UFC 173 takes place this weekend, and the co-main event is a title eliminator in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
Former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson will take on rising star Daniel Cormier. They are currently ranked …
UFC 173 takes place this weekend, and the co-main event is a title eliminator in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
Former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson will take on rising star Daniel Cormier. They are currently ranked as the No. 6 and No. 4 light heavyweights, respectively.
The co-main event should draw significant interest. Both men have storylines against current champion Jon Jones, but Alexander Gustafsson could throw a wrench into those plans should he defeat the champion in their rematch later this year.
Two high-level wrestlers with big power enter the Octagon Saturday with a lot on the line. It is an intriguing stylistic matchup, but Cormier is the heavy favorite coming in. How will the fight play out, and who will earn the next title shot?
This is your head-to-toe breakdown of the co-main event heading into UFC 173 this weekend.
Daniel Cormier will meet Dan Henderson at UFC 173 this Saturday. The winner will receive a title shot against whomever the UFC light heavyweight champion is post-Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson.
Should Cormier walk away a winner at UFC 173, there wi…
Daniel Cormier will meet Dan Henderson at UFC 173 this Saturday. The winner will receive a title shot against whomever the UFC light heavyweight champion is post-Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson.
Should Cormier walk away a winner at UFC 173, there will be the question of whether he should wait for his title shot or remain active. Cormier said he is willing to wait, and that is exactly what he should do.
Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t be an issue. The timing would have worked out as such that the champion and next contender were on a similar timetable for their fight, but that is not the case in the light heavyweight division.
The next title eliminator is this weekend between Cormier and Henderson, but the title fight between Jones and Gustafsson has not yet been set. It has been rumored for a future date in Sweden, per Matt Erickson of USA Today. That would mean Cormier would have sit out until late 2014 at the earliest, and potentially into 2015, before earning his title shot.
Waiting for a title shot sounds like a good idea in theory, but we have seen it play out negatively as well.
In fact, it recently happened in the light heavyweight division with Henderson. He was slated to face Jon Jones, but he had to pull out with an injury. Henderson has never regained that title shot. There is always a possibility of getting injured, but there also are times where other fighters usurp your role.
That is unlikely to happen to Cormier.
Jones has wrecked the division. He has defeated many of the top fighters, and he is not fond of having rematches. He enjoys new challenges. Also, he has a history with Cormier. Jones’ dominance against other potential contenders, and his backstory with Cormier, make this a less risky venture for Cormier should he choose to wait on the sidelines.
Should Gustafsson defeat Jones, the UFC will need another contender waiting in the wings. Cormier is the appropriate choice for that potential scenario too.
Taking another fight would be more of a risk for Cormier.
No matter how big a favorite he might be, and no matter who the UFC would chose to book him against, anything can happen in MMA. A fight inside the Octagon comes with an inherit risk. That is one Cormier does not need to take with a title shot looming.
Furthermore, the UFC should make Cormier wait. The organization is lacking premier fighters and fights. It needs stars to sell pay-per-views, and Cormier vs. Jones is one of the biggest fights it has in the pipeline.
It is always great to see top fighters in action, but fans can be patient when they see a fight they want waiting in the wings. As such would be the case if Cormier earns his title shot at UFC 173.
For Cormier and the UFC, this is all about risk vs. reward. The risk is much too great for Cormier, in victory at UFC 173, to fight again until the title fight. There is too much interest behind the fight, too great of an risk factor that could derail the plans and far too much money to risk losing in putting Cormier in another big fight where he’s not contending for a title.
Cormier should just head back to AKA and prepare for an extended period of training solely for the championship.
Bellator is betting on a competitive grudge match between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal as the headliner for Bellator 120. One man who doesn’t think like that is UFC light heavyweight contender Daniel “DC” Cormier.
Cormier post…
Bellator is betting on a competitive grudge match between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal as the headliner for Bellator 120. One man who doesn’t think like that is UFC light heavyweight contender Daniel “DC” Cormier.
Cormier posted some words of encouragement to “King Mo” on his Instagram account. Apparently “DC” doesn’t just think Lawal will win, but will also put an end to Jackson’s MMA career.
