The UFC 187 card scheduled for May 23 will see a new UFC light heavyweight champion crowned as Daniel Cormier will be facing Anthony Johnson for the vacated title. Late last night the UFC stripped long-time champion Jon Jones following his arrest for fleeing the scene of an accident in New Mexico.
Anthony Johnson deserves nothing but credit for taking this fight on short notice. He is fighting at the highest levels here, and in going from the 6 ft. 4 in. Jones to the 5 ft. 11 in. Cormier, he will be facing a completely different animal. Jones, during his title reign, famously caused the cancellation of a UFC event for not taking a fight under similar circumstances. But Johnson apparently did not blink.
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Johnson is on the verge of possibly writing a great story should he win the title. Johnson competed in the UFC as a welterweight, but he was plagued by problems making weight. A move up to middleweight saw him fail to make weight again, and the UFC unceremoniously cut him. Johnson looked like he was doomed to the B circuit. He popped up in the World Series of Fighting as a light heavyweight, and the rest is history. Johnson won six fights in a row at light heavyweight and heavyweight to establish himself, and since returning to the UFC he has tacked on three more wins, including first round stoppages of Rogerio Noguiera and Alexander Gustafsson.
Cormier was booked to face Ryan Bader on June 6 as the headliner of the UFC’s event scheduled for New Orleans. This will be his first fight since suffering the only loss in his career, which came via a five round decision loss to Jones in his first title shot. Of course, moving up on the schedule is not optimal, but for a shot at the title, Cormier also did not blink.
Early Wednesday morning, the sport books have not posted a line just yet, but expect it to be close.
Johnson was only recently suspended by the UFC over domestic violence allegations, but those appear forgotten and Johnson appears to be on his best behavior, however it will be interesting to see in the case Johnson wins if he can avoid the pitfalls of money and fame better than his predecessor.
