In case you were wondering, Jon Jones is only getting better. Through all of his accomplishments, the one thing we had never seen from Jones prior to his UFC 152 title defense against Vitor Belfort was the champion battle through adversity. That change…
In case you were wondering, Jon Jones is only getting better.
Through all of his accomplishments, the one thing we had never seen from Jones prior to his UFC 152 title defense against VitorBelfort was the champion battle through adversity.
That changed Saturday night.
Jones was able to overcome an extremely tight first round armbar attempt from “The Phenom” that seemingly injured his right arm, and “Bones” and fought through an injury that may have caused other fighters to at least consider giving in.
Instead, the champion came out and put on yet another textbook victory, getting on top of Belfort whenever possible and grounding and pounding his opponent with brutal elbows.
Eventually, Jones earned himself a submission victory, and with the win, finds his already shockingly high reputation amongst fight fans growing a bit more.
For most of us in the MMA community, anything other than a quick and painless win for Jon Jones will be completely unexpected at UFC 152. Jones has proven to be on a completely different level than the rest of the former champions he’s faced, def…
For most of us in the MMA community, anything other than a quick and painless win for Jon Jones will be completely unexpected at UFC 152.
Jones has proven to be on a completely different level than the rest of the former champions he’s faced, defeating Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, LyotoMachida and Rashad Evans all with relative ease. A win over Belfort will make it five former champions in a row that “Bones” has successfully defeated in a world title fight.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Jones will take care of business and earn the victory on Saturday night, but I have a gut feeling that Belfort is going to surprise some people with his performance in the main event.
Belfort truly has everything to gain in this fight, and the closer he can push Jones to the limit, the better off his chances at earning another UFC title shot will be.
UFC 152 promises to be relatively predictable where the main event is concerned, but here are a few surprises we may see Saturday night.
Over the last few years, Michael Bisping has been called one of the most overrated fighters in the world pretty frequently. Fans have been left wondering why Bisping has cracked the top five of most middleweight rankings without beating a legitimate to…
Over the last few years, Michael Bisping has been called one of the most overrated fighters in the world pretty frequently.
Fans have been left wondering why Bisping has cracked the top five of most middleweight rankings without beating a legitimate top ten opponent, and his detractors are quick to point out that Bisping’s only UFC losses have come against well known opponents with a lot on the line.
Still, despite his lack of high profile wins Bisping has remained in the UFC’s middleweight title picture for the majority of his career at 185, and this weekend he will finally earn the victory he’s needed to become a possible contender for Anderson Silva’s belt.
Brian Stann is a dangerous opponent for almost anyone in the middleweight division, and his punching power is going to force Bisping to fight to the best of his abilities this weekend. But ultimately Stann remains a one-dimensional striker that ‘The Count’ should be able to defeat.
If there’s been one legitimate knock on Bisping it’s been his somewhat susceptible chin, as he’s been rocked by solid right hands landed by everyone from YoshihiroAkiyama to Jorge Rivera.
However, only Dan Henderson has packed the punching power to put Bisping away, and while Stann may possess the same one punch knockout ability as Hendo, he isn’t nearly as good as forcing the fight to take place on his terms.
While Henderson thrives at taking the fight to his opponent and has little concern about being taken down due to his superior wrestling game, Stann has a lot more trouble when the fight hits the mat and he can’t afford to completely let his hands go if he wants to remain upright against Bisping.
Bisping is likely going to want to strike in this fight—as he does in nearly every fight he’s in—but if Stann gets reckless with his strikes the opportunity is going to be there for Bisping to either get the fight to the ground or attempt to land a counter shot of his own.
Both on the mat and on the feet, Bisping is going to have an advantage in this fight and as long as he is able to keep Stann uncomfortable in the stand up department by mixing up his game this fight won’t even make it the distance.
Expect Bisping to win the first round with a combination of outworking Stann both on the feet and the mat; before finding his range in the second round and opening up with his punches.
