The UFC has released an extended preview for the main event at UFC 135 that will feature Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The video chronicles each fighter’s most recent bouts prior to their upcoming encounter next weekend. Both Jones and …
The UFC has released an extended preview for the main event at UFC 135 that will feature Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
The video chronicles each fighter’s most recent bouts prior to their upcoming encounter next weekend. Both Jones and Jackson give their thoughts on the upcoming fight, while UFC commentator Joe Rogan provides an analysis of each fighter’s strengths and abilities.
The anticipated bout between Jones and Jackson has the potential to be one of the best fights this year, and in addition to a good supporting cast behind them, UFC 135 could shape up to be one of the most watched UFC events of all-time.
The site was Newark, New Jersey at UFC 128. Jon Jones was just offered this fight a month prior, following his win over Ryan Bader.Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was getting to defend the belt for the first time after he silenced his critics by defeating …
The site was Newark, New Jersey at UFC 128. Jon Jones was just offered this fight a month prior, following his win over Ryan Bader.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was getting to defend the belt for the first time after he silenced his critics by defeating Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.
Jones was only 23 years old at the time, and although this was a classic match of young against one of the most experienced fighters in history, Rua wasn’t quite prepared for the quickness that Jones brought that night.
The first round saw dominance by the challenger, with knees and a vicious ground-and-pound that brought the crowd into a frenzy and “USA” chants aplenty.
The second round exposed the creativity of Jones as he dealt a vicious spinning back elbow in the clinch. Jones dominated the last half of the second round on the ground, controlling Rua’s breathing and slowly gaining confidence. By the end of the round, Jones didn’t look winded at all, while Shogun was fighting off a leg lock and a back fist when the horn went.
The third round saw Shogun attempt a comeback that was stuffed and turned into a submission attempt by Jones. Jones showed incredible patience, controlling Shogun on the ground until he started to tee off. Shogun got to his feet, but the damage was done. He went to the cage; one punch and a kick later and Shogun was down and the fight was called.
“Jon Jones is the youngest UFC champion in history!” exclaimed UFC commentator Mike Goldberg as the fight wrapped up.
Want to relive this fight? UFC.com is offering it for free as a lead up for Jon Jones’ first title defense against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Here s the link to the video.
If Jones can dominate Rampage as he did Shogun, this could be an early night and a fast fight.
UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage poses many questions leading up to the UFC light heavyweight title bout on September 24, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The entire fight card is an exciting one and features many great matchups between both veterans…
UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage poses many questions leading up to the UFC light heavyweight title bout on September 24, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
The entire fight card is an exciting one and features many great matchups between both veterans as well as newcomers, but it is the main event that has people talking.
How does the once-invincible Quinton “Rampage” Jackson plan to deal with the seemingly unstoppable force that is Jon “Bones” Jones?
Jones is unique in that he has an arsenal of weapons, attacks and defense at his disposal, and you never know what he’s going to do next.
Being unpredictable is a strategy that was honed by world-class trainer and MMA strategist Greg Jackson and has been passed on to his students and top fighters, who usually employ their game plans with relative ease.
Since joining the UFC in 2007, Rampage has captured the heavyweight title by KO’ing the sport’s most dominant light heavyweight, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, has won Knockout of the Night honors, Fight of the Night honors and fought for the light heavyweight title eliminator, twice.
As accomplished a fighter as Rampage is, he will be facing what will most likely be his toughest challenge yet against the young and extremely talented champion.
The last time that Rampage fought a member of Team Jackson, he didn’t do as well as he and many fans had hoped.
His arch nemesis, former Jackson prodigy and former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, was clearly in control for all three rounds, defeating Rampage by unanimous decision at UFC 114.
Evans may have learned a secret about Rampage and used it to his advantage during the most anticipated and hyped grudge match in MMA history, as Evans intentionally threw hard punches to the knees of Rampage while engaged in what turned out to be an anticlimactic wrestling match between the two former title holders.
According to Rampage in an article written by MMAMania’s Jesse Holland, the Team Wolfslair fighter was suffering from a then-recent knee injury which the fighter and his camp had hoped to keep under wraps; both literally and figuratively.
“I remember one other thing he was doing—he was punching me in my knee! It was weird because I had suffered a real bad knee injury in camp but we kept it secret, we didn’t say anything about it and we didn’t even tell the UFC. I told my doctor and that was it, he helped me out but I was going to back out of the fight. The only reason I didn’t back out was the fight had been so hyped and I didn’t want to disappoint the fans. Why was he punching me in the knee though? That’s kind of weird—did he find out about the injury? I don’t know. It’s weird.”
Seeing as how Evans targeted Rampage’s injured knee, will Jones show no mercy as well?
A fight is a fight and a fighter should do everything and anything they can—within the rules—to win.
Jones has crisp, clean Muay Thai, astonishing wrestling, takedowns and throws, an excellent defensive game, doing whatever is necessary to not only win, but finish his opponents with class and style.
So far and to their dismay, no one has been able to figure out Jones’ mysterious strategy and unpredictably dominant style.
Knee injuries are permanent in that they will never fully heal and are prone to re-injuries, both in training and inside of the Octagon.
