Daniel Cormier knows who he is picking for next month’s (Sat. March 2, 2019) UFC 235 pay-per-view (PPV) main event.
Jon Jones will defend his light heavyweight championship against Anthony Smith. Given Smith’s most recent performance against Volkan Oezdemir, “DC” is picking his old foe to remain champion when it’s all is said and done in Las Vegas (via MMA Mania):
“I think he loses to Jones. He won that Volkan [Oezdemir] fight but to struggle that much, it’s very difficult for me because it’s going to make me say something that sounds negative about these guys but I’ve been in there with Volkan and I know that although he’s a good martial artist, there are just holes in the game that make the fight not that hard or as hard as some other fights are,” Cormier said.
“He struggled mightily with the man and that was enough to tell me he was going to struggle when he got to the best light heavyweights and now he’s facing the best light heavyweight. I think he’s going to have a tough time.”
Smith is currently on a three-fight win streak. He is a longtime veteran of the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). “Lionheart” has fought under the banners of Strikeforce, Bellator, and, of course, the UFC. His latest win resulted in a third-round submission win over Oezdemir in October.
Now, he’ll attempt to become the first man to legitimately defeat Jones inside the Octagon. Jones is one of the most dominant fighters the sport has ever seen, as he has taken out a laundry list of greats over the span of his career. This will be Jones’ first title defense since 2015.
What do you think about Cormier’s analysis of Jones vs. Smith?
