After a great year of fights, 2011 will end with one of the most anticipated matchups of the year, Brock Lesnar-Alistair Overeem. Questions surround the bout and the fight should really show if either of these guys can truly contend in the heavyweight …
After a great year of fights, 2011 will end with one of the most anticipated matchups of the year, Brock Lesnar-Alistair Overeem. Questions surround the bout and the fight should really show if either of these guys can truly contend in the heavyweight division.
With Lesnar’s health concerns and questionable chin and Overeem’s organizational debut, each of these guys certainly come into the fight with many questions to answer.
While it is hard to tell what will happen in this fight it is very clear who the UFC should be rooting for: Brock Lesnar.
As 2012 begins, the UFC is in a better position than ever to break into the mainstream.
With the new partnership between FOX and the UFC the organization will have more exposure than ever before. Along with that exposure is the need for marketable stars who can become household names.
For many reasons Brock Lesnar is the perfect candidate to be the UFC’s poster boy.
UFC 141 is sure to be a great night of fights, and while the collision of titans Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem is the main attraction, there are plenty of potentially entertaining fights for fans on December 30th.Among those fights is the light hea…
UFC 141 is sure to be a great night of fights, and while the collision of titans Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem is the main attraction, there are plenty of potentially entertaining fights for fans on December 30th.
Among those fights is the light heavyweight fight between grizzled veteran Vladimir Matyushenko and promising prospect Alexander Gustafsson. At the very least, it will have the most syllables of any matchup at UFC 141.
Matyushenko comes into this fight with an impressive 4-1 streak in his last five fights (the one loss was to Jon Jones). A win for him would surely take him higher than he has ever been in the UFC, and potentially set him up with a big-name opponent.
Gustafsson, one of the most intriguing prospects in the UFC, looks to continue his dominance by improving on his 12-1 record, and move one step closer to being considered a serious contender for Jon Jones’ belt.
Much like Jones, Gustafsson brings a freakish frame to the table. Standing at 6’5″ and sporting a 76.5″ reach, it will be interesting to see how the 6’1″ Matyushenko handles Gustaffson’s length.
On a card stacked with important matchups, Michael Bisping-Demian Maia may be the most interesting matchup of the evening when the UFC holds its second event on FOX.The controversial Bisping has been on a roll of late, dispatching of Dan Miller, Yoshih…
On a card stacked with important matchups, Michael Bisping-Demian Maia may be the most interesting matchup of the evening when the UFC holds its second event on FOX.
The controversial Bisping has been on a roll of late, dispatching of Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Jorge Rivera and Jason “Mayhem” Miller en route to a four-fight win streak that has Bisping in title contention talks.
The most impressive of those wins was his demolition of Mayhem Miller. A fight that many thought would give the controversial Brit a hard time.
There is no doubt of Bisping’s skill as a fighter in the stand-up department. Bisping’s mix of quickness and technical boxing are difficult for any fighter to handle. The question for Bisping has always been how he can handle high-level ground fighters.
Many expected Miller to be the one that could test Bisping on the ground and see if he is truly worthy of his contender status. That wasn’t the case.
Bisping was able to batter Miller, never really being tested on the ground and earning a third-round stoppage victory.
At UFC on Fox 2, Bisping may finally be tested on the ground because Maia has some of the best Jiu Jitsu in all of MMA.
A 2007 ADCC champion, Maia is a third-degree Jiu Jitsu black belt with smooth transitions and the ability to completely control opponents on the ground. Over half of Maia’s wins in his MMA career have come by way of submission.
Maia’s Jiu Jitsu goes far beyond just submissions though, and that is why he poses a huge threat to Bisping’s run at the title. Once opponents hit the mat with Maia, it is almost guaranteed they are going to be out-grappled.
Maia’s controlling and smothering style of Jiu-Jitsu allows him to win on the scorecards, too. While most submission artists do most of their work from the bottom in full guard and often lose decisions for lack of top control, Maia’s Jiu Jitsu works much like a wrestler’s ground game.
Many have discredited Maia as a legitimate contender after his lop-sided decision loss to champion Anderson Silva, but the truth is Maia has vastly improved since their meeting in April 2010. Most notable is the improvement in Maia’s striking game.
