The UFC’s streak of stellar fight cards continued in Toronto on Saturday night, and the Canadian fans showed all the intelligent appreciation we’ve come to expect of our MMA-crazed neighbors to the north. That’s good news for guys like Mark Bocek, who would have been booed out of the building in Las Vegas, but got treated like a conquering hero of technical grappling in the T-dot.
But now that UFC 140 is in the books, it’s time again to sift through the rubble to find the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.
Biggest Winner: Jon Jones
Here’s a scary thought: what if Jones’ chin is as good as the rest of him? What if he can take a shot as well as he can give one, and still come back to slice you up with those killer elbows and smack you upside the head with kicks that he flicks out like jabs? Then who beats this guy? Probably nobody, if we’re being honest. The more confidence and experience he gains, the more of a nightmare he becomes for anyone in the light heavyweight division. Just as we’ve been saying for months, the biggest threat to his dominance is still, paradoxically, that very same dominance. When you’re beating people this easily, it would be almost natural to get complacent and over-confident and let hubris get the better of you. There are a thousand different ways for that to happen to a wealthy young pro fighter who seems to be headed for super-stardom, and so few ways for him to avoid it. Will Jones prove to be the exception rather than the rule? Maybe. If there’s one thing we know about the guy at this point, it’s that he’s exceptional.
Biggest Loser: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Nothing about Big Nog suggests that he’s the type to tap to a kimura even when he realizes that you’ve got it locked up. We all probably suspected as much before this fight. Now we know it. We also know that he’s willing to pay the price for his own stubbornness, and he did. Considering all the surgeries and lingering injuries he’s dealt with in the past few years, he seems like the last person who needs a broken arm right now. But really, maybe this is a good thing for him. Maybe it will sideline him long enough to make him think about why he’s still doing this when it’s clearly taking a terrible toll on his body. After having surgery on both hips, Nogueira told us before the fight, he went two months where he couldn’t put his foot on the floor without searing pain. That’s two months per hip, and since he had the surgeries a couple months apart, it means he spent nearly half a year off his feet, then came back as soon as possible to fight professionally again because…well, that part’s still unclear. He’s a legend of the sport, and as he showed in those early moments against Mir, dude can still scrap. But how much trauma can you put your skeleton through before it’s just not worth it anymore? I don’t know, but I fear Nogueira might be determined to find out.
Too Reasonable For His Own Good: Chan Sung Jung
Not only did he apologize to the Canadian crowd for knocking out one of their own in seven seconds, he later attributed his own victory to more good luck than skill. That’s true in the sense that it was lucky for him to have faced an overly reckless version of the usually patient Hominick, but give yourself some credit. You don’t hear Duane Ludwig or Todd Duffee saying they were lucky to score their blitzkrieg knockouts, though sure, there had to be a little luck involved. You almost get the sense that even Jung didn’t expect himself to win that fight — certainly not that quickly, anyway. A win’s a win, even if it’s a result of your opponent screwing up. Take ’em however you can get em, Zombie.
Most Charmingly Delusional: Frank Mir He wasn’t dazed. No way. And Nogueira wasn’t close to stopping him. It was just a matter of time until he locked up the kimura and snapped his arm like a stale breadstick. If you believe all that, then you might also believe that it would be a good idea for Mir to fight Brock Lesnar in three weeks. Clearly, Mir is living in his own little world these days, but he is riding a three-fight win streak in that world, so maybe there’s something to it. Maybe success depends on making the most of your own illusions. It probably doesn’t hurt to be a 260-pound submissions expert, either.
Blackest Pot to Accuse Kettle of Same: Nik Lentz
According to the quotes sent out by the UFC, “The Carny” has suddenly come to the conclusion that holding an opponent down without doing any damage to him is a pretty cheap way to win. That he came to that conclusion right after Mark Bocek Lentz’d him, and not after he did more or less the same thing to Andre Winner, well, that’s probably no accident. “He did zero damage. That’s what fights are based on and he didn’t hurt me,” Lentz told the UFC, citing the Nick Diaz version of MMA scoring. “He did absolutely nothing to me except hold me down. That’s not what a fight is supposed to be. So what if he was on top, he did nothing.” Somewhere in England, Winner is sipping a cup of Earl Grey and having himself a good laugh.
