The UFC 182 card last night saw Jon Jones defend his light heavyweight title against Daniel Cormier over five rounds of action. The entire main card for the UFC had all the bouts go to the judges cards, making for a long night overall.
In The UFC 182 co-main event, Donald Cerrone got his 2015 started in the same way he left off 2014. He scored a dominating win over highly regarded and previously undefeated prospect Miles Jury that ended with a third-round sequence in which the Cowboy landed repeated kicks on a floored Jury.
Cerrone is one of the UFC’s hardest working lightweights, having gone a perfect (4-0) in 2014, and he figures to keep a four-fight a year schedule. As for Jury, it is back to the drawing board, as he really never threatened Cerrone at all and the nightmarish conclusion was a clear sign that Jury is still not ready for a top-five ranking. Sticking Jury in with the likes of a Gilbert Melendez is a sure way for him to get 0-2 in his last two.
At middleweight, Nate Marquardt looked bad in his loss to Brad Tavares, who snapped a two fight losing streak. Marquardt had dropped three in a row at welterweight to practically sign his UFC release, but he defeated James Te Huna upon his return to middleweight that gave people hope. Stick a fork in Marquardt, as he looks to be done.
Hector Lombard defeated Josh Burkman over three rounds, but he did not raise his profile or make a case for the title shot he says he wants. Lombard, as he has done in the past, seemed to take his foot off the gas and he did not appear to try to finish against an outclassed opponent.
It has been a quirk of Cuban boxes such as Erislandy Lara and Guillermo Rigondeaux, so perhaps it is cultural, but just because you are clearly the better fighter in a fight and the opponent presents you with little risk does not mean that you get to take the day off. Lombard needed to show more than he did, and the UFC will likely go with Lawler-Hendricks 3 in the next title bout, and no Lombard has let Rory MacDonald establish himself firmly ahead of him.
Japanese bantamweight prospect Kyoji Horiguchi defeated Louis Gaudinot in a bout that now has Horiguchi at (14-1) overall and (4-0) in the UFC.
Here is Donald Cerrone, post fight:
