Jon Jones is back! He has recaptured his belt from Daniel Cormier. Now that he is champ again it is time to see what’s next for he and the rest of our favorite fighters on UFC 214 on this edition of Aftermath.
Chris Weidman is back on track
Next opponent for Chris Weidman: Luke Rockhold (if victorious), Yoel Romero rematch, Ronaldo Souza
After being mauled by Luke Rockhold, decapitated by Yoel Romero, and the Mousassi controversy, The All American, Chris Weidman, is back in the win column after his win at UFC Long Island. After Kelvin Gastelum nearly finished finished Weidman in the first, he was ultimately saved by the bell. He continues on and showed a great mix of stand up and ground game to finally get Gestelum to tap out on the ground.
Chris will need at least one more win over a top 4 contender to get thought about for a title shot.
Oezdemir’s coming out party
Next opponent for Jimi Manuwa: Daniel Cormier, Glover Teixeira
“Sit down, young man!” That is what Jimi Manuwa heard this night. But, this time it was not from Daniel Cormier with a belt strapped around his waste. It was from Switzerland’s Volkan Oezdemir. At 42 seconds in, Volkan put away Jimi without The Poster Boy showing off any of his skills. Luckily for him, light heavyweight is currently a thin division and it won’t take too long for him to get on track to become part of the title talks again.
Next opponent for Volkan Oezdemir: Alexander Gustafson (While Jones plays with Brock Lesnar), Daniel Cormier, Glover Teixeira
In only his third fight in the UFC, Oezdemir turned heads on the biggest fight night of his life. Putting Jimi away so quickly definitely means he’ll have a quick turnaround and will be fighting again soon. With light heavyweight being so thin, they’ll look to make the Bellator steal a household name among the MMA community so Jon Jones can have someone new to fight. But he still needs a test first. One of the top three contenders in light heavyweight will be a good test to gauge if he’s ready for Bones.
Robbie robs Cowboy
Next opponent for Cowboy Cerrone: Carlos Condit, Rafael Dos Anjos rematch
Next opponent for Robbie Lawler: Tyron Woodley, Stephen Thompson (long shot)
Title eliminator or not, this is a fight fans have been salivating for. Robbie Lawler comes out the gate like a man possessed, almost putting away Donald Cerrone, which won him the first round and probably the fight. As Cerrone slowed the fight down and took control, he picked Lawler apart in the second round, winning it easily. The third round was about as even as it got with both fighters going back and forth. Ultimately, Lawler got the win, although I thought it should have gone the other way, as many other people thought too. Lawler looks to be next in line to get a title shot, and an opportunity of revenge on Tyron Woodley, while Cerrone, as usual, looks to get back in the octagon as soon as possible.
Cyborg is FINALLY a UFC Champ
Next opponent for Cris Cyborg: Germaine de Randamie, Amanda Nunes (long shot)
Cris Cyborg has long awaited the day she’d become a UFC champ. She couldn’t make 135, where she would fight a division full of women, so the UFC made the 145 division just for her. Cyborg looked like Cyborg, tonight. Impeccable striking and patience waiting for her openings. She coasted through two and a half rounds beating Tonya Evinger with a viscous knee to the head that did her in. Cyborg will coast for a while until either the UFC runs out of women at 145 or they do a super fight between her and bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes.
Maia falls short 21 times
Next opponent for Demian Maia: a hidden beach out of contact from everyone
The Submission Magician, Demian Maia, finally got his shot at title holder Tyron Woodley. Unfortunately for Maia, Woodley’s super high fighter IQ easily defended Maia and denied him 21 of 21 takedown attempts. Woodley caught Maia on the first exchange and did some big damage that would pool up the entire fight. Maia wanted a vacation and now he has time to rest up and enjoy his recent UFC success.
Next opponent for Tyron Woodley: Robbie Lawler, Stephen Thompson (long shot), GSP (unlikely)
The least favorite champ was back in action tonight, and “action” is a word we’ll use lightly. While Tyron Woodley controlled the pace of the whole fight, he was booed by fans again for not using his full explosiveness and power everyone KNOWS he has. We want to see the Woodley that knocked out the soulless Robbie Lawler to win the belt he holds. He called out GSP post fight with Joe Rogan but Dana let the boos hurt his feeling and shut that fight down real quick. Apparently, GSP and Bisping are fighting again.
Jon Jones is a legend, but who is next?
Next opponent for Daniel Cormier: Jimi Manuwa, Ovince St. Preux, Glover Tixera
For over two years, Daniel Cormier has kept Jon Jones’ belt warm for him. Jones came back to get his belt back tonight. After a lights out first round, the fighters went back and forth in exchanges. DC got comfortable and started settling in on Jones. That wasn’t enough for the champ. Jones caught him with a head kick and it was over of Cormier after that. Jones pounced, showing his old self with speed and aggressiveness, pounding his head into the canvas. A bit of a late stoppage, in my opinion, and Cormier looked in another universe once the fight was stopped. Post fight was the hardest thing I’ve ever watched in MMA. Daniel was destroyed and broken down. Jones might have broken his spirit this time. This is the kind of loss that destroys careers. Who knows when we will see Cormier again in the Octagon?
Next opponent for Jon Jones: Alexander Gustafson rematch (PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE), Brock Lesnar (unlikely)
I kept thinking, “Jones is going to mess this up ten minutes before this fight and ruin this whole thing.” I was wrong. Jon Jones is finally back in the octagon, and he wanted his title back. But he would have to go against DC to get it back. Okay? No problem. Jones came out looking good, but a little stiff. He kept Cormier at arms length, which is saying something when we’re talking about Jon Jones. But he kept damage minimal, avoiding takedowns that would be detrimental to his fight plan. Jones was always hard to take down, if not impossible. In the third, Bones took the soul from Cormier’s body with a head kick. It was over. While DC was stumbling and trying to recover. Jones pounced like a lion ready to eat his prey. He got Cormier on the ground and punched his head into the mat until McCarthy called the fight. After such a turbulent 2 years, where Jones seemed to not be able to get right, he’s back in the GOAT talk. Channeling his inner Conor McGregor, e called out Brock Lesnar, begging for a money fight. Seeing that Jones and Dana White haven’t held a conversation since he had to be pulled from UFC 200, I don’t think that’s going to be something we see any time soon. Unless, of course fans go crazy to see the fight and Dana sees dollar signs. For now, Jones will need to defend his strap again to get on White’s good side.
