Author: Ben Fowlkes

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence early Saturday morning in upstate New York, his management team confirmed Saturday, shortly after news of the arrest was reported by TMZ.com.

According to the TMZ report, Jones was involved in a car accident at around 5 a.m. in Binghamton, N.Y., near his hometown of Ithaca. TMZ claims that Jones crashed his Bentley into a pole and was arrested on the scene, though those details were not confirmed by his management.

First Round Management, which represents Jones, sent out a statement confirming the arrest and asking for privacy on behalf of the fighter and his family.

“I can confirm that Jon Jones was arrested early this morning on suspicion of DUI,” First Round Management’s Malki Kawa said in the statement. “While the facts of this situation are still being gathered and situated, First Round Management fully supports Jon and we are asking for fans and media to respect the privacy of Jon and his family during this time.”

There’s no word yet as to whether Jones sustained any injuries in the incident, though TMZ reports that he was taken into custody by the Broome County Sheriff and released after his mother posted his bond.

Jones is expected to defend his title against former Strikeforce and Pride champion Dan Henderson at UFC 151 on September 1 in Las Vegas. There’s no word yet on whether the arrest and the alleged car accident might interfere with those plans, and the UFC has yet to release a statement on the matter.

Jones last competed at UFC 145 in Atlanta, where he successfully defended his title against former UFC champion Rashad Evans.

Update: According to the Broome County Sheriff’s Office, Jones was arrested at 5:02 a.m. after suffering “minor injuries” following a one-car accident wherein his car struck a pole. Sheriff’s office officials refused to comment on whether there were any passengers in the car with Jones at the time of the accident.

After months of waiting, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finals are almost here. In preparation, here are eight questions, concerns, and comments, in no particular order.

I. Remember how this whole thing started? The Strikeforce Grand Prix, I mean. It seems like so long ago that Strikeforce — then under different ownership — put all its eggs in the heavyweight basket, announcing a tournament that many of us in the media described as ‘ambitious.’ What we really meant was, ‘damn near impossible.’ Come on. That many heavyweights, that many egos and potential contractual headaches, and Strikeforce was supposed to be the one to organize them all? There were times when I wouldn’t have trusted Strikeforce to organize an intramural softball league. Now you want me to believe that they can get Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett and all the rest to focus up and finish this thing within a reasonable amount of time? That seemed improbable enough just based on the personalities involved. Factor in the likelihood that one of these behemoths would injure himself in the cage or the gym, and you had yourself a recipe for disaster. To some extent, those fears proved well-founded. Injuries and contract shenanigans did pop up along the way. Plus, the whole company changed hands, so there was that too. And yet, here we are in the finals with a fight between one original participant and one reserve fighter, and it’s a legitimately awesome match-up. Oddsmakers have it almost even. Fans are actually buzzing about it. Whoever wins will have made an excellent case for himself as one of the world’s best heavyweights. Even the loser will probably get a chance to redeem himself in the UFC. It took a little while to get here, but now it seems worth the wait. And let’s face it: this could have turned out so much worse.

II. Daniel Cormier could sure use a win on Saturday, but Barnett needs one. Even though they’re almost the same age, Barnett has a lot more MMA miles on him, not to mention more than a little baggage. From his history of failed drug tests to his adamant refusal to publicly own up to the same, Barnett offers a lot of reasons for a potential employer to be wary. If he wins this Grand Prix (and the ‘just for the hell of it’ fight that follows), the UFC pretty much has to take its chances with him. If he gets knocked out by Cormier, it’s a different story. Cormier, on the other hand, is an attractive prospect no matter what happens. Even if he gets submitted by Barnett you could write it off as a learning experience. It is, after all, only his tenth pro fight. It’s Barnett’s 37th. Cormier obviously still wants to win this, and he has a good shot at it. But as long as he doesn’t look positively awful, he’ll be fine. I don’t know if you can say the same about Barnett.

