UFC 135 has passed and left us feeling like its bark was louder than its bite. One of my favorite shows to watch is Pardon the Interruption. If you’re not familiar with the show, two sports journalists debate popular topics of the day. In the mid…
UFC 135 has passed and left us feeling like its bark was louder than its bite.
One of my favorite shows to watch is Pardon the Interruption. If you’re not familiar with the show, two sports journalists debate popular topics of the day. In the middle of the show the two men engage in a “game” of sorts.
One of the games is called “Report Card.” The hosts are asked to give a letter grade on certain sports topics for day ranging from F-A. In the spirit of PTI, I’ll give the main card fights for UFC 135 a report card.
Jon Jones is a great fighter. There’s no questioning that. There is some questioning as to some fans’ ideas that Jones should be put up against Anderson Silva. Following Jones’ beat down of Quinton Jackson, the post-fight press conference s…
Jon Jones is a great fighter. There’s no questioning that. There is some questioning as to some fans’ ideas that Jones should be put up against Anderson Silva.
Following Jones’ beat down of Quinton Jackson, the post-fight press conference seemed to be abuzz about the possibility of Jon Jones and super fights. Even Dana White admitted that he and Jones have had discussions about Jones moving up to heavyweight.
Pump the breaks please.
Jones has defended the belt once, and while I admit his destruction of Mauricio Rua and his dominant win against Rampage are impressive, the UFC should be under no pressure to put Jones in any kind of super fight.
I do not want to discredit Jones’ win at all, but when you consider that many analysts (and the UFC hype machine) believed Rampage offered nothing but a punchers chance against Jones, is his performance so impressive it warrants a fight against Silva?
I think not.
Jones still has plenty of fights at 205. Rashad Evans is next in line of course, and while Evans is shorter than Rampage, he offers more tools to attack Jones with. Arguably for the past few years, Evans has been the best at 205 and he will do his best to make fans believe he is the one to dethrone “King Jones.”
Although a few fights away from a title shot, young prospect Phil Davis and former champion Lyoto Machida offer some stylistic matches. Davis is untested on the big stage, but he has shown glimpses of brilliance as evident by the “Philmura” against Tim Boetsch.
Machida’s style of in and out strikes could force Jones to leave his reach advantage. We saw last night that Jones has the awareness not to trade shots on the inside—but what if someone were to make Jones do the chasing?
I’m not saying Davis (9-0) or Machida are the answers to the Jon Jones riddle. I’m just saying that before people get carried away with Jones vs. Silva or Jones in the heavyweight division, let him first clear out his own division.
For every Anderson Silva or George St. Pierre, there’s always a Chael Sonnen or Matt Serra who reminds fans that on any given night any man can be beaten.
The illustrious Jon Jones and the possible retirement of Matt Hughes will be dominating for the next week, with any and all other mixed martial arts reduced to a mere footnote. Do people even know that Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren was bru…
The illustrious Jon Jones and the possible retirement of Matt Hughes will be dominating for the next week, with any and all other mixed martial arts reduced to a mere footnote.
Do people even know that Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren was brutally knocked out in one minute’s time in his bantamweight debut on Saturday?
It’s easy to forgive though, as the UFC’s light heavyweight champion put on yet another virtuoso showing in the UFC 135 headliner against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, sending fans and media alike into a frenzy of hyperbole and over-the-top praise.
That and more took center stage on Saturday night and now is the time for reflection on the so-so fight card that was.
Good luck, light heavyweight contenders
From the 0-2 Brad Bernard to the 20-5 Mauricio “Shogun” Rua—and the 12 fighters in between—they’ve looked one and the same when paired opposite UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Former 205-pound kingpin Quinton “Rampage” Jackson looked no different Saturday night in succumbing to a fourth-round submission against Jones.
Only the second time Jackson has been submitted in his career, the rear-naked choke capped a thorough domination that went down just like any other Jones fight.
The level of difficulty hypothetically keeps shifting upwards for Jones, but the man can play the game and the results remain the same.
Entering Saturday’s fight, I wanted to see Jones tested. Unable to think of so much as a smidge of adversity along the course of Jones’ UFC career, I want to see where his heart’s at when he isn’t in the driver’s seat.
It’s a tenet that I think is mandatory if we’re going to put him among the Anderson Silvas and George St. Pierres of the world and Jackson was unable to aid in that pursuit.
Why? Because he was so thoroughly overmatched for all 974 seconds of Saturday’s main event that he had no way of doing so.
By nature, Jackson is a counterpuncher. And when there are no punches being thrown your way, you’re not given much room to counter. Come over the top with a counter shot following a leg kick, you say? Good luck, because Jones packs a pair of javelins for legs that kept Jackson at bay and unable to so much as sniff the chance at landing a clean, hard punch.
