Tag: Jon Jones

UFC 135 Results: Will Quinton Jackson’s Rematch with Mauricio Rua Matter?

Quinton Jackson had hardly regained his breath from the rear naked choke with which Jon Jones defeated him at UFC 135 before he was back up and challenging Mauricio Rua to a rematch in Japan. Shameless as the plug was, coming as it did so soon after th…

Quinton Jackson had hardly regained his breath from the rear naked choke with which Jon Jones defeated him at UFC 135 before he was back up and challenging Mauricio Rua to a rematch in Japan.

Shameless as the plug was, coming as it did so soon after the first tapout of his career, you can hardly blame Rampage for seizing the opportunity to advertise another showdown with Shogun. Why not, so long as the attendant crowd at the Pepsi Center in Denver and the folks at home watching Pay-Per-View were still paying attention?

He’ll be hard-pressed to captivate any sort of audience after being put down so soundly by the younger, stronger and more skilled Bones.

If we learned anything about Jackson on Saturday, it’s that he’s either a far cry from the superstar fighter he once was or the sport has simply passed him by.

Or both.

Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that Jackson, now 33, has a long way to go before he can climb his way back to the top of the Light Heavyweight division, much less the entire UFC. The brute strength and incredible resilience that once made Jackson one of the most feared and revered mixed martial artists in the world are no longer enough.

Not in this new age of cyborg fighters like Jones and Anderson Silva, who have the skill to excel in every facet of fighting and all the physical ability to do so to devastating effect.

Shogun learned that very same lesson at UFC 128 in March, when he surrendered the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship to Jones by way of a TKO.

So now Shogun and Rampage will head to Japan sometime in 2012, not so much to fight as commiserate in the Octagon and attempt to rekindle the faint flames of their respective careers, in the country where they last met.

That was 2005, when both were up-and-coming stars in Pride and a full two years before the UFC acquired the fledgling fighting league.   

Now, it’s Jackson, along with Rua, who’s fighting for survival, fighting to remain relevant in a sport where marquee names like his are being swallowed alive by the true Ultimate Fighters of Tomorrow, today.

Make sure to check into Bleacher Report for all things UFC 135. B/R is your home for MMA, from pre-fight predictions, round-by-round recaps and post-fight analysis which you can check out at our event hub.

Follow @J0shMart1n

UFC 135 Morning After: An MMA Overdose Weekend

Filed under:

Jon Jones retains his belt at UFC 135.You probably have more of a life than I do, which means you probably haven’t watched as much mixed martial arts on TV as I have in the last couple days. But if you wanted to, you could have.

On Friday night I had two TVs going in one room, one on HDNet and one on Showtime, as I watched both the Titan Fighting Championships and Strikeforce cards. After a few hours of sleep I got up very early Saturday morning and watched the Dream card on HDNet. On Saturday evening I kept an eye on Bellator on MTV2 while watching the UFC fights on Facebook, on Spike and on pay-per-view.

I watched about three dozen live MMA fights in a span of just over 24 hours from Friday night through Saturday night. As an MMA fan, I was in heaven.


The story everyone is talking about coming out of UFC 135 is Jon Jones‘ impressive title defense over Rampage Jackson, but what this weekend really solidified to me was just how far this sport has come, and how much good MMA there is for the fans to watch. It wasn’t that long ago, before the UFC got on basic cable with The Ultimate Fighter, that getting a chance to watch live MMA was a special occasion for fans. In 2004 — the last year before The Ultimate Fighter — the UFC put on only five fight cards, for the entire year, and all of them were on pay-per-view. Other MMA promotions existed, but few fans ever got to see them live. Now there’s so much MMA on TV that even the hardest of hard-core fans miss some fights. It’s impossible to see it all.

And it’s only getting better. With a UFC heavyweight title fight coming to Fox in November, MMA will really be everywhere. This sport has accomplished so much in so little time that those of us who love it don’t often stop to consider how lucky we are to have so many MMA options available to us. Probably because we’re too busy watching fights.

UFC 135 notes
— The UFC 135 main event was a good demonstration of how much this sport has changed: Rampage is one of the great fighters of the last decade, but he’s a fundamentally one-dimensional fighter. Jones is on a completely different level, with far more ways to win a fight. The amazing thing about the way this sport continues to evolve is that some day someone will come along whose fighting style makes Jones look old-fashioned.

