At just 26 years of age, Jon Jones has already defeated some of the top fighters of his generation and the generation before him. The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion won the belt at 23 years old, becoming the youngest champion in promotion…
At just 26 years of age, Jon Jones has already defeated some of the top fighters of his generation and the generation before him.
The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion won the belt at 23 years old, becoming the youngest champion in promotion history. Since that time, he’s set a new UFC record by successfully defending his title seven times.
With former titleholders like Vitor Belfort, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson among his list of victims, his resume reads like a who’s who of the sport.
If “Bones” decides to remain in the game for as long as the greats, he has a legitimate chance at etching his name atop the list. While that’s in the future, we can discuss his past.
Here’s how Jones’ title defenses rank in terms of his performance in those fights.
UFC 173 isn’t quite what it was suppose to be.
Originally, the Memorial Day weekend event was expected to feature Chris Weidman defending his UFC middleweight title against Vitor Belfort. Than it was Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida for the belt, with a…
Originally, the Memorial Day weekend event was expected to feature Chris Weidman defending his UFC middleweight title against VitorBelfort. Than it was Weidman vs. LyotoMachida for the belt, with a co-main event between Junior dos Santos and StipeMiocic.
None of those fighters are linked to the card now, but there is still reason to tune in.
RenanBarao, who sports an incredible win streak, will defend his bantamweight title against T.J. Dillashaw from Team Alpha Male. Light heavyweight contenders Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier will square off in a bout featuring two former U.S. Olympic wrestlers, while welterweight standouts Jake Ellenberger and Robbie Lawler meet in another key bout.
Here’s an early look at the fights set for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 24.
Michael Chandler and Alexander Shlemenko can grab the Bellator MMA torch and carry it into the future at Bellator 120 this month. Or they can tumble all the way back down the pyramid, bringing the promotion with them.
Bellator will host its first-ever …
Michael Chandler and Alexander Shlemenko can grab the Bellator MMA torch and carry it into the future at Bellator 120 this month. Or they can tumble all the way back down the pyramid, bringing the promotion with them.
Bellator will host its first-ever pay-per-view on May 17, with Chandler taking on Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title and Shlemenko meeting former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.
If the pressure of facing two well-rounded fighters wasn’t enough, they are also the building blocks and stars to what Bjorn Rebney, Bellator and Spike TV have planned going forward.
Alvarez is the champion, and the more known of the two fighters in the main event, but he has an interesting contract worked out. Most feel he will leave Bellator after this fight, as arranged by his deal, so putting that giant logo on his back makes no sense. If Chandler fails to win the belt from him, it doesn’t look good for Rebney to lose his champ.
Ortiz is on the opposite end of the spectrum from all three fighters mentioned, as he is closer to retirement than building himself back into a contender. However, he could severely cripple Shlemenko’s status by stunning the 50-win fighter.
Again, plenty of pressure on both Chandler and Shlemenko to deliver in the spotlight.
While all of that is taken into consideration, there are plenty of reasons to believe each man will come out with their respective hand raised on that May night.
Chandler has dealt with adversity his entire life, entering the University of Missouri wrestling room as a walk-on and leaving years later with four NCAA qualifier marks and 100 wins. He was a two-time runner-up in the Big 12 and a fifth-place finisher at nationals.
After preparing himself for a career in MMA at Xtreme Couture, Chandler debuted in 2009 with a second-round TKO. A year later, he made his Bellator debut and finished Scott Stapp in the first round. Two more first-round finishes led Chandler to a tournament quarterfinal with Marcin Held that he won via first-round arm triangle choke when he left Held unconscious.
Back-to-back decisions provided Chandler with a tourney title and shot at Alvarez. At 9-0, and just a few years into his career, he submitted Alvarez in the fourth round in a bout widely considered the “Fight of the Year” in 2011.
Chandler followed that up with three straight finishes over Akihiro Gono, Rick Hawn and David Rickels to defend his title before dropping a split decision to Alvarez last year.
To say he has shown why some consider him a top lightweight is easy. In 13 career bouts, he has finished 10 of his opponents, and done so equally with five knockouts and five submissions.
