So you’re ready to watch UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage, but you want to up the stakes a little bit, make the viewing experience more interesting. You also just so happen to be in a town where gambling is legal, like, say, Las Vegas.
Maybe you’ve been there all week, trying to recoup the money you blew on a bet that Victor Ortiz would knockout Floyd Mayweather with his mouth guard.
We’ve all been there. Mistakes have been made.
Anyhow, you’re trying to place some solid bets but you have no idea who or what to wager on. If you’re lookin’ for some easy money, you’d be well advised to plunk down some cash on these terrors of the Octagon.
Jon Jones
You know a guy is special when he has Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (32-8, 7-2 UFC), the former UFC light heavyweight champion, looking like a chump on paper and at the casino.
Jon “Bones” Jones (13-1, 7-1 UFC) is the best mixed martial artist this side of Anderson Silva‘s left foot and it’s not even close. At 24 years of age, Jones is nine years Jackson’s junior, but might as well be that many years senior with the whoopin’ he’s about to administer.
Jones is a physically dominant specimen in the Octagon, a guy whose reach is so ridiculously long that he’s hardly ever hit the cage fence while in poor position.
And that’s not to mention his incredible agility and athleticism, his masterful skill in just about every facet of fighting and his devastatingly deceptive strength.
Jackson’s only hope, aside from rekindling the spirit of Mr. T, is to survive the onslaught and hope to land one or two powerful hits at opportune times in important places.
In other words, Jackson’s got no shot.
Josh Koscheck
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Josh Koscheck (15-5, 13-5 UFC) isn’t exactly in ideal shape in the world of MMA after being thoroughly dominated by Georges St-Pierre at UFC 124.
But he’s waaaay better off than Matt Hughes (45-8, 18-6 UFC), who suffered an embarrassing knockout in his last fight out against B.J. Penn, just 21 seconds into the first round of their fight at UFC 123.
Hughes is all about the ground-and-pound but, at 37, is no longer the hulking dynamo he once was.
At least not enough of one to overcome the more versatile and athletic Kos, who will put Hughes to shame with his stand-up game before subjecting the veteran and fan favorite to a bitter taste of his own medicine on the mat.
Travis Browne
It’s not every day that you see a guy who’s 6’7″ and 250 pounds putting on moves and packing punches in a fighting arena.
Then again, it’s not every day that you come across a fighter as physically imposing as Travis Browne (11-0-1, 2-0-1 UFC). “Hapa” is just entering his prime and is still improving his footwork, adding a touch of swift movement behind his deadly punch.
As for Rob “The Bear” Broughton (15-5-1, 1-0 UFC), well, Andy Warhol used to paint fellows like him all the time back in the day.
The big Brit will look like a dwarf next to Browne, just long enough for everyone to get a good, quick look before Hapa knocks him out cold within the first two or three minutes of the fight.
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