Should this fight hit the mat Maia should be able to dominate, despite Bisping’s impressive size and strength for a middleweight. Maia’s Jiu Jitsu is that good.
The question will be just how improved Maia’s striking is. Can he strike with Bisping enough to take the fight to the ground? Mayhem couldn’t.
If Maia can, Bisping’s road to a title shot could come to a screeching halt.
With 2011 coming to a close, it’s very clear who the fighter of the year is—Jon Jones.Jones began the year with an impressive victory over fellow prospect Ryan Bader then parlayed that momentum into a title shot against Shogun Rua in which he bat…
With 2011 coming to a close, it’s very clear who the fighter of the year is—Jon Jones.
Jones began the year with an impressive victory over fellow prospect Ryan Bader then parlayed that momentum into a title shot against Shogun Rua in which he battered the champ for two rounds before earning the belt with a third-round TKO stoppage.
Jones’ continued his impressive year by easily dispatching of one of the biggest names in the division—Rampage Jackson.
Then came the most pivotal win of the year for Jones—an impressive victory over Lyoto Machida in which we saw Jones rally from the most trouble he’s ever been in—which wasn’t much.
With Jones’ meteoric rise to the top, the question now comes up: Where does Jon Jones belong among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport?
Pound-for-pound rankings are always a point of contention and debate, however, they serve as a great way to compare fighters across weight divisions and get an idea of who the best fighters are regardless of weight.
For the longest time, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre have battled for the top spot on the pound-for-pound lists across the sport.
With 2011 now coming to a close, it’s now time to put Jon Jones firmly ahead of the welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
At this point Silva tops most lists—and with good reason. However, Jones has done enough to take GSP’s spot in the pound-for-pound rankings for a couple reasons…
With Dana White’s recent announcement of the newly added 125-pound flyweight division and its subsequent four-man tournament to crown a champion. The MMA world is now buzzing over the excitement that the division will potentially bring to the organizat…
With Dana White‘s recent announcement of the newly added 125-pound flyweight division and its subsequent four-man tournament to crown a champion. The MMA world is now buzzing over the excitement that the division will potentially bring to the organization.
The excitement is understandable. The recently added 135- and 145-pound weight classes have been a welcome addition, giving us some of the best fights of the year.
Presumably the new 125-pound flyweight division will do the same.
But is it the right move for the UFC?
One thing that has separated MMA from the almost-dead sport of boxing is that with only the limited amount of weight classes, there aren’t as many champions—so being a champion actually means something.
Including the new flyweight division, there are now four weight division that are only separated by 10 pounds a piece. Does the UFC really need this many divisions for the lower-weight fighters.
White and the UFC have got to where they are today by being great innovators within the industry, why not blaze their own trail when it comes to weight classes?
A better solution would have been to combine the bantamweight and flyweight divisions by creating a 130-pound weight class. This would force the larger 135ers to compete at 145 and still allow the smaller 135ers to compete at a better weight class for them.
If the UFC wants to create yet another weight class, why not add a cruiserweight division?
After Jon Jones’ UFC 140 victory over Lyoto Machida. Critics have claimed that he only wins due to his incredible size advantage over most light heavyweights. While Jones doesn’t actually cut that much weight to get into his weight division as some fighters, weight cutting has always been a controversial issue in the sport.
Fighters such as Anthony “Rumble” Johnson can walk around at weights of up to 50 pounds above their weight division. While Johnson recently moved to middleweight—a more natural weight class for him—he may have made that move earlier if there was a cruiserweight division.
A cruiserweight division would likely be around 225. Twenty pounds above the 205 division and 40 pounds below the 265-pound weight limit for heavyweight.
The immediate drawback would be the already-thin heavyweight division losing fighters, but this move would allow the heavyweight limit to be raised to something like 280—allowing larger athletes who may not be able to make 265 a chance to make it to the sport’s largest promotion.
If these changes were to occur, the weight classes would look like this:
Bantamweights: 130
Featherweights: 145
Lightweights: 155
Welterweights: 170
Middleweights: 185
Light Heavyweights: 205
Cruiserweights: 225
Heavyweights: 280
Eight different weight division that could be competitively filled. The addition of the cruiserweight division could create a trickle-down effect that would allow fighters to fight at a more natural weight without fear of running into much larger opponents.
