Jon Jones is back. “Bones” made his highly anticipated return to Octagon action this past weekend (Sat. July 29, 2017) in the main event of UFC 214 against Daniel Cormier in an attempt to retrieve the light heavyweight championship he never lost. Although the first two rounds showed a very back-and-forth contest between the two, […]
“Bones” made his highly anticipated return to Octagon action this past weekend (Sat. July 29, 2017) in the main event of UFC 214 against Daniel Cormier in an attempt to retrieve the light heavyweight championship he never lost. Although the first two rounds showed a very back-and-forth contest between the two, Jones was able to land a hellacious head kick in the third round that wobbled Cormier, allowing “Bones” to finish things off on the mat with some ground-and-pound to score a TKO win.
Following the bout, Cormier was visibly upset as he began to cry after realizing what had happened. He was understandably confused after coming to and got emotional after realizing he lost. “DC” also got emotional following his first loss to Jones back in January of 2015, as he suffered the first loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career – something Jones repeatedly referenced to in the build up to UFC 214.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping took to his podcast, Believe You Me, to comment on the results of the UFC 214 main event and explained why Jones got the ‘ultimate’ revenge for making Cormier cry a second time following their fight (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“Cormier shouldn’t have done that. I thought it was bad because – listen, I’ve never cried when I’ve lost a fight, that’s not what I’m saying though. What I’m saying is because how much they dislike one another, and for as classy as Jon Jones could be inside the octagon, don’t tell me that that wasn’t the ultimate f**king revenge for Jon Jones to see D.C. crying. So what I mean is that the way he should have handled that better is to save that for the private moments.
“But he’d just been scrambled. Obviously, he wasn’t thinking straight. He was highly emotional, he’d just been knocked out. You don’t know where you are when you’ve been knocked out, I’ll tell you that right now. Even though you’re back on you’re talking to Joe Rogan, you still don’t know what the f**k is going on. And by the way, that was a bad knockout.”
“The Count” went on to express the respect he has for Cormier as a fighter, but urged fans not to pity the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product because that’s probably not what he wants:
“In that period of fighting for the title and being the champion, he’s made millions and millions of dollars. I would guess six to seven million dollars in a couple of years, maybe more. Maybe close to 10 million dollars, who knows? I was feeling sorry for him but then I said, hold on a minute. At the end of the day, we do this for money. He’s earned a s**t-ton of money, he’s been the champion, and he’s lost and he’s a grown ass man and he’ll deal with it. There’s no need to sit here feeling sorry for him and he probably doesn’t want that anyway.”
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been in several MMA headlines as of late, although it hasn’t exactly been for all the right reasons. The polarizing titleholder was raked over the coals by UFC President Dana White in the moments after his uneventful decision win over Demian Maia in the co-main event of last Saturday’s […]
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been in several MMA headlines as of late, although it hasn’t exactly been for all the right reasons.
The polarizing titleholder was raked over the coals by UFC President Dana White in the moments after his uneventful decision win over Demian Maia in the co-main event of last Saturday’s UFC 214, after which White rescinded his prior offer of facing all-time great former champ Georges St-Pierre in his return.
That lead to Woodley demanding a public apology from his boss, or else he would release some dirt White ‘didn’t want out in the wind.’ Soon, UFC welterweight Colby Covington was throwing his name into the fire by stating he had ‘dirt that would ruin Woodley’s life,’ an obvious attempt to get his name out on social media and parlay it into a big fight in the octagon.
But White soon revealed that he and Woodley had spoken and were cool, as “The Chosen One” said he was ‘just pissed and didn’t mean it.’ So with that beef supposedly passed, Woodley can now move on to his next title defense, of which he’s had three since winning the title over Robbie Lawler in 2016. There’s just one problem, however, and that’s the fact that Woodley tore his labrum while facing Maia, an injury that he claims led to his performance leaving much to be desired.
