Tag: UFC 151

UFC 151: Would Beating Jones Make Henderson the Greatest Light Heavyweight Ever?

All it takes is a quick scan of Dan Henderson’s resume and it becomes clear there isn’t much he hasn’t accomplished. “Hendo” has amassed a legendary career which has seen the former Olympian claim titles in multiple weight classes and MMA promotions al…

All it takes is a quick scan of Dan Henderson‘s resume and it becomes clear there isn’t much he hasn’t accomplished. “Hendo” has amassed a legendary career which has seen the former Olympian claim titles in multiple weight classes and MMA promotions alike.

Throughout the process, he has faced a who’s who of elite competition and left a list of the sport’s best laying unconscious in his wake. Only a handful of fighters can claim the level of success Henderson has achieved and even fewer have done it more impressively.

Where most of his peers have faded from the sport’s limelight, Henderson has continued to thrive.

At 41 years of age, the California native continues to impress. He’s a sure-fire Hall of Famer once his career is said and done, but rather than finish out his run in fan-friendly matchups, Henderson finds himself preparing to compete for the crown jewel of the UFC, as he faces light heavyweight champion and phenom Jon Jones at UFC 151.

The bout with Jones will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge of his storied career, but if Henderson can find victory in Las Vegas, he will make a strong case for being the greatest fighter to ever compete in the 205-pound weight class.

Defeating Jones is a tall order in and of itself, but should he solve the puzzle no other fighter has come close to figuring out, Henderson will carve out his own place in MMA history.

Since the UFC boom of the mid-2000s, the light heavyweight title has been the crown jewel under the UFC banner. Some of the sport’s greatest combatants have held the throne, and with the current champion (Jones) publicly labeled as the future of the sport, the role of light heavyweight champion has only risen in prominence.

Before Jones’s reign, fighters such as Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell all laid groundwork to the Hall of Fame while competing in the weight class.

With his current credentials, Henderson would find himself in their company, but if he can defeat Jones and claim the title, Henderson would truly find himself in a league of his own.

Breaking ground in uncharted territory isn’t unfamiliar to Henderson.

To date, he is still the only man to ever hold titles in multiple weight classes simultaneously under the banner of a major promotion. He accomplished this feat during his time in the now-defunct Pride organization, and despite stumbling in his first two title attempts after coming over to the UFC, Henderson once again found his groove.

A brief depature from the UFC, a championship run in Strikefrce complete with a career highlight knockout over Fedor Emelianko and a “Fight of the Century” performance against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua have Henderson once again within striking distance of the only title which has eluded him in UFC gold.

The key to making the case for Henderson is his ability to not only remain relevant, but to surge amongst the youth and competitive atmosphere of the current UFC landscape.

Of the previously mentioned former champions, only Couture was able to remain at the top of the food chain until the end of his career. With that being said, “The Natural” was never truly within reach of the crown after returning to the division following his loss of the heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar at UFC 91.

Ortiz had the longest reign, Liddell made the biggest impact, but both men fell victim to the undertow of time and the increased talent of the next generation.

Henderson, on the other hand, is still settling the competition and getting his hand raised at bout’s end. This is a result neither Ortiz or Liddell saw much of at the end of their careers, but despite the glaring difference in comparison to Henderson’s current run, both Ortiz and Liddell were UFC champions.

On Sept. 1st at UFC 151, Henderson will hand in his No. 1 contender’s card as he attempts to make good on what could ultimately be his final opportunity to become a UFC champion.

In order to do so, he will count on his devastating right hand and iron chin to bring the rocket-fueled trajectory of Jon Jones to a screeching halt. He will face a fighter who has not only looked unbeatable, but has continued to improve at an alarming rate, as he’s dominated every fighter who has challenged for his title.

Many in the MMA community believe Henderson is the only threat remaining in the division, which only makes Henderson’s task all the more epic.

Should Henderson do what many believe can’t be done and defeat Jones, it will be a pyrotechnic cherry atop a legendary career. Would it be enough to solidify him as the greatest light heavyweight of all time?