Stann always has the threat of a knockout in his pocket, but Bisping will be able to avoid the big shot and eventually score a TKO stoppage of his own.
ChaelSonnen admitted that Bisping hits incredibly hard, and over his last few fights ‘The Count’ has gotten much better at generating power behind his punches.
That hard work will pay off this weekend—in a big way.
2012 has been a rough year for the UFC. It seems that every main event fight has been cancelled, champions Georges St-Pierre and Dominick Cruz haven’t been able to fight once all year and a couple of the most polarizing fighters the promotion has…
2012 has been a rough year for the UFC.
It seems that every main event fight has been cancelled, champions Georges St-Pierre and Dominick Cruz haven’t been able to fight once all year and a couple of the most polarizing fighters the promotion has on its roster in Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem found themselves on the wrong end of suspensions in the early part of the year.
However, with the last few months of the calendar year stacked with great fights, the organization should be in great shape heading into 2013.
As long as everyone stays healthy (and drug-free), 2013 should be one of the most exciting years in the history of the UFC, and here are a few bold predictions that could make next year even crazier than the insanity that was 2012.
Unless the impossible happens, Anderson Silva is going to knockout Stephan Bonnar. Sure, we’ve seen huge upsets happen in MMA, (Matt Serra vs Georges St-Pierre, anyone?) but Silva has proven to be nearly unbeatable over the last six years and the…
Unless the impossible happens, Anderson Silva is going to knockout Stephan Bonnar.
Sure, we’ve seen huge upsets happen in MMA, (Matt Serra vs Georges St-Pierre, anyone?) but Silva has proven to be nearly unbeatable over the last six years and there’s no reason to believe that Bonnar has a legitimate chance at taking out the pound for pound best fighter in the history of our sport.
Even if Bonnar’s legendary toughness enables him to go the distance with “The Spider” and avoid becoming another victim on Silva’s highlight reel, the odds of him doing enough to eke out a decision on the judges scorecards are roughly a million to one.
Despite the obvious mismatch placed in front of us, the MMA world should be overjoyed that we’re getting an event at all.
When both featherweight champion Jose Aldo and top draw Quinton “Rampage” Jackson went down with injuries earlier this week, it became a very real possibility that UFC 153 would end up in the same boat as the defunct UFC 151 card and be cancelled altogether, but Dana White and company were able to do what was needed to save the day.
When Jon Jones decided to turn down a short notice fight against ChaelSonnen just over a week before UFC 151 was set to take place, the organization was forced to cut its losses and completely abandon the Labor day weekend show, a move that cost the promotion both fiscally and in the eyes of the public.
This time White avoided a serious disaster by finding a way to salvage what was left of a once promising event in UFC 153.
Is anyone as excited for Silva vs. Bonnar as they were for Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar?
No, and they shouldn’t be, but the UFC is in the business of putting on fights and if it has any chance at making that happen it needs to do its job, which is what it did by creating the new UFC 153 main event.
Based on what we know, Bonnarshouldn’t fare much better against Silva than his The Ultimate Fighter cast-mate Forrest Griffin did, but the fact remains that we get to see the greatest fighter in the world compete for a second time in 2012.
We’ve paid to see Silva battle the likes of Thales Leites, Patrick Cote and Travis Lutter in the past, and while I’m sure the vast majority of fans would have preferred to see Anderson take on someone along the lines of Wanderlei Silva or Shogun Rua, Bonnar really isn’t a terrible consolation prize.
Over the course of his UFC career Bonnar has provided us with plenty of entertaining battles, and while he has never really earned a win over a top tier fighter, his fights with Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin at least proved he is able to hang tough with some of the better fighters in the game today.
Throw in “The American Psycho’s” insane ability to get hit on the chin and remain upright, and it could end up being a pretty fun fight to watch if Bonnar is able to get any offense off.
