Top UFC 182 Storylines Outside the Main Event
Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier will throw down Saturday, January 3, at UFC 182 in pursuit of the UFC's light-heavyweight strap.
Jones looks to defend his title for the eighth consecutive time. Cormier looks to capitalize on his first shot at gold inside the UFC Octagon.
You may have heard about this fight.
It's been highly publicized and scrutinized, evaluated from all angles and damn-near exhausted by this point. Jones and Cormier were originally scheduled to fight in September before Jones pulled out with an injury, and the tension has filled the air since then.
Now, MMA fans finally receive some resolve, as their much-anticipated showdown sits just days away.
You know what's even better? There's a whole card happening before that fight. It's a card filled with incredible matchups and tantalizing storylines.
Jones and Cormier received the vast majority of the public's attention heading into UFC 182 (and rightly so), but let's look today at everything else happening on this card. Let's show some love to the other guys looking to snag a victory and boost their stock on January 3.
Click onward to see the top UFC 182 storylines not involving Jones and Cormier.
The Return of Josh Burkman
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Did the picture in the opening slide give this one away?
Welterweight Josh Burkman returns to the Octagon for the first time since UFC 90 in October of 2008. There, he lost to Pete Sell via unanimous decision and was subsequently bounced from the organization. He jumped around from local promotion to local promotion before landing in the World Series of Fighting (WSOF).
In WSOF, Burkman went 4-1, failing in his one chance at gold against Steve Carl but otherwise looking solid and powerful.
His four victories under the WSOF banner included three finishes—a brutal knockout over Aaron Simpson and another over Tyler Stinson—and a shocking first-round submission of former UFC welterweight title contender Jon Fitch.
Burkman's latest performance (a wicked knockout of Stinson), coupled with some past contract disputes, led him back to the UFC, where he now faces No. 6-ranked welterweight Hector Lombard at UFC 182.
Burkman is a massive underdog in the fight, but he'll enjoy a nice opportunity to jump back into the Octagon and immediately re-establish himself as a threat in the ever-deepening 170-pound division.
Which One of You Is Legit?
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Brad Tavares and Nate Marquardt will scrap on the pay-per-view portion of the UFC 182 fight card.
Did you know that? I won't fault you if you didn't.
Just one year ago, Tavares looked like a potential contender in the middleweight division. He was on a five-fight winning streak (all via decision), and the UFC gave him a step up in competition.
Yoel Romero destroyed him.
Then Tim Boetsch destroyed him.
Then Tavares' stock plummeted.
Marquardt, on the other hand, is coming off a big, potentially job-saving submission victory over James Te Huna, but his star has fallen in recent years as well. Since coming back to the UFC in March of 2013, Marquardt is just 1-2, and both of those losses came via brutal knockout.
Which guy deserves to hang around and continue to test himself inside the Octagon? We will find out at UFC 182.
Will the Next Flyweight Contender Please Stand Up?
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That green mop might soon challenge for Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson's flyweight strap.
Louis Gaudinot, owner of the teal locks featured above, faces Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC 182 in a high-profile flyweight showdown.
Gaudinot is 1-1 with one no-contest in his last three fights, but the no-contest came after he submitted his opponent, Phil Harris, in just 73 seconds at UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa.
After the fight, Gaudinot tested positive for a diuretic—a misstep that resulted in the no-contest.
Horiguchi, on the other hand, is 3-0 inside the Octagon with two finishes. In the shallow flyweight division, a fourth consecutive victory will put him on the short list of legitimate contenders for Johnson's title.
For Gaudinot, a win over Horiguchi will prove he belongs among the division's elite, and it will wash away the bad taste of his recent drug failure.
With potential title implications on the line, this is a flyweight tilt worth watching.
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Should Anthony Pettis Start Warming Up Now?
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Two Top-10 lightweights collide in the UFC 182 co-main event, as No. 4 Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone faces No. 8 Myles "Fury" Jury.
Both men come into the fight riding ridiculous winning streaks, and one more victory might just earn either one a title shot against Anthony "Showtime" Pettis.
Cerrone is on a five-fight winning streak with four finishes, and he went a perfect 4-0 in 2014 alone. Cowboy is hot right now.
Jury, on the other hand, has done nothing but win since getting into MMA as a teenager in 2005.
The 26-year-old Alliance MMA prodigy is 15-0, a metric that inflates to 21-0 if you want to include his amateur record.
Something's gotta give here. One man will win and one man will lose, and the victor can make a legitimate case for a chance at UFC gold.
This fight is close on paper, and it's a Fight of the Night candidate in this writer's eyes.
I recommend tuning in for this one (and you'll probably want to stick around for the main event, too).
An Inspirational Journey Continues
5 of 6Just five years ago, Cody "No Love" Garbrandt had to sell drugs to pay his gym fees. Now he makes his UFC debut against Marcus Brimage at UFC 182.
His journey reads like a movie script: An Ohio State high-school champion wrestler (as a freshmen) gets mixed up with the wrong crowd. He makes the wrong decisions. He gets stabbed outside a bar.
Then he meets a five-year-old cancer patient, Maddux Maple, and he gains some perspective. He talked with the youngster and invited him to his fights. They kept in touch, benefiting in incredible ways from each others' strength and love.
They exchanged promises: Garbrandt promised to make it to the UFC. Maple promised to beat cancer.
Garbrandt is now 5-0 as a professional (all knockouts). He moved west to shack up with Team Alpha Male, and he eventually received his call to the big show.
Maple will be in the audience too, cheering on his favorite fighter three years after they first met. And that promise he made to Garbrandt? He kept it. Maple's cancer is in remission: He's healthy and he's ready to watch Garbrandt test his skills against the world's best in the UFC.
The UFC Is Back!
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UFC pay-per-view numbers plummeted in 2014, and the company currently faces a lawsuit from former fighters. They're turning to professional wrestling stars to help solve some of these problems, via Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
To say the UFC had a shaky year in 2014 is to put the situation as politely as possible. It wasn't great. Questionable calls were made all around, and now the promotion needs a boost.
Will UFC 182 provide it? Is this the card that will turn things around and put the UFC back on track?
Jones and Cormier will play a huge role in this, sure, but the UFC needs everyone to perform, and it needs fight fans to show up, buy the card and generate some positive buzz.
The UFC will either kick off 2015 in style or continue its tailspin.
We'll have to watch to find out which proves true.
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