The second meeting with Alvarez was a back-and-forth 25-minute grind that Chandler easily could have been declared the winner in. He converted on 10 takedowns, while stuffing all three attempts by Alvarez, held a plus-15 advantage in power strikes and was more successful on his ground strikes.
In falling, though, he set up this important and critical third meeting with Alvarez, and that only helps his stock. By coming back and scoring the win, he’ll have avenged the loss and proven to the world that he is elite.
Shlemenko will turn 30 just days after the event, but he already has 57 fights on his resume; he’s won 50 of them. Twenty-nine of those 50 victories have come via knockout, with another eight from various forms of submissions.
In Ortiz, the Russian will be giving up several pounds, maybe 30-plus come fight night, but he’ll have an incredible advantage in speed, strength and skill. At 39 years old and coming off of another neck surgery, the Ortiz of old isn’t going to show up inside the Bellator cage.
Bellator’s tournament-style ways of pairing fights has led some people to shy away from watching, but Chandler and Shlemenko are two reasons to make sure you catch the pay-per-view offering.
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has a strong resume.
The 29-year-old trains out of American Kickboxing Academy and has defeated the likes of Tim Kennedy, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Keith Jardine during his career.
In terms of the…
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has a strong resume.
The 29-year-old trains out of American Kickboxing Academy and has defeated the likes of Tim Kennedy, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Keith Jardine during his career.
In terms of the pecking order, he’s right outside the Top Five, but a win this Saturday over Tim Boetsch at UFC 172 would go a long way in positioning him right back as a contender.
But he is coming after the wrong fighter in calling outVitor Belfort in an interview with Fox Sports’ Damon Martin.
Let’s quickly flash back to last May in Brazil, where Belfort delivered a spinning heel kick that floored Rockhold, sending him crashing to the canvas in defeat. Was it a “lucky” connection between Belfort’s foot and Rockhold’s head? Sure, but it was still a lasting image.
Just like the one of Randy Couture being knocked out by Lyoto Machida. Or Chris Weidman taking out Anderson Silva.
When you match up two highly skilled athletes, any fight-ending blow is a lucky one. But it was still a nasty one.
When Rockhold calls into question Belfort’s strike and previous use of testosterone replacement therapy, he sounds like he’s whining. And that’s not Rockhold. He’s always done what’s been asked of him, from taking on “The Phenom” in his Octagon debut to defending his Strikeforce title against a non-contender in Jardine.
If you recall the fight in question, Belfort was in control from start to finish, firing off numerous shots and overpowering Rockhold before he finally landed the bone-crunching hit. Instead of trying to stand and trade, Rockhold needed to get the fight with Belfort to the ground.
He has six career submission victories, and Belfort has been submitted twice in his career. Not great odds, but for someone lacking the amount of knockouts like Rockhold, thinking he could drop a fighter the caliber of Belfort out of pure luck didn’t seem like a strong strategy.
Instead of trying to provoke Belfort, Rockhold needs to just live and learn. He’s got a better challenge—assuming he defeats Boetsch—in Michael Bisping, who called him out on Twitter.
Rockhold and Bisping could headline a future show in Europe or even in the U.S. Both are well-rounded and well-versed on the microphones.
With “The Count,” Rockhold would be taking on the task of facing someone who also lost to Belfort in Brazil in devastating fashion. Plus, Bisping carries a great reputation, a high ranking and plenty of quality wins on his resume. He’s been on the cusp of title contention a handful of times, falling short in bouts vs. Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson.
Belfort will be locked up in a title fight once he gets cleared and can obtain his fight license. He isn’t going to take a step back and revisit Rockhold, who needs to understand that.
If Rockhold can reel off some impressive victories over members of the UFC’s elite at middleweight, a rematch with Belfort will be there.
When you think about the history of MMA, mentioning one fighter almost instantly brings with it another.
Say Chuck Liddell, and most people will think about Tito Ortiz.
Georges St-Pierre had Matt Hughes. Anderson Silva had Chael Sonnen. Even Ronda Rous…
When you think about the history of MMA, mentioning one fighter almost instantly brings with it another.
