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I really feel sorry for mixed martial artist Daniel Cormier. He is without doubt a tremendous talent and his accomplishments show this.
He was the NCAA Division 1 All American, Olympic freestyle team captain and Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion, all exemplary achievements that place him on hallowed ground in the MMA world.
His successes have so far transferred excellently to the UFC with a 4-0 start, two a piece at light heavyweight and heavyweight and with a dominant performance over MMA legend Dan Henderson he is now pushing for a title shot.
Regardless of whether or not you or I believe he deserves a shot, he will get it.
But how will he fair?
His list of victims so far is not overly impressive, yet definitely nothing to sneeze at. He debuted for the UFC in October 2013 with a workman-like and unspectacular unanimous decision over Frank Mir. He then faced a well tested heavyweight veteran in Roy Nelson. He again cruised to an unspectacular unanimous decision.
With two solid decisions against two solid heavyweights, Cormier answered the calls of the masses and dropped down to the weight class more appropriate for his body type. After demolishing Patrick Cummins and dominating en-route to a third round submission against aged legend Dan Henderson, Cormier is now suddenly knocking on the door of a title shot.
Granted he had impressive wins in the now defunct Strikeforce against Josh Barnett and Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva which further show his talent, but beating a row of middle class heavyweights and a couple of light heavyweights is not going to prepare anyone for Jon Jones.
Jon Jones is the greatest fighter on the planet and of this generation. He has beaten a murderer’s row of champions and contenders. Shogun Rua was TKO’d, Lyota Machida and Quinton Jackson choked out, Vitor Belfort had his arm cranked and Glover Teixera and Rashad Evans were given a master class over five rounds. The only true challenge he has ever had is against Alexander Gustafsson, a six foot five Swede with 81 inches of reach. He was able to remove the advantage of Jones’ reach and take him out of his comfort zone. Jones prevailed, but it was a close decision and an all time classic.
Daniel Cormier is not six foot five, he is only five foot 11 – the equal shortest opponent of Jones’ title run. He gives up a whopping 12 inches of reach, quite a problem over a fighter who is a master at using his reach advantage. I could further delve into the fight stats that show Jones’ superiority, but just height and reach show plenty of the story.
This fight will be the same as every Jones fight against shorter opponents. He will excellently use his range to stay outside of the pocket and control distance, delivering consistent punishment this time en-route to a fourth round TKO. I know Cormier is an excellent wrestler, but he will rarely be able to close that distance to even attempt to shoot against a man who has only been taken down once in his UFC tenure.
To bring it all back, I feel sorry for Cormier because after all this hype and cheap trash talk against the champ, when he eventually gets his shot he will not succeed. He will be just another name in a long line of fighters dominated by the champ, a list where his name will be lost. It will be the most important fight of his life and he will lose.
So, for that, I’m sorry, Daniel.
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