I believe so.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 151: Predictions You Can Take to the Bank

UFC 151: Bones vs. Hendo will hit pay-per-view on Sept. 1. Jon Jones will defend his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against one of the most accomplished fighters of all time, Dan Henderson.This fight will likely decide who is the greatest light hea…

UFC 151: Bones vs. Hendo will hit pay-per-view on Sept. 1. Jon Jones will defend his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against one of the most accomplished fighters of all time, Dan Henderson.

This fight will likely decide who is the greatest light heavyweight in mixed martial arts history. Jones will attempt to successfully defend the championship for the fourth time, and Henderson will try to add one more marquee name to his list of victims.

Henderson comes in on a four-fight win streak that includes a one-off fight at Heavyweight against the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. His knockout power will make him a consistent threat throughout the bout.

The undercard features several well-matched and exciting fights.

Jay Hieron returns to the UFC in the co-main event of the evening as he challenges Jake Ellenberger. The winner of the fight will catapult themselves in to the upper echelon of the welterweight division.

Throughout the evening’s action, here are five predictions you can count on for UFC 151.

Begin Slideshow

Jon Jones Shows Maturity as He Voices Concerns over Financial Future

Jon Jones recently came under a lot of heat when he stated that a second fight with Lyoto Machida was “high risk and low reward.” His logic was that out of all his title defenses, the one with Machida had the lowest buy rate and therefore, the lowest r…

Jon Jones recently came under a lot of heat when he stated that a second fight with Lyoto Machida was “high risk and low reward.” His logic was that out of all his title defenses, the one with Machida had the lowest buy rate and therefore, the lowest return on pay-per-view payout. 

People immediately jumped on these comments and were highly critical of the UFC light heavyweight champion for “whining” about monetary return.

It’s pretty common really. People hate when athletes complain about how much or how little money they make as those yearly earnings are often far greater than those of the people who write about or follow their sport. 

It’s usually when an athlete such as Alex Rodriguez signs a ridiculously lucrative contract that draws public ire. Rodriguez and the New York Yankees agreed to a 10-year, $275 million deal in 2007, making him one of the highest paid athletes in the world. The general feeling was that no athlete needs to make that much money for playing a sport. 

However, there are also times when an athlete receives a contract offer that just doesn’t meet their expectations. One of the most notorious cases was when Latrell Sprewell was offered a 3-year, $21 million contract extension from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2004.

Sprewell was insulted by the figure and claimed publicly, “I have a family to feed … If Glen Taylor wants to see my family fed, he better cough up some money. Otherwise, you’re going to see these kids in one of those Sally Struthers commercials soon.”

It was a completely ridiculous comment and one that resulted in Sprewell getting absolutely lambasted in the media.

It turns out that Sprewell had some uncanny foresight though, as he has ended up having an incredible amount of financial problems following his retirement from professional basketball. 

These problems include foreclosure on multiple homes as well as being forced to auction a yacht in order to satisfy debts.

Sprewell isn’t a unique example and these cases aren’t just limited to the traditional “stick and ball” sports.

In professional wrestling, Ric Flair’s story is considered one of the most depressing. A man who has earned millions as a performer during his professional career, Flair’s legacy will end up being one that saw him squander it all away in order to live his character. 

The folks over at Cageside Seats have a fantastic write up about Flair’s financial despair. However, the abridged version is that Flair is in so much debt that he is no longer the “jet flying, limousine riding, kiss stealing, wheeling dealing, sonuvagun.”

This is the same man who once claimed to have “spent more money on spilled liquor from one side of this world to the other” than most make in a year.

Which brings us back to Jon Jones.

On the UFC 151 media call, Jones was asked to explain his comments regarding the possible rematch with Lyoto Machida. His reasoning was simple: he knows that he has a limited career and has to prepare for a time when he is no longer fighting. In short, he doesn’t want to end up as “another broke athlete.”

He is one of the most recognizable faces in mixed martial arts and has the potential to elevate the sport for the next decade. His recent deal with Nike was a milestone as it showed that the apparel conglomerate is showing interest in what is still a very niche sport.

However, the reality is that no matter how amazing the Nike deal sounds on paper or how much fans want to see him rematch against the enigma that is Lyoto Machida, Jones needs to look out for himself first.

He’ll always be viewed as the “kid” in the light heavyweight division but the sobering truth is that Jones is showing maturity by discussing his financial well-being. Instead of portraying him as the “whiny child,” people should instead commend him for thinking about the future. 

It’s refreshing that an athlete of Jones’ caliber is already thinking about what he’ll live on in retirement. If he doesn’t, he could end up being the next Ric Flair and Latrell Sprewell, a man who earned a lot and has little to show for it.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jon Jones: How Did He Go from Beloved to Hated?

The hate for UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones didn’t start with the DUI he received for crashing his Bentley, if you can believe it.Did it play a role in why so many people all of a sudden dislike the man? Absolutely, and there’s justif…

The hate for UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones didn’t start with the DUI he received for crashing his Bentley, if you can believe it.

Did it play a role in why so many people all of a sudden dislike the man? Absolutely, and there’s justification in that. Drunk driving kills more than other regulated substances such as marijuana and tobacco, and although nobody was found injured when Jones got his DUI, people could’ve died for sure.

However, for MMA fans with a longer memory, let’s revisit last year—when Jones came off of a win over Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC on Versus 2 and finally got Ryan Bader at UFC 126. As we all remember, Jones earned “Submission of The Night” for choking out Bader, who had carried an undefeated streak at the time. Sure, some people remained adamant that they would just never see the hype behind Jones, but nobody really hated Jones at the time.

Yes, there is a difference. You don’t have to hate a fighter to not see their hype.

Anyway, after the Bader fight, everything changed for Jones. Then-contender Rashad Evans was set to fight then-champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the light-heavyweight title, but in the post-fight interview with Jones, UFC commentator Joe Rogan broke the news that Evans was injured. Jones’ response changed the face of MMA as we knew it then and helped to shape it into what we know now.

It’s not so much that Jones went on to thoroughly defeat Rua and then defeat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida in that same year, but rather, what happened outside of the cage that caused Jones to go from beloved to hated (somewhat).

Jones signed autographs as the champion before he even faced Rua. As early plans to line Jones up with Evans fell through in the wake of the inevitable fallout between the two, fans felt as though Jones’ public humility started to prove less genuine as his star grew, despite Jones’ statements to the contrary.

Of course, the DUI did more harm than help in the matter—not that getting that Bentley in the first place got him exactly “close” to returning to most fans’ good graces anyway.

When it comes to Jones’ UFC 151 bout with Dan Henderson, it’s less clear as to how many people are truly supporting Henderson out of hatred for Jones, with consideration to the legitimate respect MMA fans do have for Henderson and his obvious legacy as one of the greatest American combat sports athletes of this or any other generation.

Though, it’s not unfathomable that fans will speak out and claim to hope for another highlight-reel knockout from the PRIDE legend if it means getting one step closer to never hearing about Jones again.

In any event, regardless of how much fans actually hate Jones, there is little question as to how much things have changed in the past year in regards to Jones. Though many will not leave his momentum train with a loss to Henderson, some fans will find themselves smiling a bit wider if Jones should lose his title next weekend. 

As for the event of a Jones win…well, if Jones defeats Henderson, perhaps it may silence a few haters. At least, it will until the morning after UFC 151.

Then, we get to start all over again.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Don’t Worry, You Guys, Chael Sonnen is At Least Two Wins Away From a Title Shot at 205


(Realizing his impending doom, Chael signaled to his wife that her weekly sandwich quota would be doubling in the near future.) 

When it was originally announced that Chael Sonnen would be returning to the light heavyweight division to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 155, we took it as a classic case of a fighter changing weight classes in order to save his career. He had come up short in both his title shots at middleweight, and as Josh Koscheck would tell you if he was aware of it, the chances of any 0-2 fighter receiving a third shot against the same champion is next to impossible. And being that Chael fraking Sonnen is not a man who fights anything but marquee fights these days, his chances to make waves at 205 were clearly better than his chances at 185. The fact that he could barely even make the announcement without drawing Jon Jones into a Twitter war only confirms Sonnen’s devious intentions.

And as is usually the case, Chael was successful in drawing us out of the woodwork to throw his name in with the phrase “title shot,” whether it was in agreement or bitter disapproval of the idea. Because Sonnen is like the entire cast of a heist movie packed into one person when it comes to hustling in the MMA game, capable of releasing more red herrings, smoke signals, and false MacGuffins than Ocean’s Eleven through Thirteen combined. Hell, I immediately launched into a vast conspiracy theory in which Sonnen became the number one contender and Jones possibly faked injury in order to set up a fight between them down the line.

