The bad blood didn’t stop flowing for a second as Jon Jones fought his way to the eighth defence of his light heavyweight title.
He finally came face to face with his 205lb rival Daniel Cormier in the wee hours of this morning in the main event of UFC 182.
After all the bad blood, the press conference brawl and their on-camera dispute the pair finally found themselves separated by nothing other than Herb Dean.
The first round easily went the way of the defending champion who managed to take down the Olympic wrestler and controlled the distance at will.
The second round was a lot tighter with the challenger Daniel Cormier finding a home for his right uppercut and putting constant pressure on his opponent.
The middle round was tighter still with DC being the more aggressive fighter but Jones being the more accurate in the striking department.
As we entered the championship rounds, “Bones” showed that his grappling credentials matched up to a tired Cormier by dominating the clinch and actually taking the Olympian down.
In the final round, the champion controlled the first two minutes before Cormier finally let loose and managed a slam on the champion. It almost boiled over as the final bell approached as Jones prematurely celebrated to which DC took umbrage.
The decision went the way of Jones with all three judges giving him the 49-46 nod on their scorecards.
What lies ahead for Jones is likely the winner of Johnson v Gustafsson when they meet in three weeks time while the future of the 35-year-old Cormier is, as yet, unknown.
But it was a hell of a fight.
