Instant Reaction: UFC 187

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12:42 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: With the Yuma-Lafayette Connection in Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier now having UFC tag team titles, American Kickboxing Academy has two UFC champs. But, if fortune smiles on Luke Rockhold and Khabib Nurmagomedov, by early next year, they could have four of them. A fantastic way to cap probably the best start-to-finish MMA card this year, all things considered.

Even if I didn't get to hear Ray Longo in the corner.

12:37 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: The official time is 2:39 of the third round. There's no doubt in my mind that Cormier would've rather beaten Jon Jones and become the “real” champ, but he's in the history book all the same.

“Jon Jones, get your s--- together! I'm waiting for you!” Daniel Cormier yells into the mic before exiting the cage abruptly. That's how you cut a promo.

12:34 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: And there it is. Johnson threw a couple more heaters early in round three, but Cormier got him down and went right back to punishing him. Thorough attrition by Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson couldn't handle it. You could tell Johnson's corner knew their fighter was breaking down and just didn't know how to stop it. Johnson let Cormier hit another go-behind to the rear waistlock, Cormier sunk his hooks, rear-naked choke and Daniel Cormier is your new UFC light heavyweight champion.

12:31 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: The second round was an even more exaggerated example of the first round's dynamic. Johnson came out like gangbusters, smashing Cormier with kicks and thirsty for the knockout. Cormier absorbed them, overcame, got Johnson down and put in work. Johnson was absolutely exhausted on bottom, taking huge, desperate breaths. Johnson is cut up now and Cormier is asserting his control over the fight. It's 19-19, but Johnson looks thoroughly despirited in his corner as Henri Hooft yells at him to inspire him.

12:23 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: Opening round is 10-9 Johnson, largely because he dropped Cormier for the first time in his career in the opening seconds with a vicious overhand right. Cormier recovered quickly and started wrestling Johnson, forcing him to clinch and defend, trying to take the wind out of his sails. It may prove effective, but Johnson is on the board due to the early start.

12:11 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's also an interesting place for Daniel Cormier, competitively. What if he gets clobbered by Johnson? He goes from an unbeaten pound-for-pound level fighter to a guy riding a two-fight losing streak who failed in back-to-back UFC title attempts, which is not an easy position to be in.
12:05 a.m. ET Jordan Breen: Main event is up. Time to crown the 13th UFC light heavyweight champion and yes, pedants, I know Frank Shamrock was “middleweight” champion. Shut up.

While admittedly, it's not all a champioship bout could be, given that Jon Jones is not a part of it and he is the best fighter in the division and the world. However, we'll either have one of the biggest hitters in MMA history, who debuted at 170 pounds, taking 205-pound gold, or another Olympian take UFC gold. Would be even more special for Cormier, who never got the biggest individual accolades in wrestling, especially in his Olympic journey, where he finished 4th in 2004, then couldn't wrestle in 2008 after his kidneys shut down while cutting weight.

There's no way to simply ignore Jon Jones' absence. It's an enormous void, especially when you're talking about a fight that theoretically is supposed to determine the best light heavyweight in the world. However, given the situation, you couldn't put together a more competitively intriguing championship bout.

11:55 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: What a stereotypical Vitor Belfort performance. He hurt Weidman with a big flurry of punches and smashed his eye open... then got taken down, instantly mounted and pulverized. If someone had never seen Vitor Belfort fight before and you somehow wanted to encapsulate the themes of his entire career, this might be the one that you choose. Also, Weidman's ground-and-pound was accurate and vicious from full mount, a position where so often we see two-handed flailing. Great finish for the champ at 2:53 of the first round.

Most importantly, Weidman is healthy. Now, let's wrap Luke Rockhold in bubble wrap until later this year. The new middleweight generation finally feels like it's more fully upon with the “young dinosaur” finally meeting his meteor.

11:47 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: I'm very curious what if any offense Belfort can get off here. Weidman is obviously going to pressure him and try to break him as soon as humanly possible, but Weidman can be a tad overzealous at times. Can Belfort sneak some left hands in there? I don't see him having the armbar luck he had with Jon Jones, since Weidman doesn't post his arms on the canvas constantly like “Bones.”

Also, I hope this isn't a first-round stoppage. I don't want to be denied an in-fight monologue by the inimitable Ray Longo.

11:42 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: In case you were curious given his illustrious legacy of ill-advised haircuts, Belfort is rocking the mohawk-with-mullet combo, with a cross on the side. His body still looks fantastic, but fantastic for a 38-year-old athlete. It definitely isn't the 2013 vintage with a thicker, more muscular torso and trapezius muscles the size of Sid Vicious'.

