Jon Jones | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Jones vs. Teixeira: The Stopgap Challengers Great Champions Sometimes Need

The UFC is selling greatness at the moment. It’s a very specific kind of greatness—one that we haven’t quite seen before and may not see again. It’s a violent ballet, a bloody dance of rangy strikes and thunderous attacks on the mat.
It’s the wor…

It’s the work of Jon Jones, an obviously prodigious talent from the day he first entered the Octagon, a man who may have no ceiling in terms of athletic accomplishment.

He’s the light heavyweight champion, a title that has long been seen as the most prolific in the UFC but has been oddly diminished by Jones’ dominance. People want to watch him, be it out of fandom or hatred, but most would agree that few 205-pounders out there can challenge him.

Part of the gulf between Jones and his challengers is the reality that some men are better suited to push the champion, but they can’t be lined up in sequence. Despite the champion’s demolition of a murderers’ row of talent to this point, schedules don’t always line up to keep the best of the best at the front of the line.

It happened to Anderson Silva, who found himself defending his belt listlessly against the likes of Travis Lutter (who blew his title shot and eventually his UFC career by missing weight for the bout) and Patrick Cote, a game but outmatched brawler.

It happened to Georges St-Pierre, who walloped Dan Hardy and then moved onto a largely pointless rematch with Josh Koscheck in the midst of his phenomenal run of title defenses.

Now, though perhaps for a shorter term, it’s happening to Jones.

On Saturday night in Baltimore, he’ll defend his title against Glover Teixeira in a bout that, for all the promotional bluster the UFC is trying to muster, is a blowout waiting to happen.

Jones is so far ahead of the curve that Teixeira, with his lumbering power game and unimaginative offensive approach, seems almost totally hopeless. Funny things happen in MMA, and great champions sometimes get a surprise, but no one in their right mind is serious about Teixeira as a threat to Jones going into their fight.

But the thing about that? It’s OK. Actually, based on the circumstances of the fight game, it can be better than OK sometimes.

By keeping Jones away from his big-money opponents—most would point to Alexander Gustafsson (in a rematch) and Daniel Cormier—the promotion has a chance to build hype for those fights.

Dana White has already started, stating in his press scrum this week that a UFC 172 win followed by besting those other foes could make Jones the best ever. You don’t think that line of reasoning will make another appearance if Jones leaves Baltimore the champion?

And if Teixeira somehow does the impossible, how does that hurt what the UFC is trying to accomplish? The promotion would do an immediate rematch, billing it as redemption for Jones against the man who shocked the world, and it would probably make twice as much money as UFC 172. Assuming Jones wins the rematch, you go right back to those other hot contenders like nothing ever happened—probably cashing in huge on three fights in a row.

The fact is that the role of the stopgap challenger isn’t the most glamorous, but it’s necessary. It’s a role that Teixeira has fallen into in a way that Lutter, Cote, Hardy and Koscheck did for great champions before Jones, and countless others will fill for great champions after him.

It’s not an insult. It’s not meant to deride or dismiss Teixeira; it’s just part of a sport that’s built on the backs of individual people. You have to find a way to sell them, and whether you do or not, there’s always a chance that the world will look past them and onto the next, more interesting challenge.

Great champions need those stopgap challengers just as badly as they need to face the elite of the elite. Sometimes it’s just as important to see how a champion handles a perceived lull in competition as it is to see how he does against five former UFC champions in a row.

The world knows how Jones handled the latter. UFC 172 provides him the chance to handle the former.

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jones vs. Teixeira: Biggest Keys for Light Heavyweight Title Fight at UFC 172

Jon Jones is set for the latest defense of his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship as he takes on veteran Glover Teixeira. After a close call against Alexander Gustafsson last time out, it will be interesting to see how Jones responds.
Teixeira is a win…

Teixeira is a winner of 20 straight fights after starting his MMA career 2-2. The last five of those wins have come in the UFC, including an impressive first-round knockout of Ryan Bader back in September. It was a showing good enough to earn him the title fight.

If Jones brings the same level of performance he did against Gustafsson, Teixeira will have a golden opportunity to walk away with the championship. Let’s check out the biggest key for each fighter heading into the UFC 172 main event.

Jones: Stronger Early-Round Performance

One of the reasons Jones’ fight with Gustafsson was so close was due to the seeming lack of direction the champion had in the early rounds. It was almost like “Bones” knew he was the superior fighter and thought that would be enough to win without a clear plan of attack.

