UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, and it will feature a light-heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.Jones will be defending his title for the first time since defeated Mauricio “Sho…
UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, and it will feature a light-heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Jones will be defending his title for the first time since 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.
Hughes is attempting to rebound from his devastating KO loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 123 while Koscheck is coming off his title fight loss to Georges St. Pierre.
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.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson verbally on tap for UFC 139. UFC 135 headliners, Jon “Bones” Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will appear live tonight at Midnight on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC. Quinton.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Hendersonverbally on tap for UFC 139.
UFC 135 headliners, Jon “Bones” Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will appear live tonight at Midnight on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.
Jake Ellenberger is the huge weekend winner. Check out all the winners and losers in the rankings for UFN 25.
Dana Whiteweighs-in on Mayweather vs. Ortiz fight, says the fight was “dirty” with “horrible refereeing.”
Okay okay… Chael Sonnencalled this and said the fight “won’t happen”. BoxingInsider.com is reporting a delay in the James Toney vs. Ken Shamrock due to money issues.
UFC 135 will take place Saturday, September 24 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. The event will see Jon Jones defend his UFC light heavyweight title for the first time as he faces former UFC and PRIDE champion Quinton Rampage Jackson.Also appearing …
UFC 135 will take place Saturday, September 24 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. The event will see Jon Jones defend his UFC light heavyweight title for the first time as he faces former UFC and PRIDE champion Quinton Rampage Jackson.
Also appearing on the card will be a bout between Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck. Koscheck stepped in just weeks before the fight was to take place, taking the spot of the injured Diego Sanchez.
The five fight main card will be broadcast via pay-per-view beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Prior to that, Spike TV will carry two preliminary fights, while the UFC will stream the remaining three preliminary bouts on their facebook page.
Below are the main card odds as well as a list of the preliminary fights for UFC 135.
Pay Per View Main Card Odds: 9:00 p.m. ET
Jon Jones (-485) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (+385)
Matt Hughes (+355) vs. Josh Koscheck (-455)
Rob Broughton (+295) vs. Travis Browne (-365)
Nate Diaz (-260) vs. Takanori Gomi (+210)
Mark Hunt (+250) vs. Ben Rothwell (-350)
Spike TV Preliminary Fight Card: 8:00 p.m. ET
Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley
Tim Boetsch vs. Nick Ring Preliminary Fight Card: UFC facebook page
The term “cocky” has become synonymous with Jon Jones as of late. Whether you agree or not, the champion’s demeanor has forced some fans to backlash against him leading up to UFC 135, where his opponent, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, doesn’t seem to…
The term “cocky” has become synonymous with Jon Jones as of late.
Whether you agree or not, the champion’s demeanor has forced some fans to backlash against him leading up to UFC 135, where his opponent, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, doesn’t seem to be too fond of the 24-year-old Jones.
“Jon Jones didn’t respect me at the press conference and I have no respect for him,” Jackson said during a UFC 135 media call.
The ongoing feud between Jackson and Jones has seemingly grown over time, looking to reach its climax this weekend when Jones makes his first title defense against the UFC veteran. Jackson, who has competed in multiple organizations, holds a lot of valuable experience throughout his career and he has defeated some of the sport’s prominent legends in Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.
“At the press conference in Denver he was saying stuff that was uncalled for. I don’t know if he was joking but I took him serious,” he said.
Along with his experience, Jackson said he is well aware of oddsmakers labeling him an underdog, but if anything, that has motivated the former UFC light heavyweight champion to make statement inside the Octagon and defeat Jones in typical “Rampage” fashion.
“I looked at a bunch of his fights and realized he hadn’t fought anybody like me and people are counting me out,” he said.
“I think Jon will go on to be a better fighter but I don’t want him to have the pressure to be undefeated and I’m the first person to give him that first ass-whoopin so he can go on to be the fighter he can be.”
This is an interesting, bold statement coming from Jackson, considering he said holds nothing personal against Jones. However, the recurring theme is that Jones’ arrogance is continuously being brought up by his fellow peers, including former teammate Rashad Evans.
But regardless of who you believe, Jones’ personality has certainly crossed over and it has turned him into public enemy for everyone to see.