The pro wrestler, obviously, not the bassist.

11:34 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Speaking of that nutty 2013 campaign Belfort had while juiced to the gills, his three head kicks in one year give him the UFC record. Literally no one else in UFC history has three clean head kick knockouts. Belfort, who had zero in his whole damn career before 2013, set the record in one year. Makes me want to get on the saucy sauce.

11:29 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: I have no problem with 'Cowboy' getting a title shot in his next fight. Why not? He's on a tear and is easily one of the most exciting fighters in the entire sport. I say he gets the title shot in his next outing. There, it's settled. Let me call Dana real quick.

11:25 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Well, that was an anticlimactic ending to an entertaining little contest. Cerrone indulged Makdessi in the striking bout he wanted and while Makdessi did land shots of his own, Cerrone's volume dwarfed his and did beaucoup damage. In the second round, Cerrone cracked him with a head kick, Makdessi backed away calling “time” with his hands and quit, telling referee Jason Herzog that his jaw was broken.

Not that he was going to win this one anyway, but Makdessi trying to counterattack Cerrone was a fool's errand. How many fighters have had success by trying to counter Cerrone? The fighters that have beaten him have done so with forward pressure, putting him on his heels and forcing him into ill-advised swinging. Standing around and waiting for good shots against Cerrone is gonna get you mashed up more than likely.

The offical time of the stoppage is 4:44 of the second round. Speaking of how to beat Cerrone, he gets that much closer to a shot at revenge on Rafael dos Anjos, the last man to beat him. He's not there quite yet, but it's strange to think that a major narrative around Cerrone's career was that he would never challenge for the UFC lightweight title.

11:20 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: Makdessi did the right thing by tapping out due to the broken jaw. Nobody wants to have to eat dinner through a straw for several weeks.

11:13 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Cerrone being sponsored by Hunt Brothers Pizza. Thanks for nothing, Reebok. Now I'm not gonna be able to see world-class fighters advertising gas station pizza over their groins. Is this really the future you want, MMA world?

11:11 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Time to pour one out for Khabib Nurmagomedov and his meniscus, as Donald Cerrone and John Makdessi are up. Nurmagomedov-Cerrone would've been about as good as you can make a UFC title eliminator without making it five full rounds, a fight easily worthy of headlining a non-PPV event. However, Nurmagomedov's injury four weeks ago nixed the dream. Now, Cerrone gets what amounts to a tune-up fight against Makdessi, who is a fun striker and should be able to help conduct an entertaining bout, but doesn't have too many ways to win. He's almost purely a striker, Cerrone is a better one with greater power and reach, a much better wrestler and an infinitely better submission grappler. If Cerrone wanted to put this on the mat early, could be a first-round submission.

11:03 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Also, if Andrei Arlovski finishes one more fighter inside the Octagon, that gives him 12, which would tie the most in UFC heavyweight competition, alongside Frank Mir. Seems hard to believe there was a time where Arlovski was getting KO'd left, right and center and he was literally playing Russian roulette after losses, hoping he might die. The hurt business is a cruel sort of hell, so it's nice when swell athletes like Arlovski can find a cooler place in the shade, especially later in their careers.

11:01 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Andrei Arlovski just overcame a knockdown en route to winning a fight in the “Round of the Year,” is 3-0 in his latest UFC run and could wind up fighting for the title again. I thought fights between chums were supposed to suck? What if that's what T.J. Dillashaw-Urijah Faber could be like? Make all these homies fight each other to the death.

10:56 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: There's no point in me trying to describe what we just saw. Andrei Arlovski and Travis Browne just authored the “Round of the Year” with about 5012 significant strikes, both guys getting knocked down, then Arlovski bashing Browne into standing unconsciousness. Absolute insanity. Any Vegas highrollers who just strolled in late to the fights, you're schmucks, you blew it.

The official time of the stop is 4:41 of the first round. Now excuse me while I towel off. Go find some .gifs of the fight in the meantime.

10:55 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: If there is a batter fight on this card tonight, I might have call Jose Luis Castillo and the ghost of 'Chico' Corrales and tell them their trophy on the mantle has been removed.

10:54 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: Remember when I said fights between dudes who hate each other usually always suck? Well, these are the types of fights that happen when two dudes are friends. I've seen it too many times in all the combat sports.

10:48 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Time to get in the time machine, as we've got a 36-year-old Andrei Arlovski, having lost just once in his last 10 bouts, competing on a UFC PPV main card. Hell, he's even beaten respectable opposition since his UFC return, besting Brendan Schaub and clobbering Antonio Silva. Tonight, he gets Travis Browne, who he has previously trained with at Jackson-Wink MMA, before Browne departed for Glendale Fight Club and Edmond Tarverdyan.

