UFC's run of strong pay-per-view lineups continues on Saturday at UFC 192 with a main event featuring light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier defending his belt against Alexander Gustafsson.
There was a late-developing story for the pay-per-view involving the semi-main event match between Tyron Woodley and Johny Hendricks. UFC president Dana White announced the welterweight showdown has been taken off the card due to Hendricks' issues cutting weight.
While that does diminish the overall power of the card, Woodley ends up benefiting in the end, as Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reported White will give Woodley the next welterweight title shot after the Robbie Lawler-Carlos Condit matchup.
The championship match has been in the works for some time and should take place at UFC 191, but Cormier suffered a knee injury that pushed it back by four weeks. It's not a long delay, though it's one that has allowed anticipation to build.
Gustafsson is an interesting challenger for the title since he's ranked behind Anthony Johnson, who defeated the Swedish star by a first-round knockout in January, in the official light heavyweight rankings on UFC.com.
Yet this is also a perfect opportunity for Gustafsson to prove he's more than a good fighter who will come up short in major matches. It hasn't happened yet in his career, but the 28-year-old will get another chance to change the narrative around his career on Saturday.
Fighter to Watch: Shawn Jordan
There are certain fighters who provide value, despite not having a ceiling that will put them into championship contention.
Shawn Jordan falls into that category, because he can be as entertaining to watch as any heavyweight UFC currently has on the roster. This is how his last seven fights have gone:
There is something to be said for having a fighter who will simply go all-out in an effort to score a quick knockout, even if it leaves him vulnerable to being knocked out himself.
In Jordan's last fight against Derrick Lewis, there was an incredible finish to the bout that played out like something from a WWE match, via UFC on FOX:
Shawn Michaels never delivered a kick to someone's chin at WrestleMania that looked as good as Jordan's. He is going to make Saturday's bout with Ruslan Magomedov, who is more methodical and willing to fight for the judges' scorecard, as fun as anything that will happen on Saturday.
Main Event Prediction
Cormier comes into Saturday's fight with Gustafsson as a heavy favorite, which he should be. After Johnson defeated Gustafsson, Cormier took care of him at UFC 187 to win the vacant light heavyweight title.
Gustafsson presents interesting physical challenges for Cormier. The 28-year-old is 6'5" and has a 79-inch reach, giving him a six-inch height advantage and seven-inch reach advantage over the champion.
Yet Cormier never seems to be fazed taking on bigger opponents. He was giving up eight inches in reach against Johnson, took a huge right hand early in the fight and still won in impressive fashion with a third-round submission.
B/R's senior MMA analyst, Patrick Wyman, noted in his breakdown of the fight that Cormier is able to make his size work to his advantage despite lacking true knockout power:
He is a competent, meat-and-potatoes striker. Two- and three-punch combinations follow behind the jab, and he is comfortable both moving forward and on the counter, though he prefers the former. While he has knockouts on his record, he is not a terribly powerful puncher on the feet.
If this fight turns into a hand-to-hand battle, Gustafsson has the clear edge. Fortunately, Cormier is more versatile, and his specialty is as a mat technician.
Gustafsson also has to deal with the fact that no one has any idea what he really is as a fighter. There's no question about the raw talent, but he's like a top draft pick who gets by on that potential without really developing.
It was even a brief point of trash talk for Cormier in the lead up to the fight, per Jeff Wagenheim of Sports Illustrated.
“Alex, Alex, Alex, just tell them," Cormier said. "Just tell them, Alex: Your greatest performance was not a loss. Tell them about your big wins.”
That's a reference to Gustafsson's star-making effort against Jon Jones, which came in a loss. Looking at his resume of three losses, one was in a title fight, and the loss against Johnson was supposed to be a No. 1 contender bout.
Gustafsson has acknowledged those past defeats can get to him, telling Elias Cepeda of Fox Sports there's always a "what if?" aspect to any loss.
"What I did wrong, what I could do different, what I should have done. I didn't take the initiative in that fight. I was a slow starter, which is not usually me. I broke it down to the details," Gustafsson said.
Getting over past defeats isn't necessarily what Saturday represents for Gustafsson, as long as he takes lessons from those recent efforts to get over the hump. He's certainly got the power and precision to knock Cormier down.
The only problem is Cormier does such a good job of controlling the tempo of a fight, so Gustafsson will have to fight out of his comfort zone. That's been a problem in the past and doesn't seem likely to change this weekend.
Ultimately, Cormier is the most talented fighter in the light heavyweight division until Jones returns. He's a deserving champion and will prove it once again at UFC 192.
Prediction: Cormier via Third-Round Submission
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