He’s going to get a second and third opinion on the injury and hopefully avoid surgery, but the champ told Ariel Helwani on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour that if anyone even mentioned the prospect of an interim title – an all-too-often witnessed situation in today’s UFC – he was going to lose it:
“I’m going to get a second or third opinion on this shoulder, see what I need to do to get back as fast as I can. And if anybody says, utters, mumbles, accidentally says the word ‘interim,’ I’m going to lose my sh*t. Because I fought four world title fights in 12 months, and I was prepared to fight five in 18 months coming out in November. So, I dare somebody to say anything about a goddang interim title. I will lose my top, because I’ve seen athletes injured for years, months, never defended — how many belts has Conor McGregor defended?
“How long has (Michael) Bisping played his freaking [knee] is hurt? Like, be for real. How many months has Carlos Condit been out? Since January of the year before? Why is he still in the rankings? When I beat him, he was in the rankings for 14 months in the top-five with no activity. Let me take three days off — people will be quick to shoot me to the injured reserve list. Let’s keep everything consistent, people. Let’s keep everything equal, let’s keep everything the same. Don’t mention an interim title. I am so going to flip a screw.”
Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports
“The Chosen One” is hoping to heal up from the shoulder ailment with only rehab, and when he does, he believes his next rightful contender is unclear. Although No. 3-ranked Lawler got back into the win column with a hard-fought decision win over ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 214 in his first fight back since getting knocked out by Woodley, the champ doesn’t believe that qualifies him for a title shot just yet.
And although he claims that he and “Ruthless” are friends from their mutual association with American Top Team (ATT), Woodley blasted his supposed buddy by saying that Lawler doesn’t deserve a title shot after taking a year off and going into hiding like former women’s champion Ronda Rousey did:
“Why do I fight Lawler? What has he done in this last year besides crawl up in a ball and hide?” Woodley asked. “That’s what Ronda Rousey did. He didn’t do that when he knocked out everybody else. I didn’t do that when I got knocked out. I came back, I shook myself else off, I got myself back up.
“I just don’t feel like someone that’s taken a year off, as much as I know Dana loves Robbie and the fans love Robbie — I love Robbie, Robbie’s a dope fighter, we were friends before that fight, I feel bad that we haven’t really communicated that much since then — but I just don’t feel as if a fighter who I knocked out in 46 seconds takes a year off, (then) comes back and wins a fight kinda close, and jumps right back into the title picture. So, there’s no clear contenders right now.”
While the prospect of another Lawler fight may not be an exciting one for the now-healing champ, there could be a few things wrong with this sort of logic. One, Lawler is an action fighter who, while certainly prone to short bouts of inactivity while saving energy for his patented late-round surges, pushes the action and is greatly respected by the fans for it. That could be just the test Woodley needs to get out of his recent funk of playing it absolutely too safe and becoming one of the most hated fighters in the UFC, even if he has beaten the Combat Club member once before.
Two, Woodley has repeatedly asked for a big-money fight with St-Pierre, who has been out of action since November 2013, or long-gone welterweight Nick Diaz, a popular and polarizing personality who has nevertheless not won a fight since October 2011. Blasting ‘Ruthless’ by comparing his situation to Rousey’s well-documented exile while crying out for fights with past big names with years of combined inactivity seems a bit hypocritical, but hey, anything to get that big payday in today’s star-driven UFC world.
At this point, it’s safe to ask if Woodley should just go full heel and get fans to tune in to hopefully see him lose a la Floyd Mayweather, because he isn’t ever going to win over the fans with his constant whining and entitlement coupled with his barely watchable fights as of late.
Last night, No. 8-ranked welterweight Colby Covington released a tweet offering ‘dirt that would ruin Tyron Woodley’s’ life’ in response to “The Chosen One” demanding a public apology from Dana White for his public trashing of his UFC 214 win over Demian Maia, without which Woodley promised he would release the UFC president’s own dirty […]
Last night, No. 8-ranked welterweight Colby Covington released a tweet offering ‘dirt that would ruin Tyron Woodley’s’ life’ in response to “The Chosen One” demanding a public apology from Dana White for his public trashing of his UFC 214 win over Demian Maia, without which Woodley promised he would release the UFC president’s own dirty laundry.