Despite not having been knocked out any time recently, Arlovski's chin is still his major Achilles' heel and Browne is exactly the sort of guy who can exploit it. That said, Browne isn't great defensively and I can see Arlovski boxing him up a bit before Browne lands the major sockdolager strike and puts this one to bed.

Although, a three-fight winning streak for Andrei Arlovski in the UFC, in the year 2015, would be pretty darn incredible, and a weird version of reality that I could rally behind.

10:48 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Time to get in the time machine, as we've got a 36-year-old Andrei Arlovski, having lost just once in his last 10 bouts, competing on a UFC PPV main card. Hell, he's even beaten respectable opposition since his UFC return, besting Brendan Schaub and clobbering Antonio Silva. Tonight, he gets Travis Browne, who he has previously trained with at Jackson-Wink MMA, before Browne departed for Glendale Fight Club and Edmond Tarverdyan.

Despite not having been knocked out any time recently, Arlovski's chin is still his major Achilles' heel and Browne is exactly the sort of guy who can exploit it. That said, Browne isn't great defensively and I can see Arlovski boxing him up a bit before Browne lands the major sockdolager strike and puts this one to bed.

Although, a three-fight winning streak for Andrei Arlovski in the UFC, in the year 2015, would be pretty darn incredible, and a weird version of reality that I could rally behind.

10:39 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's 30-27 Benavidez on my scorecard, but as promised, a wickedly fun fight. Even got some gushing blood from a gash on Moraga's scalp. Moraga looked quite crisp out there, unfortunately, he was fighting the best second banana in MMA. Joseph Benavidez is one of the best 15, 20 fighters in MMA, but Demetrious Johnson has had this division on lockdown. Fortunately for “Joe B. Won Kenobi,” Dodson was so pedestrian tonight that he might get himself a third chance at the UFC flyweight title in spite of having lost to Johnson twice.

All three scorecards are 30-27 for Joseph Benavidez. Thanks to him and Moraga for reminding us that fairly one-sided clean sweeps on the scorecards can still be entertaining and that fighters who lose clean sweeps didn't necessarily fight terribly and get embarrassed.

10:23 p.m. ET TJ De Santis: I don't want to argue about why 125 is or isn't a great weight class. But how can you argue against a division that gives you the best scrambles that aren't eggs?

10:14 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's pay-per-view time. That last flyweight fight didn't exactly deliver, but fortunately, we've got Joseph Benavidez and John Moraga here to rectify that with a delicious style matchup. Benavidez is a -700 favorite for a reason and he could find a way to tap Moraga here with his whirling dervish routine. However, Moraga is rough, tough and has the rap videos on Youtube to prove it. He's one of the division's best punchers and has a style you don't see too much at 125. Even if it's mostly Benavidez one-way traffic, this fight should be fun for as long as it lasts.

10:07 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Does this make Nick Thompson and Derrick Noble invincible in your eyes too, Mike?

10:06 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: Considering the fact that Makovsky has contributed to virtually every one of our Pros Picks features, I figured that automatically made him invincible. That was not the case tonight as he let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers against one of the best in the world.

10:03 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: No urgency from either fighter in the final round despite how close and tense the fight was. Dodson started to force the issue standing in the third round and won it cleanly, but the second round is gonna be the major swing round here. I've got this 29-28 Dodson, but he did next to nothing for the first eight minutes and Makovsky fought smart and stuck to his gameplan. Regardless of the outcome, classy showing by Makovsky who continues to show improvements working with Firas Zahabi and Tristar MMA and even with a win, it's not the story of performance that will get people revved up to see Dodson fight for the title again, despite how damn good the first Johnson-Dodson fight was.

The official scores are 29-28 across the board for John Dodson, who narrowly dodged a bullet there. Also, Zach Makovsky is a damn unappealing matchup for any competitive flyweight out there. He's got next to no name value, is a very tough out and could kick your apple cart over. “Fun Size” was nearly more than Dodson could chew this evening.

9:50 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Well, color me an idiot, so far. Dodson's biggest problems are his inactivity coupled with the lack of a gameplan, and it's looking that way here. Makovsky is just smoothly jabbing and landing left hands, letting Dodson fall into lulls and then scoring. Dodson even tried to take Makovsky down late in the first round. Makovsky now is feinting and faking shots and landing more punches as a result. Dodson has to get his foot on the gas now at the halfway mark of the fight to avoid having his second crack at UFC gold go up in smoke.

