UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, and it will feature a light heavyweight title bout between champion Jon Jones and former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.Both fighters made an appearance side by side on Jimmy Kim…
UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, and it will feature a light heavyweight title bout between champion Jon Jones and former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Both fighters made an appearance side by side on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show on Monday evening.
“Once you talk to him, you’ll se how cocky he is,” Jackson responded to Kimmel asking them if they liked each other. “I would say it’s a thin line between being cocky and confident. When you reach a certain level then, OK, I see people being cocky now, I won’t say nothing, but this kid ain’t really fought nobody and he didn’t even defend his belt yet and he’s already talking down to me and stuff like that and just being cocky.”
Jones will be defending his title for the first time since he defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128. He knocked out the Brazilian Muay Thai expert in the third round.
Rampage recently defeated Matt Hamill at UFC 130 but left fans asking for more with a recent string of decision victories. He has gone the distance in six of his last seven fights.
In the co-main event, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes will take on Josh Koscheck, who accepted the fight on late notice after Diego Sanchez was injured.
Other main-card bouts include Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton, Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz and Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell.
It all goes down on PPV this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. Preliminary bouts will be available on Facebook and Spike TV.
Filed under: UFCWhen Matt Hughes steps into the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, it will be the 25th fight of his UFC career and the last on his current contract. The former champ turns 38 this October, and he’s not sure what his future holds….
When Matt Hughes steps into the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, it will be the 25th fight of his UFC career and the last on his current contract. The former champ turns 38 this October, and he’s not sure what his future holds.
“My wife tells me I’m done fighting,” Hughes told reporters on Monday’s media call. “She wanted me to quit after the B.J. [Penn] fight. But we’ll just see. We’ll just see what I feel like and what the UFC wants to do.”
If you’re the UFC, a lot might depend on how Hughes looks against Koscheck. It’s a pairing that Hughes wasn’t eager to accept back when Koscheck and the other welterweights from the AKA squad lobbied for it a couple years ago. But after Diego Sanchez pulled out of the September 24 bout due to a broken hand, Hughes thought he might end up without any opponent at all in Denver.
“The first thing that went through my mind was, here I’ve been training for quite a while and expecting to fight on this card and now it’s not going to happen. It was kind of confusing when [UFC president Dana White] called me,” said Hughes, who added that he was first told he might be fighting another AKA 170-pounder, Jon Fitch.
That was the last he heard before boarding a flight, Hughes said. By the time he landed, he found out the UFC wanted him to face Koscheck instead.
“Really, it’s Dana’s call,” he said. “It’s not even my call to decide who it’s going to be. So I said, yeah, whoever you want.”
Coming off his knockout loss to Penn at UFC 123, Hughes had no problem with a considerable layoff between fights. Having ten months to train more casually and pursue other interests “is fine with me,” he explained.
But as he approaches the final fight of his contract, it’s difficult to tell what kind of future Hughes might have inside the Octagon. It seems unlikely that he’ll ever again find himself as a top contender for the UFC welterweight title, and he’s already secured his legacy as one of the most dominant UFC champions and a member of the organization’s Hall of Fame.
At this point, what’s driving him to keep getting in the cage with younger opponents who are still trying to make their name in the sport?
“It’s competition,” Hughes said. “I think that’s what drives your top athletes in the UFC, getting in there against one other person and mixing it up. I don’t have to rely on four other basketball teammates to score a basket or anything. I just have to rely on myself. The fact that it’s just me and one other person competing in there, that’s my drive right there.”
According to many oddsmakers, Koscheck is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 5-1 favorite to beat Hughes on Saturday night. If they’re right, you have to wonder where that will leave the former champ.
With two consecutive losses in his late-30s, a new contract for Hughes would seem like little more than an insurance policy to keep him from taking his talents outside the organization. With an upset victory over a top welterweight like Koscheck, however, it might only get harder for Hughes to convince himself that it’s time to walk away.
But if his immediate future with the UFC really is riding on this fight, don’t tell Hughes. He insists it doesn’t matter, as if winning and losing in the final fight of your contract both lead to the same end. And, when you’re in Hughes’ position, maybe they do.
“This is the last fight on my contract, so the outcome of this fight won’t really matter, to be honest,” he said. “After this fight — win or lose, doesn’t matter — I’ll talk to the UFC and we’ll figure out what we want to do.”
If things don’t go Hughes’ way in Denver, it could be one more decision that is ultimately Dana White’s call.
