(UFC)
By Brandon Zachman
First off, MAN! What could have been…If it wasn’t for Jon Jones’ lack of brain cells, UFC 187 would’ve been the best card on paper since UFC 100. In what has been an all too re-occurring theme in the company, you new it was too good for that card to stay together. Regardless, with or without Jones this was the best card of the year and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
I will start by expressing my disbelief in the fact that Andrei Arlovski is relevant again! After a few years displaying one of the weakest chins in the game, he suddenly found out how to take punishment. He just took part in arguably the most exciting round of action this entire year against a legitimate contender in Travis Browne, took some good shots and finished the fight. Arlovski now owns a five-fight win streak, including three straight since returning to the octagon. He now finds himself a big fish in the very tiny pond that is the heavyweight division and i’d soon expect to see him in the title picture after knocking off former title-challenger Bigfoot Silva and the ultra tough Travis Browne in his last two fights.
Donald Cerrone did what was expected after the Khabib Nurmagomedov injury and broke replacement fighter John Makdessi’s jaw in round 2. Cerrone is the toughest guy in the Lightweight division and has earned himself a chance to avenge a 2013 Unanimous Decision loss to Rafael Dos Anjos, except this time it’s for the belt.
Chris Weidman made his case as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet after manhandling Vitor Belfort. This now marks four straight wins over former UFC champions. Prior to this loss, Vitor Belfort had only lost twice since 2006 against arguably the two best fighters ever in Jon Jones and Anderson Silva. Weidman didn’t look comfortable on the feet against Vitor early in the fight, so he used his wrestling to pin the struggling grappler to the ground ad finish him within three minutes. The Middleweight division is possibly the deepest division in the sport right now so Weidman will be keeping himself busy; however, he’s certainly proved time and time again that he should not be doubted. I’d expect to see Weidman next defend his strap against Luke Rockhold sometime in the not too distant future.
It’s still painful to think about how good a Rumble vs. Jones fight would’ve been but no sense sulking in it. I fully expected Daniel Cormier smother Rumble for 25 minutes en route to the Light-Heavyweight crown. However we saw a game fighter who went out and submitted the red hot Anthony Johnson in round 3, in what turned out to be a pretty good back and forth fight. Cormier has to feel like a fluke champion, seeing as Jones was stripped of the belt after his latest legal fiasco, not to mention Cormier succumbed to Jones back in January. Cormier however called out the former champion Jones and stating his desire for rematch by telling him to get his s**t together and meet him back in the octagon. That would make for a heated rematch seeing as they had one of the most personal feuds in recent history, resulting in a brawl that cost Jones his Nike sponsorship. Hopefully that’ll be Cormier’s next fight, so we can see who the true champ really is.
The Sports Vision 