On October 3, 2015, Daniel Cormier went all-out with Alexander Gustafsson in a five-round brawl.
The bout was so action-packed from start to finish that many UFC fans claimed it was the fight of 2015.
9Cormier and Gustafsson went five rounds in the main event at UFC 192Credit: Getty Images – Getty
9Gustafsson was attempting to become just the fifth European to win a UFC titleCredit: Larone
Many people expected the light-heavyweight champ to power straight through Sweden’s Gustafsson, but the latter had other ideas.
Going into the fight, ‘The Mauler’ was eight years the junior to Cormier and had a six inch height advantage over the future UFC Hall of Famer.
That is probably why, 45 seconds into the fight, ‘DC’ picked Gustafsson off the ground, flipped him over and slammed him straight into the canvas.
Luckily for the Swede, it was his lower back that took most of the impact, having almost gone a full 180 degrees by the time he hit the deck.
But Gustafsson did well to get right back into the fight, landing leg kicks and nearly turning the champion’s lights out with a devastating uppercut heading into round two.
The challenger started to find his rhythm as the fight went on, using his six-and-a-half inch reach advantage to connect multiple jabs, which cut ‘DC’ open.
Gustafsson even landed an unexpected takedown at one point and threw numerous dangerous knees, which Cormier capitalised on by transitioning into the clinch.
Both men continued to break each other down, but with less than one minute to go, you wondered how ‘DC’ survived a devastating knee to the head that sent him crashing to the floor.
Gustafsson went for the finish but was unsuccessful, much to the Texas crowd’s amusement.
Both men looked out on their feet as the fight came to a conclusion, and they continued to throw all sorts of combinations to try and finish one another.
9Cormier used both hands to big Gustafsson upCredit: Larone
9Carry him away from the cageCredit: Larone
9And slam him into the groundCredit: Larone
9With all of his forceCredit: Larone
9Gustafsson responded with a brutal kneeCredit: Larone
9That sent Cormier crashing to the floorCredit: Larone
In the last 30 seconds, it looked like both men had been through a war as the crowd took to their feet to applaud what had been a sensational main event.
Cormier would come out on top at UFC 192, winning on two of the judge’s scorecards, to retain his light heavyweight belt by split decision.“Thank you Alex,” Cormier said in his post-fight octagon interview with Joe Rogan.
“You made me a better man tonight.”
After the fight, Cormier would go on to pick up wins over Anderson Silva and Anthony Johnson before his rematch with Jones.
Jones won the pair’s second bout via head kick at UFC 214, but the fight was rules a no contest as ‘Bones’ tested positive for the steroid Turinabol.
9Jones stopped Cormier when they rematched but it was ruled a no-contestCredit: Getty – Contributor
Cormier will be on the microphone for Dana White’s promotion at UFC 307 this weekend as Alex Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree Jr.
TalkSPORT.com has you covered for everything UFC 307, which also features a women’s co-main event title fight, Jose Aldo, Kevin Holland and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