Everyone who follows the UFC is excited about Saturday night’s Jon Jones-Rampage Jackson fight, but the UFC’s marketing efforts are mostly about attracting the many millions of Americans who have never heard of Jones…
Everyone who follows the UFC is excited about Saturday night’s Jon Jones-Rampage Jackson fight, but the UFC’s marketing efforts are mostly about attracting the many millions of Americans who have never heard of Jones or Jackson. That’s why the UFC gets so excited about putting fighters on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live, and that’s why Jones and Jackson’s appearance on the Kimmel show Monday night was so effective.
Jones and Jackson sold their UFC 135 main event on a level that someone who’s never bought a pay-per-view could appreciate: Kimmel started their interview by asking them if they liked each other, Jones gave a one word answer (“no”) and it went from there.
There are a lot of easy-to-sell storylines on the Jones-Jackson fight, with Jones playing the role of the All-American nice guy and Jackson as the tough dude from the wrong side of the tracks. Whether that’s actually an accurate portrayal of those two is a separate question, but that’s an easy way to sell the fight to a new audience, and both fighters more or less conformed to those roles.
But at the same time, Jones is coming across as edgier than we’ve seen before in recent appearances, like Jackson is genuinely getting under his skin. And even though Jackson is the “bad guy” in this pairing, he has a natural feel for how to play an audience, and he showed off a good sense of humor on the Kimmel show.
Another angle the UFC likes to see played up is that Jones is the young upstart in MMA, while Jackson is the aging veteran who wants the belt back. Jackson was sure to mention that he plans on teaching the youngster a lesson.
“This kid ain’t really fought nobody and he’s already talking down to me,” Jackson said of Jones. “He’s a snot-nosed kid.”
Jones got off what I thought was the best line of the interview when he described his style and Jackson’s as “Spiderman vs. Frankenstein.” That sounds like some Hollywood studio executive’s idea for a wacky superhero movie, but it also sounds like something I’d like to watch. I have a feeling a lot of Kimmel viewers were thinking the same thing about Bones vs. Rampage.
(Editor’s note: Watch the second part of Kimmel interview below.)
Most MMA trainers seem content to lurk in the shadows while their fighters get the attention, but few are so adept at slipping the spotlight as striking coach Mike Winkeljohn of Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA.His partner, Greg Jackson, widely regarded as one t…
Most MMA trainers seem content to lurk in the shadows while their fighters get the attention, but few are so adept at slipping the spotlight as striking coach Mike Winkeljohn of Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA.
His partner, Greg Jackson, widely regarded as one the premier cagefighting savants, gets credit for nearly everything that happens in their gym, even as Jackson tirelessly refers to Winkeljohn as his “mentor.”
That’s okay for the lanky, decorated kickboxer. The silent but deadly technician behind many of the UFC’s most exciting finishes is happy to play the glue behind the glitter.
But his carefree days of anonymity appear numbered.
“What’s important to me is guys winning fights,” Winkeljohn told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “If I’m doing the interviews and all that stuff, I don’t get to spend as much time with the fighters.”
He speaks with a gravelly voice that sometimes breaks down into an extra-low, awestruck “yeah” when particular fighters of his are mentioned. Thanks to a freak accident at the gym a few years back, he has one glass eye, adding irony to his longtime nickname, “Wink.”
His good eye remains focused on the prize—and little else—but Winkeljohn’s cherished seclusion is in serious jeopardy.
Indeed, his agreement to this interview is an acknowledgement as such. With a bout agreement signed for a welterweight title fight between stablemates Carlos Condit and Georges St-Pierre, Winkeljohn knows he’s about to get some airtime.
The fight, at UFC 137 in Las Vegas, will be the maiden voyage of Greg Jackson’s new “protocols,” as he calls them, by which he will handle title fights between teammates that have become an inevitable result of the success of his and Winkeljohn’s gym. Per these protocols, Coach Jackson will recuse himself from either man’s preparations and refer questions of Condit vs. GSP to Winkeljohn.
This scenario could very well repeat in short order, depending on the outcome of the main event at UFC 135 in Denver this weekend, when Jon Jones defends his title against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Winkeljohn is confident Jones is going to beat Rampage —wherever the fight might go. With this confidence comes the probability that his former student, Rashad Evans, will soon challenge Jones for the light heavyweight title.
“Rashad [Evans] is probably the most dangerous person out there for Jon Jones,” Winkeljohn stated. “Rashad’s got that explosiveness. We saw it with Sean Salmon and with Chuck. I think Rashad has the ability to knock anybody out when he gets his feet underneath him in the right place. He’s a fantastic wrestler too.”