The tweet came about as a strange voicing of support for the polarizing UFC executive, who seems to have largely fallen out of favor with UFC fighters from Jon Jones on down the roster for a variety of reasons ranging from his head-scratching public humiliations to the more impactful topic of fighter pay and treatment in the promotion.
However, the rising Covington took a different route than we’ve seen from many fighters lately and chose to side with his employer in a dramatic crusade against Woodley. Check out his controversial social media post:
Covington’s somewhat surprising tweet was not surprisingly blasted by at least one UFC athlete, as lightweight Kajan Johnson clapped back that any fighter who chose the company over his own fellow fighter in a situation like this was the lowest form of combatant:
Those fighters that stand for the company against their fellow martial artists are the lowest of the low. #houseninjas#ufc
It’s far from shocking to see a tweet exactly like this during an uncertain period where many fighters cannot even afford to make it through a top-level camp in order to fight in the UFC based upon their low wages and sponsorship money from the UFC’s apparel deal with Reebok.
But Covington apparently doesn’t care about all the fighters who are struggling to simply make it to the octagon.
The rising 170-pound force was contacted by MMAJunkie for a response to the Woodley tweet and the backlash that came with it, and his answer was merely that of a man who is trying to get paid:
“What I would say is, where’s the money?. It’s all about the money in this game. I’m trying to get the No. 1 spot and make a financially better future for me and my family. (Expletive) everybody else.”
Kyle Terada for USA TODAY Sports
‘F—‘ everyone else, indeed, but it’s this kind of attitude that has left a large percentage of the UFC fighter base to stay unable to organize and negotiate for better wages, treatment, and working conditions for themselves, as they consistently maintain a narrowly and inwardly focused mindset that rarely allows them to fight for what they should be getting collectively, rather than just themselves and to a lesser extent, their team.
Anyway, back to Covington’s harsh threat towards the champ Woodley, which he said was “half a troll” and half serious. Overall, Covington said it was just what it obviously appeared to be – a chance to get his name out there and in the mix in an increasingly social media and trash talk-driven MMA world:
“It’s a career move, if you want to call it that,” Covington said. “I’m looking for big fights, and I’ve got to promote and market myself any way I can. If people hate me and want to see me get knocked the (expletive) out, then sign someone the (expletive) up. I guarantee there’s not a man in the world that can knock me out now. It’s just a reminder that I am the No. 1 best fighter in the world right now.”
A bold claim to be certain, but not one we haven’t seen from Covington in one way or another before, as he previously claimed that he ‘tore Woodley in half’ when the two trained at American Top Team (ATT) in the past. Woodley owns an ATT affiliate in his native Missouri, but the fact that he’s not in Coconut Creek full-time has lead Covington to believe Woodley isn’t a true teammate. “Chaos” then took the talk a step up and called him a “fake champion:
“He was here in the beginning, and he has an ATT gym – but at the end of the day, he has what I want. He’s trying to ruin this sport. He needs to know that I’m here, and I want what he has.”
“When I first met Tyron, he acted real fake to me. I just think he’s a shady person. His character is not good. So I’m not afraid to attack his character, because he’s not everything he says he is. He’s a fake champion.”
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
After sustaining an injury and putting on his second straight snoozer in the octagon, Woodley has been called just that, in one form or another, quite a bit in the last two days following his tepid win over Maia. Covington made note of that and went several steps above White’s public bashing of the fight by pointing out, like many have, that Woodley is currently playing it safe and has little gas tank to expend over a full five-round fight:
“I thought it was pathetic,” Covington said. “I’ve got some better footage of him in the gym throwing a strike. It was bad. He fights conservative. He’s not a real fighter. He doesn’t want to get into a tough fight. He’s got no gas in the tank, which is why I think it’s a good stylistic matchup for me. He explodes for one or two punches, but that’s about it. He plays it safe.”