Jones eventually picked up his intensity and aggressiveness in order to score the late comeback victory, albeit in controversial fashion. Above all else, it should serve as a learning experience in terms of taking every opponent seriously and going hard from the second the fight starts.

The fight also provided motivation due to the backlash. Mike Chiappetta of Fox Sports passed along comments from the champion about what he heard and how he’ll use it in a positive way moving forward:

Having the fight with Gustafsson, I got a taste of what it would be like if I actually lost. Hearing things like, ‘You suck,’ I ask myself, how can I suck after beating almost every legend in light-heavyweight history? But hearing this negative backlash from having such a close fight has motivated me to not ever lose. It’s like, if people can talk to me like this for having a close fight, imagine what guys who lose hear? It’s a different level of motivation I’ve gotten through having such a close fight.

To remain champion for an extended period of time, like Jones has, a fighter must learn and adapt. Gustafsson pushed him early, and it took him a while to respond. In turn, expect to see a far more prepared Jones early on against Teixeira.

The last thing he wants to do is let the challenger grab the early edge again. While he’s capable of coming back, he’s playing with fire every time he starts slow. It’s hard to see Jones falling into the same trap twice. Putting together a stronger performance early will ensure he doesn’t.

Teixeira: Take Risks to Gain Advantage

One mistake fighters often make when they are getting their first major title opportunity is being overly conservative. They fear getting knocked out early, but in turn they play right into the champion’s hands by not putting on enough pressure.

Teixeira needs to make sure he doesn’t fall into that category. If the challenger doesn’t take some chances in order to alter the complexion of the fight, Jones will win because he’s the better overall fighter. So the onus is on the Brazilian star to take some risks.

He’s in a good position to do that, too. As Josh Gross of ESPN.com notes, Teixeira enters the fight free from the pressure facing Jones, which puts him in position to utilize his experience, take some chances and potentially turn it into a close bout.

Again, if the fight proverbially goes according to script, Jones wins. Teixeira must do something during the fight, preferably within the first two rounds, to change that outlook and assert himself as a serious threat to the talented American.

Teixeira’s 20-fight winning streak and success since joining UFC shows he’s good enough to beat Jones. Everything must go exactly right in order for that to happen, though, including taking some risks in the early rounds to deliver significant strikes.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jones vs. Teixeira Predictions: How the Main Event Might End

It’s a good piece of promotion to sit down in front of anyone who’ll listen and proclaim that an underdog challenger isn’t the underdog everyone knows he is. If you came out and admitted otherwise, people on the fence might not be keen to drop $60 on h…

Dana White knows as much, and that’s why he’s chosen “Glover Teixeira is not a 5-to-1 underdog” as his main talking point leading up to UFC 172. It’s not accurate, but electing to state “Jon Jones is a justifiable favorite. He is going to murder Glover Teixeira,” might not be good for business.

Actually, maybe it is. Maybe people just want to see violence and they don’t care how competitive it is. That’s probably something to muse about at another time, though. Right now, the world is only a few short hours away from the Jones/Teixeira main event, and many are wondering how it might play out.

In pairing the two and trying to fit their styles into one another, it’s clear where the advantages lie for each. Jones is a better athlete, a younger man, a smarter fighter and a higher echelon of talent. Teixeira has more raw power and is perhaps more keen for a dogfight than the champion.

That likely means that Jones will attempt to pace the fight very deliberately before ramping things up when he feels it’s time to close the deal. Before that happens, Teixeira is likely to attack in bursts of relentlessness with an eye on putting the champion away early.

Those are, historically, the traits of each man, and nothing about them facing off indicates an interest in disrupting one another’s pattern. They both know what’s gotten them this far, and they’ll both live and die with it.

With that in mind, Jones is simply better by any metric one wants to apply outside of one-strike knockout power. And he’s been in there with enough one-strike danger in his UFC tenure that he knows how to handle it.

He’s dominated Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida, all of whom have the ability to finish a man with a single strike and the collective of whom offer a varied palette of opponents.

Together they prove that not only is Jones good at not getting hurt against guys who specialize in hurting, he’s good at it against a variety of styles. Teixeira, for all his power, applies it pretty basically and isn’t anything the champion hasn’t seen before.

If you’re trying to envision how the main event might end, look back on Jones’ title defense against Jackson as an indicator. Jones controlled distance and pace for four rounds, then jumped on a chance to put a fading Jackson away.

Jackson did better than people thought he would, but the end result was totally unsurprising. It was a win for Jones, one that might have been a little too cautious but that was no less impressive once he went for the kill.

