Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson 2: Is this fight even relevant?

Everyone really wants to see Jon Jones fight in the Light Heavyweight Division title fights.

Nobody cares about Johnson or Cormier, right?

What are their most redeeming qualities?

Johnson fits the bill figuratively and literally as the poster-boy of a fighting league. You can market his youthful explosive energy and younger chiseled face. That’s clearly what the WME thinks putting him all over the fight promo poster and featuring him over the champion himself none other than the Olympic wrestler and Division 1 NCAA champion Daniel “DC” Cormier.

Everyone is a sucker for a good coming of age story too. Nobody cares though nonetheless, right?

Well there is one unique aspect about this fight. The two fighting in it are the actual two best fighters in the division. Imagine that, it’s been several PPV events since we even saw the two topped ranked fighters fight. Not only are they the top two fighters in the division, but they have also both recently beaten the majority of the top ranked fighters in their division.

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson just decisively KO’d the very dangerous striker and highly regarded Glover Teixeira and Cormier is coming off a victory over both top ranked Gustaffson and Johnson, not to mention Anderson Silva who filled in for the disqualified Jon Jones in UFC 200.

This is actually the only relevant fight in a long time. Yes, it seems like an afterthought to most casual observers of the fight game but I expect the viewers will be quite surprised.

Cormier, the veteran master of his craft, will most likely prevail with his well-rounded skill sets and time tested mastery of strategy in Olympic and World Championship MMA, but I think the viewers will not only see a great fight, they will see how a division gains the spotlight through the process of fighting the best versus the absolute best.

The UFC grew to its mammoth 4 billion dollar price tag by sticking to this formula and gaining die hard fans in the process. They started off with a few million dollars losing money and rose to the new center of fighting in the world doing simply just that, fighting the best.

MMA isn’t about creating story lines.

“Truth is always stranger than fiction.”

GSP lost several times before securing his 7-year reign at the top of UFC. He even lost the title getting KO’d in round one by Matt Serra. He got the rematch, unlike Rockhold who is the actual best middleweight in the world.

This loss did the opposite of hurt George St. Pierre or his viewership. Instead, it made George St. Pierre, the legendary superstar of MMA fighting the household name and hero – GSP.

Getting knocked out formed the foundation of the best strategy in UFC history an indefensible takedown followed by a ground and pound that left all his future opponents weakened before they even got the chance to challenge the already formidable fighter.

Look at the two classics between Rua and Henderson. Nobody cared that they both had lost their air of invincibility. Two of the best in the division was enough to bring the fans to their feet applauding two of the greatest fights in UFC history.

By fighting two of the best, MMA fans were given the gift of watching two of the best fights ever seen in MMA.

Thompson was rushed to the top never facing a true top 2 contender before failing to capture the belt, twice. Yet again he seems the perfect poster-boy so why not push him faster than he should be pushed thinks the WME who got grief for a lackluster title fight at UFC 209 that they manufactured.

Bisping hasn’t even fought anyone in the top 10 and won’t fight anyone in the top 10 for the next year and a half since the GSP fight has just been announced for next fall.

WME just doesn’t understand the fight game.

You can avoid one top contender for a couple of years if you beat everyone else, but the fans won’t buy into complete nonsense.

Mayweather avoided a couple fights but overall beat Cotto, Hatton, De la Hoya and many other of the best. WME seems to want to copy Mayweather’s style of padding his record a little but doesn’t realize that he also beat the top contenders for over a decade straight.

Didn’t they notice his last fluff fight got the lowest PPV viewing of any of his fights for the last ten years? This isn’t the movie business where you can put a couple big name actors in and guarantee a payday.

Cormier vs Johnson 2 is the best fighting the best.

I think the famous Light Heavyweight division which featured the greats Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Lyoto Machida, Jon Jones and so many more will return to it’s place at the top of the great sport of MMA because right now it’s the division following the proven formula that has brought MMA to the top of the fight world.

Dare to watch it and I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised by a great fight at UFC Cormier vs Johnson 2, the true best of the best fighting it all out to the extreme of MMA fighting.

this article comes to you via @EdwardGross11