Cormier backs up his words at UFC 210
Light-heavyweight champ chokes out Johnson, who nearly upstages main event by announcing retirement
BUFFALO — Daniel Cormier said Anthony Johnson couldn’t beat him. The light-heavyweight champion backed up his words on Saturday night at UFC 210.
Cormier choked out Johnson midway through the second round to retain his light-heavyweight crown.
In a shocking turn of events, Johnson then stood in the middle of the octagon and announced his retirement.
Johnson said he knew coming into this fight that it would be his last one.
“I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want any distractions,” Johnson told the sold-out crowd at the KeyBank Center.
“I’m tired of getting punched for a living, I want to do something else. And what better place to announce it than in Buffalo!”
This fight went pretty much like Cormier’s victory over the heavy-hitting Johnson at UFC 187, only quicker. It took Cormier three rounds to submit Johnson in that one.
Cormier said if he could take Johnson past 7½ minutes, the total time Johnson spent in the octagon during his last three fights, all wins by TKO/ KO, that he would win the fight. And those words prove to be right.
Johnson, possibly the hardest hitter in all of the UFC, just had no answer to Cormier ground game, and he got choked out with little struggle.
CHRIS CROSSED
The middleweight fight between No. 4 Chris Weidman and No. 5 Gegard Mousasi ended in controversy and boos at 1:41 of the second round.
Weidman, the former middleweight champion, was stunned by a couple of hard knees to the head in the round while his hands were touching the ground and thought Mousasi had done something illegal.
The fight came to a standstill as Weidman was given time to recover, but the American was clearly shaken and seemingly unable to continue and after an out-of-ring official was called into the octagon to confer with referee Big John McCarthy, the fight was called and given to Mousasi as a TKO win.
THAT’S ALL FOLKS!
A battered and bloodied Patrick Cote stood in the middle of the octagon after losing a unanimous decision to fellow welterweight Thiago Alves and announced his retirement.
The 37-year-old Cote, whose record now stands at 24-11, had hinted that this could be his last fight. The lone Canadian at UFC 210 said afterwards that he was planning to retire win or lose, but one has to wonder if the one-sided loss contributed to his decision.
Cote and fellow veteran Alves gave the fans pretty much what was expected of them: They stood in the octagon and slugged it out for three rounds.
Unfortunately for the Canadian, he was bloodied and battered by the end, and although game throughout this contest, he was outmanned.
Cote had a big smile on his face when it was over and gave Alves a big kiss on the cheek.