Friday marks the 10-year anniversary of one of the most important main events in UFC history – and also the anniversary of a fight card that was rife with all kinds of issues.
Then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones headlined UFC 182 against arch rival Daniel Cormier. The buildup to their first fight included a press conference faceoff stage shove and melee months earlier, ahead of when the two originally were supposed to meet at UFC 178.
And a few weeks before the fight, Jones was flagged for a drug test failure for cocaine – though he served no suspension because it was out of competition, and the test failure wasn’t announced until three days after his unanimous decision win over Cormier.
The card itself, in the lead-up to the main event, featured seven decisions in the first 10 fights. When the headliner went 25 minutes, the event wound up the third longest total in-cage fight time in UFC history.
The finishes all came on the prelims in the form of knockouts from Shawn Jordan (vs. Jared Cannonier), Cody Garbrandt (vs. Marcus Brimage) and Paul Felder in a short-notice fight against Danny Castillo. Felder and Jordan won bonuses, as did Jones and Cormier.