III. With five rounds to beat up on each other, how does the Barnett-Cormier fight end? If you think this one will make it to the judges, you can get +200 odds from a couple online oddsmakers. If, like me, you don’t see it going five full rounds, then you start to ask who will end it and how. Cormier has a dangerous combination of quickness and heavy hands, but Barnett has proven that he can take a thumping. Barnett got to the finals by submitting his way through the first two rounds, but a) he fought two very submittable fighters, and b) if Cormier has a weakness there, we’ve yet to see it. That’s what makes this one so tough to call. Cormier has yet to face anyone with Barnett’s skill and experience in his MMA career, while Barnett has spent the last few years cruising through fights that were, well, one hates to use the word ‘easy’ to describe a professional cage fight, so let’s just say not as challenging as some of his Pride fights. They are, in their own ways, a couple of unknown quantities. That’s why the outcome here is anybody’s guess.

IV. Josh Thomson really, really wants you to know that he’s not injured…any more than usual. The Strikeforce lightweight challenger voiced his frustration with “the MMA media” in an interview with Bloody Elbow, blasting earlier reports that he was pulling out of his title fight with Gilbert Melendez and calling it “typical of the low level of MMA media stuff.” Turns out he’s not injured (at least not beyond a “tweaked” wrist and some other, unspecified ailments), and he’s none too pleased about someone on Twitter possibly giving his opponent a heads-up as to what parts of his body might be vulnerable. I get that, even if my teeth grind together every time someone launches an assault on that convenient, monolithic boogeyman known as The Media. But in Thomson’s case, one thing he’s got going for him is his own reputation as one of MMA’s most injury-prone fighters. If you wanted to target an existing injury in a fight with him, your biggest problem would be choosing one — not discovering one.

V. Once again, Gilbert Melendez finds himself in a fight where he has so much more to lose than gain. It was the same in his last Strikeforce title defense against Jorge Masvidal, and arguably also in the one before that, against Tatsuya Kawajiri. He already has a fairly recent win over Thomson, and he’s a 5-1 favorite to notch another. Anything short of a win via destruction would, at best, keep him right where he is in the rankings. You can just imagine what a loss would do. When you think about it in those terms, it seems pretty obvious that no one is getting a worse deal out of the current Strikeforce/Zuffa situation than Melendez. He’s more or less out of fresh challenges at this point, and no one with any better options wants to come to Strikeforce and risk a beating from him. Is he a top five lightweight? Top three? Hell, he could be the best lightweight in the world, but he’s not getting a chance to prove it right now, in what could very well be the prime of his career. There are definitely worse fates than being the top lightweight in Strikeforce, and being paid to prove it over and over again. It’s just that there are also better fates, especially for a man of Melendez’s talents.

VI. Mike Kyle may or may not get a title shot if he beats Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, and, somehow, that really pisses him off. Apparently, Kyle thought his current one-fight win streak in Strikeforce ought to set him up for a number one contender spot with a win over Cavalcante. After all, he already beat “Feijao” once, and his only losses in Strikeforce have come at heavyweight. Besides, with Mo Lawal out of the picture, who else does Strikeforce have at 205 pounds? That’s all well and good, but Kyle might want to be careful how he goes about agitating for a title shot. After Scott Coker told members of the media it “hasn’t been determined” yet what will happen to the winner of Saturday’s Kyle-Cavalcante rematch, Kyle went off in an interview with USA Today, saying:

“I think it’s bullcrap. You heard what he said — maybe I’ll be the No. 1 contender. I haven’t lost any 205-pound fights. I definitely believe that I’m the No. 1 contender. I was told before I’d be the No. 1 contender. It is what it is. I’m really upset by it. It makes me really not even want to fight. I don’t feel like I’m getting nowhere in the sport. All the changes I’ve made in my life and the things I’m doing, there’s no recognition for it. It really upsets me and it makes me not want to fight.”

It is at this point that I must address Kyle directly and ask: are you kidding me right now? It’s true that you have no losses at light heavyweight. It’s also true that you have exactly one meaningful win there, and that was when you knocked out “Feijao” three years ago. I agree that the winner here should fight for the belt, if only due to a lack of other options. But let’s not fly into an indignant rage just because Coker wouldn’t scream it from the rooftops. He’s not in a position to decide those things these days. Even when he was, he wasn’t one to give a direct answer when a non-committal one was available to him. Chill out, man. This is hardly the time for Strikeforce fighters to suggest that they might rather quit and go home. In case you haven’t noticed, that’s a wish that Zuffa might be all too eager to grant.

