What’s left for Jon Jones after his dominant win over former training partner and friend Rashad Evans at UFC 145?Is there any real competition left for Jones at light heavyweight? We know he’s facing Dan Henderson next. Alexander Gustafsson is making h…
What’s left for Jon Jones after his dominant win over former training partner and friend Rashad Evans at UFC 145?
Is there any real competition left for Jones at light heavyweight? We know he’s facing Dan Henderson next. Alexander Gustafsson is making his own case as a contender and legitimate threat. But a large section of MMA fans are starting to wonder what Jones could do at heavyweight, against the likes of Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez.
National UFC writer Jeremy Botter checks in with this video update and gives you the answer to today’s burning question: Should Jon Jones stick around light heavyweight and defend his title, or should he move up to heavyweight and attempt to cement a place as one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport?
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UFC 145, and the biggest grudge match in recent Ultimate Fighting Championship memory, is finally in the books. It’s time to take a look forward at what should be next in store for some of the biggest winners (and losers) from another excellent UFC eve…
UFC 145, and the biggest grudge match in recent Ultimate Fighting Championship memory, is finally in the books. It’s time to take a look forward at what should be next in store for some of the biggest winners (and losers) from another excellent UFC event.
Let’s start at the top:
Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson
This isn’t much of a stretch, because we already know it’s happening. We just don’t know when. Henderson is the rightful contender and has been waiting for his shot since beating Shogun Rua in one of the best fights in UFC history in December.
Unfortunately for Henderson, he doesn’t have much of a chance against the reigning champion.
Jones’ otherworldly reach will present even more problems for Henderson than it did for Evans, and Henderson will have to rely on landing that big right hand of his.
There’s a chance that could happen, of course. All of Henderson’s opponents know that he wants to land the “H-Bomb,” and he’s usually able to do it anyway.
Jones is a different kind of fighter, though. He’s brilliant in the cage, and I don’t see Henderson getting close enough to land that one shot. Jones should walk through him with relative ease.
This fight would need one thing, of course: Evans would need to drop down to middleweight. I believe that’s the best course for him at this point in his career.
He faces a long road if he wants to get back to another shot at Jones, and by the time it happens, he’ll be even older and Jones will be a better fighter. Suga’s prospects for another light heavyweight title reign are bleak.
He’s always been undersized at light heavyweight, though, and a move to middleweight would put him on equal footing with the guys in that division.
A bout with Munoz, another highly-decorated wrestler, would be intriguing on many levels, and a win for Evans over a guy like Munoz would cement him as a title challenger for Anderson Silva or Chael Sonnen. The same goes for Munoz; a win over Evans would give him real momentum heading into a title fight.
It’s time for Evans to make the move down a weight class, and this is the perfect introductory fight for him in the division.
Rory MacDonald vs. Josh Koscheck/Johny Hendricks
MacDonald is certainly one of the best prospects in the welterweight division. The UFC is positioning him as a future star, but he’ll need to beat a real star in order to cement himself near the top of the division.
A bout against the winner of the Koscheck/Hendricks fight that takes place in two weeks at UFC on FOX 3 would give MacDonald that credibility, especially if it comes over Koscheck. It would also give MacDonald a clear shot at the interim welterweight title and afford him a chance to garner revenge over Carlos Condit, the one guy who has handed MacDonald a loss during his young career.
Ben Rothwell vs. Roy Nelson
Rothwell’s stunning knockout over Brendan Schaub kick-started his career in many ways. He was on the verge of retiring from the sport with another loss, but gained new life and tons of new fans with his emotional performance.
With Antonio Silva moving up to face Cain Velasquez at UFC 146, Roy Nelson needs a new opponent for the card.
Why not Rothwell?
He’s uninjured after the Schaub fight, and he already owns a win over Nelson from back in their IFL days. He’s the perfect replacement opponent for Nelson in just about every way, shape and form.
Michael McDonald vs. Brian Bowles
McDonald’s knockout win over Miguel Torres firmly established him as not just one of the hottest bantamweight prospects in the world, but as a real top-five fighter in the division.
I suspect Renan Barao will get a title shot against the winner of Urijah Faber/Dominick Cruz, provided Barao can beat Jeff Houghland, which leaves McDonald needing one more fight before securing a championship bout of his own.
Bowles is coming off a loss to Faber last November, but he’s still one of the top fighters in the division. He represents a step up in the division for McDonald, which seems like a natural career progression for the youngster.
And a win over Bowles would turn McDonald from a hot prospect into the real deal and a championship contender.
Plus, the fight would probably be awesome. Both guys are outstanding strikers, and the odds are high this one would have a violent ending.
Greg Jackson is one of the smartest coaches in mixed martial arts.He’s a voracious reader of anything historical, and studies the intricacies of mixed martial arts like a general studies the arts and ways of war. His busy schedule means that the days o…
Greg Jackson is one of the smartest coaches in mixed martial arts.
He’s a voracious reader of anything historical, and studies the intricacies of mixed martial arts like a general studies the arts and ways of war. His busy schedule means that the days of Jackson spending each and every day coaching his guys in his New Mexico gym are probably long gone, but make no mistake about it: Jackson is still the brains, the guy who comes up with the game plans and he’s the one in their corner come fight night to ensure that they execute it properly.
Jon Jones used another one of Jackson’s brilliant game plans on Saturday night. It wasn’t perfect execution by Jones; the light heavyweight champ respected Evans as a fighter, and that made him a little shaky throughout all five rounds. But Jones still did his job, and did so effectively.
“It was a pretty intricate game plan because Rashad brings a lot of stuff. But underpinning it was constant forward pressure,” Jackson told Bryant. “Not letting him get a chance to establish his rhythm was a very, very important component.”