Best Career-Saving Victory: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
This is the problem with fighting a guy like Tito Ortiz. If you lose, it’s disastrous — especially if you’re already riding a two-fight losing streak, like Little Nog was. If you win, as he did, then people shrug and say, so what? All you did was beat Tito, and everybody’s done that lately. At least Nogueira did it in brutal fashion, and in a hurry. In the process he showed that he can still hurt people when he manages to stay upright. If he improves his wrestling enough to stay there against some of the better takedown artists in the division, he might string together a few wins that fans have no choice but to be impressed by.
Most Knockouts Per Round: Constantinos Philippou
He only fought the brilliantly-mustachioed Jared Hamman for about three minutes, but Philippou must have knocked him out at least three times in that span. Hamman showed incredible toughness and resiliency by continuing to rise and rise again, but Philippou had no trouble locating Hamman’s skull with his fist each time. Philippou is a frightening enough striker when your legs are firmly underneath you and your guard is up. The last place you want to be is wobbling around like a newborn fawn in front of a slugger like that.
Least Impressive in Victory: Brian Ebersole
He played it safe and did enough to win, but just barely. It was his least entertaining performance in the UFC so far, and one of the few fights to draw the ire of the uncommonly patient Toronto crowd. These people seemed to actually find some enjoyment in the Bocek-Lentz fight, but Ebersole and Claude Patrick pushed them just a little too far. As long as Ebersole doesn’t make a habit of it, we’ll let this one slide.
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Most Impressive in Defeat: Walel Watson
He dropped a split decision to Yves Jabouin on the prelims, but it could have easily gone the other way. Watson’s height and reach could prove to be serious weapons if he learns how to maximize their effectiveness. He’s not quite there yet, but he made some strides in the right direction against Jabouin, even if the judges didn’t see it his way. While it’s a bummer to go home with an L on your record, he shouldn’t get too down over this one. He’ll be back soon, and I’ll be eager to see it.
Least Convincing New Nickname: Tito Ortiz
He’s now calling himself “The People’s Champ,” supposedly because he’s tired of associating himself with the negativity represented by “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” That’s fine, but in order to be anybody’s champ you still have to win some fights. Ortiz has won just one of his last eight, and he wants to be the people’s champ? I guess, but only in the same way that the public pool is always a little sadder than the private pool at the health club. He still remains a popular, or at least well-known figure, and he deserves a place in the UFC’s insular little Hall of Fame for all he did to help build the sport and the brand. But if Dana White does decide to grant his wish and let him have one last fight in May just so he can call himself a 15-year veteran, it will be more an act of generous pity than anything else. No other fighter gets to lose this much and still stick around. But then, no other fighter is Tito Ortiz. For the sake of White’s sanity, that’s probably a good thing.
The UFC’s streak of stellar fight cards continued in Toronto on Saturday night, and the Canadian fans showed all the intelligent appreciation we’ve come to expect of our MMA-crazed neighbors to the north. That’s good news for guys like Mark Bocek, who would have been booed out of the building in Las Vegas, but got treated like a conquering hero of technical grappling in the T-dot.
But now that UFC 140 is in the books, it’s time again to sift through the rubble to find the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.
Biggest Winner: Jon Jones
Here’s a scary thought: what if Jones’ chin is as good as the rest of him? What if he can take a shot as well as he can give one, and still come back to slice you up with those killer elbows and smack you upside the head with kicks that he flicks out like jabs? Then who beats this guy? Probably nobody, if we’re being honest. The more confidence and experience he gains, the more of a nightmare he becomes for anyone in the light heavyweight division. Just as we’ve been saying for months, the biggest threat to his dominance is still, paradoxically, that very same dominance. When you’re beating people this easily, it would be almost natural to get complacent and over-confident and let hubris get the better of you. There are a thousand different ways for that to happen to a wealthy young pro fighter who seems to be headed for super-stardom, and so few ways for him to avoid it. Will Jones prove to be the exception rather than the rule? Maybe. If there’s one thing we know about the guy at this point, it’s that he’s exceptional.