This guy insisted that I fight. This guys called me when I was at my lowest point everyday. This guy paid my mortgage when I was broke. Hes my brother and I can’t wait until he competes this weekend in his 1st ppv main event. You don’t meet many people like Muhammad Lawal in one lifetime and I am lucky to have this guy. Watch him put an end to rampage career. Mo you a champion my brother and good luck. You won’t need it. #brother #teamthirsty #okstate #worldteam my brother. Kick his ass MO! @kingmofh
Cormier and Lawal were roommates while they were attending Oklahoma State University, and Cormier has detailed how Lawal has helped him through some very tragic events.
For Lawal, it certainly paints a different picture of “King Mo.” The image most fans are shown of the Bellator light heavyweight is one of confidence/arrogance and a certain level of flash. He does wear a crown to the cage after all.
Lawal will face “Rampage” in the main event of Bellator 120, the first time the promotion will put on a pay-per-view event. The winner will be crowned Season 10 light heavyweight tournament winner and receive a title shot down the line.
“King Mo” has a litany of amateur wrestling credentials, along with a Strikeforce title on his mantle. He will be looking for his third title opportunity after getting bounced in the Season 8 semifinals by Emanuel Newton and losing to Newton once again in a rematch at Bellator 106.
Jackson, meanwhile, has yet to taste defeat inside the Bellator cage. He’s one of the most recognizable names in the sport of MMA and recently knocked out former Bellator light heavyweight champ Christian M’Pumbu in the first round.
“Rampage” will undoubtedly be looking to add another knockout to his resume, as his punching power is among the best in MMA. Meanwhile, it will be something of a question mark as to what “King Mo” will use as a game plan. He has the wrestling credentials but has been looking to show off his improved striking game in recent fights.
UFC light heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier has some advice for his division’s king, Jon Jones.
Go full heel. Don’t dip your toes in the pool of arrogant behavior.
Dive in, and own the role.
Speaking with MMAJunkie.com’s Steven Mar…
UFC light heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier has some advice for his division’s king, Jon Jones.
Go full heel. Don’t dip your toes in the pool of arrogant behavior.
Dive in, and own the role.
Speaking with MMAJunkie.com’s Steven Marrocco, Cormier tossed some career advice Jones’ way, saying that the 26-year-old superstar should embrace the negative vibes and become more like boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. where PR moves are concerned.
The former Olympic wrestler said:
If I was Jon Jones, being that people seem to want to dislike him, I would go 100 percent Floyd Mayweather Jr. He wins all the time, and people dislike him, but they always tune into see him. … They’ll watch to hope that you lose, but at the end of the day, you’ll still be winning, because Floyd Mayweather makes $40 million every time he fights. At the end of the day, that is winning.
Jones’ career inside the Octagon has been nearly perfect to this point. He became the UFC light heavyweight champion at the age of 23, and he’s successfully defended that distinction seven times, a UFC record.
Outside of the cage, however, Jones’ reputation fluctuates between “fake,” “cocky,” and downright “offensive.” (NSFW)
The problem?
Jones constantly tries to rehab his image, even at the expense of providing contradictory stories and messages.
Is he the squeaky-clean Christian family man, or is he the arrogant superstar who flaunts his status as one of the baddest dudes on the planet at all times?
To Cormier, Jones should pick the latter and just roll with it.
It worked for Mr. Mayweather, why can’t it work for “Bones”?
Given all that Dan Henderson has accomplished in his mixed martial arts career, the notion that he could ever be out of his depth inside the cage is completely counterintuitive. However, his scheduled bout with Daniel Cormier at UFC 173 seems, at least…
Given all that Dan Henderson has accomplished in his mixed martial arts career, the notion that he could ever be out of his depth inside the cage is completely counterintuitive. However, his scheduled bout with Daniel Cormier at UFC 173 seems, at least on paper, to verge on being a mismatch.
Hendo’s admirers are legion, so I imagine I’ll be getting a little pushback on that last point. Looking at where the 43-year-old is in his career, though, can a reasonable argument be made that he has a realistic shot against Cormier, who seems to be improving by the second?
Certainly, the former two-weight Pride champion always has a puncher’s chance; his overhand right could disintegrate even the most robust chin. One need only go back as far as Henderson’s most recent fight, against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, for evidence of how quickly he can end a contest with a single swing of his right arm.
That being said, it’s all too easy to forget that Henderson had been dominated right up until the moment he almost decapitated Rua with what appeared to be a desperation shot.
Operating under the weight of a three-fight losing streak, for two-and-a-half rounds, it looked like Hendo was heading for his fourth straight loss, with the inevitable calls for his retirement soon to follow.
