UFC's Light Heavyweight Division Needs Jones vs. Cormier 2 Now More Than Ever
The numbers are in on Daniel Cormier’s fledgling reign over the UFC light heavyweight division and, well, they’re not great.
According to longtime MMA reporter Dave Meltzer, via Bloody Elbow’s Mookie Alexander, Cormier’s epic UFC 192 title defense against Alexander Gustafsson is expected to “finish in the ballpark of 250,000 [pay per view] buys.”
That ranks Cormier vs. Gustafsson among the worst selling 205-pound title fights of the UFC’s modern era, according to numbers curated by MMA Payout. Coupled with earlier estimates that Cormier’s win over Anthony Johnson for the vacant championship at UFC 187 did just 375,000 buys, the numbers represent lean times for the fight company’s traditional glamor division.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
They also cast the importance of erstwhile champ Jon Jones in sharp relief.
After being stripped of his title and briefly suspended for his role in a hit-and-run accident, Jones was reinstated by the UFC last month. Ever since, he’s made no secret of his plan to reclaim his championship from Cormier. Matchmakers have yet to confirm the fight, but it’s as close to inevitable as things get in this unpredictable sport.
That’s great news on two fronts.
First, it will give fans the opportunity to see the two best light heavyweights in the world in the cage together at least one more time.
Second, it’s the only fight on the board that might return the 205-pound division to its once lofty heights.
These are the hallowed stomping grounds of Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz, after all. The 205-pound weight class has long served as the UFC’s marquee division, as the heavyweight ranks perennially remain too big a disaster to ever handle the spotlight.
When Jones defeated Cormier in the pair’s first meeting at UFC 182 in January, the hotly contested grudge match garnered an estimated 800,000 PPV buys. That made it the top seller of Jones’ four-year reign as champion, and the UFC’s third bestselling event of 2015 so far.
Counting UFC 128 in March 2011, where Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the title, he’s averaged slightly more than 500,000 PPV buys during each of his last nine appearances in the Octagon. That’s pretty impressive, considering he plays to an audience that doesn’t always appreciate him, and his relationship with his employer has been known to run hot-and-cold.
Jones hasn’t always been regarded as a popular fighter, a rock-solid PPV draw or a good citizen, but when the UFC “indefinitely” took him out of the picture back in April, the MMA world abruptly realized how badly it needed him.
Cormier, meanwhile, is exactly what most people profess to want in a champion. He’s an intelligent, good-hearted family man with a near peerless amateur background. He has a harrowing personal story. He doesn’t take himself too seriously.
And yet the PPV-buying public can’t be bothered to watch the guy. Why that is remains something of a mystery—except that many fans view Cormier’s title reign as illegitimate. Jones never lost the belt and even though Cormier defeated Johnson for it earlier this year, most people still think of Jones as the rightful champ.
Making things worse for Cormier, Jones defeated him by hard-fought but clear-cut unanimous decision when they met at UFC 182.
Now, even those fans who’ve long disapproved of Jones may be voting with their pocketbooks for his right to remain champion until he loses his title fair and square inside the cage.
The upside, of course, is that if you’re a person who doubts Cormier’s claim to the throne, there’s no better outcome than to see him fight Jones again. That’s the chance the UFC has now: to settle all this controversy with an honest-to-goodness fistfight. Judging by the first, it figures to be a dandy, too.
The company just needs to hurry up and get the fight on paper.
The lead-up to the first Jones-Cormier fight was a study in the absurd, but at least it was an effective one. There were virgin ears offended (NSFW language), shoes thrown and one UFC public relations executive turned into the patron saint of the terrified.
When it was over, Jones was victorious and Cormier cried and we’d all more or less played our public parts to a tee. It wasn’t until later that we learned Jones had tested positive for cocaine during the lead up. A few months later witnesses claimed he crashed his rented SUV into a pregnant woman’s car and then ran from the scene with a large wad of cash in his hand.
Now Jones is back from his UFC-mandated timeout and after an opening salvo that came off as worrying, he appears to be hinting at being a changed man:
Perhaps he also returns with a mandate as the only light heavyweight champion the UFC’s paying customers are interested in watching.
He and Cormier have wasted little time getting up to their old tricks again. At first glance, you might think watching the two bitter rivals call a do-over on their bad blood would rapidly grow tiresome, but so far it has been surprisingly entertaining.
There’s no telling exactly what Cormier meant to accomplish last week, when he told Jones he planned to show up at the grand opening of the new Team Jackson-Winkeljohn training facility. It was Halloween and clearly Cormier had no real intention of being there.
When he posted a badly Photoshopped picture of himself allegedly standing outside the building, he certainly meant it ironically. Unfortunately, irony and sarcasm seldom translate well into print, especially in 140 characters or less.
Jones, who lives and breathes on the Internet and therefore implicitly understands the medium, seemed to get the better of the exchange. He dispensed with the subtle and just called names. It was the better strategy.
In all, there were enough LOLs involved in their back-and-forth that their feud doesn’t feel stale yet, even the second time around.
That momentum likely can’t sustain itself for much longer, however.
The sooner the UFC gets this fight scheduled, the better. This week, Cormier inked a new eight-fight deal with the UFC but so far has been noncommittal about when he’ll be ready and willing to fight Jones. For their part, Jones’ team says they won’t allow Cormier to dictate terms of the rematch.
But all the elements are there. If Cormier and Jones can get fight again in a reasonable time, their bout will no doubt be one of the highlights of the UFC’s early 2016 slate.
It figures to be another crackerjack.
If we’re lucky, it will also bring a little glamor back to a light heavyweight division that sorely needs it.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