— James Te-Huna had never fought outside Australia before Saturday night, as the UFC mostly had him on the roster as a local guy to throw on the undercard in their trips Down Under. But Te-Huna got his first chance to fight in the Octagon on U.S. soil at UFC 135, and he delivered in a big way with a terrific first-round knockout of Ricardo Romero. When Romero went for a low takedown attempt, Te-Huna made him pay for it with a huge low punch that knocked him cold. The whole fight lasted just 47 seconds.

— We haven’t seen a lot of top-notch talent come out of The Ultimate Fighter in the last couple years, but Tony Ferguson, who won Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, might just be a future star. Ferguson knocked out everyone he faced on The Ultimate Fighter, and he showed off the same lethal striking against Aaron Riley on Saturday night. Ferguson is a force to be reckoned with.

%VIRTUAL-Gallery-134788%

UFC 135 quotes
 — “I just want to say thanks to Matt Hughes for taking this fight late in his career. He’s a legend and I’m really proud that I had the opportunity to fight a legend like Matt Hughes.”–Josh Koscheck, after beating Matt Hughes in what may have been the final fight of Hughes’ career. Although Koscheck plays up the role of villain in the UFC, Koscheck’s post-fight comments toward Hughes were pure class.

— “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy this tired in the Octagon before.”–UFC announcer Joe Rogan on Ben Rothwell in the third round of his loss to Mark Hunt. The Denver altitude didn’t help, of course, but Rothwell really looked like he needs to work on his conditioning.

Good call
— Greg Jackson, in the corner of Aaron Riley, did exactly the right thing to protect his fighter after the first round, when Tony Ferguson broke Riley’s jaw with an upper cut. Riley went to his corner and said he had a broken jaw, and Jackson immediately told the referee, “It’s over.” That’s what the corner man is supposed to do.

Bad call
— Two of the three judges gave Junior Assuncao a 10-8 third round in his victory over Eddie Yagin, as they should have, but I want to know what the judge who only scored it a 10-9 was thinking. Assuncao spent the better part of the round on top of Yagin, pounding away, and provided a textbook example of what should earn a fighter a 10-8 round. Some judges are too hesitant to award 10-8 rounds, and the one who only scored the third 10-9 for Assuncao is one of them.

Stock up
— Tim Boetsch is looking great at middleweight. If you look at the fights Boetsch has lost in his career, they were all against big, strong light heavyweights who could overpower him: Boetsch’s four career losses are to Vladimir Matyushenko, Matt Hamill, Jason Brilz and Phil Davis. Now that Boetsch is at middleweight, he’s overpowering people and earning his “Barbarian” nickname. Boetsch easily beat Nick Ring and is now 2-0 as a middleweight. “I’m loving middleweight so far,” Boetsch said afterward.

Stock down
 — I didn’t like the antics between Assuncao and Yagin at the weigh-ins, when the two of them acted like they wanted to brawl right then and there. And I really didn’t like how tentative both of them looked once they actually got into the Octagon: If you’re going to act like you’re eager for a knock-down, drag-out battle, don’t step into the cage and act like it’s a staring contest. Assuncao won easily, but he did far too much showboating: He raised his hands up, shuffled his feet, danced around and even waved his finger at the crowd while Yagin was attempting a guillotine choke. Assuncao was respectful afterward and said he was just trying to get in his opponent’s head, but the crowd booed Assuncao’s antics, and as far as I’m concerned, the stock of both Assuncao and Yagin is down after that fight.

Fight I want to see next
It looks like we’re finally getting close to seeing Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, the grudge match between the two training partners that’s been talked about for months. Seeing Jones and Evans in the Octagon together after Jones won the UFC 135 main event was a great reminder that for as dominant as Jones has looked, he’s not without legitimate challengers.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under:

Jon Jones retains his belt at UFC 135.You probably have more of a life than I do, which means you probably haven’t watched as much mixed martial arts on TV as I have in the last couple days. But if you wanted to, you could have.

On Friday night I had two TVs going in one room, one on HDNet and one on Showtime, as I watched both the Titan Fighting Championships and Strikeforce cards. After a few hours of sleep I got up very early Saturday morning and watched the Dream card on HDNet. On Saturday evening I kept an eye on Bellator on MTV2 while watching the UFC fights on Facebook, on Spike and on pay-per-view.

I watched about three dozen live MMA fights in a span of just over 24 hours from Friday night through Saturday night. As an MMA fan, I was in heaven.


