UFC 182: Jones vs Cormier

I have been pretty disenchanted with MMA lately, but I am taken up in the hype for this one. The card is overall pretty solid. Though it doesn't jump out at you in terms of star power, there should be a lot of fun fights on the card as a whole. That said, obviously the main event sells the tickets. Personally, I really dislike Jones. It has nothing to do with his talent, I just don't like his persona and what seems to me like a so much attention whoring. I am sure in reality he is a good guy, but I don't know him; I am just a fan and he is a guy I always root against. I say that not because it is important, but because it makes the main fight impossible for me to really pick. I think Jones wins, but I can't tell if I believe that on match up or if I fear the disappointment of getting my hopes up to watch them get crushed.

So who else is watching? Who you got?


Main Card
Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET
Jon Jones (C) vs. Daniel Cormier (for UFC light heavyweight title)
Donald Cerrone vs. Myles Jury
Nate Marquardt vs. Brad Tavares
Louis Gaudinot vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
Josh Burkman vs. Hector Lombard

Preliminary Card
FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET
Danny Castillo vs. Paul Felder
Marcus Brimage vs. Cody Garbrandt
Jared Cannonier vs. Shawn Jordan
Rodrigo Damm vs. Evan Dunham

Pre-preliminary Card
UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET
Omari Akhmedov vs. Mats Nilsson
Alexis Dufresne vs. Marion Reneau

I was actually pretty disappointed by this card. I haven't watched all the prelims yet, but the main card was quite lousy. The UFC spreading the cards so thin has really affected the quality of the PPV events. That's not something they can do after such a lousy 2014, especially when they raised the prices for the first 3 PPVs of the year.

Thankfully, the main event was actually quite good. That is until the later portion of the fight, particularly Round 5. I was surprised that Jones was able to takedown Cormier as much as he did. That looked to break DC, as he spent all of Round 5 just trying to finally get a takedown on Jones despite needing a finish in order to win the fight.

I hope Gustafsson manages to beat Anthony Johnson later this month, because that fight definitely deserves to have a rematch after the instant classic they had in 2013.

This card was eye cancer for the most part. All those undercard fights could have been finishes and SHOULD have been much more entertaining than they were. This goes back to how big business and big incentives change the way people fight... maybe for the worse.

Jones/Cormier was good. They really exchanged a lot. I think Cormier did much better than people are saying. He landed some good shots and Jones looked foggy a few times. Jones pulled away from him thanks to the body shots and making cormier carry his weight.

As for Gustaf vs Johnson, I am torn. I think Johnson is a really interesting challenger as well. He is a powerhouse. Jones has taken some shots in his last few matches and he can't take those from Johnson; his head will explode. I think it is a real shame that one of them has to be eliminate the other. Gustaf certainly deserves a shot, but Johnson does too in my book.

When I watched the fight live, my brother and I felt like Cormier probably took two rounds of the fight. That's because his offense seemed more effective, while Jones' was much more flashy. However, given Cormier being exhausted by the final two rounds of the fight, Jones' offense must have indeed been the more effective of the two.

As far as potential next challengers for Jones, I can't see Rumble being too much of a threat. I know he's a very heavy hitter and seems like a completely different fighter after moving up to 205 (and even moonlighting at HW against Arlovski), but Jones is much tougher than many fans would like to give him credit for.

With Gustafsson, he gave Jones his toughest fight to date, and in the eyes of many he arguably won their first fight. It's a rematch that has to happen in order to see if he can replicate or exceed that performance.

I don't think it is a matter of toughness if Johnson hits you. It seems like next level power and I know we haven't seen Jones hit clean by someone with that kind of power. Now, that doesn't mean he beats Jones. He has to get in there and mix it up first. I for one think he has a shot to stand with Jones and hurt him. We just haven't seen enough to know for sure. I could definately entertain an argument that Jones his far too technical.

We may find out I guess. I will honestly be happy regardless of which guy comes out of the eliminator. Johnson becomes pretty legit if he can beat Gustaf, especially if he can finish him and the Gustaf rematch will sell itself.

I really really want Gustaf to get "hurt" and schedule his title match for a few months from now and Johnson should get someone he can wreck.

Cocaine is a hell of a drug:

http://mmajunkie.com/2015/01/ufc-champion-jon-jones-tests-positive-for-cocaine-reportedly-enters-rehab

The UFC knew about the positive test as of December 23, yet the fight went on as scheduled. Coincidentally, Dana White also announced days before UFC 182 that the UFC were discontinuing their out-of-competition drug testing system.

Yeah... i have been all over this with a friend of mine. It is such a joke. The UFC would bury a body for a high profile fighter, I swear they would. The thing that gets me the most is that fighters have been suspended and fired for smoking pot and Jones gets a pat on the back for checking himself into rehab to take care of his "coke problem". Now the NSAC is "looking into" punishing him. It is the most blatant double standard I think I have ever seen in MMA. He will get what amounts to a slap on the wrist. It is just a joke. I am not saying he deserves to lose his belt or anything, but both the UFC and NSAC have clauses in contracts to punish fighters for not upholding a positive image. Letting Jones fight without mention of this and then patting him on the back for going to rehab is a middle finger to those clauses and anyone who gets punished under them for drugs.

