Just a friendly reminder that we’ll have the UFC 140 pre-fight press conference stream here starting at 1:00 pm ET. At the event, which will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival Lightbox, will be main card participants Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Antonio Rodrigio Nogueira, Frank Mir, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tito Ortiz.
Will Tito keep shoving his self-invented, “The People’s Champion” moniker down everyone’s throats?
Will Frank Mir tell everyone how much better he is than the Nogueiras?
Wil Jon Jones explain why he will always be the betting favorite in his future fights?
All of these questions and more will be answered after the jump at 1:00.
Just a friendly reminder that we’ll have the UFC 140 pre-fight press conference stream here starting at 1:00 pm ET. At the event, which will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival Lightbox, will be main card participants Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Antonio Rodrigio Nogueira, Frank Mir, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tito Ortiz.
Will Tito keep shoving his self-invented, “The People’s Champion” moniker down everyone’s throats?
Will Frank Mir tell everyone how much better he is than the Nogueiras?
Wil Jon Jones explain why he will always be the betting favorite in his future fights?
TORONTO — Watch below as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira discusses his rematch against Frank Mir at UFC 140, his health status going into the rematch, what went wrong the first time they fought, and his place in the heavyweight division.
TORONTO — Watch below as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira discusses his rematch against Frank Mir at UFC 140, his health status going into the rematch, what went wrong the first time they fought, and his place in the heavyweight division.
Filed under: UFCWill Jon Jones continue his domination of the light heavyweight division, or will Lyoto Machida get the belt back? Can Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira avenge his loss to Frank Mir? Will Tito Ortiz continue his surprising career resurgence, or …
We’ll answer those questions and more as we predict the winners at UFC 140.
What: UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida
When: Saturday, the Facebook stream begins at 5:45 PM ET, the Ion televised card starts at 7 and the pay-per-view starts at 9.
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto
Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights below.
Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida With a win, Jones would put a bow on what may have been the best year any fighter has ever had in the UFC: Jones has already destroyed Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson in 2011, and adding Lyoto Machida to that list would be an incredible feat.
Machida, however, may be the light heavyweight whose style is the trickiest for Jones to handle. Machida is so elusive that Jones is going to have a hard time getting to him even with his decided reach advantage, and Machida is such a good counter-striker that Jones is going to have to be careful not to get too fancy. Machida has frustrated a lot of great fighters, and it wouldn’t shock me to see him win a decision.
But Jones has been so dominant of late that I simply can’t pick against him. If Jones is able to take Machida down he should be able to use his superior strength to bully him on the ground, and even if the fight remains standing, Jones is eventually going to tag Machida the way Shogun Rua did. Of all the light heavyweights in the world, I give Machida the best chance of beating Jones. But right now I’d pick Jones over anyone. Pick: Jones
Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Mir has made no secret that he’s a little annoyed that he even has to give Nogueira a rematch, three years after Mir won by TKO. And Mir really doesn’t like the fact that Nogueira and his supporters have suggested that an illness prior to the last fight is the reason Nogueira won.
This time around there should be no excuses, and the fight should go more or less the way the last one did: Mir will get the better of Nogueira standing, and he won’t even try to engage Nogueira on the ground. Nogueira did earn a solid win over Brendan Schaub in August, but to the extent that these two have changed since the last time they fought, I think Mir has become bigger and stronger while Nogueira has become older and slower. Pick: Mir
Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogério Nogueira A year ago Ortiz was largely written off as washed up, but he deserves a lot of credit for persevering: He beat Ryan Bader soundly and then fought a good fight in a losing effort against Rashad Evans. And the mere fact that Ortiz is now preparing to fight for the third time in less than six months, after fighting only once a year every year from 2007 to 2010, says a lot about how much healthier he is after his recovery from back surgery.
Nogueira, on the other hand, is on a two-fight losing streak and hasn’t had a really strong performance since he TKO’d Luiz Cane more than two years ago. If either one of these guys has looked washed up recently, it’s Little Nog.
However, in this particular matchup Nogueira’s boxing is going to carry the day: Nogueira should be able to keep Ortiz at range and batter him with punches, and eventually Nogueira will wear Ortiz down enough to win by TKO. Pick: Nogueira
Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole Patrick is 3-0 since signing with the UFC lat year, and if he can win this one he’ll start to make some noise in the welterweight division. But Ebersole, who’s been fighting for 11 years, is much more experienced than Patrick and has a more versatile ground game, and should be able to win a decision. Pick: Ebersole
Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung My pick for fight of the night, Hominick vs. Jung has all the makings to be one of those fights that makes you lean forward, clench your fists and stare in awe of the intensity of the action. Hominick will have the hometown crowd on his side in Toronto, just as he did the last time he fought, when he lost to Jose Aldo at UFC 129, but in that fight it was a Rocky-like crowd, cheering him because he simply wouldn’t quit no matter how much punishment he took. In this fight, Hominick will be the better striker in the cage, and he should be able to out-land Jung and win convincingly. Pick: Hominick
Filed under: UFC, NewsThree years ago, Frank Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in a one-sided beating that many of Nogueira’s supporters blamed on a staph infection that had plagued Nogueira during his training camp.
