UFC 230 sequel: Daniel Cormier ends his historic 2018 campaign

In some years, the title of fighter of the year provokes lively debate. Like last year, Max Holloway, Demetrious Johnson, Robert Whittaker and Rose Namajunas all had valid claims, before Holloway took the lead for FOTY honors from MMA Fighting.

Then there are years, like 2016, when Conver McGregor's transcendent accomplishments – become the first simultaneous champion of the two-weight category in the history of the UFC while carrying his business to dizzying heights – were so obvious that people who voted for someone else should always vote revoked privileges.

After UFC 230, it is clear that 2018 is much closer to 2016 than 2017. By acting exactly as he was supposed to, he should have won nine of his last 10 bouts at Derrick Lewis during the rally Saturday night main event at Madison Square. Garden in New York, Cormier has set a course for a year we have never seen in mixed martial arts.

Cormier began his year by successfully defending the Light Heavyweight title in the second round of TKO Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 in Boston. He then climbed and beat the biggest heavyweight champion in the history of UFC, Stipe Miocic, via what was at the time an impressive first-round knockout of the UFC. UFC 226. He then ensured continuity facing a deadly right hand fighter and an ability from another world to absorb the punishment.

DC became the second person to simultaneously hold two weight category titles in the history of the UFC; became the first to successfully defend UFC titles in two weight classes; and during his career, when he was almost 40, he became a fan favorite after years of inexplicable hatred. This is the kind of year that his greatest rival, Jon Jones, despite all his skills, has never accomplished and will probably never succeed.

Oh, and besides, Cormier now has a heavyweight of 15-0, which places him at the center of the discussions of the biggest heavyweights of all time. If it was not for his deference to Cain Velasquez out of friendship, it is quite possible that he already has the GOAT heavyweight title.

Another year, the rise of Israel Adesanya, 4-0 in nine months against a constantly increasing level of competition, should have been taken into account for FOTY. But there are levels to this, and Cormier has built a historic year in 2018, so Adesnya will have to settle for a distant silver medal.

Close the vote now. Fighter of the year is a settled affair.

UFC 230 quotes

"Sometimes I go in the octagon and I hear," When will this guy get older? " It could happen overnight. I thought it happened this morning when I sneezed and escaped. Seriously. We have some pictures that we could publish later in the week. I sneezed and, as I sneezed, my back escaped. I tried running in the morning and it did not happen. – Daniel Cormier, almost 40 years old, explains how a sneeze almost threw him out of UFC 230.

"I almost got out of this fight. Like literally three days, maybe two days to retire from this fight. I was limping. You can ask Dan Hooker and the people at my gym. I've had the most nasty – I'm going to post the video, so it makes sense. My knee was so inflamed. " Israel Adesanya has also almost withdrawn from UFC 230.

"Israel is a guy who's been up here for a minute, but I really felt that tonight was his first big test. His opponent hits like a truck and wrestles very well, and Madison Square Garden, opening the show, has he delivered? Many people – including myself – think this kid is the future, and he's out to mark it tonight. " – UFC President Dana White is doing everything for the future of Adesanya.

Stock report

Above: Israel Adesanya. Following mixed martial arts is more satisfying than watching The Next One increase. Sometimes fighters have to take the long way to get there, like Max Holloway or Tony Ferguson, who have set up a double-digit winning streak to climb to the top. Sometimes they also have the indisputable "it" factor that controls the projector. Part of the plot of Conor McGregor's ascent (or for long-time fans, Georges St-Pierre's run to his first reign in the title, or for medium-term fans, Jon Jones ) was the feeling that every step of the way was as much to prove him a hype – the next Houston Alexander or Ricco Rodriguez – rather than the next superstar. And when we go through each of these tests when people are waiting for you to fail, this is the real test ground.

That's exactly what Adesanya accomplished last night. Adesanya is now 4-0 at the UFC since February, resuming the fight of the year if it was not a year that included the DC race. After answering doubts about his stamina with his five-lap win over Brad Tavares in his first big UFC tournament, "The Last Style Bender" then came out to dismiss questions about how he would handle a wrestler. Adesanya pissed off one of the best wrestlers in the middleweight division at Derek Brunson, then took a chance when Brunson became frustrated and did the job with absolutely frightening efficiency. If Adesanya becomes champion, we could consider UFC 230 as McGregor's equivalent beating Chad Mendes; Jones defeating Ryan Bader; or GSP beating Frank Trigg on their heights.

