UFC 135 proved that Jon Jones is undoubtedly the very best 205-pound mixed martial arts fighter in the world when he pummeled and eventually submitted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the fourth round of their title fight.The next step for Jone…
UFC 135 proved that Jon Jones is undoubtedly the very best 205-pound mixed martial arts fighter in the world when he pummeled and eventually submitted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the fourth round of their title fight.
The next step for Jones has already been set, as he will fight his former teammate Rashad Evans in his next title defense, but what’s next for Rampage is still to be determined.
Judging by what we’ve seen in the past from Jackson, it could be a few months before we actually see something booked. But there are still quite a few fights that are both intriguing as well as make sense business-wise.
Here are the five fights that Rampage Jackson should consider taking following his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 135.
Jon Jones’ destruction of the UFC light heavyweight division continued last night as he added Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to his list of victims. We saw what has happened to those who have challenged Jones thus far, but the question now…
Jon Jones’ destruction of the UFC light heavyweight division continued last night as he added Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to his list of victims. We saw what has happened to those who have challenged Jones thus far, but the question now has become, “Can anyone can beat him?”
The next guy with a chance will be Jones’ former teammate and training partner Rashad Evans, who manhandled Tito Ortiz to earn back his No. 1 contenders’ spot at UFC 133. But does Rashad Evans stand a better chance against Jon Jones than Jones’ previous opponents did?
On the surface, it’s hard to answer that question. We’ve seen enough of both Jon Jones and Rashad Evans to know what they are capable of, but the story around Rashad Evans goes a lot deeper than just his history of fighting.
Evans missed over 14 months due to a string of untimely injuries and scenarios that kept him from training and competing. His first fight back was supposed to be Jon Jones for the title at UFC 133, but Jones got sidelined by a hand injury himself. Jones was replaced by Ortiz in the event and then went on to fight Rampage Jackson at UFC 135 shortly thereafter.
It’s not that Jones or Evans were specifically trying to avoid one another, but the timing of the injuries that each fighter sustained was just unfortunate. With Ortiz stepping in for Jones, it was up to Evans to walk through the 36-year old and again solidify his shot at Jones.
Though Rashad was able to get through Ortiz, some would argue that we didn’t get to see enough of him to decide whether or not he was really “back” or if he was just beating up on an old and overwhelmed Tito Ortiz, as many others had done over the past few years.
Certainly, Rashad looked good, but it was his first fight after leaving Greg Jackson’s gym and it’s hard to determine if he stuck to an effective game plan or if he just used his physical superiority to win the fight.
The beauty of this fight between Evans and Jones is that while every other fighter that Jones has faced has been “mesmerized,” as Rampage said last night in his post-fight interview, by the 24-year old, Rashad Evans should already have a pretty good idea of what he’s getting himself into.
Evans was once a member of Greg Jackson’s gym along with Jones, and the two fighters trained alongside one another in preparation for one another’s fights.
There have been conflicting reports about which fighter usually came out on top in their sparring sessions, but there is no doubt that Evans does have an advantage over any of Jones’ previous opponents when it comes to game-planning for the long-legged champion.
Another interesting aspect is that, like Jones, Rashad has a very unique fighting style that has caused many problems for his opponents. At 16-1-1 in his professional career, Evans has only ever been really figured out in his knockout loss to Lyoto Machida.
The fact is that Rashad Evans has never been given the credit that he deserves by the mainstream. While fighters like Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz have been absolutely adored by the media at times; they all have one thing in common—each one of them has been defeated by Rashad Evans.
Whether Jon Jones is ready to admit it, Evans is set to be the biggest challenge he has ever faced. He’s still going to be the underdog against the champion, but Evans has a better chance of coming out with a win over Jones than anyone who has faced him yet in his career.
The main event at UFC 135 proved that Jon Jones is for real. The 24-year old phenom annihilated former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for three full rounds before finally submitting him in the fourth. The dominance he displayed was jus…
The main event at UFC 135 proved that Jon Jones is for real. The 24-year old phenom annihilated former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for three full rounds before finally submitting him in the fourth.
The dominance he displayed was just the latest in what is becoming a long run of fights where Jones hasn’t even truly been tested. Early in his career, we all thought that it was just because he wasn’t fighting top competition—but now he’s doing it against some of the very best fighters in the world.
There’s no doubt that Jones is the top light heavyweight right now, but there’s also a very real case to be made that he is the best ever at 205 pounds.
