The UFC 210 main event in Buffalo, New York, is a rematch between light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (18-1) and Anthony Johnson (22-5). The two fought for the vacant belt at UFC 187 in May 2015, a meeting Cormier won by third-round rear-naked choke.
I sat down Tuesday with both "DC" and "Rumble" to rewatch - and relive - their first fight.
Round 1
Within 30 seconds, Johnson connects on a long, straight jab, followed by an overhand right that rocks Cormier. It's the first time Cormier is knocked down in his career.
"It just happened so fast. I didn't intend on throwing it, but I did," Johnson says. "I just sort of threw it. I didn't expect to hit him. ... I should've finished him."
Cormier adds: "I was like, 'Man, this dude is fast.' It hurt. You don't take a punch like that and not realize this dude has some serious power. I stayed in his range far too long."
In an attempt to finish the fight, Rumble overcommits, and Cormier takes his back. Johnson isn't able to free himself from Cormier's grasp for well more than two minutes.
"You saw his fights with [Alexander] Gustafsson and [Minotouro] Nogueira," Cormier says. "Once he got these guys hurt, he just really goes for the finish. We anticipated that.
"I think he may have thought I was a little more hurt than I actually was. I tried to maintain some composure, get back on him and start putting the grind on him."
The judges uniformly scored the round 10-9 for Johnson, presumably a result of the early knockdown.
Round 2
The second round starts promisingly enough for Rumble. He continues to use his reach advantage -- always more disparate with fighters' legs -- and connects on a pair of headkicks.
Things go awry when he throws back-to-back naked kicks to Cormier's body. DC catches the second of those and works a single-leg takedown attempt, which he transitions to a slam.
"He's not setting [the kicks] up with his hands," Cormier says. "He's just literally trying to blast me. Once I timed to catch one, now we're in my world."
From there, it's all downhill for Johnson. Cormier, an Olympic wrestler, takes top position and settles into half-guard. He works a kimura and punishes Johnson with elbows until the horn mercifully blows at round's end four minutes later.
"I'm making him carry me, staying as heavy as I possibly can on him," DC says. "My top position is as smothering and tough as anyone in the world. It's over."
Johnson adds: "He hit me with an elbow, and blood started getting in my eyes. That was pretty bad. That completely screwed me up. I had never been cut before like that."
Two of the three judges score the round 10-8 for Cormier. Under the new, modified scoring in effect Saturday the round fit 10-8 criteria.
"Look at him," Cormier says as a bloodied Johnson struggles to his feet. "He's just laying there. He doesn't get up until I'm already back on my stool.
"He's done."
Round 3
Between rounds, the broadcast focuses on Rumble's corner. He's receiving detailed, motivational coaching from coaches Henri Hooft and Greg Jones - advice he says he's too focused on recovering to hear.
Cormier's corner, meanwhile, helmed by Javier Mendes and "Crazy" Bob Cook, offers what DC called the best in-cage counsel he's ever received.
"Listen to this," says Cormier, scrolling through the videos on his phone. "Tell me this isn't the best s--- you've ever heard."
"This guy is ready to fold it up," Cook says on a recorded UFC production. "You've taken the best he's got. Now go kick his ass."
Less than 90 seconds into the round, with Hooft audibly yelling at Rumble to "man up," Cormier slips underneath Johnson's left arm and takes his back. Roughly a minute later, Cormier's left arm locks under Johnson's neck, and Rumble taps to a rear-naked choke with the round clock showing 2:39.
"He got me in a position I've drilled a million times," Johnson explains. "When you're exhausted, you make mistakes. He capitalized on a mistake I made.
"He can say whatever he wants about me quitting. What the hell, what do you expect me to do? He's choking me. And I love air. I'm not going to say I have too much pride to tap."
Cormier has used those desperate urges of Johnson's corner as fuel for trash talk in recent weeks.
"He can say whatever he wants," Cormier counters. "His corner was saying, 'Don't quit.' My corner has never told me, 'Don't quit.' They've never seen me quit - ever.
"It didn't matter if that [choke] worked or not. I was going to do that to him for the next 15 minutes."
Despite holding the belt -- and the win over Rumble in their only previous meeting -- Cormier is a slight betting underdog Saturday in Buffalo. His odds currently sit at even money in the rematch. Rumble is a minus-120 favorite.
Both fighters are riding three-fight win streaks: Johnson is unbeaten since his loss to Cormier, and Cormier's record remains unblemished since his only career loss to Jon Jones (22-1) at UFC 182.