The soft-spoken UFC light-heavyweight champion and tough-talkin’ former champ are fresh off their personal-attack-heavy segment during the Shields vs. Ellenberger broadcast. Even with the two separated through the miracles of satellite technology, it felt like a fight could break out at any moment. So what will happen when they’re sharing the same couch to promote UFC 135?
As UFC.com mentions, “It’s unknown at press time whether the third guest on the show, Dr. Phil, will be brought in to try and smooth things over between the two.” Oh man. Kimmel, if you don’t make that bit happen, then Jimmy Fallon has won the war.
(It’ll be like their confrontation on Saturday, except with more nervous laughter from the interviewer. Props: isanoria)
The soft-spoken UFC light-heavyweight champion and tough-talkin’ former champ are fresh off their personal-attack-heavy segment during the Shields vs. Ellenberger broadcast. Even with the two separated through the miracles of satellite technology, it felt like a fight could break out at any moment. So what will happen when they’re sharing the same couch to promote UFC 135?
As UFC.com mentions, “It’s unknown at press time whether the third guest on the show, Dr. Phil, will be brought in to try and smooth things over between the two.” Oh man. Kimmel, if you don’t make that bit happen, then Jimmy Fallon has won the war.
Filed under: UFCWhen Josh Koscheck first heard that there might be an opportunity to finally get a fight with former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes after he’d long since given up lobbying for it, he didn’t have to think too hard about his answer.
When Josh Koscheck first heard that there might be an opportunity to finally get a fight with former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes after he’d long since given up lobbying for it, he didn’t have to think too hard about his answer.
“Diego Sanchez broke his hand and I eventually got a phone call from [manager] ‘Crazy’ Bob Cook and he’s like, ‘Hey, you want to fight Matt Hughes?'” Koscheck said on Monday’s UFC 135 media call. “I didn’t even hesitate. I was like, when are we fighting him?”
What Koscheck didn’t realize, he said, was that this was a late replacement fight. He’d been “so out of the loop” after coming back from a long layoff following an eye injury he suffered against Georges St-Pierre that he didn’t realize Hughes was supposed to fight Sanchez on September 24 in Denver, so he wasn’t expecting to hear Cook tell him that the bout was just three weeks away.
But, Koscheck said, he’d taken enough time off already. For the man who considers himself “always two or three weeks away from being ready to fight,” it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I was like, yep, let’s do it,” Koscheck said. “I’m in shape, let’s go. I didn’t hesitate to take the fight.”
Koscheck hasn’t set foot in the Octagon since losing a unanimous decision to St-Pierre in their five-round title fight at UFC 124. He suffered a broken orbital bone in that fight, thanks to an early jab from GSP, and the pain was even worse than when he’d accidentally severed his own toe at four years of age while “doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing with a hatchet,” Koscheck said.
The pain of that experience “didn’t compare to the eye injury,” according to Koscheck, who added that he “got through it via pain pills and morphine that night.”
“It was a fun experience, needless to say, that I don’t want to go through ever again,” he quipped.
That was a little over nine months ago, but Koscheck could have come back sooner, he said. He took a little extra time off to “focus on some other areas outside of fighting,” and was planning to return at UFC 139 in San Jose, possibly at middleweight in a rematch with Chris Leben or even a bout against recent Leben knockout victim Wanderlei Silva.
“I was just looking for a big fight, and things happen for a reason,” he said. “I texted Dana White the day of all the confusion with Diego breaking his hand and I said hey, it’s your favorite son, Kos. Make sure I get that fight with Matt Hughes.”
White did just that, apparently. After Hughes agreed to it, the fight that Koscheck had given up on was finally his, albeit after a long layoff from the sport and a short training camp to prepare.
If the timing is of any concern to Koscheck, however, you sure wouldn’t know it.
“Fighting Matt Hughes is a good comeback fight for me,” he said. “I think the fans deserved this fight a long time ago, and now we’re getting the opportunity to do it.”
Better late than never, perhaps. And after what he went through following the GSP fight — not to mention the vague horror of the hatchet incident — how much can there really be left for him to fear?
UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, and it will feature a light-heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
When