VII. Speaking of the undercard, this one’s actually pretty decent. I haven’t watched Showtime Extreme since I caught a late-night showing of Bikini Chain Gang — a far superior film to Bikini Time Machine, which is overrun with historical inaccuracies and completely falls apart in the third act — but the chance to watch Gesias Cavalcante take on Isaac Vallie-Flag is all the motivation I need. Throw in a couple former Challengers series fighters like Quinn Mulhern and Bobby Green, and you’ve got my attention. After sitting around all afternoon waiting for my chance to lose money on the Preakness, I’m sure I’ll be grateful for some programming that gets right to the point. Actually, now that I think about it, you could say the same thing for Bikini Chain Gang.

VIII. If the Barnett-Cormier clash reminds us of anything, let it be that we don’t always need a fake rivalry to sell a fight. Promoters always want to go the ‘bad blood’ route, because it’s easy and because it usually works. You find one barely plausible reason why these guys might hate each other, and boom, you’ve got yourself a promo. Barnett and Cormier are a couple of gregarious, likable guys who actually get along, and they haven’t pretended otherwise. And you know what? It’s still a fight that I can’t wait to see. Give me a good, honest competition any day, and keep your phony grudge matches.

Back before they agreed to fight each other for the UFC heavyweight title, Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir were supposed to play a video game together. Specifically, they were supposed to play “UFC Undisputed 3” at the MGM Grand before the UFC 141 weigh-ins started, and it was supposed to be nothing more than a fun, yet forgettable public appearance, the kind UFC fighters are expected to make when their employer asks for a favor.

But as I wrote in this Sports Illustrated story this week, the video game showdown never happened, though the story behind it offers some interesting insights into the personalities of both UFC 146 main eventers.

When Mir was told he’d be playing against dos Santos, he did what any intensely competitive person would do: he made it his personal mission to get very, very good at the game. He’d played it before, he said, but only “light-heartedly” with some friends at the house. And for this, light-hearted wasn’t good enough, Mir said.

“So I called up my youngest brother, who is an avid player of video games. I said, ‘Hey, come over and help me improve my skills a little bit.’ Of course I didn’t want to go up there and look silly.”

But once dos Santos thought about the UFC’s plan, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be a part of it. This was just a few weeks after Mir had snapped Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s arm in Toronto, and as a result he wasn’t exactly Mr. Popularity in Brazil.

“It wasn’t that he beat [Nogueira],” dos Santos explained. “It was that he talked a lot of trash after that fight, saying things that the Brazilian fans considered very disrespectful. I didn’t really want to put myself in a situation that was going to be doing a public appearance with Frank where I knew we were going to be laughing and having a good time. Something like video games is just more of like a hangout scenario, and I thought it might be taken the wrong way by the Brazilian fans.”

So dos Santos asked the UFC to get someone else. What about Pat Barry? He liked Barry. Everybody liked Barry. He didn’t mean any disrespect to Mir, he explained, “but Frank Mir has a tendency to talk a lot around his fights,” and some of the things he said after breaking Nogueira’s arm were still resonating with Brazilian fans.

But the way Mir sees it, that was all a cover for the “nationalism” of Brazilian fight fans.

“Nogueira’s the one who chose not to tap,” he said. “I didn’t tell Nogueira not to tap. And I made no real ill comments toward him. I’d be really curious to [hear] a quote of what I said about Nogueira after the fight that was so disrespectful. I think it’s just the Brazilians being nationalistic and the fact of an American beating a Brazilian at jiu-jitsu, and one of the legends of jiu-jitsu at that. I think that’s the part that stings.”

Mir thought he’d always represented jiu-jitsu well and given credit to the Brazilians where it was due, he said. He’d even entertained the idea of fighting down in Brazil, and didn’t think it would be a problem.

“Americans will still cheer for a Brazilian,” he said. “They’ll cheer for Georges St-Pierre, who’s Canadian. I guess I realize now that if I went down to Brazil, it wouldn’t be the same there. …After I realized that dos Santos couldn’t play with me because he didn’t want to upset the Brazilians I thought, wow, am I really that disliked?”

Not by dos Santos, or so the UFC heavyweight champ said. He might not have cared for some of Mir’s comments, but he had nothing against the guy, he said. He claimed he didn’t even mean to insult him when he described him as someone who gives up easily when things aren’t going his way in a fight.