Perhaps this is the reason that Rampage does not fight the same way that he used to—the way that made him the famous fighter that he’s become.
When is the last time we saw him power slam his opponent or go for explosive takedowns?
Rampage, while not as highly decorated a wrestler as Evans or other top MMA fighters, is still a wrestler by nature, but has had to make certain adjustments in his training and strategy to hide the fact that his knees are blown and still be dominant inside of the cage.
His boxing has improved greatly as demonstrated against both Liddell and Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, as he finished both of them with clean KOs and avenged two of his most devastating losses.
Now, the question is, will Jones take advantage of his opponent’s weakness and hammer away at Rampage’s knees with his long-legged, lethal Muay Thai shin-kicks in an attempt to punish and displace the contender while stripping him of his ability to stand?
With at least one blown knee and possibly two bad knees, Rampage will be forced to fight within a five-foot radius while attempting to stalk the elusive young champion, looking for the knockout.
However, I believe it will be a futile attempt as Rampage cannot use all of his tools, and Jones will use everything he has to try and finish the brash, lifelong fighter and world-class, former champ.
Will Jones choose to take the easy route and disable Rampage before the sound of the first bell, or will he use his diverse set of attacks to prove that he’s the king of the hill without exploiting his opponent’s exposed injuries?
The riddle to this question will only be solved come fight night at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage. It’s sure to bring fireworks, no matter what the outcome.
According to Kos, he asked for either Leben, Rich Franklin or Wanderlei Silva for his first bout back since losing to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 124. A broken orbital bone he suffered in the opening minutes of the bout required surgery and left him sidelined for the better part of the past year. The reason for the jump back up to middleweight — the class he competed in on The Ultimate Fighter — he says was because anyone of relevance in his own weight class was already tied up.
According to Kos, he asked for either Leben, Rich Franklin or Wanderlei Silva for his first bout back since losing to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 124. A broken orbital bone he suffered in the opening minutes of the bout required surgery and left him sidelined for the better part of the past year. The reason for the jump back up to middleweight — the class he competed in on The Ultimate Fighter — he says was because anyone of relevance in his own weight class was already tied up.
“You probably saw that I was considering going to middleweight, and the reason I wanted to fight at middleweight was everyone at 170 pounds who meant anything was already locked up with a fight.To be honest, and mentioning no names, the people the UFC wanted me to fight just didn’t interest me at all. The names they offered me were just “paydays” — fights to get on a card and have a fight, take a shower get a payday and go home and I don’t want to fight those guys,” Koscheck explained on his first TUF 14 blog for Sportsnet.ca. “After the GSP fight, I needed to come back and remind everyone what I am all about and if I couldn’t do that at 170 pounds I figured maybe as a one-off just to have a major fight to come back with, I’d take a fight at 185 pounds. Realistically, I asked to fight Wanderlei Silva, Chris Leben and even Rich Franklin at 185.”
As far as Hughes, whose relevance in the welterweight division is questionable, Koscheck says he wanted to fight him for a while, but “Country Breakfast” has been ducking him for a while.
“But then last week I got word Matt Hughes, who has avoided me for years, needed an opponent for UFC 135 in Denver on Sept. 24. I’ve called out Hughes for so long but he’s always avoided me. When he was on top and one of the top in the division, he used his position to avoid fighting me and all the AKA guys,” Koscheck explained. “But when Diego Sanchez pulled out hurt with three weeks to go, I knew the UFC would have no choice but to try to talk Hughes into fighting me. Like I knew he would, he tried to suggest fighting Jon Fitch instead, knowing full well Fitch is still recovering from shoulder surgery. I tweeted that I’d accepted the fight and was ready, just to put pressure on Hughes to quit bitching and take the fight. I wanted to make it so that if he did turn the fight down, all the fans would know that he bitched out. He had nowhere else to go and I’ve finally got my fight with Matt Hughes.”
A new UFC 135 promo has been released featuring UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The promo shows a more in-depth look into the training, preparation and highlights of both fighters in lieu of their upcoming t…
A new UFC 135 promo has been released featuring UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
The promo shows a more in-depth look into the training, preparation and highlights of both fighters in lieu of their upcoming title bout.
It’s interesting to see the different styles and methods each competitor incorporates into their training schedules.
Jones is coming off a dominant win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128, that saw him capture the light heavyweight title and improve his professional record to 13-1-0.
Meanwhile, Jackson has rebounded from a poor showing against Rashad Evans at UFC 114, earning consecutive victories over Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamill.
UFC 135 is scheduled for September 24, live from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
Today it was announced that Alistair Overeem not only signed with the UFC, but will be facing Brock Lesnar on December 30th. Overeem is perhaps best known for holding the Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight championships at the same time, making him…
Today it was announced that Alistair Overeem not only signed with the UFC, but will be facing Brock Lesnar on December 30th.
Overeem is perhaps best known for holding the Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight championships at the same time, making him one of the biggest stars outside the UFC.
Lesnar is the former UFC heavyweight champion and MMA’s biggest draw, who has been recovering from a second bout with diverticulitis.
This will be one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Here’s a look at some of the other highly anticipated fights left in 2011.
The site was Newark, New Jersey at UFC 128. 