The story everyone is talking about coming out of UFC 135 is Jon Jones‘ impressive title defense over Rampage Jackson, but what this weekend really solidified to me was just how far this sport has come, and how much good MMA there is for the fans to watch. It wasn’t that long ago, before the UFC got on basic cable with The Ultimate Fighter, that getting a chance to watch live MMA was a special occasion for fans. In 2004 — the last year before The Ultimate Fighter — the UFC put on only five fight cards, for the entire year, and all of them were on pay-per-view. Other MMA promotions existed, but few fans ever got to see them live. Now there’s so much MMA on TV that even the hardest of hard-core fans miss some fights. It’s impossible to see it all.

And it’s only getting better. With a UFC heavyweight title fight coming to Fox in November, MMA will really be everywhere. This sport has accomplished so much in so little time that those of us who love it don’t often stop to consider how lucky we are to have so many MMA options available to us. Probably because we’re too busy watching fights.

UFC 135 notes
— The UFC 135 main event was a good demonstration of how much this sport has changed: Rampage is one of the great fighters of the last decade, but he’s a fundamentally one-dimensional fighter. Jones is on a completely different level, with far more ways to win a fight. The amazing thing about the way this sport continues to evolve is that some day someone will come along whose fighting style makes Jones look old-fashioned.

— James Te-Huna had never fought outside Australia before Saturday night, as the UFC mostly had him on the roster as a local guy to throw on the undercard in their trips Down Under. But Te-Huna got his first chance to fight in the Octagon on U.S. soil at UFC 135, and he delivered in a big way with a terrific first-round knockout of Ricardo Romero. When Romero went for a low takedown attempt, Te-Huna made him pay for it with a huge low punch that knocked him cold. The whole fight lasted just 47 seconds.

— We haven’t seen a lot of top-notch talent come out of The Ultimate Fighter in the last couple years, but Tony Ferguson, who won Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, might just be a future star. Ferguson knocked out everyone he faced on The Ultimate Fighter, and he showed off the same lethal striking against Aaron Riley on Saturday night. Ferguson is a force to be reckoned with.

%VIRTUAL-Gallery-134788%

UFC 135 quotes
 — “I just want to say thanks to Matt Hughes for taking this fight late in his career. He’s a legend and I’m really proud that I had the opportunity to fight a legend like Matt Hughes.”–Josh Koscheck, after beating Matt Hughes in what may have been the final fight of Hughes’ career. Although Koscheck plays up the role of villain in the UFC, Koscheck’s post-fight comments toward Hughes were pure class.

— “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy this tired in the Octagon before.”–UFC announcer Joe Rogan on Ben Rothwell in the third round of his loss to Mark Hunt. The Denver altitude didn’t help, of course, but Rothwell really looked like he needs to work on his conditioning.

Good call
— Greg Jackson, in the corner of Aaron Riley, did exactly the right thing to protect his fighter after the first round, when Tony Ferguson broke Riley’s jaw with an upper cut. Riley went to his corner and said he had a broken jaw, and Jackson immediately told the referee, “It’s over.” That’s what the corner man is supposed to do.

Bad call
— Two of the three judges gave Junior Assuncao a 10-8 third round in his victory over Eddie Yagin, as they should have, but I want to know what the judge who only scored it a 10-9 was thinking. Assuncao spent the better part of the round on top of Yagin, pounding away, and provided a textbook example of what should earn a fighter a 10-8 round. Some judges are too hesitant to award 10-8 rounds, and the one who only scored the third 10-9 for Assuncao is one of them.

Stock up
— Tim Boetsch is looking great at middleweight. If you look at the fights Boetsch has lost in his career, they were all against big, strong light heavyweights who could overpower him: Boetsch’s four career losses are to Vladimir Matyushenko, Matt Hamill, Jason Brilz and Phil Davis. Now that Boetsch is at middleweight, he’s overpowering people and earning his “Barbarian” nickname. Boetsch easily beat Nick Ring and is now 2-0 as a middleweight. “I’m loving middleweight so far,” Boetsch said afterward.

Stock down
 — I didn’t like the antics between Assuncao and Yagin at the weigh-ins, when the two of them acted like they wanted to brawl right then and there. And I really didn’t like how tentative both of them looked once they actually got into the Octagon: If you’re going to act like you’re eager for a knock-down, drag-out battle, don’t step into the cage and act like it’s a staring contest. Assuncao won easily, but he did far too much showboating: He raised his hands up, shuffled his feet, danced around and even waved his finger at the crowd while Yagin was attempting a guillotine choke. Assuncao was respectful afterward and said he was just trying to get in his opponent’s head, but the crowd booed Assuncao’s antics, and as far as I’m concerned, the stock of both Assuncao and Yagin is down after that fight.