That isn’t to say Winkeljohn thinks Jones wouldn’t be able to handle his former teammate:
“People have seen [Jon] throw long front kicks, they’ve seen him throw roundhouse kicks, they’ve seen him throw long punches, spinning elbows. But the difference now is that Jon’s throwing those strikes with much more intent, much more power,” said Winkeljohn. “Before they were distractions for his takedowns, now they’re just hurting everybody. He’s hurting everybody in the gym whenever he wants to.”
Should the Evans matchup be next for Jones, it would be the second time Coach Jackson bowed out of preparation for a teammate vs. teammate title scrap. Winkeljohn doesn’t share his partner’s need to stay neutral in these situations, though he understands Jackson’s point of view:
“It’s like your two sons fighting each other, what do you do? Greg cares about both guys, so he made the right move pulling out.”
But in the case of Condit vs. GSP, it turns out that Winkeljohn hasn’t done much work with GSP, which eliminates the potentially icky feeling of using intimate knowledge of the fighter against him. Winkeljohn has learned most of what he knows about GSP from tape and says they’re studying his habits closely.
Condit is a local boy, born and raised in Albuquerque, and Winkeljohn says it’s been exciting watching the city rally behind him. Condit’s last three fights have been KO/TKO victories, and the final two finishes, says Winkeljohn—a left hook against Hardy and a flying knee against Dong Hyun Kim—were strikes and combinations they had specifically trained for.
Carlos Condit is disciplined and studious in the gym, according to Winkeljohn, and seems to possess that coveted “X-factor.”
“Carlos is just a fighter. He’ll just do it,” Winkeljohn said. “He’s that guy who digs deep and just does it. He believes in himself and that’s going to play out. If Georges plays that safe game, which I think he might a little bit, he’s going to find himself in a bad situation against Carlos.
“Don’t get me wrong, Georges is the best out there. And you know, we’ll have to defend the takedown all day long —and we will get taken down. But Carlos is going to get back up. Carlos is going to try to hurt Georges every chance he gets.
Coach Winkeljohn may not cherish the spotlight, but he better get used to it—especially if his fighters keep striking their way to highlight-reel finishes, and his partner continues staying away from high-profile bouts between the embarrassment of top-tier talent and riches at Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA.
When Nick Diaz came to the UFC, he didn’t get an immediate title shot. When Alistair Overeem came to the UFC, he didn’t get an immediate title shot.Dan Henderson’s coming to the UFC; why should he get an immediate title shot? He shouldn’t, even though …
When Nick Diaz came to the UFC, he didn’t get an immediate title shot. When Alistair Overeem came to the UFC, he didn’t get an immediate title shot.
Dan Henderson‘s coming to the UFC; why should he get an immediate title shot? He shouldn’t, even though he’s acted like he should, which is exactly my point.
“I think the biggest fight that the UFC would make money on and the fans would want to see, I would think, would be me against the winner of (Jon) Jones and Rampage (Jackson).”
Just because someone is the champion of another organization doesn’t mean that they should automatically earn a shot at the most prestigious championship in MMA, the UFC belt.
I’m talking to you Shinya Aoki, Gilbert Melendez, Luke Rockhold and Hector Lombard.
There’s a reason for that, though. The competition outside of the UFC is simply not up to par with the competition inside the Octagon.
Henderson has won three fights since leaving the UFC, against Renato Sobral (not that great), Rafael Cavalcante (not that good) and Fedor Emelianenko (downside of his career).
The one loss he had since leaving the UFC came to Jake Shields at middleweight.
Maybe you remember Shields, he’s lost two in a row since coming to the UFC, including a 53-second TKO on Saturday night.
People who come to the UFC from other organizations haven’t looked as impressive. They need to earn their title shots the same way as other fighters.
However, there is one other way you should look at this scenario. Not only did Dan Henderson not earn his title shot, but if he were to get an immediate title shot, what do you do with Rashad Evans?
Evans has been one of the unluckiest fighters on the UFC roster, losing his title shot at two different chances due to injuries and other circumstances. If Hendo was to get an immediate title shot, Rashad Evans would be screwed again.
The timing is much better the way things are currently arranged. Jones fights Rampage at UFC 135, then the winner faces off against Rashad Evans around January.
Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua face off at UFC 139, and the winner of that can then take on the winner of the Evans-Jones/Rampage match.
It all works out for the best this way.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @tmt2393.
UFC lightweight Aaron Riley is truly an unsung hero of the sport of mixed martial arts.He has been fighting for over a decade, has amassed 30 victories, has fought in seven countries and was one of the first truly well-rounded fighters in the sport.Pre…
UFC lightweight Aaron Riley is truly an unsung hero of the sport of mixed martial arts.