It was the lack of any fundamental boxing, a regular in Jones’ fights, that carried the day including the vicious kick to the shin, a staple in Silva’s arsenal, that is always a cringe-worthy strike when executed properly.
Jones’ ability to keep distance left Jackson lunging and wind-milling whenever the opportunity presented itself and the champ simply evaded, rinsed and repeated.
That’s not to totally sour Jackson’s evening as the defensive elements to his performance were solid. He was easily Jones’ most lofty task to put on the mat and Jackson blocked many high kicks while slipping many punches along the way.
But all the while, you could see Jones adhering to his playbook and just systematically breaking down Jackson as the rounds progressed, so much so that the mental game was already handily in Jones’ favor after a third round that saw “Rampage” unwilling to swing when Jones dropped his hands.
“Bones” put the finishing touches on another lopsided performance just 74 seconds into the fourth round, putting the entire contendership scene on notice and leaving us all yearning for when someone will finally humanize what has been an invincible UFC tenure for Jones.
Rashad Evans gets the next crack at Jones and following that, the winner of Rua/Dan Henderson would appear to be the next logical choice. There’s Lyoto Machida, the rising Phil Davis among others, but Jones will be favored heavily against any and all future challengers—with the exception of a potential superfight with Silva.
And after Saturday, you’d be hard-pressed to argue otherwise.
At long last, the 205-pound division appears to have found some stability.
Hang ‘em up, Matt?
Josh Koscheck helped wake up the Denver crowd with a one-round pasting of former welterweight champion Matt Hughes in the night’s co-main event.
The outcome was hardly a surprise as Koscheck entered the bout as nearly a 5-to-1 favorite and after waiting a few minutes to open up with his hands, capitalized on a Hughes’ miscue and walloped the Hall of Famer with hammer fists as the round nearly expired.
The win got Koscheck back in the win column after his shellacking at the hands of Georges St. Pierre and marked Hughes’ second consecutive loss. With this being the final fight on Hughes’ current UFC contract, naturally questions arose about his possible retirement.
Hughes didn’t exactly say yes or no when questioned by Joe Rogan (who may have been more distraught than anyone at the sight of Hughes losing; seriously, go back and listen to the defeat in Rogan’s voice calling that finish and his prolonged silence after the stoppage), saying that he wouldn’t retire but wanted to be put on the shelf for a bit.
I’m guessing that’s probably a hint that Hughes is ready to start mulling over his career options with the possibility of one final run through the octagon in a send-off fight.
As long as it’s kept to that, I’m totally content with Hughes’ career trajectory at this stage.
It seemed almost ironic that after the post-fight interview that the cameras panned to a shot of Chuck Liddell in the crowd as I can’t help but fear that’s the path Hughes may be headed down if he feels he has two or three fights left in the tank.
At the heart of it, these are just two straight losses after a three-fight winning streak but it’s the way Hughes has suffered defeat that indicates the end of the road is approaching after a pair of violent knockout losses.
It’s nothing new to say that Hughes has no business competing with anyone even among the 10 best welterweights in the UFC, but nobody wants to see a fighter that legendary become a caricature of himself like some of his predecessors unfortunately have.
Give Hughes one final, winnable fight (Dennis Hallman, anyone?) to go out on a high note on and he’ll always have claim to the title as the sport’s first truly great welterweight and to this point, the second-best 170-pound mixed martial artist ever.
Nothing wrong with that at all.
Six grueling rounds
At UFC 131, Junior Dos Santos put on a sound, dominant thumping of Shane Carwin to solidify himself as the No. 1 contender to Cain Velasquez’s heavyweight title.
The level of Dos Santos’ performance also showed that he and Velasquez are a hefty tier above their heavyweight compatriots as far as talent, technique and sheer ability.
I’m not sure if either of the two were in attendance for Saturday’s card or even within 500 miles of Denver, but my appreciation for their respective games ballooned after seeing what else the UFC heavyweight division has to offer.
With all due respect to Mark Hunt, Ben Rothwell, Travis Browne and Rob Broughton, that has to be the most torturous stretch of back-to-back main card fights in recent UFC history.
I get the rationale for putting these fights on pay-per-view as both Browne and Hunt have knockout power and in Hunt’s case, his losses come in fairly short order (five of his past six losses lasted a combined five minutes, 53 seconds).
The expectation was a pair of quick, violent finishes and on we roll to Koscheck-Hughes. But you’re always going to be flirting with disaster if that doesn’t go according to plan because, at the end of the day, these guys are heavyweights of the 255-pound-plus variety.
In the case of Browne/Broughton, there was little question as to who the better fighter was; as expected, Browne was able to do as he pleased with an overmatched opponent.
