Author: Ben Fowlkes

Greg Jackson Staying Out of It, but Disagrees With Jones-Evans Fight

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveThe way MMA trainer Greg Jackson sees it, it’s sadly ironic that his phone should be ringing off the hook a few days after adding a new UFC champion to his stable of fighters, and yet so few people are interested in …

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The way MMA trainer Greg Jackson sees it, it’s sadly ironic that his phone should be ringing off the hook a few days after adding a new UFC champion to his stable of fighters, and yet so few people are interested in talking about the fight.

Yes, Jon Jones dominated “Shogun” Rua to become light heavyweight champ, and yes, it would be nice if Jackson got a day or two to savor his fighter’s victory. But that’s not how it works this time. Not after Rashad Evans, a former UFC champion from the Jackson team, agreed to fight Jones just before declaring himself “done” with Jackson’s team altogether.

After inter-squad drama like that, all anyone wants to know is what exactly happened between Jackson and Evans to bring them to this point. The trouble is, Jackson isn’t entirely sure.

Dan Hardy: Anthony Johnson Can Come in at Whatever Weight He Wants

Fans who look forward to Dan Hardy’s pre-fight trash talk will have to get used to disappointment as he prepares to face Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle this Saturday night.

As Hardy told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA …

Fans who look forward to Dan Hardy‘s pre-fight trash talk will have to get used to disappointment as he prepares to face Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle this Saturday night.

As Hardy told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, not only does he like “Rumble” too much to come up with anything bad to say about him, he also doesn’t think it would do any good.

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 128

Filed under: UFCIt would be overdramatic and not completely accurate to claim that a star was born in the main event of UFC 128. Jon Jones was already a star, which is why the UFC did a pre-fight special on him after giving the champion, Mauricio ‘Shog…

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It would be overdramatic and not completely accurate to claim that a star was born in the main event of UFC 128. Jon Jones was already a star, which is why the UFC did a pre-fight special on him after giving the champion, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, no such fully-focused push.

But while Jones showed up at the Prudential Center in Newark already a celebrity, it was his domination of Rua that made him an instant colossus in this sport. With that will come a lot of fame, money, and attention — all things that can derail any 23-year-old if he’s not ready for them. Whether this will be one more rule that simply doesn’t apply to Jones as it does to mere mortals, time will tell. For now, he gets to relax and enjoy being champ. He just shouldn’t enjoy it too much, since this title has had a way of slipping through the fingers of his predecessors.

Now on the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between after UFC 128.

UFC Wastes No Time Pitting Jones Against Evans, With Good Reason

Filed under: UFCNEWARK, N.J. – Call it the championship life cycle: one legend is barely out of his post-knockout haze, his facial tissue still in mid-swell, when the new champ is already confronting his next challenger on a canvas where the blood hasn…

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NEWARK, N.J. – Call it the championship life cycle: one legend is barely out of his post-knockout haze, his facial tissue still in mid-swell, when the new champ is already confronting his next challenger on a canvas where the blood hasn’t even dried yet.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar encounter when former training partners Jon Jones and Rashad Evans shook hands in the middle of the Octagon before agreeing to beat each other up at some point in the near future. It also wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic agreement on either man’s part, though it was a decisive one.

Jones didn’t just beat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to claim the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 128 – he utterly demolished him. In a little less than three full rounds of combat, there wasn’t a second where it wasn’t Jones’ fight. Aside from possibly hurting his elbow on Rua’s skull, Jones had almost nothing to worry about in the biggest fight of his career.

UFC 128: By the Odds

Filed under: UFCOn Thursday night I stood in the lobby of the UFC’s host hotel in Newark and watched as Jon Jones demonstrated the new tricks he’d taught his dog, a German Shephard mix named B.J. As I watched him roll over and shake hands (the dog, tha…

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On Thursday night I stood in the lobby of the UFC’s host hotel in Newark and watched as Jon Jones demonstrated the new tricks he’d taught his dog, a German Shephard mix named B.J. As I watched him roll over and shake hands (the dog, that is; Jones just shook hands), I couldn’t help but think that if this were a movie, that’s when you’d know for sure that Jones is the protagonist, and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua the glowering villain.

I mean, the guy likes dogs. Of course he’s the hero, right?

Only this is not a movie, and when the cage door closes it doesn’t matter if you hate kittens and children, as long as you can fight. Everything we know about Rua suggests that he’s going to be Jones’ toughest test ever, and his team is right to be a little peeved that he’s being overlooked. He’s a great fighter. The question is, will he still be the champ on Sunday morning?

Join me below as we take a look at the UFC 128 lineup and figure out what oddsmakers think is going to happen in Newark, New Jersey this weekend.

UFC 128: By the Odds

Filed under: UFCOn Thursday night I stood in the lobby of the UFC’s host hotel in Newark and watched as Jon Jones demonstrated the new tricks he’d taught his dog, a German Shephard mix named B.J. As I watched him roll over and shake hands (the dog, tha…

Filed under:

On Thursday night I stood in the lobby of the UFC’s host hotel in Newark and watched as Jon Jones demonstrated the new tricks he’d taught his dog, a German Shephard mix named B.J. As I watched him roll over and shake hands (the dog, that is; Jones just shook hands), I couldn’t help but think that if this were a movie, that’s when you’d know for sure that Jones is the protagonist, and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua the glowering villain.

I mean, the guy likes dogs. Of course he’s the hero, right?

Only this is not a movie, and when the cage door closes it doesn’t matter if you hate kittens and children, as long as you can fight. Everything we know about Rua suggests that he’s going to be Jones’ toughest test ever, and his team is right to be a little peeved that he’s being overlooked. He’s a great fighter. The question is, will he still be the champ on Sunday morning?

Join me below as we take a look at the UFC 128 lineup and figure out what oddsmakers think is going to happen in Newark, New Jersey this weekend.