29 July, 2017
In addition to the Cormier vs. Jones and Cyborg vs. Evinger title fights, the co-main event features a welterweight championship between current champ Tyron Woodley and challenger Demian Maia.
The third title fight, for the vacant women's featherweight belt, will also go on as planned after Cris "Cyborg" Justino and late replacement Tonya Evinger both came in at 145 pounds.
As exhausted as he might be hearing questions about his absence from the Octagon for the past 15 months, most of it thanks to a one-year suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, I'm just as exhausted hearing him convincingly explain how he's a changed man before ultimately being let down by the most frustratingly enigmatic star in the UFC. Jon Jones, the fuck up.
Cormier had never lost in the cage. When asked about whether he thought Jones might be a serial PED user who was juiced when they first fought, Cormier swftly responded with a yes.
And yet, Jones ran riot over Cormier, defending his belt with a mesmerizing blend of MMA-wrestling, elbows and everything in between. Cormier would take his place and defeat Johnson for the interim title. After years of Daniel Cormier blasting him on social media it seems to have a lessened impact for Jones.
Cormier has been waiting to exact revenge against Jones.
'Last time I heard from Gustafsson, he was talking about quitting fighting altogether and now he comes out of nowhere and is making comments about me'.
"If we weren't what we are today, there are a lot of things that I could give to him, to help him be a better version of himself", Cormier said with a rueful laugh.
"At the end of the day, I see who he is". But Wednesday's press conference was pretty entertaining.
His length, speed, power and unpredictable arsenal of punches, elbows and kicks lend to his confidence, especially since he feels he shut Cormier down the first time. "After a while, I got annoyed. He didn't wipe the mat with me, but he's walking around here like he just - he's walking around like he beat Lyoto Machida or "Shogun" Rua".
New Yorker Jones insists he will put on a better performance than he did last time against bitter rival Cormier, 38, who is No 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Jones may have even more to explain, but all characters are complex.
"You know that it's a big UFC card when there are three titles on the line in one night".
"I think my story is going to really inspire somebody else who f***ed up", Jones added. It's one of the biggest mixed martial arts fight of the year, and it actually has a backstory that is more interesting than most video games. Lawler has been inactive since losing his title to Woodley and that layoff will be two days short of a year by the time he faces Cerrone. He has since fought Stephen Thompson to a thrilling draw and a tiresome majority-decision victory - the latter a snoozer at UFC 209 in March because Thompson was cautious of Woodley's counter-striking and Woodley waited for Thompson to engage.