Biggest Loser: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Nothing about Big Nog suggests that he’s the type to tap to a kimura even when he realizes that you’ve got it locked up. We all probably suspected as much before this fight. Now we know it. We also know that he’s willing to pay the price for his own stubbornness, and he did. Considering all the surgeries and lingering injuries he’s dealt with in the past few years, he seems like the last person who needs a broken arm right now. But really, maybe this is a good thing for him. Maybe it will sideline him long enough to make him think about why he’s still doing this when it’s clearly taking a terrible toll on his body. After having surgery on both hips, Nogueira told us before the fight, he went two months where he couldn’t put his foot on the floor without searing pain. That’s two months per hip, and since he had the surgeries a couple months apart, it means he spent nearly half a year off his feet, then came back as soon as possible to fight professionally again because…well, that part’s still unclear. He’s a legend of the sport, and as he showed in those early moments against Mir, dude can still scrap. But how much trauma can you put your skeleton through before it’s just not worth it anymore? I don’t know, but I fear Nogueira might be determined to find out.
Too Reasonable For His Own Good: Chan Sung Jung
Not only did he apologize to the Canadian crowd for knocking out one of their own in seven seconds, he later attributed his own victory to more good luck than skill. That’s true in the sense that it was lucky for him to have faced an overly reckless version of the usually patient Hominick, but give yourself some credit. You don’t hear Duane Ludwig or Todd Duffee saying they were lucky to score their blitzkrieg knockouts, though sure, there had to be a little luck involved. You almost get the sense that even Jung didn’t expect himself to win that fight — certainly not that quickly, anyway. A win’s a win, even if it’s a result of your opponent screwing up. Take ’em however you can get em, Zombie.
Most Charmingly Delusional: Frank Mir He wasn’t dazed. No way. And Nogueira wasn’t close to stopping him. It was just a matter of time until he locked up the kimura and snapped his arm like a stale breadstick. If you believe all that, then you might also believe that it would be a good idea for Mir to fight Brock Lesnar in three weeks. Clearly, Mir is living in his own little world these days, but he is riding a three-fight win streak in that world, so maybe there’s something to it. Maybe success depends on making the most of your own illusions. It probably doesn’t hurt to be a 260-pound submissions expert, either.
Blackest Pot to Accuse Kettle of Same: Nik Lentz
According to the quotes sent out by the UFC, “The Carny” has suddenly come to the conclusion that holding an opponent down without doing any damage to him is a pretty cheap way to win. That he came to that conclusion right after Mark Bocek Lentz’d him, and not after he did more or less the same thing to Andre Winner, well, that’s probably no accident. “He did zero damage. That’s what fights are based on and he didn’t hurt me,” Lentz told the UFC, citing the Nick Diaz version of MMA scoring. “He did absolutely nothing to me except hold me down. That’s not what a fight is supposed to be. So what if he was on top, he did nothing.” Somewhere in England, Winner is sipping a cup of Earl Grey and having himself a good laugh.
Best Career-Saving Victory: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
This is the problem with fighting a guy like Tito Ortiz. If you lose, it’s disastrous — especially if you’re already riding a two-fight losing streak, like Little Nog was. If you win, as he did, then people shrug and say, so what? All you did was beat Tito, and everybody’s done that lately. At least Nogueira did it in brutal fashion, and in a hurry. In the process he showed that he can still hurt people when he manages to stay upright. If he improves his wrestling enough to stay there against some of the better takedown artists in the division, he might string together a few wins that fans have no choice but to be impressed by.
Most Knockouts Per Round: Constantinos Philippou
He only fought the brilliantly-mustachioed Jared Hamman for about three minutes, but Philippou must have knocked him out at least three times in that span. Hamman showed incredible toughness and resiliency by continuing to rise and rise again, but Philippou had no trouble locating Hamman’s skull with his fist each time. Philippou is a frightening enough striker when your legs are firmly underneath you and your guard is up. The last place you want to be is wobbling around like a newborn fawn in front of a slugger like that.
Least Impressive in Victory: Brian Ebersole
He played it safe and did enough to win, but just barely. It was his least entertaining performance in the UFC so far, and one of the few fights to draw the ire of the uncommonly patient Toronto crowd. These people seemed to actually find some enjoyment in the Bocek-Lentz fight, but Ebersole and Claude Patrick pushed them just a little too far. As long as Ebersole doesn’t make a habit of it, we’ll let this one slide.