But it was a far cry from the performances he turned in against James McSweeney and Stefan Struve.
Browne had his moments where he’d start to land with frequency but the second Broughton was able to defend or grab a wrist, the pace slowed and the result was a lackluster victory.
Rothwell’s showing had fans at the sports bar I caught the card at laughing late in the fight, as he looked positively dreadful after a solid opening round.
It’s really hard to be outclassed over 15 minutes by present-day Hunt but to the PRIDE veteran’s credit, he turned his best performance in years. Hunt didn’t look like a fish out of water off his back and showed strong enough defensive wrestling to keep the action upright where he could exploit his obvious striking edge over the steadily-gassing Rothwell.
Hunt came away as the standout in this tragic span of six rounds in two of the year’s worst UFC fights.
Yes, there’s always the chance that these fights end in highlight reel fashion like Browne-Struve, but the margin for error is magnified all the more because they’re mid-tier fighters in the UFC’s weakest division.
It has to be taken into account when mapping out a fight card and for all the momentum built up off Nate Diaz’s thrashing of Takanori Gomi, the wind was taken out of the sails in a heartbeat by pairing these two fights back-to-back.
Nate Diaz craps fireballs
Speaking of everyone’s favorite Stockton-based lightweight, holy crap.
One a night when Jones and bad heavyweight fighting dominated the action, one of the evening’s most impressive showing has become almost a footnote as Nate Diaz threw down the violence on Takanori Gomi.
Returning to lightweight after a four-fight stint at 170 pounds, Diaz looked as good as he ever has in dispatching of the admittedly faded Gomi.
We got the usual Diaz braggadocio mixed with fast, heavy and precise boxing that quickly reduced Gomi to a smattering of failed winging hooks.
If you saw Diaz’s route to victory requiring establishing his reach with a volume-heavy attack that would eventually frustrate Gomi into a mistake, then congratulations.
What I’m not sure was anticipated were the evil intentions behind every strike Diaz threw. His boxing looked more polished than anything showcased during Diaz’s last run at lightweight and did enough damage for Gomi to throw up the proverbial white flag by shooting for a takedown.
Diaz made a resounding return to 155 and as was the case last time, how far he can go with matter almost solely how he fares when paired up with a wrestler but until then, he’ll have performances like this to fall back on.
As for Gomi, unless the UFC is hell-bent on shoehorning him onto next year’s Japan card, there is no conceivable reason to keep him on the roster.
Oh, Aaron Riley
It felt like déjà vu in Saturday’s preliminary card finale, as Aaron Riley was yet again fed to another “Ultimate Fighter” winner.
Not only that, but he lost in similar fashion as yet another doctor stoppage does Riley in, this time against TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson.
Following the same blueprint employed by that of Ross Pearson, Ferguson handled the scrappy Riley on the feet, uncorking the veteran’s jaw with a well-placed long-range uppercut.
It was the most significant strike landed in a first round that saw Ferguson pick up right where he left off after thumping Ramsey Nijem.
While Riley is anything but a credible indication of Ferguson’s potential at lightweight, this was still a more inspiring performance than those turned in by fellow TUF winners Court McGee and Jonathan Brookins last weekend.
Ferguson’s fortunate in that his boxing is fast and tight enough to pose problems, while also mixing in impressive head movement. If he’s able to hone his wrestling to the level where he can keep fights upright, then he’ll be stick around in the UFC.
The UFC light heavyweight championship of the world is on the line this Saturday night from the place where it all began for the organization back in 1993.Jon “Bones” Jones will put his title on the line for the first time against former champion Quint…
The UFC light heavyweight championship of the world is on the line this Saturday night from the place where it all began for the organization back in 1993.
Jon “Bones” Jones will put his title on the line for the first time against former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and the fireworks are sure to erupt when the cage closes in Denver.
Is it truly the young phenom Jones’ time at the top of a division full of veterans, or can “Rampage” show the kid that he is only the “paper” champion that Jackson believes he is?
This card may truly shape up as a changing of the guard as legend Matt Hughes is also in action against a brash, young, lion in late replacement Josh Koscheck. Both men are looking to bounce back off of bad losses in their last bouts.
The card also packs two heavyweight clashes with a striving Ben Rothwell taking on veteran Mark Hunt and top prospect Travis Browne against Brit Rob Broughton. Nate Diaz will return to the lightweight division and take on Japanese star Takanori Gomi.
If you want a team of men who are willing to stick their necks out on the line, you have come to the right place. The Bleacher Report MMA team of John Heinis, Jordy McElroy, Jeff McKinney and yours truly are here to deliver the filthy picks.!
