Jones and Cormier: The End of an Era?
Jon Jones has been a formidable force since he stepped into the Octagon back in 2008. His only blemish remains a disqualification after using downward elbows in his bout against Matt Hamill in which he thoroughly dominated.
Three years after entering the UFC, he became champion after making easy work of Shogun Rua in Newark, New Jersey. He has since then defeated every man that has attempted to take the title from him, in doing so, defeating some of the biggest names arguably the most competitive division the sport of MMA has ever seen. Among these men are Quinton Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and a man that had been fighting in the UFC since 1997, Vitor Belfort. He has out-manuevered, out-striked, and out-matched every one of these men.
He is coming off a decision win against Glover Texeira in Baltimore, and was slated for a rematch with the man that possibly gave him his toughest title defense to date, Alexander Gustafsson. Gustafsson and Jones was perhaps in the midst of becoming one of the most anticipated Light-Heavyweight rematches in UFC history. A torn meniscus has thus rendered Gustafsson unable to fight, and now we may be looking forward to one of the greatest matchups in UFC history.
Enter Daniel Cormier, an undefeated fighter who has fought in two weight classes. Coming down from Heavyweight, Cormier has been as dominate in nearly every single fashion compared to Jones. He is a striker, a technical fighter that also features a ferocious submission game. At 15-0, he is in my mind, the best contender at the given moment. Many of the big names that have come before him were seen as the ones that would strike down Jones, while others were casted as prey. All those past title defenses, I never thought the way many others did save for the fact it was just training camp extended. Cormier is as good as they come, and he has more than earned his shot at the title. For the first time in his illustrious, young career, I daresay come the night of September 27th, we will indeed be looking at the new UFC Light-Heavyweight champion in Daniel Cormier.
That is not to say that it shall be a one-sided affair by any means. Jones will not make it easy, but then again, neither will Cormier. There will still be many people that would say Jones will yet again cast aside another adversary. This, my friends, may end up being a second Silva-Weidman-type fight. The best eventually get beat by someone that is better, and Daniel Cormier is in perfect position to continue the viability of that notion.
