As the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, UFC light heavyweight phenom Jon Jones is at the forefront of today’s mixed martial arts scene.
Since his promotional debut back in 2008, “Bones” has ran through the competition en route to defending t…
As the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, UFC light heavyweight phenom Jon Jones is at the forefront of today’s mixed martial arts scene.
Since his promotional debut back in 2008, “Bones” has ran through the competition en route to defending the 205-pound crown a record-setting six times.
He’s been one of the most dominant champions of the past five years and one that knows how to finish, recording three submissions and two TKO’s in seven title fights.
But as prolific and fantastically impressive as Jones has been, his last Octagon appearance back at UFC 165 was far from perfect. He often struggled to maintain offensive potency opposite a deceptive and precise dynamo in the always towering Alexander Gustafsson, which resulted in one of the best fights of 2013.
Now, while the champ answered many questions during that fight regarding his heart, overpowering will and sheer chin, it allowed him to reassess his focus and determination more than anything.
“My last fight I had a really tough fight,” said Jones in a recent interview with Washington D.C. sports radio hosts Chad Dukes and LaVarArrington, originally reported by David St. Martin of MMA Fighting. “I just won by decision. I just squeaked out a victory. I’ve been humbled. It’s an empowering thing. It’s a scary thing for [my opponents]. Now I’m taking my job more seriously than ever.”
Scary is not the only word that comes to mind when thinking about how dynamic and ferocious Jones can be if he wasn’t actually taking his job serious in the first place.
How about hair-raising? Or spine-chilling?
Either way, before a long-awaited rematch with “The Mauler” is put to use, the youngest champion in the UFC must focus on the task at hand: A looming title defense at UFC 172 opposite light heavyweight bruiser Glover Teixeira.
I won’t have to gameplan for it. I’ll just have to be aware of it and respect it. In Glover’s last fight, you saw that. He was getting beat up. He had his back against the wall. He was covering up his face, kind of in the fetal or turtle position. He peeked up, saw that he had an opening, swung and got a knockout, which was extremely impressive. So yea, Glover is someone I’m going to have to respect tremendously. He has knockout power in both his right hand and left hand. It’s just going to be a really entertaining fight to watch.
As a huge favorite to keep his belt, Jones is going to have to be on the top of his game to defeat a Brazilian who hasn’t lost since 2005, a streak that includes four Octagon finishes.
In any case, Jones should find comfort knowing he’ll once again possess a significant reach advantage. It’s served him well in the past and should only fuel his game plan to stay away from Teixeira’s vicious knockout power.
A win at UFC 172 and Jones is that much closer to an inevitable grudge match with the man who nearly dethroned him this past September.
With Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Cain Velasquez all currently out of action due to injuries or bitter hiatuses, UFC executives will be scratching their heads trying to come up with marquee fights in 2014. But amidst this gloom, there are a few massive fights that could still happen. Some are more realistic than others, but if the stars align, these matchups would no doubt fill the void. Let’s run them down in order of probability…
Major fights within reach
Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 2 or Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier: Very few gave Gustafsson the chance to last twenty-five minutes with the champ, let alone nearly dethrone him. The two engaged in a thrilling yet technical battle at UFC 165, which was as entertaining as it was controversial — making a rematch very interesting and potentially lucrative for the UFC. Prior to his first meeting with the Mauler, Jones had dominated every one of his opponents, which led to the New Yorker searching for his “Frazier”, the worthy rival who would define his legacy. Gustafsson could very much play that role as they look to meet again.
On the other hand, Daniel Cormier could play that role just as well. Unlike Gustafsson, Cormier has a genuine dislike towards Jones which would only add hype towards the fight. But, of course, the two potential challengers would have to get by Jimi Manuwa and Rashad Evans, respectively, to get their title shots. And of course there’s a hard-hitting Brazilian named Glover Teixeira who might derail these plans altogether.
Jose Aldo vs. BJ Penn: Incredibly, Penn is looking to become a three-weight world champion as he embarks on his unexpected new life as a featherweight. Before his year-long break from the sport, Penn had been fighting at welterweight without much success. (He hasn’t won a match since his quick knockout of Matt Hughes back in November 2010.) Penn will make his 145-pound debut against old rival Frankie Edgar as he looks to avenge, not one, but two defeats. Even though there is a connection between Penn and Aldo’s head coach Andre Pederneiras, the Prodigy would surely jump at the chance to compete for a belt.
With Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Cain Velasquez all currently out of action due to injuries or bitter hiatuses, UFC executives will be scratching their heads trying to come up with marquee fights in 2014. But amidst this gloom, there are a few massive fights that could still happen. Some are more realistic than others, but if the stars align, these matchups would no doubt fill the void. Let’s run them down in order of probability…
Major fights within reach
Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 2 or Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier: Very few gave Gustafsson the chance to last twenty-five minutes with the champ, let alone nearly dethrone him. The two engaged in a thrilling yet technical battle at UFC 165, which was as entertaining as it was controversial — making a rematch very interesting and potentially lucrative for the UFC. Prior to his first meeting with the Mauler, Jones had dominated every one of his opponents, which led to the New Yorker searching for his “Frazier”, the worthy rival who would define his legacy. Gustafsson could very much play that role as they look to meet again.
On the other hand, Daniel Cormier could play that role just as well. Unlike Gustafsson, Cormier has a genuine dislike towards Jones which would only add hype towards the fight. But, of course, the two potential challengers would have to get by Jimi Manuwa and Rashad Evans, respectively, to get their title shots. And of course there’s a hard-hitting Brazilian named Glover Teixeira who might derail these plans altogether.
Jose Aldo vs. BJ Penn: Incredibly, Penn is looking to become a three-weight world champion as he embarks on his unexpected new life as a featherweight. Before his year-long break from the sport, Penn had been fighting at welterweight without much success. (He hasn’t won a match since his quick knockout of Matt Hughes back in November 2010.) Penn will make his 145-pound debut against old rival Frankie Edgar as he looks to avenge, not one, but two defeats. Even though there is a connection between Penn and Aldo’s head coach Andre Pederneiras, the Prodigy would surely jump at the chance to compete for a belt.
Lately, the UFC has had a hard time finding opponents for Aldo who are stars in their own right. Booking BJ Penn to challenge Aldo would certainly solve that problem, so don’t be surprised if Penn skips the entire featherweight contender line to get a shot at Aldo, if he manages to beat Edgar. Making this matchup more credible is that Aldo has once again been flirting with the idea of moving up to 155lbs. A fight against Penn would be a perfect way for Aldo to build interest before jumping up to lightweight himself for a super-fight against the reigning champion.
Stranger things have happened
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber III: Its been over two years since Cruz has set foot inside the Octagon. Since then, the UFC has created two new divisions (flyweight and women’s bantamweight) with another on its way, and Cruz’s last opponent became the champion at 125 pounds. But through all the changes, one thing has remained the same: Urijah Faber is still the most marketable fighter south of 155 pounds. The UFC had been eager to book a rubber match between Faber and Cruz — it was supposed to happen at UFC 148 then got scratched — but Cruz’s injuries have turned it into a longshot.
The best word to describe everyone’s emotions connected to Cruz is “gutted.” Cruz has had a rough time of late with two back-to-back knee surgeries and now a groin tear which effectively forfeited his title to Renan Barao. If Faber can pull off the upset against Barao, a rubber match against Cruz (who is set to be only out for 6-8 weeks before resuming full training) could be the biggest “smaller” weight class fight in the promotion’s history.
It seems Diaz isn’t budging for anything other than a UFC title shot which would seem bizarre considering he’s on a two fight losing skid. But then again he got a title shot after losing a fight, and ended up generating nearly a million pay-per-view buys in his fight against GSP. In the business-first era of the UFC, the promotion may become desperate and just offer Diaz a title shot — especially if it’s against a guy that Diaz already has history with. Fans may complain that Diaz didn’t “earn” it, but it would be an intriguing fight. If there truly was an MMA God, we would see the sequel between Diaz and Lawler for the welterweight title in 2014.
Super-fights; very slim chances
Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg: Rousey is arguably the biggest star the UFC has right now. The polarizing figure attracts a ton of media attention, even in mainstream outlets that don’t normally cover the sport. There are virtually no fighters outside of the UFC who could compete with Rowdy inside the Octagon, but Cris Cyborg is definitely one of them. The bout would pose a classic stylistic match-up between the stand-up wrecking machine against the highly technical judo wizard.
