If you are looking for a poignant story amongst the fights at UFC 135, you can do no better than Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson in a Light Heavyweight bout. One era will battle another for the pride and prestige of the title.
Quinton Jackson has done little rampaging as of late. After a loss to Rashad Evans, he took victories against Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamill to the distance.
Many are under the impression that Jackson has stagnated as a fighter, a plausible opinion for a man that has been in the sport for as along as he has.
On Sunday, he will be taking on the new bad boy of the sport. Jon Jones is as complete as they come in his size and build.
Jones’ style is versatile and will take Jackson’s complete wits to maneuver around. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to miss a moment of this fight. Here is where you can catch all the drama.
Fight Info
The event is set for Saturday, September 24th and will start at 6 p.m. EST.
All of the fights will be available by pay-per-view. They will also be available by streaming at UFC.tv, Yahoo! Sports, UStream, Android or iPhone for $44.99.
The preliminary fights starting at 8 p.m. EST will also be on Spike TV.
End of an Era
What has me hopeful for Jones retaining the title is his work ethic. Jackson has never been known as a workhorse int he gym.
Jones deems his task as a simple matter of out working his opponent.
I’ve simplified my playbook a little. I’m still working on a 1,000 different kicks but I’ve also tried to work one kick a thousand times. You beat Rampage Jackson in the gym; you beat him because you want it more in the gym for months. That’s why I feel the fight has already been won.
Meanwhile, Jackson was left to mutter “For recent fights, it has been hard to work one hundred percent and I am a person if I am not motivated, I am unmotivatable. But no one has needed to try to motivate me for this fight; I want my belt back.”
I will take the fighter that doesn’t rely on flipping a switch, and would rather train until he can’t feel his limbs. That sort of work ethic is needed in a bout of this magnitude.
Jackson is still a great fighter. That is an assumption that Jones has done well to work under. on Saturday, we will see that hard work pays off.