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Most Impressive in Defeat: Walel Watson
He dropped a split decision to Yves Jabouin on the prelims, but it could have easily gone the other way. Watson’s height and reach could prove to be serious weapons if he learns how to maximize their effectiveness. He’s not quite there yet, but he made some strides in the right direction against Jabouin, even if the judges didn’t see it his way. While it’s a bummer to go home with an L on your record, he shouldn’t get too down over this one. He’ll be back soon, and I’ll be eager to see it.
Least Convincing New Nickname: Tito Ortiz
He’s now calling himself “The People’s Champ,” supposedly because he’s tired of associating himself with the negativity represented by “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” That’s fine, but in order to be anybody’s champ you still have to win some fights. Ortiz has won just one of his last eight, and he wants to be the people’s champ? I guess, but only in the same way that the public pool is always a little sadder than the private pool at the health club. He still remains a popular, or at least well-known figure, and he deserves a place in the UFC’s insular little Hall of Fame for all he did to help build the sport and the brand. But if Dana White does decide to grant his wish and let him have one last fight in May just so he can call himself a 15-year veteran, it will be more an act of generous pity than anything else. No other fighter gets to lose this much and still stick around. But then, no other fighter is Tito Ortiz. For the sake of White’s sanity, that’s probably a good thing.
UFC 140 was an arm-snapping, face-smashing good time for some, but the main event saw Jon Jones finish another former champ before finally turning the boos to cheers, at least for the moment. Now the MMA Wrap-Up returns to ask what it will take for fans to actually get behind the dominant light heavyweight champ. Trust me, it’s good fun. Even if it’s not, it’ll all be over in a couple minutes, so how bad could it be? Don’t answer that.
UFC 140 was an arm-snapping, face-smashing good time for some, but the main event saw Jon Jones finish another former champ before finally turning the boos to cheers, at least for the moment. Now the MMA Wrap-Up returns to ask what it will take for fans to actually get behind the dominant light heavyweight champ. Trust me, it’s good fun. Even if it’s not, it’ll all be over in a couple minutes, so how bad could it be? Don’t answer that.
On Saturday night, Frank Mir had one of the most impressive, legendary and brutal submissions in UFC history, as he was able to break the arm of Minotauro Nogueira in the first round.This was one of the best performances of Mir’s career, and he now has…
On Saturday night, Frank Mir had one of the most impressive, legendary and brutal submissions in UFC history, as he was able to break the arm of Minotauro Nogueira in the first round.
This was one of the best performances of Mir’s career, and he now has the chin and the arm of Nogueira on his mantle.
With the victory, Mir is sure to move up the rankings, so let’s take a look at where he stands.
On Saturday night, Jon Jones once again faced his toughest test as he took on Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.Jones appeared flustered by Machida in the first round, and arguably lost the round 10-9.However, he came back in full force in the second round, a…
On Saturday night, Jon Jones once again faced his toughest test as he took on Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.
Jones appeared flustered by Machida in the first round, and arguably lost the round 10-9.
However, he came back in full force in the second round, as he was able to submit Machida with a standing guillotine and put him to sleep.
Also on the card, Rogerio Nogueira took on Tito Ortiz in a battle of light heavyweight veterans.
How does the light heavyweight division look now? Let’s take a look.
UFC 140 was a phenomenal exposition of mad skills in the Octagon. Only one fight on the Main Card (Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole) and 3 fights total of the entire card ended in decision. Jon Jones more than proved he is a sick champion miles ahead of the terrific talent pool that is the UFC Light Heavyweight division. I watched the fights with producers from The Ultimate Fighter series. We’ve been following the sport since the series began and consider ourselves pretty hardcore fans, yet after the main event, we all questioned who the hell is really a contender for Jones, completely forgetting about those UFC on Fox 2 headliners, Rashad Evans and Phil Davis, but that’s just how incredible Jones is… You cannot compare his talent to anyone in his division.