Fight I want to see next
It looks like we’re finally getting close to seeing Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, the grudge match between the two training partners that’s been talked about for months. Seeing Jones and Evans in the Octagon together after Jones won the UFC 135 main event was a great reminder that for as dominant as Jones has looked, he’s not without legitimate challengers.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

UFC 135 Post Fight Wrap: Who Can Stop Jon "Bones" Jones?

If you weren’t on the Jon Jones hype train, please board now before it disappears into the next dimension.Jones (14-1) impressed with a fourth round submission victory against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (32-9) in Saturday night’s main event, at UFC 135 …

If you weren’t on the Jon Jones hype train, please board now before it disappears into the next dimension.

Jones (14-1) impressed with a fourth round submission victory against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (32-9) in Saturday night’s main event, at UFC 135 in Denver. This was Jones first title defense, and it also marked the first time that Rampage had been stopped inside the bell in his UFC career. 

More impressive than that, however, is the fact that through three plus rounds with Rampage, Jones took virtually no damage, no small feat considering that Rampage is arguably the most feared striker in the light heavyweight division. Jones, in fact, had the better of Jackson while standing, as well as on the mat. 

So after dismantling Rampage, what is next for young Jon Jones? The answer to that question is Rashad Evans, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and disgruntled former training partner. Will he be the one to dethrone the 24-year-old king?

Maybe, but probably not. Despite his wrestling prowess, Jones has proven to have exceptional grappling skills himself. Besides, Jones superior reach allows him to set the distance and keep the fight where he prefers. Even if Evans is capable of taking Jones down to the floor, there is no guarantee that he can hold him there. Jones should be a sizable favorite heading into this fight.

Assuming Jones is successful against Rashad, who next then? Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Dan Henderson has a new UFC deal, but he is currently scheduled to fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Were he to win, a unification bout would be a great idea. But by my estimation he is a slower, older version of Rashad Evans. A super-fight with Anderson Silva sounds like a good idea too, but the UFC doesn’t seem in any big hurry to push either of them in that direction as of now. 

There are a few younger up-and-comers that may be intriguing down the road (Phil Davis, Alexander Gustafsson), but they are not yet ready to be fed to the wolf.

I feel the only fight beyond Evans that would spark any real questions about Jon Jones superiority at this time would be against Lyoto Machida.

Something about his unorthodox style always seems to add a new element to every fight, and there are always questions about how his opponent will deal with his peculiarity.

Although some of his bouts may have been perceived as slow and boring, I feel that against Jones the action would be more fast paced—with the champ pressing the action. As we have seen before, it only takes one well placed strike from “the Dragon” to end a fighters title reign. 

So will Machida be the one to upend Jonny Bones? If I were a betting man (and I am), I would say no, but in mixed martial arts a fight can end in the blink of an eye.

In my mind, Machida has as much of a chance as anyone, but who really knows? With that said, however, I’m sure we can all agree on one thing.

Jon Jones is the real deal.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 135 Results: 5 Things We Learned About Jon Jones

UFC 135 has just passed us by.In the main event of the evening, we saw Jon “Bones” Jones successfully defend his title for the first time, submitting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the fourth-round.Jones was able to use his reach to keep Rampage at a dis…

UFC 135 has just passed us by.

In the main event of the evening, we saw Jon “Bones” Jones successfully defend his title for the first time, submitting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the fourth-round.

Jones was able to use his reach to keep Rampage at a disadvantage throughout most of the fight. And once Rampage began to tire in the later rounds, Jones was able to put his grappling skills to work.

It was a remarkably impressive performance and also revealing in many ways.

Jones is still a young fighter and because of how quickly he has risen to the top of the UFC’s light heavyweight division, many questions surrounding him have been left unanswered.

Tonight, we finally received answers to many of the inquiries surrounding the UFC’s youngest ever champion.

Here’s five things we learned about Jon Jones, based on his performance at UFC 135.

His Takedowns Are Not Unstoppable

Before his fight with Rampage, Jones wrestling had looked unstoppable. Almost anytime he wanted to get a fight to the ground he was able to do so and with relative ease.

However, Rampage was able to stop most of Jones takedown attempts throughout the fight and also get back to his feet after being taken down.

Based on this fact, we can deduce that several of the elite members of the light heavyweight division might be able to contend with Jones takedowns.

Names like Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida come to mind.

He Can Take A Punch

Jones’ reach makes it nearly impossible to get inside his range, and before this evening, no one had landed a good, clean power shot on him.

This led to a lot of speculation that Jones might not be able to take a good punch. Was the secret to defeating him just landing a solid shot?

Well, that myth has been busted.