Expect the Teixeira fight to follow a similar narrative. He’ll likely do better than people expect, particularly early on, while Jones is measured and spends his time calculating the steps he needs to take to get out in front. Once he does that and begins taking those steps, he’ll slowly pull away until he’s earning a victory.

That victory is likely to come on the ground, either via strikes or via a submission opened up by strikes, as Jones’ top game is among the most hellacious in the sport. Human beings simply aren’t meant to survive the force he generates with his elbows, and Teixeira is no different.

So yes, Teixeira should be a 5-to-1 underdog and yes, Jones is a justified favorite. Add those facts together and you’ve got a recipe for violence at UFC 172. It’s not about Jones winning the main event as much as it is about how he’s going to do it, but we’ve seen the blueprint already and, if he follows it, it’s going to be long night for the challenger.

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 172 Fight Card: A Luke Rockhold Win Makes Him Suddenly Pretty Relevant

It’s March 2011.
Jon Jones isn’t the light heavyweight champion yet, but he’s a week away from the fight that crowned him the king he still is today.
Matthew McConaughey’s The Lincoln Lawyer is fixing to drop in theatres, and he’s still a hopeless dope…

It’s March 2011.

Jon Jones isn’t the light heavyweight champion yet, but he’s a week away from the fight that crowned him the king he still is today.

Matthew McConaughey‘s The Lincoln Lawyer is fixing to drop in theatres, and he’s still a hopeless dope of an actor who could never, ever win an Oscar. The idea is laughable.

Lady Gaga is fending off Katy Perry’s “E.T.” and Rihanna’s “S&M” at the top of the music charts, to the chagrin of anyone with ears.

And Zuffa just bought Strikeforce.

Dana White is sitting in his office and talking to Ariel Helwani, dropping a bomb on the MMA community that no one saw coming: The UFC’s parent company just purchased it’s main competition, swindling it from boss Scott Coker in the middle of the night.

It was a great time to be alive for MMA fans, as fantasy matchups began to become possible. What did this mean for Nick Diaz? Ronaldo Souza? The legendary Fedor Emelianenko?

They were all technically UFC property at that point, and nothing was off the table.

Quietly involved in that mix of available talent was a 7-1 middleweight who wasn’t getting much attention but who’d shown signs that he might be something. That man was Luke Rockhold, and by the time Strikeforce would be folded into the UFC, he’d be the promotion’s middleweight champion.

There was genuine enthusiasm for his arrival in the UFC, and people saw him to be a top contender. That was reflected in his choice of debut opponent, as he was given the now-legendary Vitor Belfort.

As was the story with most men who dared to enter the cage with the testosterone-infused Belfort, Rockhold was the victim of a highlight-reel knockout strike, and his stock plummeted. While most Strikeforce imports were holding their own, one of the organization’s most prominent became iconic for all the wrong reasons after only a few minutes in the Octagon.

A year later, though, and things have changed. Testosterone replacement therapy is illegal, and with that fact has come something of a reprieve for those who fell at the hands of athletes who were using the therapy. Rockhold, now looking to win his second in a row at UFC 172, is back in the game.

Besides the circumstances around TRT, the rest of the middleweight division has either faltered or stagnated.

Belfort, a top contender on TRT, is now in a holding pattern. He’s been replaced at the top by Lyoto Machida, who’ll fight for the title in July.

Perennial contender and Rockhold foil Michael Bisping just lost, dropping out of the top five for the first time in a long time.

Everyone else around Rockhold in the rankings—save for Souza, who is in his own holding pattern at the moment (and whom Rockhold already defeated)—is either fighting lower competition or behind Rockhold in the pecking order for a title shot.

And so his fight at UFC 172 becomes a sudden shot at relevance for the American Kickboxing Academy product. With a win over Tim Boetsch, a burly brawler who’s just credible enough to look good on an already solid resume, Rockhold could easily lay claim to a title shot.

Belfort seems keen to get back in there and is the only man clearly ahead of Rockhold based on their meeting last year, but from there, it’s pretty much wide open. And given the circumstances around Belfort‘s career at the moment, nothing involving his ability to fight or even be sanctioned is automatic.

That makes Luke Rockhold suddenly pretty relevant. Going into UFC 172, his fight hasn’t gotten much attention, mostly due to a Jon Jones headlining appearance and the antics of Phil Davis, but it might just be the fight to create the next contender at 185.

Who knew when you were listening to Lady Gaga on the way home from another bad Matthew McConaughey movie in 2011 that this would be the case by 2014? Funny how things change.