Yes, the card was fantastic and worth giving up yet another Saturday night, not that I had a date, but I digress. This event, though magnificent for several reasons, including the return of Brittney Palmer ringside, left me with a few lingering questions.
1) Do Brazilians not tap?
That was some great sh*t watching Frank Mir go from nearly knocked out to BREAKING THE ARM of Antonio “Big Nog” Nogueira (see below).
And it was equally impressive when Jon Jones finally let go of Lyoto Machida who limply fell to the ground like a dead body. I seriously thought he was dead for a few seconds.
But was it really a good for Big Nog to incur an injury that might lead to his retirement? It will definitely lay him up for many months. And didn’t Machida notice he was on the verge of losing consciousness in that guillotine choke? It’s perhaps possible since both former champions had never been submitted before Saturday night’s UFC 140, they may not have known when it is time to tap. But, there has to be a sort of pride that prevented each man to surrender and for that there is a respect these guys have earned that cannot be touched even in a time they may feel personal humiliation.
2) Was it necessary for Jon Jones to crouching-tiger-crawl toward Lyoto Machida in the opening of the first round?
It seemed pretentious and it annoyed me. Right here is what I’m talking about. But then he did what he did to Machida and I thought, “Wow, he can belly crawl, do the Rerun Shuffle, or the Thriller dance after touching gloves; he’s the f*cking Michael Jordan of MMA! Damn it.” It’s like Ben Fowlkes from MMAFighting said, “You know you’re good when it’s news that an opponent actually managed to hit you a few times.” Regardless of those huge hits he took, Jones proved he is ions ahead of his division. It’s been a long time since Rashad’s experienced training with him. This guy has new tricks every fight.
3) Did Mark Hominick sucker punch The Korean Zombie?
After replaying the pay-per-view a few times, it’s not far-fetched to conclude Mark Hominick tried to sucker punch Chan Sung Jung and paid for it super quickly. But knowing Hominick and his clean reputation it’s highly unlikely that was the case. This was Hominick’s first fight since losing the head coach who nurtured his entire career, Shawn Tompkins. Hominick had elevated emotions coming into this fight, maybe even feeling pressure to honor “The Coach.” He told Ariel Helwani “”I got a little too hyped up. I came out with a wild left hook. I just really wanted to get it done tonight.” I think that’s pretty accurate and a fair assessment. Hominick is not guilty.
4) Did Brittney Palmer‘s return get upstaged by all these spectacular fights?
No. Look at her. All that beauty held its own in that ugly business that occurred Saturday night. And it’s a good thing we had that eye candy relief. I never want to see that arm break or Machida’s body falling limp again. We are thankful we had this to look at:
5) Will Roy Nelson ever get a title-shot?
I dont’ want to say never, but Roy Nelson asked for his shot after retiring Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 137. He said he was getting too old and wanted his turn. But it seems that Frank Mir’s Submission of the Night win, which brings him to a tally of 2 arm-breaking victories in his fight career, that Nelson will be shut out of contention for longer than he can try to hold onto being near contention. But I never say never. He unexpectedly, heeded big career advice and lost necessary weight for his last fight, which made him look pretty darn good out there, especially after he shaved. And the best thing I’ve learned having given up repeated Saturday nights to watch these fight cards is that anything can happen. UFC is a promotion that offers no season off, but is proving worth our year round time, I think…unless some great guy asks me out. I need a life, people.
On Saturday night, Chan Sung Jung was able to knock out a top-five featherweight—Mark Hominick—in just seven seconds, tying the official record for fastest KO ever.Jung was not in the top 10 before the event, but now he is certain to move u…
On Saturday night, Chan Sung Jung was able to knock out a top-five featherweight—Mark Hominick—in just seven seconds, tying the official record for fastest KO ever.
Jung was not in the top 10 before the event, but now he is certain to move up the rankings and make a name for himself in the top 10.
So now, let’s take a look at the top 10 featherweights in the UFC.
The UFC’s streak of stellar fight cards continued in Toronto on Saturday night, and the Canadian fans showed all the intelligent appreciation we’ve come to expect of our MMA-crazed neighbors to the north. That’s good news for guys like Mark Bocek, who would have been booed out of the building in Las Vegas, but got treated like a conquering hero of technical grappling in the T-dot.