Rampage didn’t land any full-on haymakers tonight, but there were a few points where he landed cleanly and Jones didn’t seem bothered.

Am I saying that Jones has an iron chin? No.

But it’s definitely been confirmed that it’s not made of glass.

Cardio Is No Longer An Issue

Another speculative strategy for defeating Jon Jones was dragging him into the later rounds and finishing once he started to gas.

The source of this idea was Jones fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128.

Jones dominated the fight, but was noticeably tired by the third-round, as he was breathing heavily.

Clearly, he has devoted some time since then to upping his cardiovascular endurance because the fight tonight went to the fourth-round and Jones still looked reasonably fresh.

His Ego Is Continuing To Grow

Over the past few months it has become evident that the once humble Jones is beginning to develop a considerable ego.

His performance tonight only reinforced this sentiment.

Jones started the fight using some sort of crouch-walk, seemingly not even taking his opponent seriously.

Later in the fight, when the buzzer sounded to indicate the end of a round, Jones picked Rampage up while on his knees and sort of shoved Rampage backwards over his head—it’s difficult to describe, but trust me, it was unsportsmanlike.

There were also points in the fight were Jones dropped his hands and walked directly towards Rampage, showing no respect for Rampage’s boxing.

Jones talent is undeniable, but he should keep his ego in check, lest he risk losing fans.

Jon Jones is the Real Deal

Believe it or not, there were people still doubting the abilities of Jones heading into his UFC 135 bout.

I suppose I can see their argument.

Before fighting Shogun, Jones hadn’t beat anyone overly significant. Although he did beat Shogun, Shogun was coming off surgery and a long lay-off.

UFC 135 was the first time that Jones faced a legitimately elite opponent, without any potential excuses, and he dominated.

Now, no one can question that he deserves to be the UFC light heavyweight champion.

Jon Jones is for real.

 

Be sure to check out Bleacher Report for all things UFC 135. B/R is your home for MMA, from pre-fight predictions to in-fight coverage, and post-fight analysis…which you can check out at our event hub.

Andrew Barr is a Featured Columnist for Bleacherreport.com. For updates on what’s happening in the world of MMA, follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/AndrewBarr8


Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 135 Results: Is the Jon Jones Hypetrain Out of Control?

Jon Jones defended his UFC light heavyweight belt for the first time against Rampage Jackson at UFC 135.After the fight—whether you were on Twitter, Facebook or even surfing Google—you could see just how unstoppable the “Jon Jones hypetrain…

Jon Jones defended his UFC light heavyweight belt for the first time against Rampage Jackson at UFC 135.

After the fight—whether you were on Twitter, Facebook or even surfing Google—you could see just how unstoppable the “Jon Jones hypetrain” is.

People are already writing off Rashad Evans, who will be the next in line to face Jones.

Heck, people are writing off everybody else in the light heavyweight division. They’re even comparing Jones to pound-for-pound kingpin and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Yes, Jones has looked unbeatable so far in his first 15 fights. Yes, Jones is a great fighter and definitely ranks as one of the top five pound-for-pound. Yes, he has beaten two great UFC fighters in a row.

One thing everybody is missing, though, is that the sport is mixed martial arts and anything can happen.

It took 12 fights for anyone to think Silva could be beaten inside the UFC. Jones has only defended his title once and his toughest opponents are still out there.

If Machida can somehow get into the title fight, how will Jones deal with his elusiveness?

How will Jones deal with having to face a former teammate in Evans?

The hypetrain is a little out of control. Jones looked great tonight and has looked unbeatable in every one of his fights. Fact remains though, he hasn’t cleared out the light heavyweight division yet. He isn’t even close.

Jones still needs to defend his title a couple of more times to warrant the biggest hypetrain currently in the UFC.

I might be in the small majority thinking this and I do think Jones is a great fighter. But I just think we need to take a deep breath and watch his still blossoming brilliant career unfold before our very eyes.

Follow SalDeRose<a href=MMA on Twitter”>

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson on UFC 135 Performance: ‘I Choked’

Filed under: , , ,

DENVER — MMA Fighting spoke to Quinton Jackson following his UFC 135 submission loss to Jon Jones on Saturday night. “Rampage” talked about how the fight played out, the newfound respect he had for Jones, his interesting entrance song, why he was disappointed in himself and what he would like to do next.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: , , ,

DENVER — MMA Fighting spoke to Quinton Jackson following his UFC 135 submission loss to Jon Jones on Saturday night. “Rampage” talked about how the fight played out, the newfound respect he had for Jones, his interesting entrance song, why he was disappointed in himself and what he would like to do next.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments