Sherdog.com’s 2015 Round of the Year

3. Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson, Round 3
UFC 192
Saturday, Oct. 3
Toyota Center | Houston
Going into the light heavyweight title match at UFC 192, the prevailing question was why Alexander Gustafsson, coming off a brutal knockout loss to Anthony Johnson, was in the championship picture at all. The question was particularly relevant because newly crowned champion Daniel Cormier had just dominated Johnson three months earlier. Yet with longtime light heavyweight ruler Jon Jones out of the picture, the fight was booked as the two men who gave “Bones” the stiffest title tests during his reign.

If anyone had the inclination that Cormier was going to run through Gustafsson like he did Johnson, though, those thoughts had completely evaporated by the third round. Gustafsson spent the opening minute light on his feet at range, pestering Cormier with slick jabs and a knee to Cormier’s midsection. Cormier was chasing with punches that came up short and leg kicks that were easily checked. “The Mauler” was as elusive and precise as he has ever been.

After Gustafsson closed the first minute of the round with a nice step-in uppercut, Cormier began to find his range. The defending champ threw wildly from the hips with ill-intent, dictating the terms of the fight and bloodying the Swede’s nose. Where Gustafsson was technical, Cormier was mean.

Gustafsson continued to frustrate Cormier’s rhythm and range, sticking to the outside and connecting with crisp combinations to Cormier’s body and head. Cormier forced his way into the clinch for the first time just shy of the round’s two-minute mark, and he proceeded to pull down Gustafsson’s head into a series of ascending uppercuts. “The Mauler” ate them and worked his way back to the outside, where he spent a minute chewing up Cormier with pinpoint punches -- again targeting both the body and head.

The fight went back and forth in this manner for four minutes of the round. Gustafsson would land rangy combinations for long stretches at a time, only for Cormier to work his way into the clinch and batter him with uppercuts that landed square on Gustafsson’s nose. Gustafsson controlled more time on the clock, but Cormier ended up landing more strikes.

It was all but even until the final 40 seconds, when Gustafsson held his own in a tie-up and broke the clinch with a flush knee to Cormier’s chin. He followed up with an uppercut-hook combination that sent Cormier thudding to the mat. The crowd erupted for the remaining seconds as Cormier stalled his way to the end of the round.

For all the rolled eyes the term “imposed his will” warrants, this round was a perfect embodiment of that concept. It was not simply an exchange of strikes and grappling; it was a teeter-totter of different game plans working and not working in short cycles.

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