Prior to every UFC battle card, Jay Primetown of all MMAOddsBreaker.com takes a peek at some of the key competitions at each function. In the latest installment, we look at UFC 214’s blockbuster main event as Jon Jones returns to the Octagon to confront Daniel Cormier in 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 turned into among the best light heavyweights of all-time. Of his 20 bouts, the only time that he saw defeat was to Jones in the very first meeting. Since that setback in 2015, Cormier has won four consecutive bouts, with successes over Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Johnson (double ) and Anderson Silva.
Being undersized has never been an issue for Cormier in MMA. He actually made a name for himself Strikeforce, beating the likes of Josh Barnett and Antonio Silva are the last heavyweight champion from the business before it was obtained by the UFC. Once from the UFC, Cormier quickly 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 at reach and six inches in height.
Statistically, Cormier is very powerful. He lands 3.78 significant strikes per minute despite consuming just 2.07. He secures nearly two takedowns per 15 minutes from the cage using an percent success rate on takedowns. Cormier has very good footwork for the weight class and does nicely to close distance and force opponents to battle at close selection. He doesn’t have the knockout power to put quality opponents off early, but he has a very good chin, forcing rivals to a physical, energy draining bout. He’s 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 best mixed martial artists of all-time. In 23 fights, his hand was raised in all but one of those matches. The only time it was not increased was because of a disqualification in a fight he was winning decisively. Jones returns to action for the first time since 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 very best fighter in the world for a lot of reasons. To begin, physically he is very gifted in that his 84.5-inch reach is right near the surface of the game. Jones uses his span very nicely, as he lands a whopping 2.25 more important strikes a second than he absorbs. He puts him right near the top of this UFC in that category too. He combines that with 94 percent takedown defense, which makes him difficult to strike and difficult to take into the mat.
Jones combines that defensive art having a creative striking game using a great deal of unorthodox kicks. On the floor, Jones has as brutal of ground-and-pound as anybody in MMA. He delivers vicious elbows in top control and is capable of finishing in any struggle from that position. Jones has invested a lot of time on the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu mats at his time off from MMA and it’s certainly possible he integrates a significant submission grappling attention to his own MMA prowess.
Matchup
In the most anticipated MMA bout of 2017, the former champion Jones returns to recover his light heavyweight championship against the current champ Cormier. Within their first bout, the struggle was rather even after two rounds, but Jones’ body work really begun to pay dividends in the next round, since he really began to out-land Cormier to win a decision. Furthermore, Jones even out-grappled Cormier, securing three takedowns when compared with this one his opponent had from the bout.
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