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UFC 140: Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida Will Not Be Broken by Jon Jones

Reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion of the World Jon Jones is on an astounding streak of dominance. He has beaten seven opponents in a row by absolute domination and stoppage. When Jon Jones steps into the Octagon, the judges sitting ca…

A note of caution to those judges: You’re going to want to pay close attention and diligently fill out your scorecards at UFC 140 this Saturday, because this thing is going the full 25 minutes.

Jonny “Bones” Jones is an imposing figure and a tough puzzle for any light heavyweight, but Lyoto Machida is the first opponent with a good answer for everything Jon Jones brings to the table.

Jones has an insane reach advantage over pretty much everyone in the UFC not named Stefan Struve. And nobody at 205 lbs comes even close. A wingspan of 84.5 inches is a tremendous advantage, and Jones is starting to get good at making the most of his reach.

Machida can negate this advantage in several ways: 1) Lyoto Machida‘s Karate-based fighting style is built around not getting hit. He’s very good at dodging and moving away when threatened, and he’s quick enough to stay clear of most of Jones’ strikes. 2) There is Machida’s uncanny ability to feint repeatedly, move in suddenly, strike quickly and then move out again. 3) And finally, Lyoto Machida can use precision kicks to keep his head and body at a distance while landing strikes. Machida’s kicks vs. Jones’ reach does not give Machida an overwhelming advantage, but it does equalize things considerably.

Jones has extremely creative striking. So does Lyoto Machida. Neither man has a clear advantage on this point.

Jones is the best and most complete wrestler in the light heavyweight division.

He’s not just another great freestyle wrestler, he possesses elite skills in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling styles. Greco-Roman wrestling specializes in clinch-work, pushing your opponent around and taking your opponent down while not getting taken down in return. Greco has been proven to the best wrestling style in MMA.

To counter this, Machida has a unique and unfamiliar wrestling skill set. He is a high-level (and extremely underrated) freestyle wrestler and he has also trained extensively in Sumo wrestling. From a standing position, Sumo wrestling super-specializes in clinch work. You lose by anything but your feet touching the ground or being pushed outside of a circle. Controlling and not being controlled is much more important to a Sumo wrestler. Take-down defense is much more important as well.

If you go back and watch the Couture fight again, you’ll notice that every time Couture got a hold of him, Lyoto broke free quickly and almost effortlessly. That’s exactly what it takes to thwart Jones’ clinch game.

Lyoto Machida has better Brazilian Jiu Jitsu than anyone Jones has faced thus far. Jones is probably still better at the overall submission game, but Machida is better equipped to nullify Jones on the ground than anyone else.

Machida is very durable, has great cardio and he consistently fights at the level of his competition no matter how good they are.

Put it all together and what do you get? Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, the toughest challenge the light heavyweight division has left for Jon Jones.

But what about the all important question: Does Lyoto have the tools to win? Can he beat Jonny “Bones” Jones?

No. He has the tools to pull off the upset, but he won’t. Ultimately, Jones is better at everything than Machida. Jonny has all the skills and tools to win this fight on the judges’ score card.

And that’s no insult to Lyoto Machida. The Dragon will break Jones’ long streak of winning by finishing his opponents. And Mr. Machida is going to be the last light heavyweight to survive against Jones long enough for the judges to render a decision.

Jon Jones is going to win this fight by five-round unanimous decision. Jon Jones will also beat everyone else in the division today either by submission or by knockout. And you can take that to the bank.

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TUF 14 Finale: 10 Reasons Michael Bisping Will Destroy Mayhem Miller

This past Thanksgiving weekend, we all had a lot to be thankful for. One thing I’m very thankful for is the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter.The UFC needed more Bantamweights and Featherweights and the reality show delivered. There are p…

This past Thanksgiving weekend, we all had a lot to be thankful for. One thing I’m very thankful for is the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC needed more Bantamweights and Featherweights and the reality show delivered. There are plenty of great prospects for the UFC’s two new weight classes. And this cast of fighters delivered some of the best fights in TUF history!