We still get to see Glover Teixeira and Fabio Maldonado throw leather in what should be an amazing stand up war; Minotauro Nogueira agreed to come in on short notice to help the card gain a little of the credibility it lost over the last few days, and previously announced welterweight bouts featuring Demian Maia vs. Rick Story and Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva remain on the card to give it some much needed prestige.
Throw in a sixth main card bout between Phil Davis and Wagner Prado, along with a preliminary card filled with some of the most exciting young fighters Brazil has to offer, and we should still end up with an awesome night of fights.
UFC 153 is officially one of the most disappointing cards of the year, especially considering how stacked it appeared when it was first announced, but to be completely honest, we got lucky.
We could have had to suffer through the UFC 151 debacle all over again.
Surprise, surprise, the UFC’s recent plague of injuries hit yet another high-profile main event. Featherweight champion Jose Aldo was recently forced out of his UFC 153 super-fight main event against Frankie Edgar, and now a once-promising UFC 15…
Surprise, surprise, the UFC’s recent plague of injuries hit yet another high-profile main event.
Featherweight champion Jose Aldo was recently forced out of his UFC 153 super-fight main event against Frankie Edgar, and now a once-promising UFC 153 card is in desperate need of a new headlining fight.
Edgar stepped in to fight Aldo on short notice, but due to the insane amount of fights that have been cancelled over the last few months, it seems likely that the UFC is going to do their best to leave a well-known fighter like Edgar on the card.
2012 has been a rough year for Edgar as he lost his UFC lightweight crown to Benson Henderson at UFC 144 in February, and after he failed to regain his belt at UFC 150 a month ago, he finally gave in to Dana White’s request to drop down to featherweight.
The primary reason Edgar dropped from lightweight to 145 pounds was to get his hands on UFC gold again, and with Aldo forced to bow out, there aren’t many high-profile options for “The Answer” to take in order to save the event.
Top contenders Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas could both use a high-profile win over Edgar in order to solidify their claim towards a UFC title bout, but the organization would have a tough time selling a pay-per-view event with either of those fighters, and they’ll need to throw in a proven draw if they want to make the card worth buying.
If the UFC wants to give fans a good reason to buy this card, which in all honesty still has a solid lineup of fights behind it, they need to throw Urijah Faber into the main event against Edgar.
“The California Kid” recently came out on twitter and said he would be willing to step in on short notice to fight Edgar, and in a lot of ways that fight makes more sense than a bout with Aldo ever did.
Much like “The Answer,” Faber has fallen short in his last few attempts at earning UFC gold, and it may be time for Faber to go back to the division that he once ruled with an iron fist if he ever wants another crack at UFC gold.
For a time, Faber was considered one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world as he reigned over the WEC’s featherweight class, but after losing his belt and a few opportunities to earn it back along the way, he decided a drop to bantamweight was a better option.
A 2-2 stint in the 135-pound weight class during his current UFC run has left Faber on the outside looking in concerning the bantamweight title picture, and after losing a shot at the interim belt in July, a return home may be Faber’s last shot at winning a UFC belt.
Faber could easily make the jump back up to featherweight and take on a lesser known opponent to get back into the mix, but let’s face it, “The California Kid” isn’t exactly a kid anymore and he needs to take any fight possible that could help him climb back into title contention.
A bout with Edgar would do exactly that, and it would be a suitable consolation prize for fans that wanted the Aldo-Edgar super fight.
While Faber may not bring the same kind of resume that Aldo has established over the last few years, he’s still proven to be one of the toughest fighters to take out south of 155 pounds, and he would be one of the best tests imaginable for Edgar in his 145-pound debut.
If Edgar is able to get passed Faber, we can safely consider him the biggest threat available to Aldo’s belt, but if “The California Kid” can find a way to defeat a former UFC lightweight champion in the main event of a PPV, he would instantly find himself in position to earn himself a rematch with Aldo in the near future.
Over the last few years, Michael