Trading Shots: What are Johnson and Cormier really fighting for at UFC 187?

Anthony Johnson

In this week’s Trading Shots, MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes and retired UFC/WEC fighter Danny Downes discuss the peculiar circumstances of UFC 187’s light heavyweight title fight, and what’s really at stake in the absence of the former champ.

Fowlkes: Danny, UFC 187 is nearly upon us, and what was recently a mega-card is now merely a really good one, with former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones getting yanked and Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier set to fight for the 205-pound strap in his stead.

Let’s start with this: What are these two fighting for on Saturday night? I know the winner will get a big gold belt and all that, but come on. I could make you a gold belt (well, not personally; I’m no longer allowed to work with either precious metals and/or leather), but it wouldn’t make you champion of anything. You feel me?

Downes: Normally it pains me to agree with you, but I think you’re on to something. We can call this fight a “championship” bout all we want, but we all know it’s for a paper title. The fact that it’s occurring over Memorial Day weekend makes it even worse. Do you think George Washington would have crossed the Delaware River if he knew Lord Cornwallis was suspended by George III? Of course not!

That’s not to say that the winner of Cormier vs. Johnson isn’t one of the best light heavyweight fighters in the world. We just shouldn’t consider him the champion. This isn’t like Georges St-Pierre vacating the welterweight title. This isn’t even like Dominick Cruz being unable to defend his belt. The real champion is sidelined (for justifiable reasons), but he still looms over the fight. He’s not injured. He’s not retired. He’s unable to compete because of personal conduct.

Even if we were to agree that Cormier vs. Johnson isn’t for the “true” championship, what are they fighting for? Outside of a marketing gimmick to make it for some type of shiny gold belt, aren’t they just fighting for a No. 1 contender spot?

And let’s say Cormier wins. We know that Jones took care of him soundly in their fight. How are we supposed to view him? At the same time, what other recourse was there? Was there any other way to save the card? People love shiny gold things, right? Wasn’t this a genius move?

Fowlkes: I’m glad you mentioned the Dominick Cruz situation at bantamweight. Seems to me that, back when Renan Barao was making the transition from interim champ to full-time champ (not to mention the transition from human to monster), a lot of people did regard his belt as a paper title. Even if they understood and respected the UFC’s decision to strip Cruz after yet another injury forced yet another delay in his return, they still couldn’t escape the fact that the current champ had never beaten the former champ.

But now look. Barao dropped the belt to T.J. Dillashaw, who now walks around with it on his shoulder like his is the one and only UFC bantamweight title. Most people seem more or less willing to accept that.

Why is that? Is it because enough time has passed since the last time we saw Cruz in the cage? Is it because the belt – whether it was made of paper, gold, or children’s tears – got legitimized by changing hands in memorable fashion? Can a UFC title be essentially laundered in this way, as long as it passes through an intermediary first?

Say, for the sake of argument, Johnson wins (which, as we’ve discussed, will force us to figure out how we feel about having a man with domestic violence issues in his past as our UFC champion). Then say Jones is reinstated, only to be sidelined by injury. Meanwhile, some other light heavyweight charges up the ranks and takes the belt.

If Jones is gone long enough, will fans gradually forget about him and start thinking of this belt as the real thing? Or is there something different about him, and about his situation, that will prevent Jones from ever being another Cruz?

Downes: One factor that makes it easier to accept Johnson vs. Cormier is the length of Jones’s suspension. Now we all know “indefinite” could be five days or five months, but it still adds an element of the unknown. If the UFC came out and said that Jones was suspended for a designated set of time, it wouldn’t make sense to have a title fight.

You’re correct in your assessment of the bantamweight title picture. People more or less accept the fact that Dillashaw is the one “true” champion. The problem, though, is that we haven’t seen Dominick Cruz fight. Yes, we saw him fight in September, but that might as well have been 100 years ago in MMA time. When Dominick Cruz fights again, it better be for the bantamweight title. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Now that I think about it, the degrees of separation only go so far. What if Cruz lost to Mizugaki back in September? No one would have considered Mizugaki the champion. It would have just been a “good win.”

If that scenario plays out like you said, I think you’re correct in assuming that fans would view whoever wins the title as more “legitimate” than the winner this coming weekend. But I think it works out for a different reason. Doesn’t Johnson have to win this weekend for the title to seem worthwhile? It’s not the fact that Jones beat Cormier. It’s the fact that he did it in his last fight and looked dominant in the process. At least with Johnson we can say that we don’t know yet if Jones can beat him.

I guess the one thing I’m wondering is, “What’s the benefit?” Why make this fight for the light heavyweight interim, provisional, conditional title? Isn’t it just a greater distraction?

Fowlkes: Consider the alternatives. If you accept that stripping Jones of the title and slapping him with a suspension was the appropriate response to his most recent (alleged) transgressions, and I do, then you have to get on with life at light heavyweight.

You also have to try your best to hold UFC 187 together, and a three-round, non-title bout with unclear stakes at 205 pounds might not accomplish that. Cue the gold belt, whatever you want to tell yourself it actually means.

But see, even while I recognize that the winner of this fight won’t be the real light heavyweight champion, I still think the complexity of the whole situation is so interesting that I don’t really care.

Of course the winner is going to want to be recognized as champ. Of course we, the viewing public, will offer our own opinions as to that champ’s legitimacy. Of course the former champ will eventually get around to pointing out (preferably via a quickly deleted tweet) that the current champ hasn’t really won anything yet. A day of reckoning then approaches. Suddenly the division that was in danger of becoming a one-man show just got a lot more fascinating.

If I could have one wish in all this, it would be for the UFC to treat the situation honestly. Admit what you’re doing here. Admit that the winner of this fight, while he will have accomplished something, can’t be called the one true champion just yet. Don’t try to spin it. Just accept it for what it is.

That’s hard for the UFC, I know. Already you look at the ads for UFC 187 and you hear Mike Goldberg shouting, over images of Cormier, “He’s ready for another shot at the title!” Which makes you wonder, wait, wasn’t his last fight his first and so far only shot at the title? When did you record this sound bite? Why are you trying to make it seem like Cormier fought his way back here, when we all know he was given the opportunity thanks mostly to Jones’ mistakes and his own availability? Dammit, can’t you just tell the truth?

That’s all I want here, Danny. Give it to us straight. Let it play out how it’s going to play out. Because honestly? It’s a pretty interesting situation. All the UFC has to do is let it be what it really is. Is that so hard?

Downes: It sounds like you’re playing both sides of the fence here. You admit that the addition of the title shot makes things more interesting, but you still want to diminish it. If we’re being “honest” then we are probably going to cheapen the stakes. You can’t call it a title fight and then say that Cormier only got there through default. That makes the fight seem even less appealing.

I also think that it’s hard to give it to us straight when there are so many variables. You make it sound like everything has been thought out, but I think the more likely scenario is that there’s a lot of improvisation going on. The title shot was a quick response to an unforeseen situation. They stopped the bleeding, that was the important thing. Now the greater game unfolds.

We’ll see the response after the fight. Will the UFC pretend that Jones doesn’t exist? Will Cormier or Johnson admit that they aren’t the “true” champion? Does Jones start his troll game early? There are a lot of questions, and few answers. At least we’ll get one more Saturday.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Danny Downes, a retired UFC and WEC fighter, is an MMAjunkie contributor who also writes for UFC.com and UFC 360. Follow them on twitter at @benfowlkesMMA and @dannyboydownes.