What concerns me most is that this is a reflection of the UFC's recent turn to short term games. They have started booking for the short term, pulling more publicity stunt moves, and now seem to be organizing their orientation to drug use for the short term.

Dana White wasn't going to let this fight not happen after the disaster that was 2014. All about business and being right for him.

Maybe he should have. Apparently Jones T levels came back .19/1, which is about what my 4 year old niece or my 78 year old grandmother might test. There are a few rational explanations for why Jone's testosterone levels might be that low and pretty much all of them lead to those magic letters, P...E...D...

As I read it, and I am no expert at all, there are a few possibilities as to why he might have these levels.

He could be coming off a cycle.

He could be boosting his estrogen to mask elevated testosterone.

He might actually be a woman and we don't know about it.

Or...... we could find out that Jones has some crazy rare disease or takes some weird medicine that causes him to look like and compete as an elite 220 pound male, combat sport athlete with the testosterone of a little girl. Who knows!?

None of it sounds good.

This is all sort of breaking in the last few hours so who knows what is going to happen with this, but it seems to be getting some legs. There are all kinds of confusion about who knew what and when. It even seems completely possible that coke tests (which were done despite the fact that the commission couldn't do anything with the results) were a smoke screen. I am not sure I buy that, but I also don't really know what to make of what I am hearing about what was tested for and when.

I kind of suspect people to start throwing others under the bus to clear themselves pretty soon. I am not sure what happens to Jones if anything, but if people keep looking into these T levels... anything could happen.

I know general interest level here is fairly low, but a few new things...

1) Apparently at least one of Jone's samples were "watery," which I know seems like a weird thing to think about and take seriously, but it is apparently one of the red flags that testers look for when they suspect people are trying to mask PED use.

2) There is a vague rumor that Jones hid under the cage for his December 4th test. Again, silly, I know, but I just LOVE the idea of it.

3) This wasn't necessarily a secret before but apparently jones never cut weight or even really trained except in his camp. Once people started asking more about this they found out it isn't like other fighters... he he does next to NOTHING. Even fighters who take time off usually do something in the off season. I am not fighter or in a camp, so I am mostly going off what I am hearing on the interwebs (again... I know).

OK... this is honestly more amusing to me than actual substance at this point, but there are lots of little pieces falling. One or two of them alone and who would care, but all of them together are looking more like the ultimate UFC shitshow is coming to fruition.

Dana White made a complete fool of himself on FOX Sports Live discussing this matter. I didn't watch it (who does actually watch that show), but here's a few noteworthy quotes:

http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/jon-jones-tested-positive-for-cocaine-dana-white-says-he-still-had-the-right-to-fight-010715

Keep in mind that they've cancelled entire events, despite Dana claiming that fighters have the right to fight.

One thing I find funny about this whole situation is that in typical MMA media fashion, many of those so-called journalists are now claiming they've known for years about Jones' cocaine usage and try to act like his enjoyment of it was common knowledge. This is an industry where many alleged journalists are employed by UFC's television partners or the UFC themselves, and act more like publicists.

That is part of the problem here. There are so many journalists who are either working for the UFC or have the UFC's knife to their throats. On the other hand you have a pretty amateurish body of journalists saying whatever comes to mind at the time. This whole thing smells fishy and no one has any idea what is going on. It is crazy just how disorganized it is. It is to the point where no one believes anything anyone is saying (and for good reason) and no one has any idea who to ask for real answers.

The coke thing is one thing to me. I think it highlights more the double standards that are common place in MMA than anything. The hormone levels are another thing. Now all the sudden the NSAC is saying they did a CIR test on his samples (while no one was looking) and they came back clean. They failed to mention that earlier. They haven't - as of yet - shown anyone those results.

I just want some clarity on the matter, but I am not holding my breath.

MMA is full of people who pass the blame onto others when convenient.

The UFC likes to hide behind the omnipresent ATHLETIC COMMISSION in matters like this. Never mind that they've punished other fighters for lesser offenses and marijuana usage. They've also overturned wins by themselves on events held in areas where they act as their own commission.

In this instance, the Nevada State Athletic Commission is putting the blame on WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) for cocaine metabolites not being prohibited in out-of-competition testing. Funny how they blatantly go against WADA standards in regards to other matters, such as allowing fighters to compete with higher testosterone levels (NSAC is 6:1 while WADA is 4:1).

Just listened to Dave Meltzer talk about carbon isotope testing.

In other words, this dude was def on roids too.

SBR wrote:Just listened to Dave Meltzer talk about carbon isotope testing.

In other words, this dude was def on roids too.

Yeah, I know it is being brushed away in a lot of circles as "hater talk," but I don't buy this story for one second. I think Jones was juicing and until i see more definitive proof to the contrary I will continue to believe it.

That heel Jon Jones spent one night in rehab and left.

The UFC is going to go full "big time wrestling" this year. I think MMA slides a bit more in 2015, becoming more boom or bust and being riddled by more controversies.