As the sport of MMA grows, more athletes of all sizes and builds will begin to pick up the sport. The UFC would be doing themselves a favor by creating weight classes that reflects the future of the sport.
With UFC 140 now in the books and Jon Jones defending his UFC belt for the second time, it’s been established that Jones is for real. Jones answered his biggest question, “How does he react after getting hit?” and showed that he can come back from some…
With UFC 140 now in the books and Jon Jones defending his UFC belt for the second time, it’s been established that Jones is for real. Jones answered his biggest question, “How does he react after getting hit?” and showed that he can come back from some adversity.
The only question that remains now is not if he is for real in the cage. He has adequately proven himself to any of his detractors. It now becomes a question of whether he can become MMA‘s biggest draw.
The UFC certainly needs him to be. The promotion has grown to the point where it doesn’t need a huge name to sell out arenas, but the bigger draws are starting to get older (Silva), are injured (GSP) or are dangerously close to being irrelevant or retired (Lesnar).
The odd thing about his meteoric rise through the ranks has been his decline in popularity. Whether the gripes about his personality are true, the consensus has become that Jones is a fake.
While it’s hard for us, the fans, to truly judge whether someone is genuine, the perception has certainly become the reality and his reputation has taken a hit.
Perhaps in more than any sport, personality matters in MMA.
There’s no helmet to wear, no team to hide behind, you are your own brand.
While Jones’ confidence and personality may hinder his reputation now, there will be a point when it simply doesn’t matter. If sports has taught us one thing, winning conquers all flaws.
Example No. 1—Michael Jordan
Perhaps the most marketable athlete in sports history was Michael Jordan. There are many accounts of Jordan’s vindictive and bristly personality.
If Jordan had been an MMA fighter, chances are he wouldn’t have been a fan favorite. He would have been cocky, smug and probably wouldn’t have been the best guy to train with. He was merciless with his teammates in the NBA, always in the pursuit of perfection.
So why was Jordan so marketable?
He won.
It didn’t matter that in reality he was a tough person to play with and not the most likeable person; it mattered that he was the best winner since Magic and Bird.
When Jordan was playing on TV or if he was coming to your local arena, you were going to be watching. Not because he was a likeable guy, but because you were about to witness greatness.
Jones is reaching that level. Love him or hate him, you have to watch because you are witnessing greatness.
Example No. 2—Tim Tebow
Perhaps a more recent comparison to Jones would be Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. This comparison has been made before but it holds a lot of validity when wondering if Jones can become MMA’s biggest draw.
Tebow has also fallen under criticism because of his personality. The difference between Tebow and Jones is talent. Tebow is unconventional and doesn’t have the traditional skill set of typical NFL quarterbacks, and we don’t know if he will have staying power in the league despite a 7-1 record as a starter this year.
What we do know for sure is about Tebow is he is currently the NFL’s biggest draw.
If ESPN were to have a Broncos game on “Monday Night Football,” it would undoubtedly be the highest rated of the year.
Tebow has his fair share of detractors, from his personality to his unconventional skill set, and many people are just waiting to see Tebow fail.
Either way they are tuning in.
Jones is in a very similar situation. While his talent is far more proven than Tebow’s. He still remains disliked by a large portion of fans.
Eventually Jones’ winning ways will force people to tune in.
What Tebow has taught us is that winning is paramount when it comes to sparking up the debate and being the big draw.
The only man to be more polarizing than Jon Jones, is the pound-for-pound king of MMA himself, Anderson Silva. “The Spider” is a fighter that is either loved or hated.
Those that love him, love the way he fights in the octagon and appreciates his impressive undefeated run in the UFC.
Those that dislike him point to his lack of respect for some opponents and his cockiness. Silva is another fighter with a polarizing personality.
He’s also one of the biggest draws in the UFC.
Silva fighting anyone is huge news, and Chael Sonnen has become one of the most popular fighters in the UFC simply because he almost beat Silva. Simply put, Silva sells.
It won’t be long until Jones reaches Silva status. Regardless of how many people don’t like his personality they’ll have to tune in because they will be witnessing greatness.
So, can Jon Jones become MMA’s biggest draw?
Absolutely.
Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 140. B/R is your home for complete coverage of the Dec. 10 fight card, including results and post-fight analysis.
On a card stacked with important matchups,