The fight becomes even more marketable and hype-worthy when you add that Cyborg defeated the original face of WMMA, Cyborg’s past failed drug test, and the heel-manager known as Tito Ortiz. (Honestly, the matchup is like an awesome/terrible pro-wrestling storyline.) When you look for fights that could break the one-million buys barrier, Rousey vs. Cyborg could very well become the 8th UFC pay-per-view to do so. Now we just have to convince Cyborg’s doctor to sign off on it.
Anderson Silva vs. George St-Pierre: If and when either man does return to the sport, it would be huge news. If they did against one another, it would be monumental. Their superfight may be a year or two late, but you can’t deny the amount of interest and buzz this fight would generate. GSP is on an indefinite leave from MMA but is still training and could be lured back in with a super-fight with Silva. Anderson’s managers Ed Soares and Jorge Guimares have always been keen on the match-up against the former welterweight champion, and Silva’s recovery from the broken leg he suffered at UFC 168 has been remarkable so far, with Dana White recently tweeting that he will be off crutches by next month. The UFC normally ends the year with a bang, and Silva vs. GSP just might be that fight to end 2014.
The new guard’s success in the Octagon might not translate to success in the box office, much to the detriment of the UFC’s future.
There’s no doubt that in terms of skill, the new generation of fighters is superior. Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva twice without ever being in danger. Jon Jones is ten times the fighter any previous light heavyweight champ ever was. The recently arrived era of fighters are to the previous era what the previous era was to old time greats like Mark Coleman. There’s a skill disparity; MMA has evolved.
However, just because the new breed has more aptitude, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have more drawing power. The old guard, through their battles on the early TUF seasons, Spike TV and various PPVs, brought the UFC from fringe-level oddity status (think FX Toughman or Slamball) to global sports powerhouse—complete with a network TV deal and a burgeoning international audience. The UFC’s current crew simply can’t carry the company into growth like this in 2014 and onward.
It’s no secret that the UFC’s numbers haven’t been stellar lately. Despite having more exposure than ever before, 2013’s ceiling is looking a bit like 2008/9’s floor.
Will the new faces be able to reverse the UFC’s decline in popularity? If not, will they at least be able to help the UFC tread water until the storm is weathered?
The lighter, male, weight classes won’t, for starters. It’s widely-known that they don’t draw well. MMA’s casual fan—the guy who does bench presses in the squat rack and needs skulls on everything he owns—hears 125-pounds and immediately (wrongly) thinks “Fuck watching a fighter I can throw through the wall.”
It’s too early to tell whether the new generation of greats from lightweight, welterweight, or middleweight, or even the females will produce a “future of the company”/”franchise athlete”/choose your buzzword.
(Photo via Getty)
The new guard’s success in the Octagon might not translate to success in the box office, much to the detriment of the UFC’s future.
There’s no doubt that in terms of skill, the new generation of fighters is superior. Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva twice without ever being in danger. Jon Jones is ten times the fighter any previous light heavyweight champ ever was. The recently arrived era of fighters are to the previous era what the previous era was to old time greats like Mark Coleman. There’s a skill disparity; MMA has evolved.
However, just because the new breed has more aptitude, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have more drawing power. The old guard, through their battles on the early TUF seasons, Spike TV and various PPVs, brought the UFC from fringe-level oddity status (think FX Toughman or Slamball) to global sports powerhouse—complete with a network TV deal and a burgeoning international audience. The UFC’s current crew simply can’t carry the company into growth like this in 2014 and onward.
It’s no secret that the UFC’s numbers haven’t been stellar lately. Despite having more exposure than ever before, 2013′s ceiling is looking a bit like 2008/9′s floor.
Will the new faces be able to reverse the UFC’s decline in popularity? If not, will they at least be able to help the UFC tread water until the storm is weathered?
The lighter, male, weight classes won’t, for starters. It’s widely-known that they don’t draw well. MMA’s casual fan—the guy who does bench presses in the squat rack and needs skulls on everything he owns—hears 125-pounds and immediately (wrongly) thinks “Fuck watching a fighter I can throw through the wall.”
