Rashad Evans should be used to playing the waiting game by now.A thumb injury forced the former UFC light heavyweight champion to miss out on another opportunity to reclaim the world title.At UFC 140, he’ll be sitting on the sidelines as his arch nemes…
Rashad Evans should be used to playing the waiting game by now.
A thumb injury forced the former UFC light heavyweight champion to miss out on another opportunity to reclaim the world title.
At UFC 140, he’ll be sitting on the sidelines as his arch nemesis and former teammate Jon Jones prepares to put forth his second title defense against Lyoto Machida.
Who does Evans hope to face next? Well, his answer shouldn’t surprise anyone.
“Jon Jones,” Evans responded in an interview with GnP-TV. “I don’t like Jon Jones. I can respect Machida. He beat me fair and square, but I don’t like Jon Jones.”
The falling out between Evans and Jones can be traced all the way back to March 2011, when Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the UFC light heavyweight title.
After the fight, a bout was proposed pitting the teammates against one another. While Jones had no qualms about facing his training partner, Evans found it suspicious that the 24-year-old champion would be so quick to face him, especially after they agreed to never fight one another.
With the Jones situation unfolding and a supposed lack of moral support at Jackson’s MMA, Evans chose to leave the gym and longtime mentor Greg Jackson.
Along with former members of American Top Team, Evans now trains in Boca Raton, Florida with a new team known as the “Blackzilians.”
With his new camp behind him at UFC 133, Evans returned after more than a year hiatus and dominated a surging MMA legend in Tito Ortiz.
“First of all, I’ve got to stop worrying about a title shot. Second of all, I’ve got to keep on winning, and as long as I keep doing those two things, I’m sure [a title shot] will come.”
If you haven’t heard, Rolling Stone put out a piece earlier this week about something Urijah Faber said, although those willing to jump the gun for UFC 139 might be disappointed to learn that Faber kept Brian Bowles’ name out of his mouth.When it came …
If you haven’t heard, Rolling Stone put out a piece earlier this week about something Urijah Faber said, although those willing to jump the gun for UFC 139 might be disappointed to learn that Faber kept Brian Bowles’ name out of his mouth.
When it came to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, however, Faber was a bit more vocal, saying that Jones might be “the Michael Jordan of MMA.”
With all due respect to Faber and his opinion, that is a premature statement. Jordan’s NBA career is a bit more decorated than Jones’ record, although that could be a subjective viewpoint.
Also, one has to account for Jordan’s longevity compared to the three-to-four years Jones has been in MMA when talking about the comparisons to Jordan, but while the argument is premature hype, is it inaccurate to make a notion of such a bold statement simply because it seems premature?
Some would not think so, taking Jones’ career so far into effect.
After all, Jones can’t boast a Rookie of the Year trophy, six NBA championships, multiple NBA honors, a 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame induction or a three-minute ovation from his peers, colleagues and opponents, but it didn’t take Jones almost seven years to earn his crack at the UFC light heavyweight title either.
With Faber’s words about Jones possibly being MMA’s Michael Jordan (or perhaps saying that he has that potential) comes some honest truth.
Jones has only been in the sport for close to four years, yet he’ll close to reaching the record Tito Ortiz set for the number of consecutively successful UFC light heavyweight title defenses with a UFC 140 win over Lyoto Machida and a potential 2012 win over Rashad Evans.
He’s shown us moves that most other “flashy” strikers wouldn’t have tried, he’s utilized certain positions in ways most other fighters would not plan to utilize them and on top of it all, he’s made great fighters look horrendous in the time he’s spent in the UFC alone, yet he has not neared his peak years as of yet.
Jones has more to show the world and conceivably may set a new athletic standard in the world, and the scariest part about it all, as many will agree, is that Jones is only 24 years old right now. He’s already elevated to the status of the greats.
With the UFC light heavyweight title comes his accompanying distinction of being one of the top 10 pound-for-pound best fighters in MMA right now, but he hasn’t shown us everything that we could ever expect to see from him.
That is what makes his youth in the sport the scariest thing about the whole Michael Jordan comparison and why the comparison makes some sense.
Jones isn’t Jordan, nor will he ever be, but he’s arguably as good right now—before his prime—as Jordan was in his prime, and that begs a question:
If this is him before he even hits his best years, what will he be like when he really does hit his best years?
Many asked that when they first saw a good year out of Jordan and we all know how Jordan turned out.
If Jones hasn’t truly shown us everything he’s capable of yet, it’s possible that when he does finally fade and retire his gloves, it could be the end of one of the greatest careers in the history of combat sports.