There’s almost always a moment during a Jones fight where we sit back and go, “well, I don’t know what the heck he just did there, but it was pretty awesome.” There were two such moments during Saturday’s fight: the standing elbow strikes Jones used to rock Evans and the shoulder punches he used to keep Evans from changing levels during a takedown attempt.
Jackson said that’s par for the course when dealing with Jones.
“The thing about Jon is that you don’t want to get too hyper-specific about what you exactly want him to do. He likes that, but it’s better to let him flow and be creative,” Jackson said. “We worked a lot of stuff similar to that, but you never know when he’s going to do it, and neither does his opponent.”
It’s clear as it ever was that we’re dealing with a special talent. It’s an honor to watch Jones do what he does in the cage, and that’s not hyperbole. We could very well be seeing the rapid ascension of the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.
Kudos to Jackson for having the mental clarity to seemingly know the correct thing to do with Jones each and every time out of the gate.
Dana White left Las Vegas last night to head to Atlanta, but only after posting the following message to his Twitter account:Taking off to Atlanta!!!! May 26 th is now Mir vs JDS for the HW title in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.And just like that, one of…
Taking off to Atlanta!!!! May 26 th is now Mir vs JDS for the HW title in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.
And just like that, one of the UFC’s biggest controversies of the past few years is over. For the time being, at least.
Removing Overeem from his title fight was, from the very beginning, the only real option the UFC had in this situation. I realize that every person accused of something illegal deserves their day in court. And yes, an elevated testosterone level is absolutely against the rules set down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. But there is simply no explanation Overeem can provide during his hearing on the 24th that will make absolute sense and clear his name. It’s just not possible.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy isn’t a valid excuse, not when he has recent tests on record showing that his testosterone levels were normal. If Overeem needed TRT, those tests would’ve shown a depleted testosterone range. They didn’t. And you know why? Because he doesn’t need testosterone in his system. He has plenty.
If Overeem had been granted a license to fight dos Santos—and had he gone on to win the heavyweight title—it would have been a significant black eye on the UFC. All of the efforts they’ve gone through over the past 10 years to take the sport of mixed martial arts mainstream would have been significantly damaged, especially to those who aren’t quite ready to accept the sport. It would have hampered their efforts in New York, where they’re still fighting a yearly battle to get this thing legalized.
I must give major kudos to Dana White and the UFC brass for replacing Overeem with Frank Mir. It might make the UFC 146 main event slightly less intriguing, but it was the right thing to do. And doing the right thing is far more important than making money right now.
For a UFC star like Chael Sonnen, fight week can be a very busy grind. After amazing fans at the Question and Answer session with some admittedly funny zingers, Chael’s day was not done.At the Microsoft Store at Lenox Mall in Atlanta, Chael and The Ult…
For a UFC star like Chael Sonnen, fight week can be a very busy grind. After amazing fans at the Question and Answer session with some admittedly funny zingers, Chael’s day was not done.
At the Microsoft Store at Lenox Mall in Atlanta, Chael and The Ultimate Show host Kenda Perez met fans, signed autographs, and posed for pictures with some of the UFC’s most hardcore fans.
The event was in support of The X-Box Live’s new UFC App. In addition to streaming the pay per views, you can watch a variety of UFC content, including a cool looking “Fight Stories” section that breaks down a feud like Jones-Evans into individual fights available for purchase a la carte.
From the press release:
Video On Demand Catalog – Review the history of head-to-head battles between Champion fighters in a convenient narrative timeline packed with high octane video content. The Fight Stories Video on Demand catalog delivers resources to enhance your UFC experience, including past fights, interviews and more. Content is available from $3 – $10 can be purchased directly with the credit card associated with your Xbox LIVE account.
Social Fight Picks – Engage in friendly competition with newly enhanced Fight Picks, allowing you to compete with those on your friends list and others in the Xbox LIVE community
Leaderboard– Score Entertainment Achievements points for winning Fight Card picks to boost scores and visibility with friends and community on the Leaderboard available via the app hub.
We’ll have more on the new app in the days to come. But right now all anyone can think about is the fight. Two of the best light heavyweights in history will collide in the cage in Atlanta. If you’re a fan, you owe it to yourself to watch this one.
Jeremy Botter: I’m sitting in a suite in the Philips Arena with Clay Guida. The Arena, as the kind gentleman standing outside Ted’s Bison Grill referred to it, is the home of tomorrow night’s UFC 145 card. We spend plenty of time talking about basketba…
Jeremy Botter: I’m sitting in a suite in the Philips Arena with Clay Guida. The Arena, as the kind gentleman standing outside Ted’s Bison Grill referred to it, is the home of tomorrow night’s UFC 145 card. We spend plenty of time talking about basketball, but I’m not much of an expert on the sport these days. My hometown Rockets just completed an epic failure to reach the playoffs, so we don’t have much to be excited about.
I ask Guida about the main event with Jones and Evans, and if it’s tough for him to see two men who were once his training partners embroiled in such a bitter rivalry.
“It is. Rashad is the guy who brought me to Jackson’s MMA in the first place,” Guida says.
These are the stories we don’t hear much of when we’re discussing Jones vs. Evans and the friendship they once had. How does it affect guys like Guida, who consider both men friends? It’s apparent from reading Guida’s facial expressions that it’s not an easy subject to talk about.
At the core, though, Guida is still a fight fan. We discuss Jon Jones and the world of potential he has. He believes, like I do, that Jones is eventually going to be a force in the heavyweight division. Over the next 18 months or so, he could quite literally become the greatest fighter in the history of the sport. Guida notes Jones’ frame and how, with ten to fifteen pounds of muscle, he could be absolutely terrifying at heavyweight.
One thing is clear: Guida, like everyone else, is a fight fan. And he can’t wait to see the action unfold tomorrow night.