9:41 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: We're bound for 125 pounds now, as former Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky tries to play spoiler to the returning John Dodson. If Dodson is able to impressively win this, he should lock up a championship rematch with Demetrious Johnson, who bested him in a great bout in January 2013. Really, Dodson's the only guy to really put a dent in Demetrious Johnson since “Mighty Mouse” took the gold, knocking him down and all over the cage for the first 10 minutes before Johnson got his trademark grip on the fight.

Makovsky's a hard-working scrambling wrestler, he's got a great single-leg takedown and much-improved southpaw boxing. Unfortunately, this projects as an awful stylistic match-up with Dodson, whose athleticism and unreal takedown defense should turn this into a striking contest, one in which Makovsky is soundly outgunned.

9:35 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: The UFC announces B.J. Penn will be inducted in the modern fighters wing of the new-fangled UFC Hall of Fame. Congratulations to MMA's favorite Cabbage Patch-looking big-game hunter. I hope his written Hall of Fame summary mentions underwater rock running.

9:15 p.m. ET TJ De Santis: Solid first round for DHK. Rogan looks like a genius saying Burkman should have disengaged in the clinch. Let's see if the veteran makes the proper adjustments.

9:15 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: The stakes are higher as we head to 170 pounds, where Dong Hyun Kim takes on Josh Burkman. Despite taking “Knockout of the Year” honors in 2014 with his spinning back elbow on John Hathaway, Kim got absolutely waxed by Tyron Woodley in his last bout this past August. The UFC is finally going to Seoul on Nov. 28, so a W here would set the “Stun Gun” up nicely for a more prestigious bout on that bill.

Burkman is no slouch, however. At UFC 182 in January, he massively outperformed expectations by hanging tough and close with Hector Lombard. He's an underrated boxer with some power and a great wrestler, which could be difficult for Kim, who likes to get wild on the feet and sometimes relies on his strength and leverage too much in grappling situations. Highly intrigued to see how the stylistic angle plays out, even if it's a dud of a fight.

9:08 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: Another "meh" sloppy kickboxing match in the UFC. I thought it could have gone either way, to be honest. One thing that is a surefire bet, though: whenever two dudes talk all sorts of trash, confront each other, or are thought to 'hate' one another, you can bank on the fight being a dud, just like this one. Wars between guys who really loathe each other like Hagler and Hearns or Barrera and Morales are extremely rare.

9:07 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's 29-28 for Rafael Natal on my card. The third round was razor-close, but Hall's offensive output was negligible, even though he was stuffing the Brazilian's takedowns. The combination of Hall's poor gas tank and his complete lack of tactics -- knowing where he's at in a fight score-wise, what techniques to use when, how to conserve energy, overall gameplanning -- continue to cripple him. Hall's got a lot of tools, but not much of a toolbox.

And the split decision comes in with duelling 29-28's, but two of them are for Natal, who takes the split decision. Hall walks around the cage in quiet rage, refuses to shake Natal's hand or acknowledge him and then exits the Octagon. Another cautionary TUF tale.

On the other hand, Rafael Natal is 8-4-1 in the UFC. Can he get a shot at the UFC television title against Lord Steven Regal or what?

8:58 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: And after winning the first round easily, Hall gets tired, gives up a critical takedown to “Sapo” and after he gets back up... he spends a bunch of energy trying to take Natal down? What? Hall was taking deep breaths when he got back up, so he tries his ass off to hit a German suplex on Natal like he's Dan Severn? It's 19-19 on my card and I will never fully wrap my head around Uriah Hall's tactical choices.

8:42 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Up to 185 pounds, as Uriah Hall meets up with Rafael Natal in a battle of confusing middleweights. Hall marches to the beat of his own drum, for better (postfight interviews) and worse (strategic execution), but the question is whether he can reconcile in a way that lets him flourish in the cage, rather than standing around, hoping his opponent lets him land a head kick.

Natal has some of the wildest, sloppiest striking of any well-tenured UFC vet and often has gas tank issues, yet he's 7-4-1 in the promotion and has won two straight. “Sapo” is a real gamer and simply finds ways to outhustle his opponents in protracted, desperate battles. If he can get Hall past the first round and take some of his gas away, this could be the perfect sort of fight for Natal. However, it's still a real possibility that with his exposed chin and awful defense, Hall could blow him right out of the pond.

8:33 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: For most of the bout, Pyle challenged Covington, but the ATT product was in the driver's seat, doing damage on top. With just 90 seconds to go in the bout, however, Pyle swept Covington, took his back and nearly choked him out. Incredible scramble by Covington to escape the unorthodox no-hooks RNC, as “Quicksand” defintiely had the choke, just not the position. Also, Pyle was visibly hurried, knowing he was behind and time was running out. If it was earlier in the round, that could've been much worse for Covington. Regardless, it's 29-28 Covington on my scorecard and most importantly, the prospect got a real workout and a lesson in MMA grappling maturity from the veteran Pyle, which is exactly why you make fights of this nature.

