Jones retains UFC light heavyweight title
One of the trademarks of Jon Jones’ reign as UFC light heavyweight champion has been his propensity to take his opponent’s strength and turn it in his own favor.
He did it again on Saturday night.
Jones once again retained the belt with a unanimous decision victory over Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 182 at MGM Grand by taking down the two-time Olympic wrestler several times.
After months of hype and trash talk, Jones simply did what he always does: Win.
Jones took control of the fight in the fourth round. Though he led two rounds to one on all three scorecards, the first three rounds were all very competitive with the fighters landing shots both at close range and the clinch.
The champion made sure there was no doubt as he immediately established his superiority at the beginning of the fourth round.
He landed a left kick to the head and then controlled Cormier’s legs against the cage before picking up the challenger and dumping him on his back.
Cormier got back to his feet, but Jones almost immediately responded with the exact same takedown.
It was his best round.
Jones has now successfully defended the belt eight straight times. Saturday marked his sixth time going beyond three rounds in a UFC fight, while it was just the second time Cormier had gone longer than 15 minutes in his mixed martial arts career.
That may have been a factor in Jones’ dominance late in the fight. Jones also took the fifth round on all three scorecards, largely by controlling Cormier against the fence for long stretches.
Cormier got free long enough to momentarily slam Jones to the ground, but Jones quickly got free and pushed Cormier right back to the cage.
Cormier said he was just never comfortable.
“I just couldn’t find my rhythm tonight,” Cormier said. “Jon is the best for a reason and he was the better man tonight.”
Also on the card, Donald Cerrone said he was looking forward to showing rising prospect Myles Jury that Cerrone’s generation of mixed martial artists have a fighting spirit that trumps the athleticism and talent of the new breed.
Cerrone gave Jury a 15-minute lesson on Saturday.
Jury was never able to launch any sort of attack and Cerrone cruised to a unanimous decision victory.
He wasn’t exactly thrilled with the fight, though.
“What the hell was that? That wasn’t a fight. What a joke, man. This kid talked a lot of trash about how he was going to come in here and do this and that to Cowboy. He said he was gonna push me for 15 minutes and all he ended up doing was run,” Cerrone said. “Those leg kicks at the end were out of sheer frustration. I come here to fight hard for the fans every time and put on an exciting show win, lose, or draw. Jury clearly had no intentions to fight tonight and that’s not what it’s about.”
It wasn’t the only fight on the card that lacked excitement. All five main card bouts went the distance and for the most part failed to produce much drama.
Las Vegan Brad Tavares snapped a two-fight losing streak with a unanimous decision victory over Nate Marquardt in a middleweight bout.
Tavares had won five straight fights before his recent skid. Tavares largely controlled the bout with his jab, preventing Marquardt from launching any sort of offense.
Tavares won all three rounds on all three cards.
Kyoji Horiguchi improved to 3-0 since dropping to the flyweight division as he cruised to a unanimous decision victory over Louis Gaudinot.
Horiguchi has now won nine fights in a row and is 15-1 in his career. He is narrowing in on his goal of becoming the first UFC champion from Japan.
“I don’t know what is in my future but I’m ready to take on whoever the UFC puts in front of me,” the 24-year-old said.
Welterweight Hector Lombard extended his winning streak to three with a unanimous decision victory over Josh Burkman, who competed in the UFC for the first time since 2008.
Burkman spent much of the fight backed against the cage with his hands down trying to look for an opportunity to counter off of Lombard’s aggressiveness.
The strategy never fully materialized and Lombard further established himself as a top contender.
Las Vegan Evan Dunham snapped a three-fight losing streak with a unanimous decision win over Rodrigo Damm on the preliminary card.
Dunham won all three rounds of the lightweight bout.
Lightweight Paul Felder knocked out Danny Castillo in spectacular fashion. Felder landed a perfectly timed spinning back fist that dropped Castillo and ended the fight.
Cody Garbrandt and Shawn Jordan also picked up knockout victories.
Omari Akhmedov and Marion Reneau earned wins by unanimous decision.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