Unlike TUF 13, we also got to see two coaches who really and truly don’t like each other. The pranks were creative and entertaining. Bisping and Mayhem clearly didn’t like each other from day one, but the animosity between them grew by leaps and bounds as the season progressed.

Both men did an admirable job training their fighters, although Mayhem was probably just a little better at it.

There were great fights and great personality conflicts. Akira was definitely this season’s bad boy. The really surprising thing was that the UFC did not pursue a rematch between Akira and Dustin Neace.

At the end of the day, the 14tth offering of the UFC’s reality show has given us everything we could have possibly asked for except one: an evenly matched pair of coaches.

Whether you love him or hate him, one thing is obvious: Michael Bisping is going to kick the crap out of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. In fact, this is probably the worst mismatch that we’ve seen in TUF history.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at this mismatch…

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UFC 141: The Reigning Linear UFC Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem

The UFC’s heavyweight title is the oldest title in the promotion’s history. Anyone watching UFC on FOX 1 knows who the champion is. Junior dos Santos is the UFC heavyweight champion and the baddest man on the planet. He will retain th…

But strangely enough, there actually is another rightful claimant for those same bragging rights. How is this possible, you ask?

Well, let’s consider this for a moment. What if you lose your title to MMA politics? If you are the baddest man on the planet until somebody beats you, somebody has to beat you to take that away from you. Does it really matter if the UFC strips you of the title? You’re still the baddest man on the planet until somebody actually beats you.

This leads us to the linear UFC heavyweight title.

In 1997, Randy Couture beat reigning champion Maurice Smith to become the new UFC heavyweight champion. But Couture never defended his title inside the UFC. After a contract dispute with the UFC, Randy Couture signed with Vale Tudo Japan and was promptly stripped of his title by the UFC.

But he didn’t actually lose to another fighter. So while the actual title belt stayed with the UFC, the linear UFC heavyweight title and bragging rights for “Baddest Man on the Planet” walked out of the octagon with Randy Couture in 1997.

In his very first fight in Vale Tudo Japan, Couture lost the linear title to Enson Inoue who submitted Couture with an armbar. It took just 99 seconds.

Two years later, Inoue lost the linear UFC heavyweight title to Mark Kerr at Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round, with Kerr winning by unanimous decision.

At the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals, Mark Kerr lost the linear UFC heavyweight title to Kazuyuki Fujita.

Fujita would then lose the linear title on that same evening, losing by TKO (corner stoppage) to Mark Coleman. Coleman probably never realized that he had just unofficially regained the UFC title he had lost three years earlier.

After a successful streak of wins, Coleman lost the UFC linear title a year later to Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, who submitted Coleman via triangle choke and armbar at Pride 16.

On November 3, 2001, Nogueira would merge the linear UFC title with the Pride FC title when he earned the first ever Pride FC heavyweight champion title.

The bigger of the Nogueira twins just kept on winning fight after fight after that. It would be another two years after capturing the linear title that somebody finally beat him.

That loss came at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko at Pride 25. Big Nog lost both the linear UFC heavyweight title and the Pride FC heavyweight title to Emelianenko. Fedor put on a dominant performance, beating Big Nog by unanimous decision.

Fedor Emelianenko would go on to successfully defend the linear UFC heavyweight title 18 times and for seven years. This is the longest streak of successful defenses of any title in MMA history—an impressive feat even for an unofficial title.

Nobody stays unbeaten forever. Not even Fedor. The end of the Last Emperor’s reign came on June 11, 2010, at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum. When he tapped out that night, Fedor Emelianenko handed over both the Linear UFC Heavyweight Title and the Linear Pride FC Heavyweight Title to Fabricio Werdum.

Werdum would go on to lose the Linear Title in his very next fight at the aptly named event Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum when Alistair Overeem beat Werdum by unanimous decision.