Dana White made it incredibly clear that he wasn’t a fan of Tyron Woodley’s recent performances when he ripped into the UFC welterweight champion in the moments directly after his safe, boo-inducing win over Demian Maia in the co-main event of last Saturday’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from Anaheim, Calif. And not only did he […]
Dana White made it incredibly clear that he wasn’t a fan of Tyron Woodley’s recent performances when he ripped into the UFC welterweight champion in the moments directly after his safe, boo-inducing win over Demian Maia in the co-main event of last Saturday’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from Anaheim, Calif.
And not only did he publicly call out his champion, but he was so mad he even took the promised Georges St-Pierre fight from “The Chosen One” and gave it “back” to Michael Bisping.
Coupled with his lackluster win over Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the main event of March’s UFC 209, Woodley was beginning to have a reputation as a once-feared knockout artist who now played it safe in order to keep his belt. Sharing the fans’ opinion of the 170-pound ruler, White even proclaimed fans didn’t want to see him fight anymore:
“You ask fans if they want to see Woodley fight again, I think that will be a flat out no.”
But Woodley was quick to respond during an appearance on The MMA Hour today, asking White for some fair promotion before revealing that he had seriously injured his shoulder and how it affected his shots:
“I don’t care so much about the fans, but when your job title is promoter, promote your f*cking fighters. Promote your champion. Don’t demote your champion. I threw my shoulder out in the first round, I wasn’t able to throw any damaging shots — for you guys who don’t understand what a labrum tear is, go get on Google or Wikipedia and figure it out — and I still stayed the course, I stayed on path, I stayed on point, I executed the gameplan. I had to reduce all of my shots from overhands, uppercuts, things that were hurting my shoulder, to straight punches.”
Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports
A torn labrum is no injury to scoff at, especially for a power puncher known for his big, looping shots. Woodley will be out for a significant amount of time after defeating Maia, and in that absence he wants White to make it right. So he took things to an all-new level from there, threatening to out White for some skeletons in his closet if he did not get the public apology he so desired:
“So, sorry in advance, I’m mad because I’ve had this surgery before. It’s not a fun one. It’s not a quick recovery. It’s not something that I’m excited about. I’m going to get a couple second opinions. Literally I’m in the Uber right now, I just f*cking got out of the doctors office, like right this second. There’s paperwork in my hand. So I’m just, I’m owed a public apology. You’re going to publicly scrutinize me, Dana White? You publicly need to apologize to me.
“I’ve done nothing but good stuff for the sport. I’ve done nothing but be a good model for the f*cking organization. I go out there and I fight with integrity. I covered your sport from the FOX desk a week before my fight. I always uphold my responsibilities to the organization. It’s timeout for that. The word behind ‘business’ is ‘man.’ You need to be a man, you owe me a public apology. And if I don’t get that, I’m going to start leaking some sh*t that people don’t want to be out in the wind. I’m not even kidding about that.”
While many a fighter has certainly expressed public disdain with White in the past, no one has quite gone so far as to demand their own apology from him, and they certainly haven’t done so with the threat of outing some sort of secret leaks that Woodley has hidden in his back pocket.
Asked to expand on just what the dirt was, Woodley said his target knew what he was talking about:
“They know what I’m referring to. I’m due a public apology,” he said. “I better get it.”
He may have put on arguably the two most boring title fights in UFC welterweight title history with a record-setting snoozer over Demian Maia in the UFC 214 and a painfully slow defense against Stephen Thompson at UFC 209, but Tyron Woodley still believes his body of work has earned him a lofty position in […]
He may have put on arguably the two most boring title fights in UFC welterweight title history with a record-setting snoozer over Demian Maia in the UFC 214 and a painfully slow defense against Stephen Thompson at UFC 209, but Tyron Woodley still believes his body of work has earned him a lofty position in MMA history.
Woodley was thoroughly blasted by his boss Dana White after he successfully defended all 21 of Maia’s takedown attempts in a bout that set the record for least significant strikes in a title bout, so much so that the emotional exec actually took Woodley’s promised title bout with returning all-time great Georges St-Pierre off the table, giving the fight to Michael Bisping.