Three years ago, Frank Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in a one-sided beating that many of Nogueira’s supporters blamed on a staph infection that had plagued Nogueira during his training camp.
After three years of hearing people suggest that he only beat Nogueira because of that staph infection, Mir has heard enough.
In comments to the media Thursday during a promotional call for his UFC 140 rematch with Nogueira, Mir said he thinks fighters who blame a sluggish performance on illnesses or injuries are doing a disservice to their opponents, and that he’s tired of all the talk that the staph infection had something to do with Mir’s second-round technical knockout victory in December of 2008.
“There were a lot of words, circumstances surrounding the last victory how legitimate it could possibly be because of the illness of Nogueira,” Mir said of what he’s heard about his victory over Nogueira.
Mir then added, “No excuses afterward.”
Although Mir said he realizes that health problems can affect a fighter, he thinks that if you agree to take a fight, it’s disrespectful to your opponent to bring up those health issues after the fact.
“As fighters, any time you say you lost because of injury, that’s a strike against your opponent,” Mir said. “No, the guy in front of you beat you.”
In his last two fights, Mir beat Roy Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop, and he said he believes he’s getting close to heavyweight title contention if he makes it three in a row against Nogueira. But Mir said he’s expecting to see an even better version of Nogueira at UFC 140, considering how impressive Nogueira looked in his victory over Brendan Schaub in August.
“His confidence has to be up higher,” Mir said. “You see it in all sports, when people’s confidence is high that can be the difference between them being successful and not.”
And if he is able to beat a Nogueira who’s riding high after beating Schaub, Mir won’t want to hear any excuses.
Once in a while, a singular talent will arise and utterly dominate this sport. He comes out of nowhere, immediately starts whipping top-ranked fighters with years’ more experience, and leaves both fans and his opponents in awe of his abilities. Jon Jones is that guy right now. And nobody knows how fleeting that moment is better than Lyoto Machida, whose invincible aura (and “era“) went up in smoke as quickly as it arrived.
That’s what gives Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida such a great storyline for their meeting on December 10th in Toronto. Besides Machida’s unorthodox style, which could be an effective counter to Bones’s own funky attacks, the Dragon stands as a living reminder that nobody is invincible — seriously, not even Jon Jones — and defeat is simply a matter of running into the wrong guy on the wrong night.
Once in a while, a singular talent will arise and utterly dominate this sport. He comes out of nowhere, immediately starts whipping top-ranked fighters with years’ more experience, and leaves both fans and his opponents in awe of his abilities. Jon Jones is that guy right now. And nobody knows how fleeting that moment is better than Lyoto Machida, whose invincible aura (and “era“) went up in smoke as quickly as it arrived.
That’s what gives Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida such a great storyline for their meeting on December 10th in Toronto. Besides Machida’s unorthodox style, which could be an effective counter to Bones’s own funky attacks, the Dragon stands as a living reminder that nobody is invincible — seriously, not even Jon Jones — and defeat is simply a matter of running into the wrong guy on the wrong night.
Supporting the light-heavyweight title fight at UFC 140 are two matches featuring former UFC champions from America (Frank Mir and Tito Ortiz) trying to hold the line against a pair of battle-weathered Brazilian twins who made their names halfway around the world. It’ll be the second meeting between Mir and Minotauro, and aside from the struggling Lil’ Nog, the other three fighters have shown brief flashes in recent fights that their glory days might not be over yet. So who will add another highlight to their legendary resumes, and who will continue to fade back into history?
Semi-related, below: Jon Jones gets in some cross-gender sparring with Team Jackson camp-mate Holly Holm, the prettier half of the third toughest couple in MMA.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — MMA Fighting caught up with Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Junior dos Santos‘ friend and training partner, as well as Fabio Costa, about dos Santos’ knee injury prior to the fight, the big win and what’s next. Nogueira also talked about his preparations for his UFC 140 rematch against Frank Mir.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — MMA Fighting caught up with Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Junior dos Santos‘ friend and training partner, as well as Fabio Costa, about dos Santos’ knee injury prior to the fight, the big win and what’s next. Nogueira also talked about his preparations for his UFC 140 rematch against Frank Mir.
Will 
Three years ago,