Finally, after an astounding thirteen year absence from the UFC, the Linear UFC Heavyweight Title is finally coming back to the UFC!

One month from now, on December 30, 2011, reigning linear champion Alistair Overeem will make his UFC debut against Brock Lesnar at UFC 141.

Whoever wins that fight will go on to face Junior dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight title.

Soon the UFC Heavyweight Championship of the World will be reunited with the linear UFC heavyweight title and “The Baddest Man on the Planet” bragging rights that go with it. The only question is, who will that man be?

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UFC on FOX: Dos Santos the First Brazilian Undisputed Heavyweight Champion

On Saturday, November 12, 2011, Junior “Cigano” dos Santos stunned the MMA world, dropping the champion, Cain Velasquez, with a devastating right hook in just 64 seconds.It was no surprise how the fight ended. Nobody expected the fight to l…

On Saturday, November 12, 2011, Junior “Cigano” dos Santos stunned the MMA world, dropping the champion, Cain Velasquez, with a devastating right hook in just 64 seconds.

It was no surprise how the fight ended. Nobody expected the fight to last all 25 minutes, but it was amazing how fast it happened.

No doubt this comes as a great disappointment to Mexican fans of Velasquez. After all, he was the first Mexican champion in the UFC—well, technically he wasn’t. More on that later.

But having a Brazilian Heavyweight Champion in the UFC is nothing new. Or is it?

Let’s take a closer look at this. Prior to UFC on Fox, the UFC Heavyweight Champions in order were: Mark Coleman, Maurice Smith, Randy Couture, Bas Rutten, Kevin Randleman, Randy Couture (again), Josh Barnett, Ricco Rodriguez, Tim Sylvia, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia (again), Randy Couture (again), Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez.

How many Brazilians are on that list of champions? None. Wait a second, none?

That’s right, Junior dos Santos just became the first Brazilian to be Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion of the World!

Yes, there were four men who won the “Miss Congeniality” prize known as the Interim Heavyweight Title. Yes, one of those men was Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.

But is an Interim Champion really the champion? No, they aren’t. They are a potential replacement champion when the actual champion has been inactive for a long time. Weird things have happened with the interim belt in the UFC. But it’s just not the real thing.

So yes, JDS just did something no Brazilian has ever done before! Congratulations, Cigano, you’re a Brazilian pioneer!

Cain Velasquez is another story. He is Mexican-American who was born in the USA. If Cain counts as a Mexican champion, then so do Tito Ortiz and Ricco Rodriguez.

Tito was undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and Ricco was undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. So no, Cain was not the first Mexican to become a UFC champion, nor was he the first Mexican to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

I understand what the UFC was trying to do with Cain. They had a symbol that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans alike could unite behind, thus increasing the UFC’s fan base.

I do find it highly amusing that Junior dos Santos actually is unique, but no one will make a big deal about it. The UFC won’t bother trying to hype up Cigano’s “first ever” status the same way that they did with Velasquez—something amusing to think about.

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At UFC 135 the Iceman Curse Faces Its Greatest Test Yet: Jonny "Bones" Jones

What is the “Iceman Curse?” To truly answer that question, we need a short history of the most popular division in the sport. In the world of mixed martial arts, we find a strange anomoly. In any other combat sport, the most followed d…

What is the “Iceman Curse?”

To truly answer that question, we need a short history of the most popular division in the sport.

In the world of mixed martial arts, we find a strange anomoly. In any other combat sport, the most followed division in the sport is always the heavyweight division. But in mixed martial arts it’s the light heavyweight division that gets all the love.

It’s not too surprising really. The heavyweight division of the UFC has seemed to be cursed for most of its existence and the pool of fighters at heavyweight has always been dismally shallow. Meanwhile, while the light heavyweight has consistently been one of the most talented and stable divisions in the sport.

Frank Shamrock was the first light heavyweight champion and he tallied four successful title defenses before retiring as champion and still undefeated in the UFC.

