UFC 182 Results: Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier and the Real Winners and Losers
In a lot of ways, Jon Jones is the LeBron James of MMA. And he has Daniel Cormier to thank for that.
There is no question Jon Jones holds the same once-in-a-decade physical tools as his basketball counterpart. He has the same work ethic, the same athletic swagger, the same drive to be illustrious. At a young age, Jones and James both sit astride their respective sports.
But they both do so uneasily. Despite their desire to be liked and to envelop all they see in their personal brands, the fans sense insincerity, and that sense is validated by questionable decisions away from the playing surface. Peeks behind the curtain routinely reveal something different from those things that take the stage for public consumption.
Jon Jones didn't mean for it to happen this way, but Daniel Cormier helped fans see the real Jones. Through his abiding and toothsome feud with Jones, the Olympic wrestler made Jones much more human than Jones would have ever done himself. Just like LeBron; sometimes it's those unintended things that reveal the most. Good, bad or indifferent, staying power flows from authenticity. Cormier engendered that in Jones, just as "The Decision" did to some extent for James.
In any case, Jones, the sport's greatest active competitor—and maybe its best of all time—made a bid Saturday night to defend his UFC light heavyweight belt for an eighth time. Seeing as how Cormier had never lost a round and presented unprecedented challenges, he might be Jones' stiffest challenger to date. Either way, the tastiest thing about these feuds in MMA is that there's nothing figurative about score-settling.
On Saturday in Las Vegas at UFC 182, they settled it.
But there were moments up and down the 11-fight slate that created clear winners and losers. As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here's who really came out on top Saturday night and who really came up short.
Winner: Jon Jones
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With apologies to Anderson Silva, Jon Jones is probably the best MMA fighter of all time. And to be honest, his performance at UFC 182 cinched it.
What other conclusion can you draw? Against Cormier—who, I might remind you, is an Olympic wrestler—Jones landed multiple takedowns, even as he defended Cormier's previously unstoppable shots. In the clinch, it wasn't close, with Jones banging knee after knee into Cormier's midsection and often initiating the clinch sequences to begin with. And in the standup area, he used that big reach to keep Cormier away and punish him there.
He's the best. What else do you want to see?
The only thing left at light heavyweight for Jones is a rematch with Mr. Alexander Gustafsson. Then, after a win there, perhaps a move to heavyweight is in the offing. A belt in multiple divisions would make Jones more than just the LeBron James of MMA. And you know what? That's saying something.
Loser: Daniel Cormier
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Give all the credit to Daniel Cormier: He never gave up.
As the seconds waned down in the fifth and final round, Jones raised his arms in victory. Cormier took exception to that and landed a few extra final shots.
No matter.
Jones was, again, the man. Cormier got inside, per the general blueprint for his victory. But Jones welcomed him there, and punished Cormier with strikes.
"Whoever had a 'Break Bones' T-shirt, take it back," Jones told broadcaster Joe Rogan after the fight. "Five takedowns to zero...I do not like DC."
Clearly. And DC doesn't like you either, Bones. Cormier has plenty of talent and will win his share. But he wasn't equal to the challenge at UFC 182.
Winner: Donald Cerrone
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Hats off, once again, to "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone. When does he get the lightweight title shot?
Myles Jury thought he had a shot on Saturday. And frankly, I thought he did, too. Jury was undefeated coming into this fight, and he had a solid all-around game. But luckily for us, Cerrone disavowed us of that notion, and we're better people for it.
Cerrone pressured Jury throughout, with Cerrone gaining the better of the grappling and striking phases. The fight ended with some tasty symbolism, as Cerrone stood over the grounded Jury and literally lifted him off the canvas with kicks.
However, it wasn't enough for Cerrone, who apparently wanted the finish.
"That was not a fight," he told Rogan in the cage after the fight. "I was disappointed the entire time...I don't feel victory in any way for that fight."
No matter what, that's six in a row for "Cowboy." How far away can he be now? I'm sure he'd love to avenge the last two losses he's suffered: one against champ Anthony Pettis, the other against Rafael dos Anjos.
It just so happens those two are fighting at UFC 185. Who will face the winner? Could it be Cerrone? Ah, Lady Fortune.
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Loser: Myles Jury
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It was the first time he's been in against a guy like Cerrone. And Myles Jury wanted us to know he wasn't worried.
Well, he should have been worried.
Jury back-pedaled throughout the fight, appearing unwilling to initiate contact with the larger Cerrone. Jury was a lame duck on the ground, constantly finding himself with his back turned to his opponent, which is never good. He fought off every choke, to his credit, but never mounted any substantial offense.
The same was true on the feet, where Cerrone was masterful in using kicks to prevent Jury from getting anything going.
Just as much as it was Cerrone's night, it was not the night of the young Jury.
