(Check out this inspiring behind-the-scenes video of Johny Hendricks bouncing back from his loss to Georges St-Pierre to win the welterweight title at UFC 171. / Props: AskMen)
(Check out this inspiring behind-the-scenes video of Johny Hendricks bouncing back from his loss to Georges St-Pierre to win the welterweight title at UFC 171. / Props: AskMen)
One of the many, many things to like about Daniel Cormier is his simple desire to scrap.
We saw this inclination in February after Rashad Evans was forced out of their scheduled UFC 170 fight with an injury and Cormier publicly cajoled matchmakers into…
One of the many, many things to like about Daniel Cormier is his simple desire to scrap.
We saw this inclination in February after Rashad Evans was forced out of their scheduled UFC 170 fight with an injury and Cormier publicly cajoled matchmakers into finding him someone, anyone else to put his fists on instead of scratching him from the card.
Eventually, they dredged up Patrick Cummins, but more on that in a minute.
Cormier’s fight-early, fight-often policy was on display again Wednesday, as Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter reported the fight company is targeting a bout for him against former Strikeforce champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante at UFC 175.
Social media critics have jumped all over it, casting it as a step back for the former Olympic wrestling team captain, who is now 3-0 in the UFC and 14-0 overall.
Assuming the fight comes together, though, Cormier’s message is clear: Confronted by a reality where both Glover Teixeira and Alexander Gustafsson are ahead of him in the light heavyweight pecking order, he’d rather stay busy and paid than wait for the contender carousel to complete its year-long turn.
Taking on a backsliding, but still-dangerous hitter like Feijao is a risky move for a guy who’s already basically assured a future shot at the 205-pound title. However, it’s also very easy to admire.
It speaks to the man’s work ethic and a core belief in himself that he’s among the best light heavyweights in the world. Perhaps to him it doesn’t matter who he fights, or when, since he thinks he’s going to beat them all anyway.
Also, he doesn’t have all day to wait.
Cormier turned 35 years old a week ago and—as talented as he is—he’s obviously working with a limited window in which to ply his trade. He commands somewhere in the neighborhood of $160,000 to fight for the UFC—MMA Junkie reported that his payout for blistering Cummins was $80,000 to show and that much again to win—and those two factors combined likely make the equation very simple for him.
He could either sit at home watching the clock tick or roll the dice and stand to perhaps double his yearly salary to date.
In addition, there is the small matter of the Cummins fight, which ultimately failed to tell spectators much we didn’t already know about Cormier.
It was sweet confirmation to see him look fit and capable at 205 pounds, but after the UFC did its best to prop the former barista up as a legit threat, the end result bordered on depressing and did little to satisfy our curiosity about how high Cormier might fly.
It’s possible the competitor in Cormier secretly left UFC 170 feeling much the same way.
He’d trained for Evans and expected to get a stiff test from a perennial contender and former champion. Instead, he got an unsatisfying gimme fight against a talented but woefully unprepared kid.
It was easy money, but the experience may not have been particularly instructive for him in what to expect from his new life at light heavyweight.
To that end, Cavalcante would be a better way to scratch the itch.
The 33-year-old Brazilian got back into the win column during his last UFC fight, a first-round stoppage over Igor Pokrajac last November. He’s been up and down since winning the Strikeforce title in August of 2010, but would be a worthy opponent and—if nothing else—a far more interesting litmus test than Cummins ever could have been.
At this point, it would be easy for Cormier to make some wise investments with his $160,000 and cool his heels until the Jon Jones-Teixeira-Gustafsson meat grinder spits out a winner for him to face near the end of the year.
It’s commendable—if a little bit scary—that he’s probably going to do the opposite.
You know what they say about great opportunity, though. It all comes up rosy for Cormier if he dispatches Feijao with the same ease as previous opponents like Cummins, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir.
If the unthinkable happens and he loses, however, it would constitute a full-scale disaster for a guy who has just as little time to waste rebuilding his image as waiting on the sideline.
