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Tomorrow night, the biggest mixed martial arts promotion will return to Toronto for UFC 140.The main event features a light heavyweight showdown between champion Jon Jones and former champ Lyoto Machida.The entire main card features a bevy of notable m…
Tomorrow night, the biggest mixed martial arts promotion will return to Toronto for UFC 140.
The main event features a light heavyweight showdown between champion Jon Jones and former champ Lyoto Machida.
The entire main card features a bevy of notable matchups that, if you play your cards right, can net you some big cash this weekend.
**Betting Odds are courtesy of Betus.com**
Filed under: UFCCovering MMA events in a foreign country — even a minimally foreign country like Canada — is always a fun and slightly confusing experience. For instance, is gambling on sporting events legal here, or is viewed the same way that smoki…
Filed under: UFC
Covering MMA events in a foreign country — even a minimally foreign country like Canada — is always a fun and slightly confusing experience. For instance, is gambling on sporting events legal here, or is viewed the same way that smoking marijuana on the street seems to be, which is to say not openly encouraged, but not really a problem, either?
I have no idea, but I do think there are some interesting lines worth taking a look at with UFC 140 heading to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Saturday night. Below, let’s break them down and see what the oddsmakers have to say about it.
Can we be honest with each other? I don’t want to say that Machida has no chance, because a) this is MMA, so no one ever really has no chance, and b) this is a former champ we’re talking about here, but come on. How do you see Machida beating Jones? Jumping crane kick to the face? Five rounds of elusive, tactical striking? Again, I can’t say it’s not possible, but it’s certainly not likely. Machida will have a hard time getting in close enough to hurt Jones and still getting back out again before those go-go-Gadget arms stick him. Even if he does get in close, Jones might just toss him and decide to test his wrestling skills. Machida has so few ways to win this, and Jones has so many. I realize we all said more or less the same thing about Fabricio Werdum and Fedor Emelianenko, but here the underdog line isn’t even attractive enough to be worth a second look. If Machida were at 5-1, then maybe. If he’s only getting “Korean Zombie” odds, then forget it.
My pick: Jones. I’ll stick in the parlay, and then I wont give it any more thought.
Frank Mir (-285) vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (+225)
While talking with Nogueira’s wrestling coach this week, he mentioned that the whole team had been curious to see which Mir showed up this week: the 240-pound version, or the 265-pound one? Judging from open workouts, he looks more in the 260 range, which could be good for Nogueira, but only if the fight gets out of the first round. When Mir sticks to his game, he’s a wrecking ball. Nogueira was once the kind of fighter who, even when he couldn’t get out of the way, could still take it better than anyone. Age and injuries have hampered his ability to do either now.
My pick: Mir. Big Nog made a fool out of me when he upset Brendan Schaub, but I just can’t see that brand of lightning striking twice. Put this one in the parlay.
Tito Ortiz (+160) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-200)
Before showing up in Toronto, I thought this was Little Nog’s fight all the way. But after seeing them both on the mats earlier this week, I’m starting to think that Ortiz’s takedowns might prove superior to Nogueira’s suspect defense. If it becomes a boxing match, Nogueira wins. If Ortiz can put him on his back early, get ready for three long rounds of ground-and-pound. It’s one of those fights where each man knows exactly what the other one wants to do, and has known ever since the fight was announced. You just have to wonder who’s better prepared to get his way.
My pick: Ortiz. I need an underdog every time out, and if I have to side with “The People’s Champ” in the twilight of his career, so be it.
Brian Ebersole (-115) vs. Claude Patrick (-115)
Oddsmakers are right to think of this one as being essentially too close to call. Patrick has a stellar record, but he has nowhere near the experience of Ebersole, nor has he faced the same caliber of competition lately. If I were him, I might be tempted to compensate for those disadvantages by stealing Ebersole’s thunder and shaving some clever design into my own chest hair, but somehow I think Ebersole would only be encouraged by that. This could easily go either way, and the odds don’t encourage much action in any direction.
My pick: Ebersole. I guess. But I’m not risking the safety of my parlay on it, so I’ll steer clear.
Mark Hominick (-500) vs. Chan Sung Jung (+350)
Here’s one where oddsmakers have the right guy, but the line has gotten more than a little carried away. Should Hominick pick Jung apart? Probably, yeah. He’s sharper, more technical, and has better defense. But could Jung conceivably get him down and work some submissions magic? You can’t rule it out. It’s a little wild to think that Jung and Machida are being given roughly the same chance of winning, when I actually think Jung has a significantly better shot. It’s still not enough to make me take the bait, though.