He’s the guy you love to hate but can’t take your eyes off of. His name is Jon “Bones” Jones and he is the future of MMA according to some pundits. He has provided fans with some spectacular highlights in his UFC bouts. He seemi…
He’s the guy you love to hate but can’t take your eyes off of.
His name is Jon “Bones” Jones and he is the future of MMA according to some pundits. He has provided fans with some spectacular highlights in his UFC bouts. He seemingly has no weakness as is evident by his impressive, unorthodox method of striking combined with his impressive wrestling ability.
Jones also presents a rare talent in the MMA world. The ability to make people pay $50 to watch him succeed and fail. People have become so entranced by his personality as of late, his pre-fight interviews almost mean as much to fans as his performance in the cage does.
The last man I can remember being hated and liked by so many people at the same time is Tito Ortiz.
Ortiz burst onto the scene with a 31-second knock out of Wes Albritton, but that is not the moment he became a star. After beating Guy Mezger, Ortiz donned a shirt that read, “Guy Mezger is my *****”.
This caught the ire of Mezger’s coach, Ken Shamrock and thus, one of (if not the first) the UFC’s “mega feuds” was born.
Although most fans believed Shamrock was no match for the powerful Ortiz, many believed Chuck Liddell was Ortiz’s kryptonite.
Liddell had arguably faced tougher competition but the title fight between the two never materialized. This lead fans to believe Ortiz was ducking Liddell to keep his belt.
The situation became even more blurred when Ortiz claimed that he and Liddell were friends and wouldn’t fight each other while Liddell replied that there never was a friendship.
Ortiz’s cocky attitude while avoiding his toughest challenge made him one of the more disliked fighters of his time.
Eventually Liddell and Ortiz did meet in the cage and the results went the way most fans pictured it. Ortiz struggled to wrestle Chuck to the ground and Liddell blasted Oritz with one of the most thunderous combinations seen inside the Octagon.
Jones didn’t go overboard to gain attention like Ortiz did, but he still has a collection of moments that culminated into a big one.
The first event took place following a UFC on Versus event. Jones was speaking in the post fight show and admitted that he would fight teammate Rashad Evans if Dana White wanted him to. His reasoning was that he did not want to get fired.
Jones must’ve completely forgotten that Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick are all still employed by the UFC.
Immediately after hearing this, Evans, who had been a self proclaimed good friend with Jones, became angered at the young prospect.
Evans’ subsequent knee injury allowed Jones to slip into Evans’ place against then champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It was this match that provided fans with ammo in the anti-Jon Jones crusade.
Before the fight, Jon Jones began signing autographs, “Jon Jones Champion 2011.” Fans became turned off of Jones and his “forced” humble attitude.
Following the destruction of Rua, fans were foaming at the mouth for the prospect of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans in a title fight. The two men engaged in a war of words that involved their coaches and even some racial barbs.
The mega match was not to be however as Jones pulled out of his fight, citing the need for hand surgery. Evans, who had waited over a year to receive his title shot, was forced to take a fight against young prospect Phil Davis.
After a replacement for Jones’ was found, his manager released a statement saying Jones wasn’t going to do the surgery after all. Worse yet, Jones’ manager said it was an old injury that Jones had been fighting with since his college days.
Almost overnight, the blogosphere became lit up with “Jon Jones is scared of Rashad Evans” theories. Although not as clear as the Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz predictions were, a large group of fans believe Evans has the tools to defeat the seemingly invincible champion.
Many fans and fighters are picking Jones to beat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday night at UFC 135, which means Evans would be next in line for a title fight. Regardless of the predictions, fans are going to tune in to see Jones dominate another world champion or to see him be knocked unconscious.
The real winner in this situation, as was the case with Chuck and Tito, is the UFC. If Jones wins, they have their mega fight with Jones vs. Evans. If Jones loses, they could still conceivably make Jones vs. Evans while at the same time have the ability to recreate one of their more successful PPVs with a Evans vs Rampage rematch.
If you haven’t noticed yet, UFC 135 is not the only big card this week in the MMA World.That may come as a surprise to anyone who is so accustomed to seeing the UFC brand of MMA all over the world with no hint at other forms of MMA existing, but for th…
If you haven’t noticed yet, UFC 135 is not the only big card this week in the MMA World.
That may come as a surprise to anyone who is so accustomed to seeing the UFC brand of MMA all over the world with no hint at other forms of MMA existing, but for those of you who recognize MMA life forms outside of the UFC, you might actually come to love this week.
Sure, it’s Zuffa and FEG this week, but that should fuel the week up for fans that can’t wait for great MMA action before Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson take center stage in Denver.
Need a reason to care about the MMA that exists before UFC 135?
Jon Jones is a great fighter. There’s no questioning that. There is some questioning as to some fans’ ideas that Jones should be put up against