The bottom line is that Cormier is one of the more exciting prospects to grace the 205-pound division in some time. Fans want to see him fight and he looks intent on granting our wish. In a sport that so often revels in the fearlessness of guys like Nick Diaz and gameness of dudes like Donald Cerrone, Cormier’s confidence deserves its due too.
One of the many, many things to like about Daniel Cormier is his simple desire to scrap.
We saw this inclination in February after Rashad Evans was forced out of their scheduled UFC 170 fight with an injury and Cormier publicly cajoled matchmakers into…
One of the many, many things to like about Daniel Cormier is his simple desire to scrap.
We saw this inclination in February after Rashad Evans was forced out of their scheduled UFC 170 fight with an injury and Cormier publicly cajoled matchmakers into finding him someone, anyone else to put his fists on instead of scratching him from the card.
Eventually, they dredged up Patrick Cummins, but more on that in a minute.
Cormier’s fight-early, fight-often policy was on display again Wednesday, as Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter reported the fight company is targeting a bout for him against former Strikeforce champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante at UFC 175.
Social media critics have jumped all over it, casting it as a step back for the former Olympic wrestling team captain, who is now 3-0 in the UFC and 14-0 overall.
Assuming the fight comes together, though, Cormier’s message is clear: Confronted by a reality where both Glover Teixeira and Alexander Gustafsson are ahead of him in the light heavyweight pecking order, he’d rather stay busy and paid than wait for the contender carousel to complete its year-long turn.
Taking on a backsliding, but still-dangerous hitter like Feijao is a risky move for a guy who’s already basically assured a future shot at the 205-pound title. However, it’s also very easy to admire.
It speaks to the man’s work ethic and a core belief in himself that he’s among the best light heavyweights in the world. Perhaps to him it doesn’t matter who he fights, or when, since he thinks he’s going to beat them all anyway.
Also, he doesn’t have all day to wait.
Cormier turned 35 years old a week ago and—as talented as he is—he’s obviously working with a limited window in which to ply his trade. He commands somewhere in the neighborhood of $160,000 to fight for the UFC—MMA Junkie reported that his payout for blistering Cummins was $80,000 to show and that much again to win—and those two factors combined likely make the equation very simple for him.
He could either sit at home watching the clock tick or roll the dice and stand to perhaps double his yearly salary to date.
In addition, there is the small matter of the Cummins fight, which ultimately failed to tell spectators much we didn’t already know about Cormier.
It was sweet confirmation to see him look fit and capable at 205 pounds, but after the UFC did its best to prop the former barista up as a legit threat, the end result bordered on depressing and did little to satisfy our curiosity about how high Cormier might fly.
It’s possible the competitor in Cormier secretly left UFC 170 feeling much the same way.
He’d trained for Evans and expected to get a stiff test from a perennial contender and former champion. Instead, he got an unsatisfying gimme fight against a talented but woefully unprepared kid.
It was easy money, but the experience may not have been particularly instructive for him in what to expect from his new life at light heavyweight.
To that end, Cavalcante would be a better way to scratch the itch.
The 33-year-old Brazilian got back into the win column during his last UFC fight, a first-round stoppage over Igor Pokrajac last November. He’s been up and down since winning the Strikeforce title in August of 2010, but would be a worthy opponent and—if nothing else—a far more interesting litmus test than Cummins ever could have been.
At this point, it would be easy for Cormier to make some wise investments with his $160,000 and cool his heels until the Jon Jones-Teixeira-Gustafsson meat grinder spits out a winner for him to face near the end of the year.
It’s commendable—if a little bit scary—that he’s probably going to do the opposite.
You know what they say about great opportunity, though. It all comes up rosy for Cormier if he dispatches Feijao with the same ease as previous opponents like Cummins, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir.
If the unthinkable happens and he loses, however, it would constitute a full-scale disaster for a guy who has just as little time to waste rebuilding his image as waiting on the sideline.