He has been fighting for over a decade, has amassed 30 victories, has fought in seven countries and was one of the first truly well-rounded fighters in the sport.
Pretty impressive for a teenager who saw UFC I and started to get ideas.
“I saw the UFC when I was 13 and said ‘You know, I would love to fight in that,” Riley told BleacherReport.com. “I was already doing Judo and some stand-up martial arts when the UFC came out…I just kind of turned my martial arts training into mixed martial arts training.”
Riley’s diverse skills served him well. He won his first MMA fight when he was still a teenager. “My first MMA fight was when I was 16 years old and I kept going ever since,” he said.
A solid foundation in varying martial arts was good, but to get to the top, Riley eventually realized he needed more. “I trained with Pat Miletich in 1999,” said Riley. “That was when I really got my taste of what real martial arts training or learning how to train hard and learning what all of that is about.”
It seems appropriate that a man who witnessed the UFC’s genesis and was part of the first wave of well-rounded fighters—as well as a member of one of the first truly elite training camps—gets to fight at UFC 135 in Denver, Colorado, where the very first UFC took place.
“In a certain way I kind of feel like it is kind of cool to go to the roots where it all started,” he said. “I think it’d be kind of cool to fight there because that is where the UFC kicked it all off years ago. So I’m just happy to be a part of the show and go out there and do my thing. Here we are at UFC 135, who would have thought at UFC 1 you’d be up to UFC 135, but here we are.”
Riley’s opponent at UFC 135 is Ultimate Fighter season 13 winner Tony Ferguson, a man who has ruffled many a feather in the past. But to Riley, the trash talk really doesn’t matter.
Riley said “I know that he rubbed some people the wrong way on the show. I haven’t heard anything disrespectful or bad but I think he’ll make it a good fight. So I’m looking forward to getting out there and putting on a good fight.”
The fight between Riley and Ferguson is interesting because it matches a man whose been in the sport since 1997 and grounded in MMA’s history with a fighter who was made famous by a reality show that epitomizes the modern UFC.
Riley doesn’t feel that makes any difference in the fight at all.
“I don’t consider myself ‘old guard’ because I’m trying to be progressive with my techniques,” he said. “I look at it as a guy with a lot of experience fighting a less experienced guy.”
But this doesn’t mean Riley is taking Ferguson lightly, quite the contrary.
“It’s not like ‘oh well you have more experience so that automatically means a guaranteed ‘W’’ or anything like that,” said Riley. “All I know from my experience is that I just know he’s gonna be coming to fight. I’m sure he’s up on a lot of new techniques like a lot of these guys are and it’s gonna be good.”
An exciting fight would do wonders for Riley’s current training camp, the illustrious stable of fighters lead by Greg Jackson, that has been a source of controversy due to “boring” fights.
In fact, discontented fans have even given the phenomenon of Greg Jackson’s “boring” fighters a name: “The Greg Jackson Effect.”
“People like to complain,” Riley said. “I mean Cowboy [Donald Cerrone]—on the last show, Cowboy finished his opponent. Carlos Condit finished with a flying knee which is actually a pretty impressive way to finish…I just think that people are looking for something to talk about.”
For Riley, Greg Jackson’s gym is nothing short of amazing. “It’s awesome, it’s phenomenal you know because they bring the best out of me all the time because they’re at a high level. It’s great. It’s a privilege and an honor and a reward to be in such a great gym with such great training partners,” he said.
Aside from his time in Albuquerque with Greg Jackson’s gym, the highlight of Riley’s career took place in Japan.
“I wanted to fight in Japan in Pride fighting championships so bad,” he recalled. “I was able to go fight in Prude Bushido, Pride Bushido 7. And that was just an awesome experience for me, something that just stuck out because it was something I had wanted for so long in my career. Fortunately, I was able to end the fight with a head kick knockout against my Japanese opponent. So, for me, that one really sticks out because it was such a surreal experience and something I had been wanting for so long.”
But even training in the world’s most prestigious gym and fighting in the world’s most prestigious promotions, Pride and the UFC, haven’t soured Riley’s attitude; he is still humble and credits many people for his success.
Riley said “I want to thank all my training partners for helping me get ready for this fight. I want to thank Alchemist, my management team—Alchemist Management—for setting up everything for getting my sponsors and getting the interviews set up.”
Aaron Riley will be fighting at UFC 135 against Tony Ferguson. It will be his seventh fight in the UFC and his 44th fight in MMA overall.
The fight will be broadcast as part of the Spike TV preliminaries.
UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, and it will feature a light heavyweight title bout between champion Jon Jones and former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
When 