One right hand later, punctuated by a few follow-up shots, and all that came before was seemingly forgotten.
This inability to remember anything beyond the immediate past seems to be the plight of the fight fan—and sports fans generally. You are only as good as the last 10 seconds of your last fight. Everything else fades into irrelevance.
Imagining the recent version of Henderson taking on Cormier is something you might expect from the mind of a 1980s WWFbooker. It looks like a squash match designed for the purpose of putting one fighter over.
Examining the pair’s strengths and weaknesses, it’s hard to give Hendo the edge anywhere. Even his much-celebrated durability has seemingly deteriorated. It might not be as dramatic as Chuck Liddell’s plummeting punch resistance toward the end of his career, but there is no doubt that Henderson doesn’t absorb the shots quite like he used to.
Despite being 35 years of age, Cormier appears to be in his prime. His evolution as a fighter is staggering.
As a former Olympic freestyle wrestler, we expected him to rely on his base and achieve a certain amount of success. What we didn’t see coming was the rapid development of his striking. Cormier looks like he has been kickboxing since he was a child.
Where the ceiling is on his potential remains to be seen, but his career remains on an upward trajectory. A meeting with Jon Jones increasingly seems like an inevitability—assuming Alexander Gustafssondoesn’t do his Superman routine again.
Henderson, on the contrary, surely must be close to calling time on his legendary career. If his fight with Cormier is as one-sided as expected, Dana White and the UFC may end up making the decision for him.
Despite all of their past drama, even Daniel Cormier can admit that fans are witnessing a rare, once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent every time Jon Jones steps into the Octagon.
For the most part, the former Olympian has maintained a relatively objective …
Despite all of their past drama, even Daniel Cormier can admit that fans are witnessing a rare, once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent every time Jon Jones steps into the Octagon.
For the most part, the former Olympian has maintained a relatively objective view of the UFC light heavyweight champ. Back in August 2013, he told MMA Fighting that he only praises Jones’ fighting ability and the things he’s accomplished, not his personality.
There was once again plenty of praise to go around on Saturday night, following Jones’ remarkably one-sided victory over Glover Teixeira at UFC 172.
At the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White claimed Jones turned in his “best performance” yet and is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest fighters in MMA history. Cormier echoed White’s opinion during a random Q&A session on Twitter.
There has been talk in the past about Jones possibly moving up to the heavyweight division for a superfight with Cormier’s teammate, UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez. During the UFC 172 media conference call, Jones made it clear that he plans on extending his stay at 205 pounds, due to a growing list of contenders.
But if he ever decided to make the leap, Cormier is fully confident the 26-year-old phenom has all the tools necessary to find success at heavyweight. He even made the bold claim that Jones was good enough to defeat a prime FedorEmelianenko.
Emelianenko, who went undefeated for a decade, is widely considered the greatest heavyweight in MMA history.
Whether Cormier’s comments are seen as bold or complete blasphemy, he is paying Jones the highest compliment with that prediction. He truly believes Jones would have defeated Emelianenko in a fight, but Velasquez, on the other hand, is a completely different story.
Fresh off his win over Teixeira, Jones will soon be heading back through another grueling training camp in preparation for his highly anticipated rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, likely slated for later this year. Fans are really getting behind the Swedish boxer, who came within a round of dethroning Jones last September. Will the second time be the charm?
Cormier certainly doesn’t think so, according to comments he made on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting):
No chance (Gustafsson beats Jones). Let me rephrase that. I’m not saying he doesn’t have a chance. I’m just saying that if I had to bet my money, or if I asked 10 people who wins this fight, nine out of those 10 people would say Jon Jones, because honestly, I believe that he’s better because he has more tools.
When you look at Jon on paper against a lot of people, he seems to match up well against every single one of us. He seems to hold the advantages against every single one of us. It’s the intangibles. It’s the things that you can’t measure on a piece of paper that it’s going to take to beat Jon Jones—the things that I believe I hold in spades.
Cormier can keep his cards close to his chest for now.
He is scheduled to fight Dan Henderson at UFC 173, and Jones still has to get past Gustafsson. For years, fans and analysts have pondered the extent of Cormier’s talent. There’s no doubt he’s a world-class contender, but is “DC” a future UFC champ?
Assuming the fight against Jones does come to fruition, it could only be a matter of time before the world finds out.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
Daniel Cormier will meet