her career.
The Bad
Nate “The Great” Marquardt just does not look so “great” anymore.
Several years ago the veteran middleweight contested for the 185-pound title in the UFC, and two years ago was the strap holder in Strikeforce’s welterweight division. Yet, the fight game is a brutal and unforgiving business and the tides have certainly turned hard on Marquardt’s career.
The Wyoming native came into his bout with Brad Tavares on Saturday night having found victory in only one of his past four showings and was desperately looking to build some momentum on his latest run in the UFC. Even though he was coming off a victory over James Te Huna in his last outing, the pressure was certainly hovering as the middleweight division is currently more stacked than it has been in years…perhaps more than ever in UFC history.
Yet, while he was facing strong circumstances, Marquardt just didn’t show up against the young Hawaiian striker. While the majority of the opening round was spent with the two fighters circling one another and being hesitant, it was a mode Marquardt wouldn’t break out of in the remaining two rounds. The Ray Sefo protege pressed the action in the final 10 minutes and kept Marquardt backing up for the rest of the fight.
The result was Marquardt looking like a shell of his former self and suffering his fourth loss in his last five outings as Tavares took the unanimous-decision victory. Marquardt looked timid and worn throughout the 15-minute affair, which is a stark contrast from the dynamic and aggressive fighter he once was.
—Despite getting off to a strong start where he won two out of his first three showings, things have been rough for Rodrigo Damm as of late. The Brazilian submission specialist had suffered back-to-back losses coming into his bout with Evan Dunham on Saturday night and desperately needed to turn things around against the Las Vegas-based fighter.
Unfortunately for Damm, the pressure Dunham brought was too much for him to handle. The veteran lightweight consistently scored with combinations en route to picking up the unanimous-decision victory and handed Damm his third straight loss inside the Octagon.
While there is no exact formula to a fighter getting cut from the biggest promotion in MMA, history has shown three-straight losses to be somewhat of an ominous number to carry. Furthermore, Damm has looked less than stellar in each of those three setbacks and it is highly likely he will be on the next wave of cuts made by the UFC in coming weeks.
The Strange
Easily the most curious moment of the night went down in the fight between Hector Lombard and Josh Burkman. The former Bellator-middleweight-champion-turned-UFC-welterweight contender is widely considered to be one of the most feared strikers in the 170-pound fold, and many assumed he would steamroll through the returning veteran.
Yet, that’s not what happened. And it’s not so much how things ended as how they played out.
After six years of competing around the globe on other stages, Burkman finally made his return to the Octagon at UFC 182. Apparently “The People’s Warrior” wanted to make a huge statement as he not only decided to go toe-to-toe with the Cuban powerhouse, but did so standing directly in front of him and taunting Lombard the entire time. It was truly a bizarre scene and a game plan no one would have ever expected from the Utah native.
While the American Top Team product would go on to win his third consecutive bout since dropping down into welterweight waters via unanimous decision, it was Burkman who stole the show on Saturday night as he put on a gritty, go-for-broke performance. Taking a loss after battling his way back after six years away wasn’t the way Burkman wanted to return, but showing he’s one of the most game fighters at 170 will certainly boost his stock.
On a final note, and perhaps the strangest aspect of the entire UFC 182 experience was my personal journey to reach the event on Saturday night. Regular readers of my work here on Bleacher Report are familiar with the fact yours truly likes to embark on lengthy road trip projects, and the plan was to finish off my 2014 and begin my 2015 with the biggest fight card in the past six months.
That was the plan, but things didn’t remotely go anywhere near the way I figured they would.
After leaving Indiana on a clear day with mild temperatures for late December, I set out to once again conquer the 30 hours and 1,862 miles between my house and Las Vegas. The drive would certainly be a long one, but with more than 13,000 miles under my tires for the road trip project, I wasn’t figuring to battle anything but road fatigue.
That said, a freak snow storm in Arizona and a batch of hidden gremlins zapping my engine left me stranded in scenic Wickenburg for three days. For three long days I sat stranded just a handful of hours from the fight capital of the world, and the news just continued to get worse and worse. Where my automobile issue was originally figured to be a problem with the starter, the mechanic (who turned out to be a shady character) shocked me with an estimate that came in just north of $1,300 and what he said was a seized engine.
I’ve traveled many miles with the “Altima Fighter” and made a thousand great memories in that car, but in that situation, I was willing to scrap the car, fly home and buy a new one when I returned back to Indiana. Yet, when that option was served to the mechanic, he informed me to slow down on that particular decision and give him a couple of days to let his engine guy take a look. Suddenly, we went from having to make a $1,300 decision on the spot to letting his engine guy have a “couple of days.” Sound funny to you? Sure did to me.
Nevertheless, I still needed to make it to Las Vegas and through the kindness of a pair of friends who lived at opposite ends of the road I made it into Sin City late on Friday night, where I will be working on assignment for the next few weeks. Coming over the Hoover Dam to see the miles upon miles of bright lights of Las Vegas was as welcoming a sight as I’d seen in quite some time.
And while getting cageside to see one of the most anticipated fights in MMA history was one of my prime motivators, the journey itself is always that thing at the heart of everything I do. Granted, getting stranded in a small cowboy outpost like Wickenburg, Arizona wasn’t on the original agenda and would be enough to drive most people crazy, it was all part of the greater experience on what has been an incredible project to be a part of.
That said, it was still as strange as it gets and what a way to kick off my 2015 campaign. It’s all uphill from here on!
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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