It’s a rare occurrence when high expectations are met, let alone surpassed; yet that is what we expect from the upcoming bout at UFC 182 between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
On January 3, 2015, the Light Heavyweight title is on the line, in addi…
It’s a rare occurrence when high expectations are met, let alone surpassed; yet that is what we expect from the upcoming bout at UFC 182 between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
On January 3, 2015, the Light Heavyweight title is on the line, in addition to the champion’s growing claim to the pound-for-pound throne.
Even without their mutual rancor, their bout has all the makings of either an epic clash or a sadly conservative collaboration. Sometimes, when the stakes are high and equal to the opposition, the risk doesn’t seem worth the reward.
And make no mistake about it, both men must risk all in order to live up to the enormity of the moment before them.
Expectation is an ideal pointed at both ends. Based on the proof evident in history, it demands further proof of the same in the future. That is why both Jones and Cormier have so much to risk; because proof of their past greatness has advanced expectations to a level that cannot be met by anything less.
While we wait and hope that both men will fight with a passion due to the moment, we also ponder how these men will reckon with each other.
How will the winner claim victory?
Obviously, there are countless possibilities, but after we weed out the unlikely, we are left with the probable.
Here are the three main ways this fight might end.
January 3, 2015, in Las Vegas gives us the biggest MMA fight since the rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva at UFC 168. The main event of UFC 182 features a towering title fight between two essentially undefeated titans in J…
January 3, 2015, in Las Vegas gives us the biggest MMA fight since the rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva at UFC 168. The main event of UFC 182 features a towering title fight between two essentially undefeated titans in Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
The fight was originally scheduled for UFC 178 on September 27. But Jones was injured in training camp during a sparring session gone sideways with Alistair Overeem, and the fight was pushed to the January 3 date.
In the lead-up to the fight, during a media event at the MGM Grand, Jones and Cormier got into an altercation that escalated into a melee. You can relive the craziness in the below video.
Jones, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, boasts a 21-1 career record—his lone loss coming via disqualification (illegal downward elbows) against Matt Hamill. Jones was dominating the fight up until the point when the referee DQ’d him.
Cormier, a former Olympic wrestler and one of the most pedigreed challengers of all time, comes into the fight with an unblemished 15-0 record. Thirteen of those wins came at heavyweight, where he took out four top-10 fighters: Antonio Silva, Josh Barnett, Frank Mir and Roy Nelson.
If Jones is victorious, it will constitute his eighth consecutive title defense, which would put him one defense behind Georges St-Pierre (nine) and two behind Anderson Silva (10). Some already consider Jones the greatest fighter in MMA history with how many impressive finishes he’s racked up against former champions in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, LyotoMachida, Rashad Evans and VitorBelfort.
A win over Cormier would likely move even more fans onto that bandwagon given Cormier‘s MMA record and Olympic wrestling credentials. Many consider Cormier the better wrestler of the two, an assertion Jones has never come up against in MMA competition and one that could prove to be his kryptonite if Cormier is able to win rounds with takedowns, top control and ground-and-pound.
Past the impeccable light heavyweight title fight, UFC 182 features a co-main event between two streaking lightweights: grizzled and possibly better-than-ever veteran Donald Cerrone and hot prospect and possibly the future of the division, Myles Jury.
A win for Cerrone would improve his UFC record to 13-3 and position him as a potential title contender in 2015. A win for Jury would run his UFC record to a perfect 7-0 and would also set him up as a potential title contender next year. Old lion vs. young lion matchups are almost always compelling, and this fight could end up challenging Jones vs. Cormier for Fight of the Night.
Below is a look at the full fight card for UFC 182 on January 3 in Las Vegas:
Unlike ancient philosopher Sun Tzu, who immortalized the notion of attacking an enemy’s weakness, Jon Jones and Greg Jackson believe that besting an opponent in his respective area of expertise represents the easiest path to reaching a breaking point.
…
Unlike ancient philosopher Sun Tzu, who immortalized the notion of attacking an enemy’s weakness, Jon Jones and Greg Jackson believe that besting an opponent in his respective area of expertise represents the easiest path to reaching a breaking point.
So when Jones faces arguably his stiffest test inside the Octagon at UFC 182 on January 3, expect the light-heavyweight champ and pound-for-pound king to test second-ranked Daniel Cormier at his strong suit: wrestling.
During an interview over the weekend with MMAFighting.com’s Shaun Al-Shatti, Jones talked about his ability to adapt to his foes’ strengths and his plan to go after Cormier‘s strengths and weaknesses.
