Chael Sonnen’s UFC 182 Breakdown: ‘It won’t be a close fight’

“So now, how does Cormier win? And he can win. But he has to pressure him. He has to close that distance. He can’t circle with him. The length alone takes that ability away. Plus we saw Vitor do that, it doesn’t work. No matter how good of a striker you are, if you’re not in range to strike it doesn’t count. Cormier understands this concept. And Cormier will close the distance and start to fight from there and he will throw hard punches, very hard. He will get to that clinch position and push him into the fence. Can he keep him there? That is the question. Cormier believes he can keep him there.”

“Desire trumps everything in sports. Everything takes a back seat to desire. I think Daniel Cormier has the desire. I know Jon says he has it, but in theory Jon has already climbed that mountain six times. Been there, done that, made the money, had the glory. You can say you are hungry to do it again, but the truth is you are just not. You are not as hungry as the first time you did it. I think that could tip in Daniel’s favor. I don’t know if the gap between who wants it more is significant enough to actually affect the outcome.”

“At the end of the night, the shock is going to be how easy the winner wins the fight. One of these guys is going to impose… Forget the fact that Jon has good wrestling, the same as you can forget that Cormier has good striking. It’s not dominant. Cormier is either going to succeed at grinding him, closing that distance and fighting him from that close clinch space, either on their feet or on the ground, or he’s not.

“If he succeeds in that he is going to kick Jones’ ass. If he doesn’t succeed in getting into the close quarters, he is getting his ass kicked. It’s not going to be competitive. One guy is going to run away with this thing. I do believe it goes all five rounds. I don’t see any quit out of either one of those guys. I definitely don’t see knockout power or a submission hold, but I think someone is getting their ass kicked for five-straight rounds. I think it’s lopsided.”

During a recent chat with MMAMania.com’s Michael Stets,  Chael P. Sonnen broke down tonight’s main event between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.

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