Say Chuck Liddell, and most people will think about Tito Ortiz.
Georges St-Pierre had Matt Hughes. Anderson Silva had Chael Sonnen. Even Ronda Rousey had Miesha Tate.
So, what is Jon Jones, the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion, missing?
A true rival.
Sure, the beef between Jones and Rashad Evans was fun while it lasted, but those two sides appeared to patch things up after “Bones” dominated him for 25 minutes.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson did his best to bring out a different side of Jones and create something, but Jackson is on the wrong side of 30 to really create a long-standing rivalry with Jones. Now he isn’t even in the UFC anymore.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is a shell of his former self after recent struggles and Lyoto Machida has moved to a different weight class, as has Vitor Belfort.
Of Jones’ recent battles inside the Octagon, there is only one fighter who can legitimately say he gave the champion everything he could handle and then some, and remains a viable contender.
Alexander Gustafsson.
Gustafsson’s skills pushed Jones to the distance last September. If things play out correctly this weekend at UFC 172, we will see Jones-Gustafsson II sometime in 2014.
And that is exactly what Jones needs.
Gustafsson brought out the very best in Jones, which he has admitted in numerous interviews. He forced him to dig down deep and find another level to take his MMA game to—and he changed his entire mental approach about the fight game.
Jones has placed himself among the very best in UFC history already, as he holds the record for successful title defenses at 205 pounds with six. He was the youngest UFC champion when he won the belt from Rua in 2011 at just 23 years old and has defeated four more former champions since.
However, there’s always been this aura surrounding Jones. For some reason, whether it is his attitude, his youth or his past, people just don’t seem to care for him. After the Gustafsson fight, though, feelings were changed, as fans saw Jones pushed into deep waters and not only fight for survival but thrive in doing so.
We’ve seen a different side of Jones since that bout with “The Mauler.” His cocky confidence has turned into just regular confidence in himself and his abilities. It feels as if Jones found out that yes, he is human, but when he needs to be, he can take his talent to another level like the greats before him.
The five-round “Fight of the Year” with Jones also did wonders for the career of Gustafsson. While he immediately pushed for a rematch, he had no trouble dismantling Jimi Manuwa earlier this year to stay busy and confirm his status as the top contender.
Gustafsson, 27, and Jones, 26, are only one year apart, meaning we could see many, many more classics over the years. Heck, with their age and bodies, they could move to heavyweight down the road and continue trading blows.
Fight fans who sat down last September to watch Jones-Gustafsson likely did so expecting to see the Swede overmatched and dismantled much the same way the champion has done to Machida, Jackson, Evans and Belfort before him.
Instead, they left with a sense of excitement because the light heavyweight division had produced a true threat to the reign of the king. Gustafsson took the best shots Jones had and retaliated with better ones time and time again.
He took the former NJCAA national wrestling champion down, something not even Evans—a former standout at Michigan State University—could do. He attacked his face with reckless abandon, leaving Jones with damage to this day over his left eye.
While we are still months away from the rematch, Gustafsson has shown that he—like Jones—is still only getting better.
Following the final two matches in the quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, it seems as if a winner will be crowned in the early stages of 2012.The semifinals are slated to hit the cage in October, allowing enough time for the …
Following the final two matches in the quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, it seems as if a winner will be crowned in the early stages of 2012.
The semifinals are slated to hit the cage in October, allowing enough time for the winners to prepare to meet in February and fight for the title.
This past weekend, current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and former UFC champ Josh Barnett filled out the remaining semifinal spots by earning wins over Fabricio Werdum (Overeem via unanimous decision) and Brett Rogers (Barnett via second round submission).
Joining Overeem and Barnett will be Antonio Silva and Sergei Kharitonov.
This is how the matchups are scheduled: Overeem will meet Silva on one half, while Barnett takes on Kharitonov.
The tourney began back in February with two opening round bouts taking place. Silva and Kharitonov each earned upset victories over Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.
Michael Chandler and Alexander Shlemenko can grab the Bellator