In order to determine that, though, we have to take a look back at the other top light heavyweights in history. These five fighters have secured their place in history among the elite in their weight class and are in the conversation of being the best ever.
Photos are in from UFC 135 and Bleacher Report has compiled the best of them together in one easy-to-navigate location. Jones’ impressive performance was highlighted by his innovative striking, deceptive strength and incredible killer instinct. …
Photos are in from UFC 135 and Bleacher Report has compiled the best of them together in one easy-to-navigate location.
Jones’ impressive performance was highlighted by his innovative striking, deceptive strength and incredible killer instinct. After a somewhat tightly contested first round, Jones began picking apart Jackson in the second round before finally slamming his opponent to the ground where he then submitted him with a rear-naked choke.
Let’s take a look back at as we relive the best moments from UFC 135 in photos.
It takes a certain amount of self-confidence to fight in front of thousands of screaming fans, but there is definitely a fine line between confidence and cockiness—and some believe that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has crossed that li…
It takes a certain amount of self-confidence to fight in front of thousands of screaming fans, but there is definitely a fine line between confidence and cockiness—and some believe that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has crossed that line.
The dominant kid from New York has quickly risen through the ranks in the UFC in a way no other fighter has accomplished before. He not only completely dominated every fight he has been in for the organization, but at 24 years old, he is also the youngest fighter to ever hold UFC gold.
Along with the meteoric rise of his career, however, many believe that Jones’ demeanor has also changed.
Critics would say he has transformed from being a humble, green fighter, who was thankful for the opportunity to fight in the UFC, into an arrogant individual who has lost all sense of what it means to be humble and believes that he is unstoppable.
But as cocky as Jones can be at times, he is still growing into his place as one of the cockiest fighters in UFC history. There are others who have actually been more obnoxious than the current UFC light heavyweight champion.
These are the 10 cockiest fighters in UFC history.
WWE superstars CM Punk and Triple H have two drastically different views on the UFC and the entire sport of mixed martial arts. It was only last week that Triple H was quoted as saying that he believed that the UFC needed to evolve, but that the WWE di…
WWE superstars CM Punk and Triple H have two drastically different views on the UFC and the entire sport of mixed martial arts.
It was only last week that Triple H was quoted as saying that he believed that the UFC needed to evolve, but that the WWE did not. But CM Punk had an answer for the man who defeated him on Sunday night’s WWE Night of Champions in their no-disqualification match-up.
“Triple H just doesn’t get mixed martial arts. He doesn’t watch it either,” Punk told MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani. I think he’s missing the picture that UFC is evolving. There’s only one other sport entity in the world that has production rights to their own material on network and that’s the NFL. UFC has just bartered a huge deal [with FOX]. That’s evolution.”
In addition to Punk’s belief that the UFC is evolving already, he was also in disagreement with Triple H on the point that WWE does not need to evolve themselves.
“I think that’s absolutely insane,” Punk proclaimed. “Any human being, any business, any sport needs to constantly evolve. I’m not a big football guy, but look at the NFL, they’re constantly evolving. Whether it’s good or it’s bad, they’re evolving. And if you don’t evolve, you die.”
The WWE has taken quite a bit of criticism from fans and analysts in recent years because of their lack of evolution. It has become so bad, in fact, that many believe that the large drop-off in viewers that the WWE has sustained over the past 10 years can largely be credited to fans leaving the pro wrestling organization to begin watching the UFC.
“UFC is entertainment. WWE is entertainment,” Punk said. “And regards to people spending their money on it. It’s definitely a competition. I think the way things are in our economy, there’s a billion pay-per-views between UFC, [other MMA pay-per-views] and the WWE, we’re competing for each other’s dollars, absolutely.”
While Punk disagrees with Triple H who doesn’t believe that the UFC is a competitor, he also believes that every other form of entertainment is a competitor.
“I wouldn’t say [MMA has] ‘hurt’ us, I think that might be a little harsh of a term, but to deny that UFC is our competition is a little ridiculous,” Punk told MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani. “Cirque du Soleil is our competition. Mad Men and Breaking Bad is our competition. I think everything that people spend their time on and their money on is our competition and to blatantly say that mixed martial arts has no bearing on what’s good or bad in our business, is silly. It’s closed-minded. You’re putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.”
Jon Jones’ destruction of the UFC light heavyweight division continued last night as he added Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to his list of victims. We saw what has happened to those who have challenged Jones thus far, but the question now has become, “Can anyone can beat him?”