It’s too early to tell whether the new generation of greats from lightweight, welterweight, or middleweight, or even the females will produce a “future of the company”/”franchise athlete”/choose your buzzword.
Ronda Rousey has had more exposure than any UFC fighter in recent memory, but she stamped herself with an expiration date. It’s possible that the women’s strawweight division can help matters due to starlets like CagePotato’s own Rose Namajunas and Felice Herrig. But we won’t know how much mainstream appeal women’s strawweight has until the division starts picking up steam in the UFC.
Only an estimated 270,000 (and all following PPV numbers are unofficial estimates via MMAPayout’s blue book) fans purchased Anthony Pettis‘ UFC 164 fight against Ben Henderson, a fighter that never moves the needle buyrate-wise, despite being promoted on FOX numerous times. To put this number into perspective, UFC 101— main-evented by BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian—received 850,000 buys. The next card Penn headlined, UFC 107, received 620,000. So far, there hasn’t been a draw at lightweight not named BJ Penn. Don’t write Pettis off yet though, since he has the demeanor and attitude of a champion, as well as an extremely fan-friendly fighting style.
Johny Hendricks vs. GSP garnered an estimated 630,000 buys—GSP’s lowest performing PPV since UFC 87 when he fought Jon Fitch. The jury is still out on what’ll happen with this division regarding star power and the various, equally viable contenders for the belt.
That brings us to middleweight. Weidman is now a legend-killer, the Guy Who Beat Silva.™ Weidman’s reputation and success against one of MMA’s greatest fighters might translate into massive PPV buys and superstar status. But it might not.
At light heavyweight, Jon Jones wasn’t the Mike Tyson-esque superstar we all hoped he’d be. Judging from the buys, fans only show tepid interest in Jones’ systematic, brutal dismantling of some of the world’s greatest fighters. On average, Jones draws approximately 500,000 buys per PPV. That’s respectable but the UFC can’t move forward on that. A rematch with Alexander Gustafsson likely would’ve drawn well, but the UFC nixed the idea. Instead, they opted to put Jones against Glover Teixeira and put Gustafsson in a fight agaisnt 14-0 prospect Jimi Manuwa.
Jones’ good but disappointing numbers are similar to those of Cain Velasquez, the UFC’s great Mexican hope. His fight against Brock Lesnar approached one million buys, but he was never able to capture that success against any other opponent. Case in point: The final fight in arguably the most important feud in heavyweight history—Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos—sold only 330,000 PPVs.
Despite burying the old guard in the dust, fans might not care about the Chris Weidmans and Anthony Pettis’s of the UFC once the novelty wears off. Fans don’t always adopt the victorious young lions as their new idols once the old ones have been vanquished. Fans follow their heroes, and when their heroes are made into men—human beings just as fallible and vulnerable to the vagaries of time and the human body as the rest of us—the fans stop caring. Shooting Jesse James doesn’t make you Jesse James.
While most of us (ie. Chael Sonnen) were content to use Nogueira’s run of bad luck as the basis for several personal attacks on Twitter, Dana White recently revealed that the blame for what was quite possibly the shortest-lived fight in UFC history lies solely on his own shoulders, as Lil Nog never actually agreed to the fight in the first place. He tells MMAJunkie:
What happened was that night we decided to make the fight. Gustafsson said yes, and they couldn’t get hold of him, so I said, ‘F–k it,’ and just went with it and announced the fight, and of course, he’s hurt.
The fight isn’t for four months, and he’s already determined he’s hurt. I don’t understand that. The guy is always hurt. Every time you call him, he’s hurt.
While I typically draw the line when it comes to taking pot shots at a Nogueira, I do find it interesting that the younger, not-run-over-by-a-truck-as-a-child Nogueira has been battling more injury issues than the older, run-over-by-a-truck-as-a-child, arm-shattered-by-Frank-Mir Nogueira as of late. I’m not saying Sonnen’s onto something, but he kind of is, you guys.
Taking pot shots at Dana White, on the other hand….
