After August, when UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva retained his title, September continues the stretch of intriguing title fights with a bout between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quint…
After August, when UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva retained his title, September continues the stretch of intriguing title fights with a bout between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
This will be one of many solid match-ups on the UFC 135 card, which goes down on pay per view near the end of the month.
Other events in September include the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals (September 10), Ultimate Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger (September 17), Dream.17 (September 24), and three Bellator events.
Fighters that will be seen in action this month include Jake Shields, Josh Barnett, Matt Hughes, Diego Sanchez, Travis Browne, and Antonio Silva.
These are the top 10 fights you don’t want to miss in September.
Last Saturday at UFC 134 in Brazil, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was able to do what many expected he would do and defeated Forrest Griffin in devastating Shogun-fashion—via first round knockout—thus redeeming his upset loss to Griffin back in 200…
Last Saturday at UFC 134 in Brazil, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was able to do what many expected he would do and defeated Forrest Griffin in devastating Shogun-fashion—via first round knockout—thus redeeming his upset loss to Griffin back in 2007 at UFC 76.
This marks the third time Shogun has been able to avenge a loss and do so by KO. With only five losses on his record, three of which while in the UFC, this former UFC light-heavyweight champion is that much more impressive and dangerous.
His first rematch came against Mark Coleman in 2009 at UFC 93. Coleman had handed Shogun his second career loss back in 2006 at Pride 31 by breaking his arm during a takedown. As astonishing as the arm break was, the post-fight brawl was the most surprising part of the night involving not only Coleman, but Wanderlei Silva, Shogun’s brother Murilo and Coleman cornerman Phil Baroni.
Next up was Lyoto Machida last year at UFC 113. This was one of the most anticipated rematches in MMA history, as Shogun lost a very close and controversial decision to Machida in each fighter’s previous outing at UFC 104. Shogun delivered on his promise and ended the fight by KO in the first round, thus dethroning The Dragon.
After he captured the title, Shogun was on the sidelines for a year. Upon his return, he met the young star that is Jon “Bones Jones.” While some believed Jones was not yet ready to fight for the title, he proved the critics wrong and gave Shogun his fifth career loss.
No one was calling for an immediate rematch this time around, but that should not be reason enough for their not to be one in the future. As Shogun has demonstrated on numerous occasions, he not only has what it takes to come back and get revenge, but he does so in knockout fashion.
The truest mark of any champion isn’t the ability to become an unstoppable force, but the ability to pick yourself up when you’re knocked down and recover to achieve victory. It is clear which kind of fighter Shogun is, and for that reason alone he will one day defeat Jon Jones and win UFC gold again.
Well this is certainly a new one.It would appear that the camp of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, Greg Jackson’s MMA, may have a spy amongst the ranks of upcoming opponent, Rampage Jackson’s camp.Rampage Jackson talked to Yahoo! Sports on Mon…
Well this is certainly a new one.
It would appear that the camp of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, Greg Jackson’s MMA, may have a spy amongst the ranks of upcoming opponent, Rampage Jackson’s camp.
Rampage Jackson talked to Yahoo! Sports on Monday, and accused Jones’ camp of spying on him.
At some point last week, Rampage made up a story about having a hand injury, and no more than four hours later, his manager received a call from UFC matchmaker, Joe Silva, to find out what happened.
Rampage’s manager, Anthony McGann, assured Joe Silva that everything was fine, and then asked Silva where he got the information.
Guess where.
From Jon Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa.
In the interview with Yahoo! Sports, Rampage said
“One of my friends was talking to Jon Jones’ manager recently, and Jon Jones’ manager was saying that he knows everything that is going on in our camp, he said he had spies in our camp and he knew everything that was going on. That got me thinking. How did he know about my hand injury that fast? It wasn’t on the Internet, and yet he knew about my hand injury right away. The UFC people were in Brazil, which is why it probably took them four hours to call me. That shows me two things: They have spies in my camp, one, and two, they’re dumb as hell, because they didn’t know how to use the information correctly and to wait. He called right away, running to Joe Silva. Joe Silva called my manager right away.”
Jackson went on to say that he doesn’t care what Jon Jones is doing, and that he still has “the honor of a fighter.”
Kawa responded to the allegations soon after, defending himself saying he saw a report on Twitter, and adding,
“I promise to God, I have no spy in that camp, it’s completely and totally untrue. There is nothing to it at all. It’s funny he said that, though, because we’ve heard he has had old training partners of Jon coming in to work with him. We don’t care and it’s kind of hilarious he’s doing this. But I can guarantee you there is nothing at all that is true about this other than that I called Joe Silva after someone put out a thing on Twitter that Rampage was injured and pulling out. I wanted to know what was up, but it was no more than that. That is it.”
Jackson first became suspicious of a spy back in May of 2010, when he was preparing for a No. 1 contender fight with Rashad Evans.
Jackson said he suffered a knee injury that nobody knew about, and when he got in the cage, he found himself being punched in the knee for the first time in his 38 fight career.
After the fight was over, Evans said
“I never heard a thing about it, I heard him talk about it after the fight. I didn’t know about it going into the fight. When I had him against the cage, I kept hitting him in the knee because of how he was reacting, not because anybody told me anything prior.