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jones vs. Teixeira: Plotting Each Fighter’s Blueprint to Victory at UFC 172

If everyone is to be believed, UFC 172’s main event between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira is already over. The public categorically supports Bones rattling off his seventh straight successful title defense on Saturday night in Baltimore.
Yet Teixeira h…

If everyone is to be believed, UFC 172‘s main event between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira is already over. The public categorically supports Bones rattling off his seventh straight successful title defense on Saturday night in Baltimore.

Yet Teixeira has not lost a fight in nine years, entering the light heavyweight championship showdown with a 22-2 record. The underdog has his work cut out for him, but an upset should not be expelled from the realm of possibility.

One thing is for sure: Jones is not going to let complacency rear its ugly head. According to B/R’s Jeremy Botter, the champion said he was not his best during his last victory over Alexander Gustafsson.

I definitely know that I performed better in the past. It humbled me. A good humbling is always good, though. And it also let me know that I have heart. I trained my butt off to not have any close fights. And now that I’ve gone through a close fight—or a war, as some would call it—now I know even more about myself. I know when the going gets rough, I’m not going to give up.

A disqualification represents the only blemish on Jones’ record, and he’ll look to keep it that way against Teixeira, who can shock the world with a colossal win.

Jones’ Blueprint to Victory: Chip Away with Strikes

A responsible, deliberate plan centered on a hearty dosage of standing strikes will propel Jones to another victory.

Although Teixeira boasts a jiu-jitsu background, he doesn’t necessarily hold an advantage on the mat. Jones is comfortable fighting on the ground, but he shouldn’t let it come to that.

Bones holds a massive reach advantage over his opponent, touting an 84.5″ measurement over Teixeira’s 76″ mark. The champion must thoroughly exploit that edge by keeping a safe distance from the heavy hitter while gradually sinking strikes of his own throughout the evening.

According to UFC.com, Jones successfully lands 57 percent of his standing strikes while Teixeira holds a 41 percent success rate. Staying upright favors Jones in this bout.

He does not need a memorable finish to retain the title. If the two men are left to test their skills over the full five rounds, Bones sports an advantage over Teixeira, who is eight years older yet inexperienced fighting more than three rounds.

If the champion maintains his composure and plays this fight smart, he’ll retain the belt. That puts all the pressure on the challenger to make something happen.

Teixeira’s Blueprint to Victory: Steal a KO

Teixeira dared to dream big with MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz, offering up the best-case scenario for his clash with Jones.

In a perfect world, I’ll win via first-round knockout. But I believe it’s going to be a tough fight. Jon Jones is an excellent fighter, so I expect a tough bout. I will be ready for five rounds. I was ready to go five rounds against (Ryan) Bader and will be ready now, so we’ll see who will leave the cage as the champion.

He’s ready to go five rounds, but it’d be best if he didn’t.

The challenger simply can’t match wits with Jones in toe-to-toe combat. If the judges are left to decide the winner, the title won’t change hands. Jones won’t be outclassed in that fashion.

Six of Teixeira’s last seven UFC victories have come by KO or submission, with the sole exception being a unanimous victory over Rampage Jackson through three rounds. Nowhere in there has he needed to last five rounds in the Octagon.

Fox Sports’ E. Spence Kyte provided Teixeira with the perfect mission statement for his major bout in Baltimore. Quoting The Wire‘s Omar Little, “You come at the king, you best not miss.”

The Brazilian has no room for error against Jones. He’ll need to stay aggressive, swing hard and hope he doesn’t miss. It takes just one blow to seize the crown, and that’s the only way Teixeira can steal a victory.

Prediction: Jones by unanimous decision

The champion can win by trading barbs and could even make Teixeira tap out on the mat. While he has a few portals to success, the challenger is too dependent on landing a big blow. Jones will once again show he is a premier fighter by earning a convincing victory over Teixeira.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 172 Predictions: Predicting the Winners of Every Main Card Fight

UFC 172 hits Baltimore Arena on Saturday night, bringing some fresh action to a sports town enjoying success with the Orioles and Ravens over the past few years.
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Glover Teixeira in the …

UFC 172 hits Baltimore Arena on Saturday night, bringing some fresh action to a sports town enjoying success with the Orioles and Ravens over the past few years.

Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Glover Teixeira in the main event, while big names like Phil Davis, Luke Rockhold and Jim Miller will all compete on the undercard.

With the fights only a few short hours away, here are some predictions on who might have success on the pay-per-view main card.

Begin Slideshow