But I live in a world of paranoia, delusion, and fear. One that apparently many of you are living in as well, because in a recent appearance on Las Vegas’ “Dave and Mahoney” show, Dana White addressed the concerns that a lot of us are sharing, another undeserved title shot for Sonnen.

Dana’s remarks are after the jump. 


(Realizing his impending doom, Chael signaled to his wife that her weekly sandwich quota would be doubling in the near future.) 

When it was originally announced that Chael Sonnen would be returning to the light heavyweight division to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 155, we took it as a classic case of a fighter changing weight classes in order to save his career. He had come up short in both his title shots at middleweight, and as Josh Koscheck would tell you if he was aware of it, the chances of any 0-2 fighter receiving a third shot against the same champion is next to impossible. And being that Chael fraking Sonnen is not a man who fights anything but marquee fights these days, his chances to make waves at 205 were clearly better than his chances at 185. The fact that he could barely even make the announcement without drawing Jon Jones into a Twitter war only confirms Sonnen’s devious intentions.

And as is usually the case, Chael was successful in drawing us out of the woodwork to throw his name in with the phrase “title shot,” whether it was in agreement or bitter disapproval of the idea. Because Sonnen is like the entire cast of a heist movie packed into one person when it comes to hustling in the MMA game, capable of releasing more red herrings, smoke signals, and false MacGuffins than Ocean’s Eleven through Thirteen combined. Hell, I immediately launched into a vast conspiracy theory in which Sonnen became the number one contender and Jones possibly faked injury in order to set up a fight between them down the line.

But I live in a world of paranoia, delusion, and fear. One that apparently many of you are living in as well, because in a recent appearance on Las Vegas’ “Dave and Mahoney” show, Dana White addressed the concerns that a lot of us are sharing, another undeserved title shot for Sonnen.

Well, we can all rest assured that it will be at least two more fights before rumors of Sonnen vs. Jones gain any ground, at least according to The Baldfather:

He’s a long way away. He’s not coming off the (Anderson) Silva fight and just talking his way into a 205-pound world title shot. [Sonnen] is going to have to beat a couple of the best in the world.

If he beats Forrest Griffin, we’ll shoot him right into the top five and let him fight some of those guys there, and we’ll see what happens.

Although I’m relatively surprised that a win over Griffin nets you a top five spot these days, this revelation shouldn’t catch many of us off guard considering how desolate the light heavyweight division has become. We’ve already used the latest scientific technology to predetermine the outcome of Sonnen vs. Griffin, but the fact that Sonnen is currently listed as a 3-1 favorite over the former light heavyweight champ doesn’t exactly agree with what Dana is saying.

It’s a minute issue, I understand, but it’s also an unfortunately slow news day, and I can’t be here all fraking day. If Jones gets past Dan Henderson at UFC 151, he’ll have ridden the division of all the challengers he actually wants to face at the moment, so with that, I’ll turn the question to you. What does Sonnen have to do at 205 to rightfully earn a title shot in your eyes?

Granted, Jones hasn’t even gotten past Hendo yet, or Lyoto for a second time, but fevered speculation is basically all that keeps us MMA diehards entertained in between fight cards, so just get wild with it.

–J. Jones

UFC 151: Six Interesting Facts About Jon Jones

UFC 151 is headlined by a light-heavyweight contest of epic proportions. Dominant champion Jon Jones will meet dangerous challenger, and three-time world champion, Dan Henderson.Henderson is the last great, established force who Jones has not…

UFC 151 is headlined by a light-heavyweight contest of epic proportions. Dominant champion Jon Jones will meet dangerous challenger, and three-time world champion, Dan Henderson.

Henderson is the last great, established force who Jones has not yet defeated. If “Bones” can get past his challenger, the UFC will be put in the unfortunate situation of needing to book rematches or bouts against unworthy competition in order to keep their champion active.

Before their September 1 collision, let’s take a look at Greg Jackson’s most successful student.

Here are some interesting facts about Jon Jones.

Begin Slideshow