Luke Rockhold: It was almost like [Daniel Cormier] was a deer in the headlights

Jones had a lot to do with DC getting tired. I swear it's like DC fans never watched a Jones fight before. The man can wrestle, and the fact he can strike you from 6 feet away makes him a freak. His submission of Machida was freakish and so was the way he shook off Vitor's armbar. All that being said, DC had a decent chance of winning the last round but he blew it. Champs leave it all in the ring. Lawler just did it, Jones did it, GSP did it.. That's what champs do. DC tried to wrestlehump Jones in the 5th round and that wasn't going to work.
 
JayElectra said:
I think he got tired more than anything else. He looked a little hesitant and a tad overwhelmed by the situation early in the 1st, but that went away in the last half of the 1st and then in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Basically, he was the first one to slow from the exhausting style of the fight.
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This, pretty much. He gassed first, plus he took the harder hits during their exchanges. His uppercuts and various punches were constantly landing on Jones but in return, he was getting hit with elbows, knees, and low kicks... and we all know elbows on the head and knees to the body hurt like crazy.
 
Quite a bit of the fight was fought in the clinch and that is where DC wanted and had to be to win and while he did some work there it just wasn't enough and Jones body work took a lot out of him. The way I see it Jones was just the better fighter.
 
Yeah when you have that natural adrenaline dump from that early hate filled start plus taking Jones punches to the gut over and over he just faded.

Jones had a better game plan and just out lasted him.
 
I just re-watched the fight. Last night I felt like Jones was more dominant than I do after a second viewing. (Probably because I'm used to seeing Cormier easily dominating his opposition) The first round had no clear winner. The second round Cormier clearly took. The third just like the first was really even. The fourth Jones clearly won (most dominant round of the fight due to Cormier being gassed most likely due to the successful strikes to the body). The fifth was once again really close, and I wouldn't really lean either way.

In comparison to how Cormier's fights usually look I can see where Rockhold is coming from, but in no way did Cormier get dominated by Jones.
 
I agree with Luke, but I attribute it to Jones being very unpredictable in fights, and whatever precautions Cormier took against Jones' creative not being enough to keep him from being somewhat dumbfounded on occasion by Jones' creativity.

Also, I get the feeling that Jones is a lot stronger than Cormier was expecting him to be.
 
true_fan said:
Eye-poke, anyone?
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I was actually surprised at how few eye pokes there were. I'm really not convinced the one he landed really impacted the outcome.

As has been said, I think he got overwhelmed by the barrage of strikes that were constantly coming from every direction.
 
Seemed like DC came ready to throw down and put on a hell of a fight to me.
 
Mostly because he gassed. By the end of round 3 his punches looked like they were being throw underwater.
 
It looked like the event got to him. To be fair I thought it did for Jones too leading into it.
 
Taking heavy shots & knees to the body = gassed

DC, himself, said the bodywork Jones did affected him. I have no doubt there was some serious "tired" in the 5th but a lot comes from the beating they take not just cardio training deficiencies.
 
Eh I'm a fan of Rockhold but teammates are gonna defend their guys and be biased. I mean Luke literally said Cormier was like a brother to him in that interview.

I think it was cardio and Jones body work more than anything that made him seem like that in the later rounds.
 
JayElectra said:
I think he got tired more than anything else. He looked a little hesitant and a tad overwhelmed by the situation early in the 1st, but that went away in the last half of the 1st and then in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Basically, he was the first one to slow from the exhausting style of the fight.
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How did you score the third?
 
MMAFanX said:
How did you score the third?
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I scored it for Cormier. It was a very close round that was dependent on preference, though. I could see it 10-10 or even 10-9 Jones, as well.
 
Those body shots ruined DC
 
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