“I think Frank Mir is very good when he sees a chance, when he sees an opening. He knows how to capitalize on his opponents’ mistakes, and he’s a very dangerous fighter. But when he tries to go for a certain technique and it doesn’t work out, I think he gives up easily. That’s what I think. Whether it’s true or not, it doesn’t matter. That’s my opinion.”

Not surprisingly, Mir has a different take.

“My last two losses — to Brock [Lesnar] and Shane Carwin — in the Brock fight I was losing the whole first round and I still came after him in the second round. I actually stunned him with a flying knee. I was still trying to win the fight, but I was just incapable of doing so. The Shane Carwin fight, that was a bad game plan on my part. I was trying to take him into the later rounds, which was an intelligent idea. I just went about it the wrong way, trying to stall and hang on and hoping that he would get fatigued and wouldn’t have the cardio to go on later. …I don’t know where I quit. I just took three or four successive blows from Carwin when I was face down on the canvas, trying to go for a kimura. If you want to say Carwin doesn’t hit hard, then I guess you can make that assessment.”

For Mir, who turns 33 two days before the fight, this sudden title shot looks a lot like the last best chance at UFC gold. As the heavyweight division adds more fresh young talent, it’s difficult to say how long there will still be a place for guys who were doing this back when the UFC still insisted on naming each event (Mir’s debut, by the way, came at UFC 34: High Voltage, which reminds us how far the UFC has come in terms of graphic design).

Just don’t tell that to Mir, who insists he’s nowhere near done, despite what fans who have been watching him for the past decade might think.

“I think the only reason people assume that is because I started out in the UFC when I was 22,” he said. “Sorry, guys. I was successful at a young age and I’ve kept around the top ten now for quite a long time. I don’t see myself going anywhere any time soon.”

Like a lot of fighters, Lavar Johnson usually likes to take a little time to celebrate a win. Nothing major. Just good, decadent food, maybe some adult beverages, and a few days away from the gym to relax and unwind. But after his TKO win over Pat Barry at the UFC on FOX 3 earlier this month, he didn’t celebrate in the typical way. When the UFC called him on Wednesday to ask how he felt about stepping in for an injured Mark Hunt and facing Stefan Struve at UFC 146 next Saturday night, that decision suddenly seemed like a great one.

“Usually I’ll go barbeque, drink some beer and celebrate, but I didn’t even do that this time,” Johnson told MMA Fighting. “I’m at a high level right now and I knew I needed to stay on my game. That’s what I’m doing. I’m jumping right back in there and I’m ready to go.”

With Hunt sidelined by a knee injury, Johnson now gets a chance to rack up two UFC victories in one month. All he has to do is beat a 6’11″ Dutch heavyweight on a week and a half’s notice. It’s the kind of offer that few could have blamed him for turning down, but Johnson described it as an easy decision.

“This is what I get paid to do,” he said. “This is what we all do. We train to fight. If I didn’t think I could beat Stefan Struve or anybody else then I wouldn’t be fighting in the UFC, period. I would find a different profession. I’ve got confidence in myself and I think I match up with him good.”

At the same time, even Johnson admitted to a little initial concern at the thought of fighting an opponent who’s nearly seven feet tall. There’s almost no time to find a sparring partner who can mimic his height and reach, and even if there were time there still aren’t too many seven-footers hanging out in most fight gyms.

But Johnson said he’s “not really worried” about Struve’s reach (84 inches — Johnson has it memorized already) or his height, because, as he explained, “I don’t think he really uses his reach, his height. He doesn’t utilize all that. I think I’m faster than him and I hit harder than him, and I’m going to get to him first.”

If he does, his bank account will thank him. Johnson has matching Knockout of the Night bonuses from his only two UFC fights so far, and though he’s saving most of the money, he did permit himself the purchase of a new car — a Chevy Silverado Z71, he said, “four-door, lifted, the whole nine.”

At the same time, stepping in on such short notice against an experienced fighter like Struve is far from easy money. While Johnson said he’s injury-free after the Barry fight, he’s watched enough of Struve’s fights to know he has a tough night of work ahead of him.