“The Chosen One” understandably wasn’t happy about it, and spoke out against White’s decision at the UFC post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting) by declaring St-Pierre should actually have to fight him to be considered the best welterweight ever:
“[St-Pierre] should have to fight me. If you are the best welterweight of all time, you’re gonna come back into the sport and go up a weight class? I guarantee you if Demian Maia would have won, he would have been talking about fighting Demian Maia. I guarantee if Stephen Thompson would have won, he’d have been looking to fight Stephen Thompson. He doesn’t want to fight me because I’m a better version of him.”
Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports
St-Pierre will move up a weight class to middleweight to fight champion Bisping, who has caused a sea of controversy since winning the belt by only defending it against a retiring Dan Henderson before going to the sidelines with knee surgery as the many top contenders in the division were methodically eliminated by Robert Whittaker, who conveniently hurt his own knee beating Yoel Romero. That’s made the 185-pound division a mess, and Woodley took note of it before correctly pointing out he was the only champion consistently defending the title against top contenders:
“When was the last time Michael Bisping fought? Think about it. I fought four world title fights against actual No. 1 contenders. Has he ever fought a No. 1 contender? I fought the No. 1 contender twice. I fought the No. 1 contender after that. And I fought the world champion who was Robbie Lawler at the time before that. I’m the only one that’s going by the old set of rules. So if it’s not Georges St-Pierre, let him run. But guess what? Whoever you put in front of me, I’m gonna run through them, I’m gonna beat them, and if he does not fight me, by default I will be the best welterweight of all-time.”
Woodley Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports
Woodley may have a strong argument from some certain points of view, yet it’s difficult to say he would become the greatest fighter of all-time in a storied division, especially over a time-honored legend like St-Pierre, without actually fighting him if he’s indeed active. However, it’s just not a fight that is going to be made until Woodley proves he can deliver exciting bouts each and every time out to the cage, not every third or fourth time.
That’s the only way he’s going to gain a reputation as a draw, and that, in turn, is the only way he might eventually get to fight St-Pierre.
But one thing Woodley is correct about is the mess the middleweight division has become. The welterweight champ went off about Bisping’s injury and why it was strange to have St-Pierre jump the entire ranks in a class he had never once competed in before:
“The clarity should just be Georges. I don’t understand, you have an interim title right? Robert Whittaker just beat Yoel Romero. . . He deserves to fight Bisping next. How long is Bisping going to milk this knee injury? Is his knee severed or what the hell is going on? He should be fighting the No. 1 contenders like I’ve had to do.”
At 38 years old, there is very little in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world that Daniel “DC” Cormier has not done. He is a former Team USA Olympic Freestyle Wrestling captain, he is the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion, he is undefeated in the UFC Heavyweight division, he is the former UFC Light […]
At 38 years old, there is very little in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world that Daniel “DC” Cormier has not done. He is a former Team USA Olympic Freestyle Wrestling captain, he is the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion, he is undefeated in the UFC Heavyweight division, he is the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, he went undefeated for 15 fights in his professional MMA career, he fought and dominated top contenders, and until UFC 214 last Saturday night (July 29, 2017), he had never been finished in a fight.
“DC” has done it all; that is, except defeat his greatest enemy, Jon “Bones” Jones.
Unfortunately for Cormier, his greatest rival also happens to be one of – if not the – greatest fighters of all-time, and their long-awaited rematch at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California, only served as more proof that Jones is simply the superior fighter.
Cormier’s record of 19-2 would be a respectable one for any fighter, especially given the caliber of fighters that “DC” has managed to beat. But it does not matter how many more number one contenders he beats, his inability to defeat Jones will forever haunt him. Cormier and Jones had a rivalry for the ages. “DC” was the aging, honorable champion with something to prove, while Jones was the troubled young man with the touch of greatness.
