Daniel Cormier Retires Anthony Johnson And Retains His Title At UFC 210

UFC 210 went down from the KeyBank Arena in Buffalo, New York and featured a main event between UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and heavy hitting challenger Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson. The fight was a rematch of a hard fought battle between the two back in May of 2015 that saw Cormier choke out Johnson halfway through the third round. So the question going into the fight: could Rumble come back and knock out Cormier? Or would Cormier out-wrestle and break Johnson yet again?

The fight started out with Cormier and Johnson spending a lot of time up against the cage, which was clearly to Cormier’s advantage. But a break by the ref after Cormier grabbed the fence led to a savage flurry from Johnson that hit Cormier in the stomach with a hard kick and then a punch to the face that broke his nose. That led Daniel to play an even closer game in the second round, once again holding Johnson up against the fence whenever possible. Johnson, strangely enough, didn’t take opportunities to break away, and even went for takedowns during the wall and stall.

That didn’t end well for him when Cormier turned the tables and took Johnson down, quickly taking his back and working for a choke. The fight came to an end when Cormier pulled Johnson’s head back with one arm to slide his other under the neck. From there the choke was locked in and ‘Rumble’ was forced to tap once again in a near mirror image of their first fight.

After the fight, Anthony Johnson stunned the arena by announcing his retirement, saying he was ready to move on to another career that he had waiting for him that didn’t involve getting punched on the regular. As for what’s next for Daniel Cormier? Probably a date with Jon Jones, who returns from a 12 month drug suspension in July. With the UFC holding UFC 213 that month, many are expecting the promotion to throw the two together on that card.

For more UFC 210 results, click here.