“You just have to put him to sleep,” Johnson said. “That’s the only way to beat him. He’s not going to quit, so I have to hit him on the chin and hit him a bunch of times and put him out.”

Did you forget there was a UFC event on FUEL TV last night? Maybe you went trotting off to your hipster kickball league thinking it was just another Tuesday, or maybe you’re one of those unhappy few who don’t get FUEL TV at all. Maybe every time you hear MMA fans talking about FUEL TV, you assume it’s one of those internet video sites that appends TV to the end of its name in a sad attempt to seem more credible.

That’s okay. I mean, you did miss a few great fights, and I did forget to DVR it for you like I promised (my bad), but all is not lost. You can still piece together the awesomeness this morning as we sort through the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between from UFC on FUEL TV 3.

Biggest Winner: Chan Sung Jung
If you weren’t a believer after he knocked out Mark Hominick in seven seconds — and, in fairness, Hominick did run right into his fists like a bird into a pane of glass — surely you have to give “The Korean Zombie” his daps now. He took on a rising featherweight challenger who was undefeated in the UFC, and he beat him in every aspect of MMA. From the ground game to the striking exchanges, this seemed like a whole new Zombie. Remember the plodding, flat-footed fighter who blocked strikes with his head as if he were there to provide his opponents with target practice? Remember the guy who brawled with Leonard Garcia and more or less begged George Roop to kick him in the head? Well, that Zombie doesn’t live here anymore. The new one knows when to open up and when to play it smart, though he still has the resiliency to take your best shots and the technique to make you tap. Don’t think he’s earned a shot at Jose Aldo’s title just yet? You might have a point, but before you latch onto to it too tightly, consider this: in three UFC fights Jung has 1) pulled off the first twister submission in UFC history, 2) notched one of the fastest knockouts in UFC history, and 3) handed Dustin Poirier his first UFC loss (and first ever loss inside the distance), while also saving a fight card that had become mired in the muck thanks to its “co-main event” (more on that below). After all that, do you really need to see Jung win one more fight against whoever, just so his current streak looks more impressive on a computer screen? If so, I have to assume that you just hate fun.

Biggest Loser(s): Amir Sadollah and Jorge Lopez
Sadollah grew up in Virginia and, to the UFC’s thinking, probably had enough of a hometown pull to move a few blocks of tickets in the co-main event slot. Of course, he probably could have done the same from the middle of the card, and at least there this snoozer of a fight wouldn’t have ground the evening’s momentum to a screeching halt. Sadollah and Lopez combined for the only lackluster bout on the six-fight televised portion of the card. When I use the word ‘lackluster’ here, I’m trying to be nice. They spent most of the three rounds battling for position in the clinch or getting up from one another’s takedowns. By the time the split decision for Sadollah was announced it hardly seemed to matter. Just pick one guy, raise his hand, and get them both out of there. As Gus Johnson might say, sometimes these things happen in MMA. Sadollah’s been in plenty of exciting scraps, so we know he can do better when given a chance. Lopez just dropped to 0-2 in the UFC, and he did it while putting a lot of people to sleep, which is never a good career move in this business. If it hadn’t been the so-called “co-main event” — an overused and transparent marketing ploy that is about as impressive to MMA fans as ‘Golden Globe nominee’ is to movie audiences — maybe we wouldn’t have noticed. Maybe Cerrone or Pokrajac or Jabouin or, really, any of the other TV fighters could have come on afterward and served as a pallet cleanser to build up speed for the actual main event. All I know for sure is, at one point during this fight I heard my neighbors arguing on their back porch and I was very tempted to turn off the TV and go watch that fight instead. Their battle might not have been any more conclusive than the Sadollah-Lopez one, but at least next door I knew what was at stake.

Most Impressive in Defeat: Fabio Maldonado
As commentators Jon Anik and Kenny Florian reminded us over and over again on Tuesday night, body shots are kind of Maldonado’s thing. The trouble is, trying to win a three-round MMA fight with body shots is a little like trying to carve a sculpture with a garden hose. Eventually, given enough time and patience and constant pressure, erosion does its work. It’s just not usually a speedy process, nor is it terribly effective on judges who tend to go gaga for head shots and can sometimes fail to appreciate the importance of a blast to the liver. Both Maldonado and Pokrajac demonstrated a self-destructive willingness to absorb punishment, much to the crowd’s delight, and in the end they turned what looked like a forgettable fight on paper to a memorable one in the cage. That’s a nice surprise. You just hope that UFC officials will appreciate Maldonado’s style more than the judges did. Erosion isn’t sexy, but it is effective.