To quote a certain someone, he is “that damn good,” whether anyone likes it or not.
Lyoto Machida is a veteran of 19 professional MMA fight, and in his 20th, he’ll get a second shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.Machida first won the title at UFC 98 by knocking out Rashad Evans, then controversially defended the title by unanimou…
Lyoto Machida is a veteran of 19 professional MMA fight, and in his 20th, he’ll get a second shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.
Machida first won the title at UFC 98 by knocking out Rashad Evans, then controversially defended the title by unanimous decision at UFC 104 against Mauricio Rua.
Machida was sitting at 16-0 as a professional, and was on top of the world, but then at UFC 113, in a rematch against Shogun, it all came crashing down.
He lost against Shogun via first round knockout, then lost a split decision to Rampage Jackson.
At UFC 129, he delivered one of the best wins in his career, as he front kicked Randy Couture into retirement.
I’ve already listed a few big wins here, but let’s take a look at Machida’s top five career victories.
Martial-artist-turned-actor Steven Seagal has made waves in 2011 by being in the corner of two of the top fighters in the UFC, Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. The 59-year-old has been training with the fighters for a few years now, but his presence h…
Martial-artist-turned-actor Steven Seagal has made waves in 2011 by being in the corner of two of the top fighters in the UFC, Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. The 59-year-old has been training with the fighters for a few years now, but his presence has suddenly become mainstream following his post-fight interviews after UFC 126 and UFC 129.
At those two events, both Silva and Machida ended their fights in astonishing fashion with different versions of the same kick—a front kick to the face—which both Black House fighters learned during their time training with Master Seagal.
The star of Law Man may not look like the same bad ass who whooped ass in Hard to Kill, but results don’t lie and apparently the martial arts training he took decades ago still applies even in today’s age of mixed martial arts.
As we saw at UFC 129 when Machida utilzed a kick seen in The Karate Kid to finish off Randy Couture, Seagal has seen it all and will have his fighter ready to dethrone the current 205-pound champion Jon Jones.
Expect Seagal to take full advantage of his nearly half-century-long martial arts career where he has learned everything there is to know about every martial art in the world. Master Seagal will teach his pupil these six techniques which will leave even the great Jon Jones in shock as Lyoto leaves UFC 140 with the UFC light heavyweight championship.
UFC 140 Card Is Final The Ultimate Fighting Championship finalized the complete UFC 140 fight card this past week and the final card produced is stacked with quality fights. In the main event, Jon Jones will put his lightheavyweight title on the line f…
UFC 140 Card Is Final
The Ultimate Fighting Championship finalized the complete UFC 140 fight card this past week and the final card produced is stacked with quality fights.
In the main event, Jon Jones will put his lightheavyweight title on the line for the second time this year against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida who is coming off a knockout of Randy Couture in Toronto in April.
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, Tito Ortiz, is on the card along with other UFC stars such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir, Chan Sung Jung and Rodrigo Nogueira.
The card is also packed with eight Canadian fighters in key matchups with heavy implications for their respective futures.
Canadian’s Mark “The Machine” Hominick, Rory “Ares” MacDonald, KrzysztofSoszynski, Mark Bocek, John Makdessi, Claude Patrick, Yves Jabouin and Mitch Clarke are all fighting on the December 10th card in Toronto.
Shawn Tompkins Tribute Card Canceled
Global Warriors Fighting Championships Halloween Havoc event scheduled for Saturday October 29th, at 5 p.m. has been canceled at the last minute.
The event was a tribute event to the late Shawn Tompkins and was set to be an incredible showcase for up-and-coming fighters in Ontario. Team Tompkins and Adrenaline Training Center London fighters Jesse Ronson, Pete Brown, Clint Kingsbury, Rowan Cunningham and Jesse Gross were all set to showcase the team that the late Coach spawned.
Global Warriors president Garnet Ace took full responsibility for canceling the event, but his stated reason for doing so is unclear. In a statement released by Ace and posted by MMA Ontario, it states that headliner Jeff Lents was injured and could not fight so rather than deliver a sub par card, they are postponing or canceling the card. This has left the fighters and fans extremely disappointed and frustrated.
See my video blog “The Submission” attached for my complete rant on how this all went down and some advice for the small regional MMA shows.
