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Matt Brown vs. Stephen Thompson Added to UFC 145

Thompson looks to stay undefeated against Matt Brown at UFC 145

We’re barely one week removed from UFC 143, yet two welterweights who were victorious on the card have been signed to fight at UFC 145. The UFC has announced that TUF 7 veteran Matt Brown has agreed to a bout with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Matt Brown managed to buy himself more time in the UFC with a second round TKO over Chris Cope at UFC 143, improving the UFC record of “The Immortal” to 6-5. On the other end of the spectrum, Stephen Thompson made an impressive first impression on viewers with his first round head kick knockout over Dan Stittgen. The victory improved his record to 6-0, and also earned him Knockout of the Night honors.

Thompson looks to stay undefeated against Matt Brown at UFC 145

Matt Brown managed to buy himself more time in the UFC with a second round TKO over Chris Cope at UFC 143, improving the UFC record of ”The Immortal” to 6-5. On the other end of the spectrum, Stephen Thompson made an impressive first impression on viewers with his first round head kick knockout over Dan Stittgen. The victory improved his record to 6-0, and also earned him Knockout of the Night honors.

Normally, I’d comment on how the short layover between fights may save the loser from the chopping block. But in this case, it seems redundant. “Wonderboy” is an exciting fighter facing his first step up in competition, while “The Immortal” has certainly lived up to his nickname in terms of not being cut from the UFC. Unless the loser misses weight, fails a drug test or runs away for three rounds, expect both fighters to stick around.

UFC 145 will go down on April 21, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia, featuring a light-heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans.

UFC 145: Chris Clements’ Life Is Good Inside and Outside of the Cage

Veteran Canadian mixed martial artist Chris “The Menace” Clements is hitting a very prime time in his life, both inside and outside the cage that he calls his office. Outside the gym Clements is riding high with his recent marriage to long-ti…

“We’re due on March 14th so trying to get the house ready right now my kitchen’s half torn apart, got new cupboards on the floor, old cupboards on the floor.” he says, clearly enjoying the chaos.

“Nursery is…dresser’s are all put up, cribs done still gotta paint the room. I don’t know what we are having so I gotta wait ’til the little thing pops out so we can figure out what color we are going to paint the room.”

All this is life outside the gym and cage and Clements is hitting a very cool stride in his life.

Things are running just as well if not better inside the gym and cage, as Clements is on a four-fight win streak and holds two Canadian titles. Clements got the news he has been working for all of his life in January as he signed a four-fight contract with the UFC and will make his debut against Keith Wisniewski on April 21st in Atlanta.

“I had a couple agents call me after the Clementi win, a couple of different organizations call me up wanting to manage me and stuff,” he said. “A friend of mine Jason Harkes, who runs Professional Fighting Championships in Windsor, had been talking to a guy named Jason Chambers. He made a lot of sense to me and he said he was going to talk to Joe Silva.

“January 6th or so he gave me a call, I was on the treadmill with Mark Hominick. He says to me all casual like it was no big deal, ‘we’ve been trying to get you in to the UFC, we got you in, you are going to be fighting Keith Wisniewski, it’s a four fight contract,’….and I was like whoa whoa wait. I thought it was gonna be bad news, but when he told me it didn’t really hit me at all.”

Clements has been training for years at Adrenaline Training Center amongst current UFC veterans Mark Hominick and Sam Stout. “I was at the gym so Mark announced it to the whole gym and stuff and shook my hand and I was pretty pumped.”

It takes a lot of love and support to be able to make your dreams come true, and it is clear that Clements has plenty of it in his camp.

“It didn’t really hit me until I got home to tell my wife, cause my wife’s been with me since I turned pro pretty much…she knows what it meant to me to get in to the UFC,” Clements said. “I tried to sneak around about it, but there was no being cool at all. I just told her and she started crying right away.”

Clements’ debut was originally set for mid March in Montreal, where friends and family would have been right there to show him support. Scheduling issues at the venue caused the UFC to shift that card to Atlanta in April. While a bit disappointed that his family will not be able to attend, there is no taking the shine off this debut, and Clements has a simple solution for his fans.

“I just plan on going in there and putting on a good show so the UFC has me back for the next Canadian show.”

I am looking forward to Clements vs Wisniewski and a debut that is long overdue.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and correspondent for MMACanada.net.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

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UFC 145: Recalling the History Between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is set to meet former teammate Rashad Evans at UFC 145. Evans and Jones have had quite the history over the last couple of years. While they were training together they claimed to be as close as brothe…

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is set to meet former teammate Rashad Evans at UFC 145.

Evans and Jones have had quite the history over the last couple of years.

While they were training together they claimed to be as close as brothers.

Now the two are bitter rivals who hate to even acknowledge the other one.

Let’s take a look on what brought these two to where they are today.

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UFC 145: Early Main Card Predictions

UFC 145 is venturing back to Atlanta at the Philips Arena on April 21.There, a light heavyweight grudge will culminate as former champ Rashad Evans takes on rival Jon Jones, the UFC’s 205-pound champion.These former friends and training partners will l…

UFC 145 is venturing back to Atlanta at the Philips Arena on April 21.

