Daniel Cormier knocked out Derrick Lewis in the second round to retain his heavyweight title on Saturday night at UFC 230.
Cormier had called out former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE star Brock Lesnar for a match in the near feature. UFC president Dana White has said he wanted a Lesnar and Cormier bout signed for next year.
“Two belts for each shoulder! I get to look at this again. It’s history and Daniel Cormier is one of the best of all-time.” Cormier said.
“A lot of people have to understand that I’ve been doing this for nine years and I fought at a championship level for eight of them. If you have a puncher’s chance it’s not good enough.” Cormier added.
Meanwhile, Chris Weidman lost to Ronaldo “Jacare”Souza by KO in the third round, in the semifinals of the gala.
Souza (26-6-0) hit Weidman (14-4-0) in the face with a powerful right. Weidman fell heavily to the ground and, believing that referee Dan Miragliotta was going to stop the fight, Souza stopped his attack. Jacaré even addressed a few words to the referee to ask him to end the duel while Weidman, visibly stunned, tried clumsily to defend himself by grabbing Souza’s left leg. He finally had to add three punches for Miragliotta to put an end to the fight.
The third round was the occasion of many exchanges of blows, surprising in a fight between a jiu-jitsu specialist and a wrestler. Both men hit the target in turn, but Souza had the last word.
Ronaldo “Jacare””Souza beats Chris Weidman via 3rd round TKO at UFC 230.
Weidman had many kicks to Souza’s body in the first round, but he also hit the target with a solid right and Jacaré finished the round with a bloody nose. One of the highlights of the first assault came with about 30 seconds to go as both fighters reached their rival’s face simultaneously with a straight line.
Weidman tried to dictate the pace early in the second round, but Souza did not let the nosebleeds slow him down when he did not hesitate to trade with his rival. Jacaré was then the aggressor in the middle of the round until Weidman kicked against an attempt and sent him to the ground. Weidman tried unsuccessfully to take advantage of the opening to complete a bid, but Souza got up quickly and the two fighters finished the hand-to-hand round against the wall of the octagon.