While most of us (ie. Chael Sonnen) were content to use Nogueira’s run of bad luck as the basis for several personal attacks on Twitter, Dana White recently revealed that the blame for what was quite possibly the shortest-lived fight in UFC history lies solely on his own shoulders, as Lil Nog never actually agreed to the fight in the first place. He tells MMAJunkie:
What happened was that night we decided to make the fight. Gustafsson said yes, and they couldn’t get hold of him, so I said, ‘F–k it,’ and just went with it and announced the fight, and of course, he’s hurt.
The fight isn’t for four months, and he’s already determined he’s hurt. I don’t understand that. The guy is always hurt. Every time you call him, he’s hurt.
While I typically draw the line when it comes to taking pot shots at a Nogueira, I do find it interesting that the younger, not-run-over-by-a-truck-as-a-child Nogueira has been battling more injury issues than the older, run-over-by-a-truck-as-a-child, arm-shattered-by-Frank-Mir Nogueira as of late. I’m not saying Sonnen’s onto something, but he kind of is, you guys.
Taking pot shots at Dana White, on the other hand….well, I think BloodyElbow’s Brent Brookhouse best summed up how I feel about The Baldfather’s line of logic here:
I know I’ve been a bit gif-heavy as of late, but I gotta say, Brent…
Whereas Gustafsson vs. Lil’ Nog felt like a squash match intended to get Gustafsson an easy road back to a title fight — those are Jon Jones’s words, not ours — Gustafsson vs. Manuwa could be legitimately dangerous for the Swedish star. Manuwa may be lacking in terms of big-fight experience, but his record is terrifying: a perfect 14-0, with all fights finished before the third round, and his last two UFC appearances ending with his opponents suffering spontaneous leg injuries. But the Mauler ain’t skurred. As he told The Telegraph:
(If you stare at this photo for 30 seconds without blinking, your calf muscle will explode. True story. / Props: Getty)
Whereas Gustafsson vs. Lil’ Nog felt like a squash match intended to get Gustafsson an easy road back to a title fight — those are Jon Jones’s words, not ours — Gustafsson vs. Manuwa could be legitimately dangerous for the Swedish star. Manuwa may be lacking in terms of big-fight experience, but his record is terrifying: a perfect 14-0, with all fights finished before the third round, and his last two UFC appearances ending with his opponents suffering spontaneous leg injuries. But the Mauler ain’t skurred. As he told The Telegraph:
“I’m looking forward to fighting Jimi Manuwa in his hometown and I am happy that UFC could find such an exiting opponent as Jimi so quickly.
“His clean record is impressive but I am one fight away from the title fight again and I will fight my heart out to get a win in this fight and reach my goals. Jimi is a great stand-up fighter which he proved in his last fight in Manchester.
“We will put on a hell of a show, but I am not sure who will have the hometown advantage since I expect an invasion of Swedish fans to come and support me.”
So what do you think? Is Gustafsson in trouble here, or will he put a swift end to the Poster Boy hype-train?
During his time in the UFC, Lil’ Nog has been plagued by injuries to an almost James Irvin-esque degree. Since his UFC debut in 2009, Nogueira has withdrawn from a fight against Brandon Vera at UFC 109 (ankle injury), a fight against Rich Franklin at UFC 133 (shoulder injury), a previously-scheduled match against Gustafsson at UFC on FUEL 2 (knee injury), and a “PRIDE Neva Die!” rematch against Mauricio Rua at UFC 161 (back injury).
Reportedly, Nogueira will be ready to fight again in May 2014, but honestly, who knows. We’ll update you when Gustafsson gets his next opponent booked.
(The Nogueira brothers: Keeping doctors busy since 1976. / Photo via Sherdog)
During his time in the UFC, Lil’ Nog has been plagued by injuries to an almost James Irvin-esque degree. Since his UFC debut in 2009, Nogueira has withdrawn from a fight against Brandon Vera at UFC 109 (ankle injury), a fight against Rich Franklin at UFC 133 (shoulder injury), a previously-scheduled match against Gustafsson at UFC on FUEL 2 (knee injury), and a “PRIDE Neva Die!” rematch against Mauricio Rua at UFC 161 (back injury).
Reportedly, Nogueira will be ready to fight again in May 2014, but honestly, who knows. We’ll update you when Gustafsson gets his next opponent booked.
As the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, UFC light heavyweight phenom Jon Jones is at the forefront of today’s mixed martial arts scene.