I think I focus on it so much, I focus on their strengths so much that I almost adapt it. I become so familiar with what they’re good at that I just almost adapt it into my psychology, into my skillset, and then subconsciously it just starts playing out in the fight. Doing what they do.
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.
Jackson, Jones’ head trainer and the co-owner of Team Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, explained why he agrees that Bones should attempt to out-wrestleCormier, a two-time former Olympian in freestyle wrestling who was named Team USA’s captain for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
We’re definitely going to try to wrestle Daniel, there’s no doubt. We’re trying to beat him everywhere. The kind of inception of that mentality started actually way back when I was working with Georges (St-Pierre), and he took down (Josh) Koscheck. Sun Tzu always has this thing where he says ‘Always attack your enemies weaknesses.’ But that’s not true. If you have the ability to attack your opponent’s strength, the psychological breaking process is much faster than if you’re just attacking his weaknesses.
Since making his debut with Strikeforce in 2009, Cormier has stuffed each of the 11 shots he’s faced, including three shots from former two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, Patrick Cummins.
Jones denied the first 16 shots he faced in his brilliant UFC tenure before allowing top-ranked Alexander Gustafsson to tally a takedown at UFC 165 in September 2013. Gustafsson, however, finished just one of his eight takedown attempts in that fight.
The unbeaten Cormier has amassed 18 takedowns in his 12 fights since signing with Strikeforce, including three in his last bout against former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler Dan Henderson.
In his 15 scraps in the UFC, eight of which were light-heavyweight title fights, Jones has totaled 30 takedowns.
Cormier (15-0) improved to 4-0 in the UFC after thrashing former Strikeforce and PRIDE FC champ Henderson at UFC 173 in May. Cormier has piled up a 12-0 record under the Zuffa banner.
Jones (20-1) holds a 14-1 UFC record, with his lone loss coming via disqualification against Matt Hamill in December 2009.
(“Hey pussy, are you still there?” via…who are we kidding, it’s already been taken down.)
The lead-up to Jon Jones‘ title tilt with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 has been an unusually heated affair for the long-standing light heavyweight champion. While we’ve seen Jones irked in the past, we’ve never seen him break kayfabe in the form of a full-on fist fight at a press conference before, which usually marks the beginning of a new chapter in a person’s life. The beef between Bones and Cormier appears to be legitimate and has earned the matchup a ton of additional eyes, so it would be a huge mistake on the UFC’s part *not* to use this hate-filled storyline to market the fight, right? Especially while in the midst of a(nother) pay-per-view slump?
The Grudge Match™ has been one of the most reliable marketing gimmicks of the Zuffa era — second only to “If ___ beats ___, then pound-for-pound.” — and surely a scheme that will likely earn Jones a hefty bump in his cut of the PPV revenue. But according to the champ himself, all the money in the world isn’t worth everyone knowing that he is a two-faced, fakey fakerson. (Ed note: Sorry, my 7-year-old nephew is in town for the holidays and keeps jacking my laptop.)
As Bones recently told UFC Tonight (via MMAMania):
When I first saw [the now infamous ad for UFC 182] I was a little offended by it. That UFC — someone who is supposed to be backing my brand and making me look good — would put up something like that for the general public to see. I don’t think it’s really healthy for the world to see their champion — for the world to see UFC’s champion — saying I would kill someone. That really took me off guard. I didn’t really think it was in my best interest, but it was for UFC’s best interest, so I kind of had to swallow my pride. I said it.
(“Hey pussy, are you still there?” via…who are we kidding, it’s already been taken down.)
The lead-up to Jon Jones‘ title tilt with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 has been an unusually heated affair for the long-standing light heavyweight champion. While we’ve seen Jones irked in the past, we’ve never seen him break kayfabe in the form of a full-on fist fight at a press conference before, which usually marks the beginning of a new chapter in a person’s life. The beef between Bones and Cormier appears to be legitimate and has earned the matchup a ton of additional eyes, so it would be a huge mistake on the UFC’s part *not* to use this hate-filled storyline to market the fight, right? Especially while in the midst of a(nother) pay-per-view slump?
The Grudge Match™ has been one of the most reliable marketing gimmicks of the Zuffa era — second only to “If ___ beats ___, then pound-for-pound.” — and surely a scheme that will likely earn Jones a hefty bump in his cut of the PPV revenue. But according to the champ himself, all the money in the world isn’t worth everyone knowing that he is a two-faced, fakey fakerson. (Ed note: Sorry, my 7-year-old nephew is in town for the holidays and keeps jacking my laptop.)