The bottom line is that Cormier is one of the more exciting prospects to grace the 205-pound division in some time. Fans want to see him fight and he looks intent on granting our wish. In a sport that so often revels in the fearlessness of guys like Nick Diaz and gameness of dudes like Donald Cerrone, Cormier’s confidence deserves its due too.
A light heavyweight bout between highly ranked light heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier and former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael Cavalcante is in the works, but not finalized, for UFC 175.
Sources close to the bout informed Ble…
A light heavyweight bout between highly ranked light heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier and former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael Cavalcante is in the works, but not finalized, for UFC 175.
Sources close to the bout informed Bleacher Report of the news on Saturday. The shakeup to UFC 173 started a whirlwind of rumors about Cormier fighting Dan Henderson on the card, but Cormier told Bleacher Report on Wednesday that he will not be ready to fight by that date.
The event takes place July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. It is currently unknown where the fight will fall on the pay-per-view card. The event is headlined by a middleweight title match between Chris Weidman and LyotoMachida that was originally scheduled for UFC 173 but has since been postponed due to a minor knee injury suffered by Weidman.
Cormier, No. 5 in the division, made his light heavyweight debut by quickly dispatching newcomer Patrick Cummins at UFC 171. Many expected him to face a top-ranked contender in his next fight, perhaps even the winner of the UFC 172 bout between Phil Davis and Anthony Johnson. But that’s not the case, as Cormier will likely face the 14th-ranked Cavalcante. Cormier is continuing his pursuit of a title shot, but he’s behind Alexander Gustafsson, who faces the winner of UFC 172’s main event between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira.
Cavalcante‘s last entrance into the Octagon came in November, when he beat the durable Igor Pokrajac in the first round. He is currently 1-1 in the UFC, with his loss coming at the hands of Thiago Silva. Cavalcante‘s biggest career win would likely be his 2010 capture of the Strikeforce light heavyweight title with a win over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
UFC 175 is one of the cornerstone events of the UFC’s International Fight Week, which also features The Ultimate Fighter finale, capped off with a main event between Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn.
UFC President Dana White may have made a big promise he can’t keep when he announced Alexander Gustafsson would get the winner of Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira. He certainly hasn’t seemed to realize that, though, as he just announced Daniel Cormier wil…
UFC President Dana White may have made a big promise he can’t keep when he announced Alexander Gustafsson would get the winner of Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira. He certainly hasn’t seemed to realize that, though, as he just announced Daniel Cormier will fight the winner of the purely hypothetical Jones/Teixeira vs. Gustafsson match. Via Twitter:
@FantasyMoneyMan u will see him against the winner of Jones/Glover vs Gus
It’s worth noting that Jones vs. Teixeira is not a slam dunk for the long-reigning light heavyweight champ, due to Teixeira’s massive punching power. However, given Jones’ success over the last four years, it’s hard to believe “Bones” wouldn’t get an immediate rematch unless the bout was shockingly, anomalously lopsided. That, however, hasn’t stopped White from flatly, seemingly irrevocably, saying that Gustafsson has the next crack at the light heavyweight belt.
Suffice it to say, White is biting off more than he can chew in the promises department by promising Gustafsson a title fight after Jones vs. Teixeira. Flatly saying who will get the winner of that fight? Well, that’s just silly.
Not only that, but Cormier is by no means an established stud at light heavyweight at this point. While his skills are beyond question, questions still linger regarding how they will hold up at light heavyweight, given his difficult weight cut. While he squashed Pat Cummins in a short-notice fight, Cummins was quite literally somebody the UFC found on the street.
Not only that, but Cormier has expressed interest in fighting one more time to legitimately earn a title shot:
“@Brucknerno7: @dc_mma winner of Phil vs Anthony. winner of Shogun vs Hendo. which one?” Anyone bro
For many of the UFC’s formative years, light heavyweight was the company’s undisputed glamor division.