Esther Lin, MMA Combat

Hold: Derrick Lewis. Yeah, I know: after losing to Cormier on Saturday night, how can Derrick Lewis not be called "down"? But that would lose sight of the global perspective. It took a strange convergence of events for "The Black Beast" to even be offered a title under the UFC 230, a combination of fallout from the battle and the absence of 39, a main event "worthy of MSG", all of which fell into the green. A few days after Lewis scored a miraculous goal in a fight against UFC 229, he was losing against Alexander Volkov.

What we saw from Lewis just being put in the position of being offered a dazzling championship match in a bottle was one of the biggest descents driven by the heart and determination we will ever see in this sport. Lewis won nine of the ten will battles and a big right hand. He will be the first to tell you that his skills are limited. But few have made the most of it. So, I'm not going to criticize Lewis too much for defeat, and if, from there, he's passionate about the fun fights and the fight to earn bonus money, it's absolutely acceptable to me.

Down: Chris Weidman. Here's what's more difficult to give to Weidman: The former UFC middleweight champion has been at the center of every one of his three defeats in four fights since that year. he dropped the belt at Luke Rockhold, until he was defeated by a fashion disaster. But the defeat against Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza last night is perhaps the most cruel of all.

Weidman's shot was clear, his fuel tank was full, and he seemed about to win the kind of victory that would have led to headlines proclaiming him back in the title race. All this was eliminated in a fraction of a second, while Jacare literally beat him in the middle of the third round of a phenomenal fight. It's a shame to see this happen to a person as talented as Chris Weidman, but it's a ruthless sport and one has to wonder just how much these losses are one too many.

Top: Jacare Souza. The other side of the coin is the challenge of this co-main event of the UFC 230 which was as heavy for Souza as for Weidman. Souza is 38 and has entered the losing fight in two of his last three games. A loss suddenly makes him look old, as unfair as it may be. But Souza took it out as well as he took it, tried on more than one occasion during which he appeared to be on the ropes, then dug deep to find something more when he needed it most. . It is the business of the champions. And indeed, with a punch, the former Strikeforce champion has rejected any attempt to call him in check and may well be the next in line for the winner of Robert Whittaker against Kelvin Gastelum.

up: Jared Cannonier. I can not lie here: I gave Cannonier little luck defeating David Branch at UFC 230. Cannonier fought very fast (although already in the camp for a different fight); he was fighting a difficult and accomplished enemy in Branch who was competing in his hometown; and it remained to be seen how a competitor who fought as high as a heavyweight would look like after reaching average weight for the first time.

It turned out that he looked really good. Cannonier weighed less than 1.2 kg below the limit, then discovered that his power was certainly reflected in the new weight class, as he dropped Branch with a huge right hand at the beginning of the second and lost little time finishing it. from there. Cannonier recently left Alaska to settle in Arizona to join The MMA Lab. His results show that a guy who seemed to have all the pieces of the puzzle in front of him is finally figuring out how to assemble them.

Official Affairs

Wait a minute … did we go through a major MMA event without the New York State Sports Commission doing an embarrassing show? We were doing. Sensational. Maybe they finally understood the problem of MMA after all.

But that does not mean that we have completely liberated ourselves. It was obvious that Weidman was about to hit the carpet after Souza connected with his right to the temple. Weidman's dazed attempt at Souza in the single leg was a reminder of the occasions when the fighters tried to bring down referees when they did not know that a fight had been fired and that they could not distinguish the referee from their opponent. Souza did not want to continue punishing Weidman. But referee Dan Miragliotta appeared to be the only member of the MSG not to recognize the situation. For a verified reference among the best, these things seem to happen a little too often when Big Dan is the third man in the cage.

Fight that I would like to see next: all that Daniel Cormier wants to do

If it were all up to me, I would ask Jones to weigh heavily, to meet Cormier over there and see how the fight would be played without Cormier being forced to run out of steam before going to 205 This would give a new breath to a trilogy that simply can not organize another light heavyweight meeting.

But neither Jones nor Cormier seem interested in meeting at 265. So, if DC is really considering honoring its wish to retire before age 40 in March, then all the better. Let him call his shot. He deserved it. If he wants to play with Brock Lesnar in the easiest fight of his life, and if enough people are still interested in the mystique of Lesnar to make it a big event, go for it. Make this big salary. If not, fight Miocic again, or fight Jones at 205 if you must. Cormier has given much more to this sport than he will ever give him back, so at this point I have the right to let him call his shot before his release.