The official scores are 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for Colby “Chaos” Covington. Two of those judges don't give a damn about Pyle's full-on RNC, I guess.

8:15 p.m. ET TJ De Santis: Iowa Central gets more love on the UFC broadcasts than they probably do anywhere else. I've been to Fort Dodge, Iowa. Besides a burger joint called Tom Thumb, there isn't much to see.

8:08 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Time for another intriguing prospect, as unbeaten Colby Covington takes on slick-grappling veteran Mike Pyle. Originally, it was set to be Pyle and Sean Spencer, but when Spencer went down to due to injury, Covington stepped in. Pyle is easily the best opponent of Covington's career, and while he's 39 years old and has taken some nasty KO losses in the recent past, his underrated striking offense and his properly-rated grappling game could both pose problems for Covington.

Covington has looked fantastic in his first two UFC bouts, but Anying Wang and Wagner Silva are miles away from even a faded Mike Pyle. Hell, the best fighter Covington's fought to this point is probably Alex Caceres' equally-wacky brother Jose.

Also, on the trivia tip, Covington is yet another Iowa Central Community College alum, along with his former roommate Jon Jones, UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez and former Bellator ace Joe Soto. Must be something in the water.

7:52 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Fantastic UFC debut for Islam Makhachev and showed off what his game is about. He patiently tagged Kuntz on the feet, waited for a chance to grapple into dominant position and tried to finish from the back as soon as he got there. Kuntz waited out round one, but Makhachev got the RNC he sought in round two. The official time is 2:38.

Makhachev doesn't have the heavy hands of Nurmagomedov and isn't the same sort of ragdolling wrestler, but he is very well-rounded, a technical submission grappler and knows how to force guys into positions to quit. Excited to see who Joe Silva pairs him with next.

7:51 p.m. ET Mike Sloan: Makhachev looked terrific in the cage tonight, especially for it being his UFC debut. Oftentimes, UFC debutants struggle out there but not Makhachev. I'm impressed and I look forward to seeing him again.

7:39 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Up next, another 23-year-old prospect! We venture to 155 pounds, where unbeaten Dagestani Islam Makhachev looks to make an impressive Octagon debut against once-beaten North Dakotan Leo Kuntz. Makhachev is a longtime friend and training partner of Khabib Nurmagomedov, and like Nurmagomedov, has taken up training at American Kickboxing Academy. Excited to see how he can develop and whether or not we've got another blue-chip Dagestani on our hands.

7:29 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Justin Scoggins sweeps the scorecards with three 30-27's to take the unanimous verdict. He easily shut down Sampo's wrestling and gave a strong showing of his striking ability with stance-switching and a variety of exotic kicks, which actually landed unlike most folks who uncork a spinning hook kick or a crescent kick.

7:11 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Up first at 125 pounds, 23-year-old flyweight prospect Justin Scoggins tries to rebound from a deflating submission loss to former UFC title challenger John Moraga (who also competes tonight). He meets Josh Sampo, who has a two-fight skid of his own to curb in order to stay in the UFC ranks. Scoggins still has a world of potential and looked good in his first career defeat against Dustin Ortiz, but looked completely out of sorts against Moraga, shooting into repeated guillotine attempts until Moraga finally choked him out.

7:01 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Speaking of the losses this card had suffered, we did get another one today, actually. After missing weight yesterday and clocking in at 120 pounds, Nina Ansaroff reportedly fell ill today and her bout with Rose Namajunas has been pulled from the card. It's a shame, too, as Ansaroff has an exciting style to mix it up with the ever-dynamic “Thug Rose.”

6:57 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Welcome to another UFC night, fight freaks. More importantly, this card is actually fantastic, and that's even with the subtraction of the world's best fighter, Jon Jones.

Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson will decide the next UFC light heavyweight champion in Jones' absence, while Chris Weidman makes the third defense of middlweight crown against the 38-year-old Vitor Belfort in his first bout in a year and a half, and first bout in years without testosterone replacement therapy. That said, Weidman has stated in no uncertain terms that he thinks Belfort is still on the sauce and will punish him for it.

Top-to-bottom it's a great UFC card, even if no bout on this card can top the grand spectacle of Mariusz Pudzianowski smashing Rolles Gracie with one punch earlier today at KSW 31. Speaking of testosterone.

6:45 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Check this space at 7 p.m. ET for live UFC 187 reaction from myself and others.