(Ah, 2007. A very fine year for gogoplatas. / Photo via Sherdog)
By Ben Goldstein
Over the last two decades, MMA has evolved so consistently that fighters are still finding new and unexpected ways to destroy their opponents — while causing fans to spit their beers in shock. We decided to take a lil’ spin through MMA history and identify the single most awe-inspiring technique from each year since the sport’s modern inception. We expect you to disagree with us; there’s a comments section just for that purpose. And away we go…
1993:Royce Gracie’s Rear-Naked Choke vs. Ken Shamrock @ UFC 1, 11/12/93
(Fight starts at the 3:54 mark)
You have to remember that in the early ’90s, a well-placed roundhouse kick to the head was considered the pinnacle of martial arts. What Royce Gracie introduced to fight fans in his early UFC run was something much more practical, less flashy, and a little bit scary. Gracie’s submission of Ken Shamrock — and the similar hold he used to stop Gerard Gordeau in the finals — proved that skill beat size, and pajamas beat man-panties.
1994: Dan Severn’s Suplexes vs. Anthony Macias @ UFC 4, 12/16/94
(Ah, 2007. A very fine year for gogoplatas. / Photo via Sherdog)
By Ben Goldstein
Over the last two decades, MMA has evolved so consistently that fighters are still finding new and unexpected ways to destroy their opponents — while causing fans to spit their beers in shock. We decided to take a lil’ spin through MMA history and identify the single most awe-inspiring technique from each year since the sport’s modern inception. We expect you to disagree with us; there’s a comments section just for that purpose. And away we go…
1993:Royce Gracie’s Rear-Naked Choke vs. Ken Shamrock @ UFC 1, 11/12/93
(Fight starts at the 3:54 mark)
You have to remember that in the early ’90s, a well-placed roundhouse kick to the head was considered the pinnacle of martial arts. What Royce Gracie introduced to fight fans in his early UFC run was something much more practical, less flashy, and a little bit scary. Gracie’s submission of Ken Shamrock — and the similar hold he used to stop Gerard Gordeau in the finals — proved that skill beat size, and pajamas beat man-panties.
1994: Dan Severn’s Suplexes vs. Anthony Macias @ UFC 4, 12/16/94
(Fight starts at the 1:53 mark)
Of course, the UFC’s formative years weren’t all about subtlety. The arrival of Dan Severn, followed by his ground-and-pounding spiritual descendants Mark Coleman and Mark Kerr, showed that a hulking wrestler could do just as well as a skinny grappling whiz. The suplexes that Severn pulled off in his UFC debut were straight out of a pro-wrestling match, but my God, they were real. As commentator Jim Brown sums up the performance, “what I’m looking at is a wrestler with a lot of strength, but not the true technique of the jiu-jitso man.” And sure enough, the UFC’s original “jiu-jitso man” Royce Gracie caught Severn in the Octagon’s first-ever triangle choke later that night.
1995: Marco Ruas’s Leg Kicks vs. Paul Varelans @ UFC 7, 3/10/95
It’s not like Marco Ruas was the first guy to throw leg kicks in a vale tudo match, but the technique became part of his legacy due to how he used them — as a savage fight-finisher, perfect for chopping down bigger opponents. During his 13-minute UFC 7 finals match against Paul “The Polar Bear” Varelans, Ruas executed a leg-kick based strategy that hobbled the American behemoth. Varleans became so aggravated that he started kicking back, and seemed to learn how to check the incoming kicks mid-fight. But in the end, the King of the Streets pulverized Varelans’s lead thigh until he collapsed to the mat, unable to defend himself. Of course, if the UFC outlawed fence-grabbing at the time, the fight wouldn’t have lasted half as long. Honorable mention:Ken Shamrock’s kneebar against Bas Rutten @ Pancrase: Eyes of Beast 2.
1996: Gary Goodridge’s “Goose Neck” Crucifix vs. Paul Herrera @ UFC 8, 2/16/96
Let’s just say that Big Daddy didn’t earn his 4th-degree black belt in Kuk Sool Won the old-fashioned way. But when the former arm-wrestling champ and all-around tough guy made his UFC debut, he at least knew how to pull off a rather nasty grappling maneuver that would leave his opponent’s head wide-open for elbow strikes. As Goodridge told us in his final “Ask Gary” column, “I was shocked like everybody. Since I practiced my counter-move the night before I was ready, but surprised it worked that easily.” Though Jon Jones pulled off a variation of this finish against Vladimir Matyushenko in 2010, the Goodridge Goose-Neck hasn’t been duplicated in the Octagon since, which is probably a good thing. Honorable mention:Bas Rutten’s liver shots against Jason Delucia @ Pancrase: Truth 6.
Rashad Evans should be used to playing the waiting game by now.