The 205-pound class became comfortably ensconced as the UFC’s marquee attraction from roughly 2000-07, when stars like Chuck Liddell, Randy Cou…
For many of the UFC’s formative years, light heavyweight was the company’s undisputed glamor division.
The 205-pound class became comfortably ensconced as the UFC’s marquee attraction from roughly 2000-07, when stars like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz carried the torch. In more recent years, light heavyweight lost a step; first as a series of lesser champions passed the belt around like a hot potato, then after Jon Jones turned the title picture into a one-man show.
The 26-year-old champion’s ascendance has itself been a thing of unmistakable beauty, but to the extent there was much drama in it, Jones snuffed it out with one lopsided victory after another.
In the wake last weekend’s UFC London event, however, it appears 205 pounds might be poised for a return to greatness, with a robust crop of contenders suddenly hot on Bones’ heels.
As Glover Teixeira, Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier all stand ready to give Jones their best shots during 2014, this could be the year light heavyweight finally reclaims its rightful place in the UFC’s vanguard.
Thank Gustafsson for keeping things interesting, as he made fairly quick and easy work of JimiManuwa on Saturday in a classic just-don’t-screw-it-up matchup, if there ever was one. By trumping Manuwa in impressive fashion, Gustafsson simultaneously beat back Cormier’s bid to usurp him as the next title challenger and reaffirmed the likelihood of a rematch against Jones sometime this summer.
The champion already has an interesting title defense against Teixeira on the books for next month at UFC 172 and with Phil Davis meeting Anthony Johnson in another compelling contender bout at the same event, light heavyweight unexpectedly feels as fun as it has in years.
We abruptly seem a world away from August 2012, when the division arguably hit rock bottom after an injury to Dan Henderson forced the cancellation of UFC 151. That calamity—a first in the organization’s history—cast the 205-pound landscape into a quagmire that eventually saw Jones reduced to defending the title against middleweights in consecutive appearances at UFCs 152 and 159.
Light heavyweight was still limping along in the shadow of that mess when he got an unexpected wake-up call from Gustafsson at UFC 165 last September. In pushing the champion to the brink in the best fight of 2013, Gustafsson effectively dashed Jones’ aura of invincibility and planted seeds for the 205-pound renaissance we see now.
Jones himself unwittingly stirred the pot of public intrigue in the wake of Gustafsson’s win over Manuwa. He took to Twitter to suggest (quite innocuously, really) that perhaps Cormier and Gustafsson ought to next fight each other in a title eliminator.
As with everything Jones does, the reaction from MMA fans was swift and ridiculous. This time Jones’ detractors even went as far as to suggest he was looking for a way to “duck” one or both of his next challengers.
Of course, that idea is ludicrous, but perhaps the fact it was floated at all is a positive commentary on the overall health of the division at present. Together, Gustafsson and Cormier represent the two most significant threats to the Jon Jones Era since he won the title three years ago.
Whether they can articulate it properly or not, fans appear to know that, which can only mean good things for the immediate future of 205 pounds. Guys like Cormier, Gustafsson, Teixeira, Davis and Johnson are exactly what this division needed—a fresh slate of foils to replace the ones Jones battered and dismissed during his first six UFC title fights.
To make matters even more interesting, there seems to be some legitimate heat between them. The typically mild-mannered Gustafsson cut off UFC post-fight interviewer Dan Hardy mid-sentence over the weekend in order to take the microphone and tell Jones he was coming for him.
For his part, Jones appears irked by the entire idea of Cormier as a light heavyweight title contender and even Davis has gotten in a few verbal barbs of late, saying he felt like Jones “wants more of the softer side of the division,” via MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle.
If 2014 manages to produce a trio of interesting title fights for Jones, each against a man seemingly more capable of dethroning him than the last, it will amount to a significant win for the 205-pound division at large.
As the greatest champion his weight class has ever seen, Jones has always had the potential to bring light heavyweight back to the mountaintop.
One of the many, many things to like about