There, a light heavyweight grudge will culminate as former champ Rashad Evans takes on rival Jon Jones, the UFC’s 205-pound champion.

These former friends and training partners will look to settle a score that’s been brewing for the better part of the year.

The light heavyweight notables will headline the upcoming event, which will feature a litany of potentially memorable battles. Who will come out on top and who will fizzle out into obscurity?

Rashad Evans (second from the left)/ Jeff Cain for MMAWeekly.com

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UFC 145 Fight Card: Is Jon Jones a Complete and Total Fraud?

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is one of the most talked about fighters in the sport—but not all of that talk is positive. There is a considerable group of MMA fans (and perhaps a jaded pundit or two) who harbor a dislike for the U…

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is one of the most talked about fighters in the sport—but not all of that talk is positive.

There is a considerable group of MMA fans (and perhaps a jaded pundit or two) who harbor a dislike for the UFC’s youngest champion. Some of these people would even go as far as to say that Jon Jones isn’t legitimate—that he’s naught but a fraud.

The talk of Jones being “fake” in the sense that his pious, humble shtick is just that—a shtick (that poorly mirrors that of Hulk Hogan’s “eat your vitamins, say your prayers” gimmick)—has been around since Jones began to rise to prominence.

But is it true?

The only people who know for sure are Jones, his friends and his family.

However, that doesn’t stop us from speculating.

In truth, much of the talk about Jon Jones not being humble and actually being conceited and “evil” in real life are likely exaggerations fueled by one of three sordid motivations.

First, many MMA fans have a favorite fighter and live vicariously through them. It’s possible that many people hate Jones because he destroyed or is set to destroy their favorite fighter. So the only way these people can have a victory over Jones is to have a moral victory over him; “at least my fighter is real.”

Second, people may see Jones, his accomplishments and his young age and become jealous of his success.

Why would they be jealous? Delving into the anti-Jones psychology would be far too boring and complicated, suffice to say that they are miserable cretins who probably regret the fact that they didn’t train earlier in their lives or wrestle or have certain opportunities.

Jones might be the ugly “what if” that follows these sad people to their death beds: “What if I trained? What if I had the athleticism of Jones?” But “what ifs” can never defeat Jones, so these people have to find some way to tear the man down. Since he can’t be beaten physically, they attack his character.

Third, Jones is religious. People hate being preached to and overly religious athletes in general.

So, is Jones a fraud?

It doesn’t matter when it’s all said and done; occupying an imaginary moral high ground can’t take away Jon Jones’ title. Love him or hate him, Jones will be around for a long time, so you better get used to him, accusations of being “fake” notwithstanding.

Follow @MattSaccaro

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Greg Jackson ‘Leaning Towards’ Cornering Jones against Evans

Greg Jackson could be cornering against former student and close friend Rashad Evans at UFC 145.In a recent appearance on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show,” the head MMA trainer at Jackson’s MMA hinted at the possibility of being in UFC lig…

Greg Jackson could be cornering against former student and close friend Rashad Evans at UFC 145.

In a recent appearance on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show,” the head MMA trainer at Jackson’s MMA hinted at the possibility of being in UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ corner when meets Evans on April 21:

“I’ve got to sit down and make my decision and see what I feel is best for the team. Not for me, because I have my own personal feelings where I never want to ever do that. I’m going back and forth now because I have to think about what it means to be on a team. Are we just a collection of friends that train together? For me, it’s much more than that. It means something to be on this team, and it means something to have teammates. Rashad kind of left that. I don’t know, I’m leaning toward cornering Jon right now. Just because, am I selfish? Am I going to make this about me, or am I going to make this about the team? I can’t be self-centered. Even though it’s something that I don’t want to do, it might end up that way.”

Evans has admitted on several occasions that he was upset at Jackson for inviting Jones into the training camp. Jones had serious potential from day one, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to acknowledge the possibilities of him ascending to the top of the light heavyweight ranks in the future.

Evans didn’t look at the situation as gaining another great teammate and training partner. His crystal ball foretold a future of instability in a once tight-knit group.

They should change Evans’ nickname from “Sugar” to “Nostradamus.”

Jones breezed through the light heavyweight division. In March 2011, he was given an opportunity to step in as a late replacement for Evans in a title bout with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Unfortunately for Evans, his nightmare became a reality. Jones dominated Rua to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion.

“It’s beyond blame,” Evans said in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. “Greg knew what he was doing, what was up with it when he brought [Jones] into camp, and that’s why I don’t have much to say to Greg anymore.”

Regardless of the outcome in his bout with Jones, Evans has vowed never to return to Jackson’s MMA. Jackson has had his share of breakups with former students, but he sincerely hopes that some form of a friendship is salvageable from this tough situation:

“I still consider him a friend. Right now, he’s really angry, and he’s saying a lot of negative things. I don’t want much to do with that, so I’m just kind of keeping my distance, so that’s where we’re at. I certainly hope [a friendship] is salvageable with Rashad. I don’t know, those questions are more for Rashad. For me, my heart’s kind of an open book. I might have to do things that I might dislike doing for the good of the team.”

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