MMA YEAR IN REVIEW: July sees Daniel Cormier become double-champ and immediately confronted by Brock Lesnar

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Welcome to the seventh of twelve installments of the 2018 MMA year in review. In the series, we will look at the biggest stories and fights from each month and reflect on how things played out as the year went on. Be sure to check out the previous installments and stay tuned as we go through each month of 2018 over the coming days.

• January 2018 Year in Review
• February 2018 Year in Review
• March 2018 Year in Review
• April 2018 Year in Review
• May 2018 Year in Review
• June 2018 Year in Review

Top July Stories

7/4/2018 – Max Holloway was forced to pull out of his scheduled UFC 226 featherweight title fight with Brian Ortega just days before the fight due to concussion-like symptoms.

7/7/2018 – Moments after defeating Stipe Miocic to become UFC heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier called Brock Lesnar into the cage. Lesnar then shoved Cormier and gave a profanity-laced interview, setting up a can’t miss fight between the two.

7/9/2018 – Brock Lesnar officially re-entered the USADA testing pool, making him eligible to fight in early 2019.

How did things turn out?

-Holloway eventually fought Ortega in December at UFC 231, winning a thrilling four-round war.

-No date has been set for a Lesnar-Cormier fight but the fight is still on the table as a possibility for 2019.

Key fight results

7/6/2019 – Israel Adesanya defeated Brad Tavares at the Ultimate Fighter Finale in Las Vegas.

7/7/2019 – Daniel Cormier knocked out Stipe Miocic in the first round at UFC 226 to become UFC heavyweight champion. Also on the card, Derrick Lewis beat Francis Ngannou in one of 2018’s worst fights.

7/13/2018 – Julia Budd defeated Talita Nogueira at Bellator 202 to retain her featherweight championship.

7/14/2018 – Junior dos Santos won a unanimous decision over Blagoy Ivanov in the main event of UFC Fight Night 133.

7/28/2018 – Dustin Poirier defeated Eddie Alvarez by second-round TKO in the main event of UFC on FOX from Calgary. Also on the card, Joanna Jedrzejczyk won a unanimous decision over Tecia Torres.