The next champion, Tito Ortiz, one-ups Shamrock by tallying five successful title defenses before losing his title to Randy Couture.

After a brief back and forth between Vitor Belfort and Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell was the next man to seize the title belt. He would go on to successfully defend four times.

Even in Pride FC, Wanderlei Silva—champion of Pride 205 lbs division—was the the most exciting and popular champion in their entire organization. Wanderlei Silva absolutely dominated that division for most of it’s existence. In an organization that was mostly focused on tournaments, Wanderlei Silva still managed to tally four successful title defenses.

The light heavyweight division’s key to success has always been the absolute dominance by one fighter over the most talent-rich division in the sport.

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How to Create a Weight Class: Adding Super Heavyweight and Flyweight to the UFC

The UFC is the indisputable pinnacle of MMA and with the merger with the WEC, they now have seven weight classes: heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight. According to the Unified Rul…

According to the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, that’s seven down and just super heavyweight and flyweight to go.

Dana White has already stated that he wants to create a flyweight (125 lbs.) division. My suggestion is pretty simple: Don’t create a flyweight division from scratch. Buy one that already exists.

Tachi Palace Fights is an MMA promotion that most people haven’t heard of. This is no surprise of course. They only have one really big thing going for them—they just happen to have four of the top 10 flyweights in the world fighting under their banner.

Mamoru Yamaguchi, Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall, Jussier “Formiga” da Silva and Darrell “The Mongoose” Montague are all top-10 fighters and all fight for Tachi Palace Fights. And they have a decent stable of other fighters, too.

So my recommendation to Zuffa is simple: Buy Taichi Palace Fights and upgrade their 125 lbs. champion to UFC champion.

The rest of the best flyweights in the world are scattered among MMA organizations all over the globe. Most of them will come to the bigger stage and better payday in the UFC.

Now what do you do about the super heavyweight division?

Once upon a time, the UFC saw giants fighting in the Octagon. Seeing the 800-pound jelly roll monster named Emmanuael Yarborough in the Octagon was a sight to behold. And watching Scott Ferozzo beat Tank Abbott at his own street-fighting game was highly entertaining.

Guys like Paul Varlens, Dan Bobbish and Andre Roberts all saw a good degree of success in the UFC. And none of them could fight in the UFC today because all of them were well over 300 lbs. Cutting weight to 265 lbs. just wouldn’t have been realistic for any of them.

Fast forward to today and we see guys like Hong Man-Choi, Semmy Schilt, Bob Sapp and Eric Pele. All of them are too big to effectively compete in a 265 lbs. division. And who knows how many giant men out there simply don’t bother pursuing MMA because they’re just too big.

The problem with the super heavyweight division today is quite simple. There are very few super heavyweight fighters because really big men have nowhere to compete. They have nowhere to compete because there are very few active super heavyweights.

All major MMA organizations do not have a super heavyweight division currently. Ranking systems completely ignore their weight class.

In my opinion, the people behind the Unified Rules of MMA should just dissolve the super heavyweight division and make heavyweight unlimited. But I think we all know how likely that is. Try convincing them that 12-to-6 elbows should be legal.

You can throw them numbers and prove beyond all doubt that 350-pound fighters do not have a significant advantage over 250-pound fighters. You can point out that MMA history proves that the 250 lbs. guy is significantly more likely to win than the 350 lbs. guy.

But at the end of the day, they’re just seeing some 7’ tall behemoth facing off against someone a foot shorter and 100 lbs. lighter. You’re never going to convince them that this is a fair fight.

Since you can’t change the rules, what do you do? What Zuffa needs is a test laboratory.

Create a super heavyweight division in Strikeforce and wait and see if it grows into anything. Have Bob Sapp fight Hong Man-Choi for the inaugural title or something like that. Give it a few years and if it grows, move it into the UFC. If it doesn’t, dump it.

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