My pick: Hominick. Parlay city, all the way.
Quick picks:
– Krzysztof Soszynski (-250) over Igor Pokrajac (+195). Oh, God. I just realized I’m going to have to type their names over and over again in my live blog. Somebody put a bullet in my head now.
– Nik Lentz (+135) over Mark Bocek (-165). You can’t stop “The Carny.” You can only hope to contain him.
The ‘For Entertainment Purposes Only’ Parlay: Jones + Mir + Hominick + Soszynski
Filed under: UFC
All the fighters at UFC 140 will step onto the scale at the UFC 140 weigh-ins Friday afternoon, and we’ll carry the live video right here at MMAFighting.com.
In the main event, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Lyoto Machida will both need to make the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds. Also worth watching is Dennis Hallman, who is moving down to lightweight to take on John Makdessi.
The UFC 140 weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. ET and the video is below.
Filed under: UFC
All the fighters at UFC 140 will step onto the scale at the UFC 140 weigh-ins Friday afternoon, and we’ll carry the live video right here at MMAFighting.com.
In the main event, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Lyoto Machida will both need to make the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds. Also worth watching is Dennis Hallman, who is moving down to lightweight to take on John Makdessi.
The UFC 140 weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. ET and the video is below.
Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting ExclusiveIf Jon Jones beats Lyoto Machida in UFC 140’s main event on Saturday, he will have completed one of the greatest calendar years in modern MMA, having defeated Machida, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jac…
Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive
If Jon Jones beats Lyoto Machida in UFC 140‘s main event on Saturday, he will have completed one of the greatest calendar years in modern MMA, having defeated Machida, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Ryan Bader.
Going into their fights with Jones, the quartet entered with a collective .851 win percentage and three of the four had been champions in the UFC. So far, Jones has manhandled Bader, Rua and Jackson, having not lost a single round en route to three stoppage wins.
The last of the four fights comes less than three months after his previous win. Stringing consecutive camps together is not easy, but Jones (14-1) can draw on his experience from earlier this year, when he smashed through Rua to win the light-heavyweight championship despite just six weeks of notice and preparation.
Machida (17-2) does present Jones with a new challenge, however. He is the first true southpaw Jones has faced since making his octagon debut in 2008.
His footwork also quite often sets him up for his favored foot sweep takedowns, a particularly useful tool against orthodox-style fighters. Judging from the numbers, he has a strong handle on the style, as his 58 percent connection rate on significant strikes ranks him in the top 10 in the UFC all-time by FightMetric’s count.
He is also a very balanced fighter, firing off punches and kicks in a fairly even ratio. His complexity of attack coupled with his bent-back karate stance never allows his opponent to truly settle in and feel comfortable.
Some of his advantages can be negated by Jones’ ability to switch stances. While not much has been made of the fact, Jones is essentially ambidextrous in the cage, routinely moving from southpaw to orthodox and back. Video of Jones’ early fights showed that he fought as a right-hander, and his best power punch is a straight right, but he is a natural lefty.
Most fighters will tell you that against top competition, it takes a bit of time to find the rhythm of the fight and their range against any given opponent. When you think about Jones’ ridiculous 84.5-inch reach and then you add his ability to switch stances on top of it, it gives his opponents so much information to process, probably too much. Just when you start zeroing in on him, he switches stances and becomes a completely different fighter.
As seems to be the case in every fight, Jones will have a massive advantage in reach, over 10 inches against Machida, who has a 74-inch reach. That, of course, makes Jones very hard to hit.
In fact, though much is made of Machida’s elusiveness, you might be surprised to find out that Jones actually avoids more strikes than Machida does. According to FightMetric, opponents trying to hit Jones whiff 67 percent of the time. By comparison, Machida’s foes miss 61 percent of their strikes.
One part of the fight that might prove interesting is the clinch game. Jones has exhibited a mastery of the position, using it to fire off knees, elbows and take his opponents down at will. But Machida has displayed excellent skills there as well, and his balance in the position may negate Jones’ ability to overwhelm his foes there.
Both fighters have been murderous on the ground. It’s the one place Machida allows his killer instinct out with little regard for his own safety, and Jones is always an elbow or two away from ending things if he has the top position. The question is, who is going to get the top position?
