Prior to every UFC battle card, Jay Primetown of all MMAOddsBreaker.com takes a look at a few of the key contests at every event. In the most recent installment, we look at UFC 214’s blockbuster main event as Jon Jones returns to the Octagon to face Daniel Cormier at a bitter grudge match for the light heavyweight championship.
Daniel Cormier (Record: 19-1, +235 Underdog, Power Ranking: A+)
The 38-year-old Olympic wrestler turned MMA fighter has become among the best light heavyweights of all time. Of his 20 bouts, the only time he saw defeat was to Jones at the very first meeting. Since that setback in 2015, Cormier has won four straight bouts, with victories over Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Johnson (twice) and Anderson Silva.
Being undersized hasn’t been a problem for Cormier in MMA. He actually made a name for himself Strikeforce, beating the likes of Josh Barnett and Antonio Silva are the final heavyweight champion in the organization before it was acquired by the UFC. After in the UFC, Cormier immediately transitioned to light heavyweight and has become a Hall of Fame-caliber fighter. Despite being under six feet tall with just a 72.5-inch reach, Cormier has rarely had a problem with opponents even giving around a foot in reach and six inches in height.
Statistically, Cormier is powerful. He lands 3.78 significant strikes per minute despite consuming just 2.07. He secures almost two takedowns a 15 minutes in the cage using an percent success rate on takedowns. Cormier has very good footwork for the weight class and does nicely to shut space and force opponents to fight at close range. He doesn’t possess the knockout power to put quality competitions away early, but he has an excellent chin, forcing opponents to a bodily, energy draining bout. He is shown to be among the most difficult fighters to deal with in a cage within 25 minutes.
Jon Jones (Record: 22-1, -255 Favorite, Power Ranking: A++)
The 30-year-old Endicott, New York native is among the greatest mixed martial artists of all all-time. Back in 23 fights, his hand has been increased in all but one of those matches. The lone time it was not raised was due to a disqualification in a fight he was winning . Jones returns to action for the first time as an April 2016 conclusion win over Ovince Saint Preux, This fight will clean out any relevant contenders in his weight class.
The Jackson’s MMA merchandise is the top fighter in the world for a lot of reasons. To start, physically he’s very gifted in that his 84.5-inch hit is right near the top of the sport. Jones uses his span very well, as he lands a whopping 2.25 more significant strikes a minute than he absorbs. He puts him right near the very top of the UFC in that category as well. He combines that with 94 percent takedown defense, making him hard to strike and difficult to take to the mat.
Jones combines that defensive art with a creative striking game by means of a lot of unorthodox kicks. On the floor, Jones has as brutal of ground-and-pound as anyone in MMA. He delivers barbarous elbows at top controller and is capable of completing in any fight with that position. Jones has spent a great deal of time around the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu mats in his time off from MMA and it is certainly possible he incorporates a considerable submission grappling attention to his own MMA prowess.
Matchup
At the most expected MMA bout of 2017, the former champion Jones returns to reclaim his light heavyweight championship against the current champ Cormier. In their first bout, the struggle was rather even after two rounds, but Jones’ body work actually started to pay dividends at the next round, as he really began to out-land Cormier to win a decision. Furthermore, Jones also out-grappled Cormier, procuring three takedowns compared to the one that his opponent had in the bout.
Read more: tennis-2019.com