The best and worst from UFC 230

#2 Worst: Main event leaves mixed emotions

Daniel Cormier is an all-time great - so why can't the fans seem to take to him?

Okay, so no serious MMA analysts were really giving Derrick Lewis anything other than a puncher’s chance last night. He was clearly outgunned in all other areas – wrestling, submissions, cardio, even technical striking – and unsurprisingly, Daniel Cormier had no problem in taking him down, dominating him from the top, and eventually choking him out.

So why did it leave a lot of people – myself included – with mixed emotions? I think a lot of it was to do with the fact that the crowd seemed to have bought into Lewis’s underdog story, and seemed deflated when it was clear he had nothing for Cormier. They barely even popped when ‘DC’ called out Brock Lesnar post-fight.

Cormier is a curious case in that despite having great mic skills, a lot of charisma, a fun fighting style and clearly being a nice guy, a lot of fans simply can’t seem to take to him. Whether that’s the Jon Jones effect or something else, I don’t know, but it’s a little worrying for me given the UFC will clearly look to position him as the “good guy” in his upcoming match with Lesnar.

Which brings us onto another slight downer – Lesnar won the WWE Universal title on Friday and was then nowhere to be seen last night. If you believe Dana White he was never supposed to be there, but how sure can we really be that he actually wants to do this UFC fight with Cormier? Sure, he’ll make a lot of money, but he’ll probably lose badly in the process too.

The broadcast last night ended with Joe Rogan, Jon Anik and Paul Felder discussing whether a Cormier/Lesnar fight is a good or a bad thing, and despite the publicity, it’s already drawn so far, I’m not sure that I wouldn’t fall into the latter opinion.