If we take what UFC president Dana White says as gospel, the next individual to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title will be one of the four fighters competing in the headlining bouts on Saturday’s UFC on FOX 4 fight card.
During his recent video blog White said, “the co-main event between Lyoto Machida and (Ryan) Bader and the main event between Shogun (Rua) and (Brandon) Vera, the fighter that wins the most impressively on Saturday night will get the title shot.”
So, there you have it, after originally saying the winner of the Mauricio “Shogun” Rua versus Brandon Vera fight would get the title shot, White added another wrinkle, upping the ante by including the Lyoto Machida versus Ryan Bader bout in the mix. And why shouldn’t he have done so? It ups interest in the fight card and puts pressure on the fighters, sending a clear message that it’s up to them to earn their shot at UFC gold.
One interested observer took to Twitter to offer his take on the fights and each participant, that man was current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who offered his predictions on Saturday’s main event and co-main event via twitter:
My prediction: I got Shogun by decision after a predominant striking match. Vera could make it more interesting if he uses take downs
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) August 2, 2012
As for the co-main event:
I could see Machida stopping the fight, out classing Bader with good foot work and fast strikes. Bader needs to turn it into a brawl
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) August 2, 2012
So, the champ thinks that the two former UFC light heavyweight champions will prove victorious and lest we forget, Jones has faced the four fighters competing in the headlining bouts on the FOX card, winning all four fights by stoppage.
In addition to his predictions, Jones offered some takeaways from those four victories:
Out of the four guys Lyoto was the toughest puzzle, brandon had the biggest mouth, bader felt the strongest, shogun lasted the longest. lol
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) August 2, 2012
Before you get in some kind of uproar over that last tweet, and sound off on how arrogant the champ is, he quickly followed it up with this:
Just having a little fun. I really do want to wish all 4 guys good luck this weekend. Do your best, Ill do mines on the 1st.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) August 2, 2012
The September 1 fight Jones references is his UFC 151 main event tilt against former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson. The two will headline that event from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.
The Henderson bout will be the fourth attempted defense of the title for Jones. In his three previous defenses he dispatched three former UFC light heavyweight champions, Machida, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans. Only Evans went the distance.
Jones is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak and the only blemish on his record (16-1) came when he was disqualified for delivering illegal 12-to-6 elbows to the head of Matt Hamill .
Henderson is on a winning streak of his own, defeating his last four opponents to run his career record to 29-8. The last time we saw Henderson in the Octagon was at UFC 139, where he gained a unanimous decision victory over Rua in a fight that many billed as one of the top fights in the history of the UFC.
On Saturday one question will be answered in the light heavyweight division, as the next title contender will emerge. The second question, will that fighter face Jones or Henderson? Well, we’ll know the answer to that one in a few weeks.
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