Bad Blood Boiling Over For Jones, Cormier
Expect the PPV buy-rate to skyrocket after Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier got at it this week.
The Octagon itself may have been quiet these past two weeks but Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are making noise ahead of their September 27 bout for the UFC light heavyweight championship.
This past Monday, the two combatants took part in a promotional event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the site of the title fight, where things quickly turned ugly.
During a staredown for the cameras, the two bumped heads sparking Cormier to shove Jones. The champion responded by throwing punches at the challenger, clearing UFC director of communications Dave Sholler aside in the process.
The two continued to struggle, falling from the stage area before security managed to separate the fighters.
You can watch the whole thing over at the official UFC YouTube page.
Jones and Cormier would each appear on ESPN’s SportsCenter moments later, with Cormier describing Jones as “fake†while Jones came across as calm and collected, if not a little bizarre.
It was the off-air segment of the interview which took the internet by storm though. Cormier continued to call Jones out for being a “chameleon†while Jones threw his own profanity-laced accusations at Cormier.
While the professionalism of both fighters can be called into question, the brawl – or at least the mini-brawl – is good for business for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The whole saga, which resembls a WWE contract signing more than a UFC promotional event, has already earned the two fighter and the UFC 178 pay-per-view a ton of publicity, and the buy-rate for the event is likely to be through the roof. That’s something the UFC brass will be very happy about.
When news broke that Alexander Gustafsson would be unable to fight Jones at the event due to injury, fight fans couldn’t help but sigh. Gustafsson represented a genuine challenge to Jones’ title.
When the two met at UFC 165 in Toronto last September, a bout Jones won via unanimous decision, many fans and observers felt that the Swede had actually done enough to win the bout. He became the first fighter to successfully take down Jones, and for much of the fight looked superior.
The rematch in itself was long awaited. Jones opted to take on No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira instead of stepping back into the Octagon with Gustafsson. That bout, which should have been a barn-burner, turned out to be a contender for most disappointing fight of 2014 on the grounds that it was so one-sided. Jones barely broke a sweat.
So with Gustafsson out, Cormier was announced as a replacement. Cormier, who sports an undefeated record in 15 professional fights, seemed like a gap-filler for UFC matchmakers.
While the two-time Olympian is undefeated, he’s only battled at light heavyweight twice and has only fought four times in the UFC total. You wouldn’t be remiss if you felt he hadn’t exactly earned his dues.
But now?
But now nobody’s talking about how Cormier shouldn’t be the No. 2 contender. Instead, everybody’s talking about the bad blood between ‘DC’ and ‘Bones’. And bad blood, as any boxing promoter or Vince McMahon will tell you, sell tickets and it sells PPV buys.
So Monday’s brawl really was good for business.
Now we await the next twist in the storyline as the two fighters prepare for September’s championship bout.
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According to Bovada, Jones (-160) is the favorite to win the fight over Cormier (+130). That represents a slight line change – shifting in favor of Cormier – based on the odds we reported earlier this week.
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Fear not, fight fans. As we enter the third week without UFC action, the end is on sight. One week from today the UFC lands in Stephen King country as UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. St. Preux comes live from Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine.
See the fight card for UFC Fight Night
Betting Sports will have a preview of the event next week.
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If you really can’t go without some caged action this weekend, NBCSN will be broadcasting WSOF 12 live from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
