It was the chance of a lifetime for two men.
For Daniel Cormier, Saturday’s main event fight against Stipe Miocic represented the ultimate opportunity: a chance to cement himself as one of the greatest fighters in UFC history, and very likely the undisputed greatest of all time.
Yes, this is despite his losses to Jon Jones. Cormier is will always live in the shadow of Jones’ greatness, at least in the eyes of fans who are willing to overlook his personal darkness and the pall it casts over his career as a whole.
And yet, this one thing remains true: A man who can win a championship in the UFC’s light heavyweight division and then move up a division to face a man who might be the greatest of all time in his weight class, and then beat that man resoundingly and in the first round, is either the greatest of all time, or solidly in second place at the very worst.