The end of the year is rolling around, which means the pressure on the UFC to finish the year out strong and string together a series of entertaining cards, is higher than ever. The UFC announced Daniel Cormier will be defending his heavyweight championship in the main event against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 in New York on November 3rd.
Jon Jones will also be fighting Alexander Gustafsson in the main event at UFC 232 in Las Vegas on December 29th for the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship. Daniel Cormier was supposedly pressured into vacating his light heavyweight championship, as it would be more difficult for him to defend his titles in both divisions.
UFC 230 Main Event
The UFC was scrambling to get a main event for the UFC 230 show, so it isn’t a surprise they asked Cormier to take on Lewis. Cormier, being one of the only unbooked champions, and Lewis, coming off of a spectacular knockout win against Alexander Volkov. Lewis was in trouble for the majority of that fight. He had to dig deep and land a late knockout blow to secure the victory.
Now this isn’t the most exciting main event. We can all speculate as to who the winner of this fight will be. Sure, it is the MMA game where anything can happen, but are we really giving Lewis a shot here? D.C., the former olympian, is superior to Lewis in nearly every aspect of mixed martial arts.
Lewis doesn’t seem to have the cardio to last in a fight like this anyway. He is making an extremely quick turnaround for this fight against Cormier as well. This means there is a lot less time for preparation and getting in shape for Lewis. Let’s not forget that his body might not be completely healed from last weekend’s fight as well.
If there was any fight that would be considered an “easy fight” for Cormier, this one would be it. Then again, one shot from “The Beast” and DC could go night-night.
UFC 232 Main Event
The same cannot be said for the UFC 232 show however. The most talented fighter of all time is making his return (for the third time) in a highly anticipated rematch with Alexander Gustafsson. Many people consider their first fight to be one of the most technically sound fights of all time. Both men had to use every ounce of energy in their bodies to make it through those five rounds, but in the end only one man’s hand was raised.
Jon Jones won the fight via unanimous decision, but many people believe Gustafsson won that fight (they were wrong).
Gustafsson is the only fighter Jones has ever faced that has shared similar physical characteristics as him. Jones did not really have a sizable reach advantage against Gustafsson, not to mention he was also taken down for the first time in his career in that fight.
Jones had to rely on his warrior spirit and technical abilities to pull out a win. I expect he will have to do the same in this fight. He is coming off another year and a half layoff. Who knows what Jon Jones we will see? IS he still in shape? Does he really still want to fight?
We will find out the answers to those questions on December 29th. The truest pioneer of MMA may finally be back for good.
