Mouth-watering rivalries on the menu
UFC: April’s Jones-Cormier rematch just the first of many standout fights scheduled for the octagon this season E. Spencer Kyte
Afew weeks ago before the UFC 196 weigh-ins, a host of future headline acts took to the stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the organization’s latest seasonal launch.
This one, titled Unstoppable and featuring bouts scheduled between April and June, might have been the best yet — and that’s saying something, given that last fall Conor McGregor went in on literally everyone sitting with a name card in front of them and delivered his “red panty night” speech that has become its own hashtag.
What made this event special is that out of the 10 bouts that were represented on the dais, half of them are legitimate, heated rivalries and the animosity between the impending combatants cranks the anticipation level up to 11.
UFC security boss Joe Williams had to be stationed between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha because the strawweight champ and her nemesis looked ready to start throwing water bottles and fists … again.
Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman, the current and former middleweight champions who will face off for a second time at UFC 199 in June, picked up where they left off before their first encounter, sick of hearing the other’s thoughts on their matchup and counting down the days until they get to fight for a second time. From today, it’s just 67 more days; not that I’m counting.
Setting the table for that second clash will be a trilogy bout between bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and his longtime rival Urijah Faber, who have been at odds with each other since long before their UFC days. Almost five years after their second fight, they’ll finally meet in a rubber match and the verbal sparring that leads into that bout should be outstanding, if Cruz calling Faber “T.J. Dillashaw’s grandfather” is any indication.
The most intriguing and entertaining of the bunch, of course, is the upcoming second clash between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, which has taken on pieces of a professional wrestling rivalry and should only keep getting better until they meet at UFC 197 next month.
Jones, stripped of the light-heavyweight title last year following a hit and run in New Mexico, walked on stage with a UFC championship belt to a massive ovation. Cormier, the two-time Olympian, reigning champion and model citizen compared to his adversary, was booed mercilessly: The “squeaky clean” star the fans don’t like, especially when compared to the cocky, troubled anti-hero who also happens to be one of the best fighters to ever walk this Earth.
And as much as these are all competitive contests between elite athletes, they are also feuds that generate a heightened level of interest, which is what the UFC needs to keep churning out right now. Interest in the sport is trending upward and rivalries like these will only help maintain that momentum in the weeks and months ahead.