Least Impressive in Victory: Brad Tavares
In a just world, this title belongs to Sadollah. But we’ve covered that already, so let us raise our eyebrows at another lackluster victory instead. On the prelim portion of the card, Tavares and Yang traded eye pokes and groin shots in a somewhat sloppy affair that had even referee “Big” Dan Miragliotta looking frustrated at points. If not for Yang’s offense all but disappearing in the final two minutes of the fight — in other words, right after he took a boot to the pills — the judges might have gone a different way. As it was, Tavares earned the decision victory by doing just enough and no more. He held Yang down when he needed to, tossed out strikes that were at least visually impressive at the right points in the right rounds, and for his trouble he improved his record and pocketed a win bonus. If those were his only goals, then mission accomplished. If he wanted to give fans a reason to care about and look forward to his next fight, then he’s still got work to do.

Most One-Sided Victory: (tie) Donald Cerrone and Yves Jabouin
Jabouin came closer to finishing his opponent — and, with a referee who wasn’t a hardcore sadist, he might have earned a stoppage at several different points — but both men dominated en route to decision victories. Cerrone outclassed and toyed with Jeremy Stephens at times, batting him around like a cat playing with a paperclip. Jabouin made every effort to separate Jeff Hougland from consciousness, but couldn’t quite push him all the way over the cliff and so had to settle for stomping on his fingers as Hougland gamely clung to the ledge until the final horn. Great wins for both guys, and probably indicators that they need tougher competition. That’s easier to accomplish for Jabouin, who is rising ever so slowly in the bantamweight class. Cerrone had his ascent halted by Nate Diaz in December, and now seems to be campaigning in vain for a rematch. You can’t blame him for wanting to run that one back, but he’d be wise to seek fresh game and hope for another meeting with Diaz somewhere down the line. Cerrone’s at his best when he focuses on logging as many fight purses and bonus checks as possible. If he keeps showing up quality lightweights the way he did on Tuesday, the big fights will eventually come.

Most Surprising: Tom Lawlor
If you don’t count his late-night TUF mansion KO of Dave Kaplan, the last time Lawlor knocked anyone out was nearly five years ago at a small show in Mansfield, Massachusetts. He might have rocked an opponent or two during his stay in the UFC, but he’s still far more likely to be confused for a Mötley Crüe roadie than for a knockout artist. That’s why you almost couldn’t help but feel a vicarious joy when he KO’d Jason MacDonald in the opening minute of their bout and then celebrated like a kid who’d just been told that school was canceled. That’s what’s so fun about watching Lawlor. He reacts to the goings-on in his UFC career the way fans imagine they might react. When told to talk us through the finish, he asks, just as any of us who have watched way too many of these interviews might, “Do I get a replay or no?” It’s like he’s learned about this life more from watching it than from doing it, and he doesn’t pretend that it isn’t totally strange and wonderful. Are we ever going to hear the words, ‘…and new UFC middleweight champion, Tom Lawlor’? I doubt it. I also don’t particularly care. He’s just so much fun to have around.

This is the UFC on FUEL 3 live blog for Jason MacDonald vs. Tom Lawlor, a middleweight bout on Tuesday night’s UFC event from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va.

MacDonald, who has lost two of his last three fights, will fight Lawlor, who has lost three of his last four fights, on the main card.

Check out the live blog below.

Round 1: Lawlor comes striding across the cage and backs MacDonald up against the fence. They toss out some tentative strikes and MacDonald shoots for a takedown. Lawlor stuffs it with no problem, then resumes his striking attack. Big left straight down the pipe by Lawlor, followed by a right hook. MacDonald goes facedown into the mat. Lawlor follows him down, but he doesn’t need to. This one is over. Lawlor flops onto his back and kicks his legs with glee. MacDonald is already back up to one knee with a ‘you got me’ smile on his face. At least he’s okay.

Tom Lawlor def. Jason MacDonald via TKO (punches) at 0:50 of round one