In the business of war to have a mental edge over an opponent is key in securing an overall victory. From chess to combat sports you have seen opponents fail when they were more invested in the grudge than the battle itself. This can be said about Daniel Cormier as he put on one of the worst performances we ever seen from him. Give credit where credit is due. Not that DC didn’t have his moments against the champ Jon Jones, but maybe there was more to what happened at Mandalay Bay and the following interviews and scrums that followed. While DC seemed to have the whole wrestling / anti Bones community on his side, Jon Jones won the fight in the matter most thought DC would, the grind. The win solidifies even more the P4P number 1 ranking Jon Jones has while. This writer, for one, didn’t think the fight was that entertaining, but it at least finished strong enough to save a snoozer of a card.
We'll start this recap by saying yours truly completely underestimated Marion Reneau (4-1) and if anyone deserved a bonus this night it should be her. She completely demoralized Alexis Dufresne (5-1) in maybe one of the most dominant performances we have seen in some time. There was a point when eve Joe Rogan himself wanted the fight to end. Alexis is a great competitor and shall regroup, but what a display by Renau. Maybe that was a telling sign for the night to come as this was the first match of the night.
The battle between Jon Jones (21-1) and Daniel Cormier (15-1) will forever go down as one of the most brooding interactions between two fighters for some time. The skills Jon displayed in the cage on Saturday were, in a sense, mimicking what we all thought DC could do to him. This author has never been a fan of cage pressers and was glad to see the champ say the reason he did so was because that is what DC did to Frank Mir. The same could be said for DC’s teammate Cain Velasquez as they have no issue with dirty boxing their way to a victory. Jon dominated in each facet of the fight and not until late in the championship rounds did DC get a take down only for Bones to get back up. If DC had to do this over again, we would hope he would continue to institute his uppercuts as they really where the only thing landing that night. The chin of Jones held strong as that was just one of many things that crushed any kind of momentum DC was building. They only scored round 2 for DC and his pressing was great, but that’s why people have been so two-sided on the score. There was so much going into this fight for DC that by round 4 he could not muster any offense and not only was taken down twice by the champ but was stuffed repeatedly. This does not make Cormier a bad fighter, but we're sure that when he looks back at the fight he could see some instances where he could have done more. With the work he puts in, that’s the reason your humble correspondent said his performance was disappointing. The hype was better than the fight and the champ is still unbroken.
Maybe runner up for POTN would be Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone's (26-6) win against Myles Jury (15-1). This was no battle as Myles did nothing to ensure he would edge out a victory in this fight. Similar to the title fight once the game plan was wrecked there was nothing else Jury could do. He tried to go for an early takedown that was stuffed and ended up on his back for the rest of the first round. Rounds 2 and 3 were no better for him as he retreated more than attacked. Deep into the second round the kicks started flowing for Cerrone and that display at the end of the third was out of pure frustration. Myles is young enough where he has a lot to learn from this embarrassing night for him. While it may have not crushed his confidence, it surely will remind him next time he’s ready to talk down about an opponent he fights. If this game does anything to you, it keeps you humble.
The prelims had some great finishes but the main card for 182, not so much. Hector Lombard (35-4-1) seemed as if at any moment he could have taken Josh Burkman out (27-11). Hobbling him more than once as the leg kicks started to mount deep into the first round. We're not too sure what was going on with but there was no urgency. It was nice to see such a talented prospect like Brad Tavares (13-3) get back into the win column. Brad may not be the most exciting fighter to look but he has the tools to be great for a long time. Nate Marquardt (33-14-2) might be on his last run with the promotion and dropped a few bombs on Tavares that many thought could have ended the fight. But unlike his previous matches, Tavares' chin held up and he was able to outwork more for the decision. Getting pass Nate was huge for Brad and more than likely he will be matched up with a headhunter next, so he will have to keep his composure to remain on the winning track. He will more than likely get the winner of Munoz and Carneiro next.
The only reason Kyoji Horiguchi (15-1) match against Louis Gaudinot (6-4) was remotely exciting was pure do the chain of pace by the flyweights. The match itself was not as spectacular as Kyoji bounced around and out pointed Louis for the decision. We still like Kyoji as a fighter as he may still be one of the only true flyweights that we feel could give Mighty Mouse some issues. Maybe we will finally see the fight between him and Chris Cariaso next.
While UFC 182 took a stranglehold of Saturday Night and we are sure gained a ton of new viewers, we aren't so sure that it was successful night for the promotion. It was a fight that everyone needed and wanted to see so the talk on social media and everything that led up to it was extraordinary. UFC 182 is just a stark reminder of what we have dealt with in 2014 and hopefully will see less of in the near future. It’s time for the UFC to go back to stacking the PPV’s with relevant fighters and leave the prospects for the Fight Night show. This is the type of weekend where the promotion has the ability to catch that casual viewer and turn them into a fan but similar to performance of DC they just fell short.
Next up for the UFC is UFC Fight Night Boston: McGregor - Siver.