As Bones recently told UFC Tonight (via MMAMania):
When I first saw [the now infamous ad for UFC 182] I was a little offended by it. That UFC — someone who is supposed to be backing my brand and making me look good — would put up something like that for the general public to see. I don’t think it’s really healthy for the world to see their champion — for the world to see UFC’s champion — saying I would kill someone. That really took me off guard. I didn’t really think it was in my best interest, but it was for UFC’s best interest, so I kind of had to swallow my pride. I said it.
Oh, so you don’t wike it dat da UFC is makin’ you wook bad? WELL LOOK AT POWAH WITTLE JAWN. (Ed note: God dammit, Milo! You know that our WordPress can’t handle all these edits!!)
Knock Jones all you want, but you simply have to respect his consistency when it comes to shirking all responsibility for an incident he played a definitive role in and then martyring himself after the fact. For Christ’s sake, Jones said he was caught off guard…by the things he said! What a world!
“I, Jon Jones, am truly the victim here. Yeah, I might have threatened a man’s life on live television moments after starting a fight that I definitely wasn’t proud of, but for the UFC to promote my fight with those things I said and did? To make money? WON’T YOU THINK OF THE CHILDREN, DANA!!!!”
Who knows, maybe this interview was just the latest in what has been a series of blatantly trollish moves by the light heavyweight champion. But if Jones really is still banking on the idea that the masses will suddenly accept him as a genuine, down-to-earth guy at this point in his career, than maybe he’s not trolling us at all. Maybe Jon Jones is just f*cking crazy. And I honestly, I like crazy (minus that whole “defending Bill Cosby” thing).
I guess it isn’t really worth putting that much thought into. If Jones beats DC on January 4th, he’ll probably come out saying what a “really smart personal career decision” this whole thing was and everyone will somehow find it in them to hate him even more.
It seems as if the Nevada State Athletic Commission is testing to make sure none of the bad blood between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier has led to bad blood within the champion himself.
Jones, who is currently training for his eighth straight titl…
It seems as if the Nevada State Athletic Commission is testing to make sure none of the bad blood between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier has led to bad blood within the champion himself.
Jones, who is currently training for his eighth straight title defense against Cormier at UFC 182, was paid a random visit by the NSAC to conduct a random drug test, according to Jones’ Instagram account.
Jones’ photo caption read:
“The Nevada State athletic commission just stopped by my house and hit me with that random.. Only thing I’m on is that #PHW pure hard work! They are probably wondering how my chicken legs are so strong. I’ve had a few @muscletech products but that’s all legal :)”
It’s likely Cormier gets tested before the fight as well. Considering the former United States Olympian was comfortable with being tested before, seeing his reaction to the UFC and the athletic commissions taking a firmer stand against performance-enhancing drug use wasn’t very surprising.
As far as Jones has publicly admitted, this is the second straight title defense in which he’s been tested—the first coming during his UFC 172 training camp for his bout against now-No. 6 light heavyweight Glover Teixeira.
The champ went out of his way to publicly request the test the first time around, claiming a hunger for more transparency in his title fights. He told Ariel Helwani on UFC Tonight (h/t MMAJunkie.com) back in April:
It was something me and my management team asked for several months ago. We thought it would be great to make sure everyone was playing fair in this fight. I’m not accusing my opponent of anything, but it’d just be great to see. … I just think it’d be great to know that the athletes that are competing are competing clean. I’ve never taken any kind of performance-enhancing drug and I don’t think any of my opponents should. I know that I’ve probably fought people in the past that have, and I’ve still come up with a way to win, but I just think it’s important that it goes away.
Jones and Cormier will take the center of the Octagon on Jan. 3 in Las Vegas.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
And here we have the nine-minute extended video trailer for UFC 182: Jones vs. Cormier, which goes down January 3rd in Las Vegas. The verbal beefin’ between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier is nothing new, but hey, there’s more of it here. Plus, we get a segment on the lightweight co-main between undefeated 26-year-old Myles Jury and red-hot veteran Donald Cerrone. Myles Jury kind of seems like a real-life version of that “bring a rocket-launcher” guy from the NOS commercials. As for Cerrone…well, you already know who that dude is.
And here we have the nine-minute extended video trailer for UFC 182: Jones vs. Cormier, which goes down January 3rd in Las Vegas. The verbal beefin’ between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier is nothing new, but hey, there’s more of it here. Plus, we get a segment on the lightweight co-main between undefeated 26-year-old Myles Jury and red-hot veteran Donald Cerrone. Myles Jury kind of seems like a real-life version of that “bring a rocket-launcher” guy from the NOS commercials. As for Cerrone…well, you already know who that dude is.
