UFC 210 is coming up this Saturday. Headlining the Buffalo, NY event is DC vs Rumble 2. This match up for the light-heavyweight championship, and is destined to be quite the scrap. Let’s get into the intricacies of this main event:
Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier vs Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson 1
Before we can look at DC vs Rumble 2, let’s revisit what happened in their first encounter back at UFC 187 (May 13, 2015).
Johnson caught Cormier with a massive overhand right early in the first round. It landed flush, and sent DC flying across the canvas, but it really didn’t seem to phase Cormier. Cormier bounced up and immediately had his wits about him as he tie up and block incoming shots.
Johnson then got too excited. He started hunting for the kill while throwing big, wide, loopy hooks. These power punches cost a lot, and they didn’t net much of a return.
They also left him off balance and him susceptible
One thing to note is that throughout the first round Johnson did a phenomenal job avoiding Cormier’s takedown attempts. Johnson is a much bigger fighter, and Cormier seemed to really struggle controlling his hips. According to FightMetric, Cormier was only 3 of 8 for takedowns throughout the fight.
As Johnson continued to wing big haymakers, often throwing himself off balance, he quickly depeleted his energy. Cormier was able to capitalize on this by maintaining the same pace and ultimately wearing Johnson down.
It wasn’t until the second round that Cormier was able to complete a meaningful takedown, but when he did, Johnson had little left in the tank.
After a round and a half of wrestling, Cormier was able to find the opening needed to choke Johnson out midway through the third round.
Since then …
Cormier has fought two times: a five-round split decision win against Alexander Gustafsson and then a three-round unanimous decision win against Anderson Silva. We really didn’t see anything new or surprising out of Cormier in those two appearances. For the most part he did what Daniel Cormier does – phenomenal, high-paced wrestling.
Johnson on the other hand has had three fights since his loss to Cormier. The first being a second-round KO win over Jimi Manuwa. Then a first-round KO win over Ryan Bader. Most recently, a first-round KO win over Glover Teixeira. In these fights, Johnson showed much improved composure than he did in his unsuccessful title fight with Cormier.
DC vs Rumble 2
So how is the second fight going to go down? Probably a lot like the first one!
They both had dominant moments in the first fight, but the key point is that Johnson’s chances of winning decrease as the fight went on. DC can wrestle for 25-minutes no problem, but Rumble can only rumble for about the first round. That is – unless he conserves his energy and resorts to well-timed bursts.
Lyoto Machida was known for his “controlled aggression” during his reign at 205 lbs; more relevant examples would be Yoel Romero and Tyron Woodley. When they decide to hit the gas – it’s very lethal – but when they’re not attacking, they’re often inactive and patient knowing that they have to conserve energy.
Seeing Johnson defend Cormier’s takedowns in the first round leads me to believe that the first round will be all his. He’ll have the energy to keep Cormier off him, and obviously the power to shut the lights out with a well-placed, well-timed shot.
But that’s the thing, even Johnson’s huge overhand right in the first round wasn’t able to do much. If we look at the Cormier-Gustafsson fight, Cormier was rocked badly with a knee and a follow-up left hand. After the fight, Cormier admitted that the follow-up was what hurt him – not the initial knee. If Johnson is going to finish Cormier, he needs to make sure that his follow-up is just as effective as his initial explosion. This can only happen if Johnson stays composed, and doesn’t chase the finish like he did in their first fight.
However, if Cormier can survive the storm (which he showed he can do), then I see no reason why he won’t be able to smother Johnson en route to a late finish as the gas tank drain.
X-Factors
There are some extra things about this fight to be mindful of – mostly on Cormier’s side.
The first I want to bring up is how Cormier will be returning from a torn groin. It seems to take longer to heal from injuries at Cormier’s age of 38.
Another thing to note is how Cormier’s main sparring partner, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, has been largely unable to train with Cormier. Velasquez received back surgery in January. Luke Rockhold, another main training partner, also recently suffered a knee injury. I’m not sure how Cormier’s quality of training has been leading up to this fight. Cormier has also been receiving lots of television and commentary assignments which pulls him from AKA (American Kickboxing Academy).
Meanwhile, Johnson has been more active, injury-free, and hungry to get another shot at the belt.
Who do you think will win in UFC 210’s headliner – DC vs Rumble 2?
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*Media taken from MMA Breakdown