That still didn’t convince Rampage, and this probably didn’t help.
One day in camp, Rampage was working elbows, and the next day, Jones tweeted that he had to start working elbows.
It could be a coincidence, but Rampage doesn’t think so.
Rampage also said he believes he knows who the leak is, but he would not publicly release the name, and will not release the name even if it is confirmed.
So what do you think? Is Rampage crazy, or is Jon Jones not the golden boy that everyone pegged him as?
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Anderson Silva defeated Yushin Okami this past weekend, at UFC 134, defending his middleweight championship for the ninth time and extending his record-setting win streak in the UFC to 14.With this win, Silva has further solidified himself as the most …
Anderson Silva defeated Yushin Okami this past weekend, at UFC 134, defending his middleweight championship for the ninth time and extending his record-setting win streak in the UFC to 14.
With this win, Silva has further solidified himself as the most dominant figure in mixed martial arts, but there are tons of fighters out there chasing after the title of “most dominant man in MMA.”
While most fighters are miles behind Silva in terms of dominance, there are still many fighters in MMA right now who are on tears of their own.
Due to the unpredictability of MMA and the many ways a fighter can lose a bout, it’s always impressive when a fighter manages to be a consistent force with their division.
Here’s a look at the 20 most dominant fighters in MMA today…
At UFC 126, Jon Jones defeated Ryan Bader by guillotine choke and after his hand was raised in victory his life would never be the same again. He was informed that since his teammate (at the time) Rashad Evans was injured, that he would be given t…
At UFC 126, Jon Jones defeated Ryan Bader by guillotine choke and after his hand was raised in victory his life would never be the same again.
He was informed that since his teammate (at the time) Rashad Evans was injured, that he would be given the shot to face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua just six weeks later at UFC 128 for the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World. Once the words “Let’s do it” left his mouth, Jones has not been the same person.
Leading up to the fight, you could seen a new-found confidence in Jones.
He was already signing autographs as “Champ 2011” he was in most people’s eyes extremely arrogant. One thing is for sure though, he backed it all up in the cage, but after winning the fight and becoming champion is when he was really tested.
After winning the belt, he appeared on many talk shows and was a very popular subject to discuss. It was announced that he would face Rashad Evans as his first title defense, but Jones withdrew due to a “thumb injury.” That was very fishy to many people, especially because just a year before in an interview he was quoted stating the following about fighting a teammate:
“I just think there are lots of ways around it. You know, you could fake injuries. You could do anything. I mean, there’s just so many ways around it, you know? But before I joined the team that was the first conversation we had. It was just about friendship.”
After he withdrew, it was announced that instead Rashad would fight Phil Davis. Shortly after that was announced, Jon Jones announced that he would not need surgery on his hand, and would fight later in the year. That really raised many, many questions. Shortly after, Quinton Jackson defeated Matt Hamill and was named the number one contender and will now face Jones at UFC 135.
So…Has Jones lost his focus?
At a press conference promoting UFC 135, Jones and Jackson were going back and forth, and when the two met for a staredown, Jackson made it a joke and Jones later said that he was unhappy about that. (Click here to see staredown)
Being champion is a tough task. You know what kind of champion someone is once they defend their title. Many fans, and media are hyping Jones like he is the greatest thing to happen to the sport, and as a champion and being young that sometimes can be a bad thing.
Many people will have their opinions on this topic, but just by hearing assumptions doesn’t always mean it is the correct answer. There is no doubt that Jon Jones is a phenomenal fighter, but in MMA anything can happen and at some point in every fighter’s career they suffer a defeat. Some handle it well, and some don’t.
Mental toughness is an extremely important part of a fighter’s arsenal, and at UFC 135 we will see how mentally tough Jones really is. Being young, a world champion, and defending your title for the first time against a legend, well that is something that will definitely test a fighter’s mind.
It is too soon to tell whether or not is ready to be Champion or whether he has lost focus. Actions speak louder than words and on September 24th at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado all questions will be answered and we will know what kind of Champion Jones really is.
Anderson Silva is just too good.For years now, he has been considered the best pound for pound fighter on the planet and, after his performance at UFC 134 last night, it’s looking like Silva will occupy the P4P throne for a long time still.Silva’s oppo…
For years now, he has been considered the best pound for pound fighter on the planet and, after his performance at UFC 134 last night, it’s looking like Silva will occupy the P4P throne for a long time still.
Silva’s opponent last night was Yushin Okami, a strong grappler that many believed had a good chance of upsetting the UFC’s middleweight champ.
Although he trained with Chael Sonnen for this fight, Okami’s performance looked nothing like when Sonnen fought Silva, as the Japanese fighter was very tentative and hesitant to engage.
Said hesitancy allowed Silva time to figure Okami’s timing, and we all know what happens when Silva gets his opponent’s timing down.
Early in the second round, Silva baited Okami by dropping his hands to his sides and tagged the challenger when he rushed in. Okami fell to the ground, hurt badly, and Silva ended the fight with ground and pound.
Pound for pound rankings are meant to be current, always up to date, and so after every UFC event, a new list must be made.
Taking in the consideration all of the events that transpired last night, here is the new top 25 pound for pound fighters in MMA.
Last Saturday at