Since that loss, Johnson has embarked on a terrifying rebound tour. He has fought three times and none of his opponents, all of whom are elite competitors, has lasted longer than six minutes. Only Jimi Manuwa, who is likely to face the winner of this bout, made it out of the first round before succumbing to a terrifying barrage of punches. Ryan Bader missed on a takedown and found himself eating punches on his way to unconsciousness in 86 seconds. Former title challenger Glover Teixeira fell to a thunderous uppercut in just 13 seconds.

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Cormier has been less active, losing a great deal of time to injuries. He defended his belt against Alexander Gustafsson in one of 2015’s best fights and won what amounted to an exhibition fight against the legendary Anderson Silva after Jones was forced out of UFC 200 by a failed drug test.

Johnson and Cormier have established themselves as the division’s two best fighters in Jones’s absence, and the winner of the rematch will be a worthy champion.

Leaving aside the broader meaning of the fight, the matchup in the cage is outstanding. Both Cormier and Johnson are aggressive, come-forward fighters, but their aggression serves different goals. Cormier, a two-time Olympic freestyle wrestler, wants to get into a phone booth to grind his opponent with takedowns and dirty boxing in the clinch; Johnson, by contrast, seeks to stalk his opponent and draw out an ill-advised punch or takedown attempt that he can counter.

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The matchup boils down to two fighters who will try to fight fire with fire. Which of those approaches is likely to come out on top? Let’s break it down.

We’ll start with the champion Cormier.

He began his MMA career as a small (5 feet 11) and somewhat rotund heavyweight, but one blessed with exceptional speed relative to his lumbering opponents. This drove him toward a game based around stick-and-move striking on the outside that played to his quickness. He would clinch and shoot the occasional takedown, but only in the right matchups and at the right time,; he was always aware of the need to rely on technique rather than raw strength.

At light heavyweight, his speed advantage is gone when facing fighters like Jones, Gustafsson, or Johnson; on the other hand, he invariably holds an advantage in strength and wrestling skill. In that context, aggression and pressure are the logical responses to giving up height and speed to his opposition. Cormier needs to work his way inside as quickly and efficiently as possible, and he has built his game around doing that. A crisp and consistent jab covers his forward movement and he kicks regularly to cut off his opponent’s escape angles.

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Here’s an example from his 2015 fight with Gustafsson:

The two men begin in the clinch with Cormier holding a loose overhook on Gustafsson’s right arm. As Gustafsson ducks, Cormier blasts him with an uppercut and then reaches behind the Swede’s head to grab a single-collar tie. A hard right hook follows, and Cormier misses with a left as Gustafsson retreats. Cormier stays on him, though, and doesn’t allow Gustafsson to get back into open space. In a clip a moment later, we see Cormier pursuing. As Gustafsson tries to circle into the middle of the cage, Cormier times his lateral movement and walks Gustafsson into a shifting right hand.

That’s good pressure. Cormier is always moving forward and trying to shrink the distance between him and his 6-5 opponent. His footwork keeps him close, and he cuts off Gustafsson’s lateral movement by herding him with strikes or punishing him for attempting to escape. When he does get inside, he makes the most of those opportunities.

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Let’s look at some more of Cormier’s inside game.

Cormier has Gustafsson in the clinch and is using a single-collar tie to break the taller fighter’s posture. As Gustafsson is forced to duck, Cormier punishes him with uppercut after uppercut. His combination of technique and pure strength are enough to hold Gustafsson in place.

Here’s another:

Gustafsson has pressed Cormier into the fence, but Cormier spins out, maintaining a single-collar tie on the back of the Swede’s head. He lands four uppercuts in succession while keeping that single-collar tie, eats a knee in return from Gustafsson, and finishes with two more uppercuts. When Gustafsson finally breaks off, Cormier sticks on him and forces him back toward the fence.

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Finally, we have the heart and soul of Cormier’s inside game, takedowns.

Cormier has secured a single-leg takedown against the fence. He steps back to suck Gustafsson’s hips off the cage, then lifts and drives through, flipping Gustafsson in midair as he slams him to the canvas.

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Here are two sequences from the first Cormier-Johnson match:

In the first, Cormier has secured a rear waist-cinch close to the fence. He keeps his feet moving to create an advantageous angle before picking up Johnson and slamming him. In the second, Cormier has Johnson pinned against the fence. He clasps his hands behind Johnson’s legs, pulls him off the cage, picks him up, and finally slams him hard.

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Note how useful the fence is to Cormier: It’s both a barrier that prevents his opponent from retreating further and a lever for Cormier to use in the clinch and when working his takedown game. This is what his pressure and constant forward movement is designed to facilitate.

Johnson is as aggressive as Cormier, maybe even more so, but with a different goal in mind: counters.

Most counterpunchers prefer to sit back and let the fight come to them — Anderson Silva is a good example — but pressure is also a viable path to counters. Forward movement gives the aggressive counterpuncher like Johnson the initiative and draws out ill-advised responses from the opponent, which Johnson can then counter at his leisure.

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Let’s look at a few examples. Here’s one from his 2015 fight with Manuwa:

Johnson bears down on Manuwa. To stop the pressure, Manuwa fires off a halfhearted jab. Johnson catches it with his left hand and replies with a jab of his own, which splits Manuwa’s guard and gauges the distance. A vicious low kick from Johnson follows, and as Manuwa steps back, Johnson follows. When he lands, Johnson fires off a cracking left hook-straight right combination. Manuwa ends the sequence with his back to the fence.

Even though Manuwa went first in that sequence, Johnson had the initiative. He was dictating the circumstances under which Manuwa threw his strikes and had his response chambered and ready to fire.

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Here’s another example from that fight:

Once again, Johnson is pressuring Manuwa. Seeing Manuwa tense up and get ready to throw, Johnson fires off a sharp jab and slips his head offline as he does so, which allows him to avoid Manuwa’s simultaneous left hook. Johnson doesn’t stop there, though; he lands a looping right hand over the top of Manuwa’s left, then pivots and tries another right hand as Manuwa tries to escape to that side.

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Once again, Johnson had the initiative. He knew that Manuwa would try to throw to back him out of the pocket and stop his aggression, and it was just a matter of timing the shot. A jab is quicker than a hook, Manuwa’s preferred punch, and Johnson exploited that difference by intercepting and rolling under Manuwa’s shot.

Sequences like this are the heart and soul of Johnson’s game. What makes his pressure and counters credible, though, is his occasional willingness to step in and lead with a bomb:

Johnson is looking to pressure Cormier. He steps into range with a thudding jab and follows it with a brutal overhand that loops around the outside of Cormier’s defensive guard, a punch so powerful that it literally takes Cormier off his feet. Johnson follows up with a flurry, but only manages to land one further right hook.

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Pressure creates opportunities for counters, or more rarely, for Johnson to lead. It also allows him to seize the initiative and play off his tremendous speed, timing, quick trigger, and ability to pick the right shot at the right time. Initiative is important for Johnson: He’s a fighter who has to feel like he’s in control. When he doesn’t, he panics, and when he panics, he gets tired. When Johnson gets tired, he gives up his back and gets choked out. That’s his great weakness, and it’s why an aggressive counterpunching game suits him so well. He gets to feel like he’s in control, but he also makes the best technical use of his stunning physical gifts.

What happens when two aggressive fighters clash? It’s the equivalent of fighting fire with fire. There will be exchanges, wild ones, as the two duke it out for control of the initiative. Whoever moves forward more, without unnecessarily exposing himself to danger (as Johnson did in their first fight) will come out on top.