Winner: Josh Burkman
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Josh Burkman defied every real expectation just by lasting three rounds.
Against the stone-cold punisher that is Hector Lombard, plenty of people thought Burkman was destined for an early bedtime. Burkman is known as a tough competitor who can grapple; an essentially irresistible knockout artist with impeccable takedown defense was not exactly an ideal matchup.
But give Burkman credit: He was the savvy veteran throughout. He back-pedaled. He feinted. He lowered his hands. He baited Lombard into situations where he could counter. And you know what else he did? He lasted three rounds without absorbing major punishment.
Lombard ultimately took the unanimous decision, but Burkman did more than people thought he would just by going the distance. Given that this was his first UFC fight in more than six years and he was returning against a killer like Lombard, I'd say he and his unorthodox approach came out ahead.
Loser: Entire Rest of the Main Card
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This card carried a lot of interest and a lot of extra eyeballs. Shame for the UFC, then, that the main card didn't deliver the goods.
Hey, these things happen. There's no predicting it. But there's also no denying that the three non-main or non-co-main fights on the pay-per-view were lacking the requisite pop.
Hector Lombard was widely expected to do the damage he normally does, vis a vis planting his ample fist into the loamy skull of another poor welterweight. Didn't happen.
Kyoji Horiguchi, the next big thing in Japanese MMA, has the karate chops to be great, but he never needed to shift out of third gear in his decisioning of a tough but outclassed Louis Gaudinot.
And Brad Tavares and Nate Marquardt essentially circled each other for three rounds. So there's that.
It could've been worse, I guess. But it could've been better.
Winner: Cody Garbrandt
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I have a new nickname for Marcus Brimage: "The Prospect Welcomer."
In two of his last four fights, Brimage has served as the debut opponent for a major up-and-comer in the sport. In April 2013, Brimage was the first UFC fighter to face a young man named Conor McGregor. Brimage lost that one by TKO in the first round.
Fast forward almost two years and Brimage did it again. This time, it was in the bantamweight division, and it came against Cody Garbrandt, the very promising kickboxer out of Urijah Faber's vaunted Team Alpha Male camp.
This one was a little more back and forth, with Garbrandt landing a huge right hook to earn the knockout with 10 seconds remaining in the final frame. And he apparently did so with a fractured hand, which adds to the degree of difficulty.
Garbrandt is now 6-0 and looking impressive. But what really cemented him as a winner on the night was his post-fight speech, when he gave a shout-out to Maddux Maple, a young man afflicted with leukemia with whom Garbrandt made a special pact years ago. With Maple in the live audience (according to Garbrandt in his post-fight comments to Rogan), Garbrandt held up his end of the bargain Saturday night. You can't be mad at that.
Loser: Alexis Dufresne
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There is still some space for the MMA specialist. But you better be really, really good at your specialty, and you better not be objectively terrible in the other phases.
I don't think that's too much to ask. But maybe I'm wrong, at least if I'm affiliated with Alexis Dufresne, who—no hyperbole—might have staged the worst performance in the UFC that I've personally seen in a very long time.
Not to be too disrespectful, but against a fighter 13 years her senior in Marion Reneau, the 24-year-old Dufresne showed no ability to land a meaningful strike or defend any strike tossed in her direction. What's worse, Dufresne, a world-class jiu-jitsu grappler who trains at Dan Henderson's Team Quest gym, was repeatedly unable to score a takedown.
The final scorecards—two unusual 30-26 tallies and a downright rare 30-25—tell you all you need to know, as do Rogan's calls for the referee or Dufresne's corner to stop the one-sided affair.
"Enough is enough. This is not something I like to watch," Rogan said in the bout's waning moments. "The way she's defending herself is just so unprofessional that they should stop this fight."
Before entering the UFC, Dufresne (5-2) had finished all of her opponents inside the first round. She is not only 0-2 in the Octagon, but she has missed weight both times as well. It looks like she might need some time to hone her game in another setting before getting another shot in the major leagues.
UFC 182 Full Results
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Main Card
Jon Jones def. Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision
Donald Cerrone def. Myles Jury by unanimous decision
Brad Tavares def. Nate Marquardt by unanimous decision
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Louis Gaudinot by unanimous decision
Hector Lombard def. Josh Burkman by unanimous decision
Preliminary Card
Paul Felder def. Danny Castillo by KO, 2:09, Rd. 2
Cody Garbrandt def. Marcus Brimage by TKO, 4:50, Rd. 3
Shawn Jordan def. Jared Cannonier by KO, 2:57, Rd. 1
Evan Dunham def. Rodrigo Damm by unanimous decision
Omari Akhmedov def. Mats Nilsson by unanimous decision
Marion Reneau def. Alexis Dufresne by unanimous decision
Scott Harris covers MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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