“DC” was looking to avenge his one loss and prove to the fans he was the true champion, while Jones was looking to redeem himself and make up for the time lost. It was a classic clash of yin and yang, Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed, the Cubs vs. the Indians, Ali vs. Frazier.
The rematch between the two had been rescheduled and postponed so many times that many fans wondered whether or not it would ever actually happen. Jones was dealing with personal issues, legal troubles and suspensions while Cormier dealt with injuries, and for over two years, “DC” reigned as the champion in “Bones’” absence.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Last night, many questions that loomed over the two best light heavyweights of all-time were answered. Would Jones’ performance be affected by his time away from the Octagon? Had “DC” made the right adjustments since their first fight to deal with Jones’ reach? Will this fight determine if Jones really is the greatest fighter of all-time?
In 13 minutes, Cormier showed how much he had improved since their first fight. He was aggressive and focused, taking control of the center of the Octagon and even getting the best of some boxing exchanges. He landed some excellent leg kicks and knocked Jones’ mouthpiece out with a nice uppercut early in the first round.
However, in the same 13 minutes, Jones showed why he is the greatest light heavyweight, and maybe even the greatest fighter, in UFC history. He withstood some hard right hands from “DC,” peppered him with his kicks, briefly took the Olympian wrestler down, and stayed ahead of the former champion in overall strikes.
But the decisive moment came by way of a devastating left high kick by Jones that connected flush to Cormier’s chin. After working the body for two rounds, Jones threw the kick at Cormier, who defended the body and left his face unprotected, and hurt “DC” badly. “DC” stumbled across the Octagon and crashed against the cage, with Jones following closely behind, sensing the kill. Jones pinned him against the face and pounded Cormier’s temple until “DC” went unconscious.
See the full fight highlights here:
Referee “Big” John McCarthy gave Cormier more than enough time to recover, as he has been known to come back from being hurt before. But there was no coming back from that head kick, and “DC” took way too many unnecessary punches to the head. He was still wobbly minutes after the stoppage.
After the fight, both fighters showed signs of wanting to move on from the rivalry.
In his post-fight interview, Jones said:
I want to take this time to thank Daniel Cormier. My biggest rival and motivator. Daniel Cormier, guys, he has absolutely no reason to hang his head. He has been a model champion, a model husband, a model father, a teammate, leader and I aspire to be a lot more like that man because he is an amazing human being. Unfortunately we are opponents, but outside of that, he is a true champion for the rest of his life.
It seems that the new champ is marking an end to the rivalry, as he proceeded to call out former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar, who still has six months left on a suspension due to a USADA anti-doping violation. Although Lesnar announced in February that he was retiring from MMA, he also accepted the challenge from Jones saying that he will fight him “anytime, anywhere.”
On the other hand, Cormier also showed signs of moving on from the rivalry, although begrudgingly. In his post-fight interview, Cormier said:
“If you win both fights, then there is no rivalry.”
Questions will arise to what is next for Cormier. Good match-ups could still be made for him in the light heavyweight division, perhaps against rising knockout artist Volkan Oezdemir, Glover Teixeira, or a rematch against Alexander Gustafsson, but at this point, it’s up to Cormier.
However, if “DC’s” goal is to win the title and retire as the champion, it is probably better he moves back up to heavyweight. Another fight with Jones might get stale for the fans and may not be the best thing for Cormier’s career, but it is hard to imagine “DC” would reinvent his career at 38 years old.
The only reason Cormier is fighting at light heavyweight in the first place is because he did not want to clash with heavyweight great and teammate Cain Velasquez, but Velasquez is still suffering from continuous injuries, so perhaps it is time for “DC” to move up in weight.
It was tough to see a hard worker and model champion like Cormier get defeated in such a violent fashion by his greatest rival, especially since “DC” had never been knocked out. But sometimes in life, the “good guy” doesn’t win, and poetic justice doesn’t exist in the fight game.
At the end of it all, we walked away from UFC 214 knowing that the only person who can defeat Daniel Cormier is Jon Jones, and the only person who can defeat Jon Jones is himself.