This is the part where we stop with the facts and numbers and I theorize what’s going to actually happen. It’s hard to know exactly how Jones will look. If you look at his last two fights, for example, against Rua he worked a precision striking game, going to the body quite a bit and obliterating him on the ground. Meanwhile, against Jackson, he turned into a kickboxer and attacked Jackson’s lower body and legs with a seemingly endless array of kicks. That ability to offer a new look each time out shows a level of maturity that belies his age (24).
Machida always lets his opponent open up the offense, so he will probably do the same on Saturday. That is never going to be a good idea against Jones. I think he will use the southpaw stance quite a bit against Machida, who hasn’t faced a southpaw since beating Vernon “Tiger” White in July 2006.
I think this fight will look more similar to the Jackson fight than the Machida fight. He’ll hack away at Machida’s legs and body. If Machida wades inside, he’ll look to clinch and take him down. Around the middle of the fight, the takedowns will start coming as fatigue sets in. And once it goes to the ground, it’s over against him. You may survive there, but you’re not going to win there.
Jones seems to scout well and prepare well, so Machida’s best bet would be to do something unexpected. Offer more aggression. Look to take him down. Offer him a look he hasn’t prepared for. The element of surprise is his best weapon. But Machida has always been calculated and measured, and I don’t know if he has that change in his constitution. If he doesn’t, that’s going to be what gets him against Jones.
The champ is well schooled and follows his plan. Even the flashy strikes are within the context of what he’s trying to accomplish. Since Machida rarely shows variance, Jones knows what’s in front of him. And a knowledgeable Jones is the most dominant force in the game right now. Jones via fourth-round TKO.
Lyoto Machida’s Karate is not the enigmatic, invincible style many once thought it was. UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will prove this without a doubt.Machida’s abilities were once the stuff legends were made of; he even had his own “era” wit…
Lyoto Machida‘s Karate is not the enigmatic, invincible style many once thought it was. UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will prove this without a doubt.
Machida’s abilities were once the stuff legends were made of; he even had his own “era” without having actually defended his title!
However, his era came crashing down along with the rest of his body when Mauricio “Shogun” Rua knocked out the Karate stylist at UFC 113 in less than four minutes.
One flashy kick later, people are anointing the coming years at light heavyweight the Machida Era 2.0 out of the belief that Machida’s famously elusive style will defeat current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Unfortunately for the Machida fans (and fans of Karate as a whole), Jones will show the MMA world just how overrated Machida’s Karate and Karate in general is.
First of all, Jones’ reach advantage over Machida is enormous. Jones’ reach is 84.5 inches, Machida’s is only 74 inches. That’s a 10.5 inch reach disadvantage that Machida will have to overcome (to put it into more familiar terms, Jones’ reach is nearly an entire ruler longer).
This massive difference in reach will allow Jones to strike and move out of the range of Machida’s effective counter strikes.
Another problem for Machida will be Jones’ wrestling and grappling. Jones has managed to bring nearly all of his opponents to the ground. Once there, he has dominated them with relative ease.
Can Machida’s feeble Karate really stop Jones’ wrestling, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
No. Not by a long shot.
Karate is dying as a martial art because it’s techniques were watered down and taught in McDojos across the country, teaching ineffective things to children whose insecure parents thought they were making their kid the next Bruce Lee.
Machida did frustrate opponents initially with his Karate base, true enough, but he was only so popular because of the novelty of what he was doing; stifling people with a martial art many thought had been discredited.
But really, Karate was discredited by Rua and it will be discredited again by Jones. Machida was great until fighters realized that his karate base meant his hands were almost always at his waist and that when confronted with strikes he left his chin straight up in the air.
Jones will make short work of Machida and his vaunted, ‘elusive,’ esoteric Karate and finish the fight, be it standing up or on the ground.
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This Saturday, former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will attempt to reclaim his belt as he faces current champion Jon Jones in Toronto at UFC 140.For years, the illustrious karate master has mystified opponents with his lighting fast str…
This Saturday, former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will attempt to reclaim his belt as he faces current champion Jon Jones in Toronto at UFC 140.
For years, the illustrious karate master has mystified opponents with his lighting fast strikes and elusive footwork, a combination that earned him a world title in 2009.
Going undefeated for over seven years, Machida has had a career filled with both amazing triumphs as well as heart breaking defeats, a combination that has made him into one of the sport’s premier mixed martial artists.
Here are Machida’s six career defining moments.