IT HAS BEEN confirmed that the eagerly-anticipated rematch between Daniel Cormier (18-1) and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson (22-5) will headline UFC 210, which is set to take place in Buffalo on 8 April.
The UFC announced in the early hours of this morning that Cormier will defend his light-heavyweight title against the man he won it at the expense of in May 2015.
After legal issues stemming from a hit-and-run incident forced Jon Jones to relinquish the 205lbs title, Cormier submitted Johnson in the third round of a bout for the vacated belt at UFC 187 in Las Vegas.
Cormier has gone on to record wins over Alexander Gustafsson and Anderson Silva (in a non-title bout), while Johnson worked his way back into the number one contender’s spot courtesy of knockouts of Jimi Manuwa, Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira.
Cormier and Johnson were due to meet in a rematch in last month’s UFC 206 main event in Toronto, but an injury forced the champion to withdraw.
UFC 210 at Buffalo’s KeyBank Centre will also feature a recently announced middleweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and former champion Chris Weidman.
If, IF this fight goes ahead it will be Cormier’s first defence since October 2015. Making their decision to strip McGregor and hand out interim titles in his divisions left right and centre even stupider.
@Kris Ertz: Cormier was scheduled to defend against Jones in April before getting injured and scheduled again in July before Jones failed a drugs test. He fought on a day’s notice vs Anderson Silva in a non-title fight because Silva didn’t want a 5-round fight because of the shape he was in. If things had gone his way he would’ve had at least 1 title fight, whereas McGregor has chased money fights outside of his division with no interest in defending his belt, holding up the division.
UFC’s light heavies could really use a superstar, Bones is gone, Cormier has no excitement to him at all, dull as dishwater but will more than likely grind at poor auld rumble and win.
If Gus can make it back from injury and get a couple of wins he’d be right up there. Unreal fights with DC and bones, both of which could have gone either way
Rumble is a bona-fide superstar