After the UFC 151 fiasco finally ended, we were left with Jon Jones against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 in Toronto. It’s a solid and exciting fight that the fans will appreciate.Vitor Belfort was training for a bout against Alan Belcher at UFC 153 when he…
After the UFC 151 fiasco finally ended, we were left with Jon Jones against VitorBelfort at UFC 152 in Toronto. It’s a solid and exciting fight that the fans will appreciate.
VitorBelfort was training for a bout against Alan Belcher at UFC 153 when he received the call to fight Jones on short notice.
Despite taking this fight with Jones on short notice, Belfort has one big advantage in his training camp. Belfort is training with the Blackzilians, and he’s made former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans his coach for the upcoming fight.
This was a very smart move by Belfort, for a few reasons.
Evans has championship experience, as evidenced by him being both the former champ, as well as a recent title challenger. Rashad‘s experience with Jones will also help Belfort.
Before the nasty feud got going between them, Jones and Evans were friends and training partners at Greg Jackson’s gym. Evans is also the only man to spend a full five rounds with Jones in an official championship fight. That experience is valuable and will go a long way to help Belfort.
Belfort has as good a chance as any in this fight. He has given himself the best chance possible by bringing in Evans as his training partner and coach. Evans will be a valuable asset in Belfort‘s corner because he knows the strengths and weaknesses of Jones.
Belfort has a solid chance of winning this fight. Everyone is underestimating him, and that is never a wise thing to do. Belfort will rush Jones and keep the pressure on with his striking.
He has all the skills to dethrone Jones, as well as Rashad Evans in his corner. If anyone has a chance a defeating the champ, it’s Belfort.
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It’s no secret that Jon Jones has become the most hated guy in MMA right now. He’s been the focal point of all the negativity surrounding the UFC 151 debacle. Although not entirely his fault, Jones has been the one to point the finger at as “the bad gu…
It’s no secret that Jon Jones has become the most hated guy in MMA right now. He’s been the focal point of all the negativity surrounding the UFC 151 debacle. Although not entirely his fault, Jones has been the one to point the finger at as “the bad guy.”
With such a strong resentment surrounding him, many fans were anticipating a “heel turn” of sorts for the champion. But Jones has no plans of embracing his role as a villain in MMA. MMAWeekly has the story:
“I am not going to say I embraced the role of being a villain because I am not,” Jones told MMAWeekly.com recently. “I am not a villain; I am not a bad person. I pride myself off of inspiring others. For all the people that think I am cocky, it’s like if you really listen to what I talk about, if you talk to me about fighting you may hear something that is a little arrogant because, right now, I train so hard to not even get hit, let alone talk about rousing a fight.”
Jones has been very defensive about the attacks that have come his way from fans, fighters and Dana White. The champ has seemingly accepted he is at some fault for how UFC 151 went down, but has been quick to point out it’s not all his fault.
Most of the attacks on Jones throughout his career have come due to his personality rather than his fighting skills. Although he seems to be without a weakness in the Octagon, his aura of invincibility outside it has always been under fire. Yet Jones insists the fans have it wrong.
“I am the nicest person ever to everyone who has ever met me,” Jones said. “I’m the nicest person to people. Every day I walk into Jackson’s gym and I hand out boxes of equipment. I order stuff all the time for my teammates and just give it out. I just give it to people. I am like the nicest person ever.”
Further in the article, Michael Bisping gave his thoughts on embracing the role of villain to UFC fans. Bisping entered the UFC with quite a fan following, but has since become one of the most despised men in the sport.
I got cheered at first. I fought at UFC 66 when Chuck Liddell fought Tito (Ortiz) for the second time, and that was in Vegas, and the crowd was fantastic. It wasn’t long before they were all booing me. It’s hard to transition. We’re all human beings, we’re sensitive, especially fighters. We’re emotional, sensitive people.
It’s not that Bisping went off the deep end and started insulting fans, but rather, he finally took the filter off his mouth. The Englishman went on to explain how attempting to always be politically correct can be draining on a fighter.
Cause at first you want everyone to like you, and you try to change them and you try to put out the correct responses, and you’re thinking about this and the marketing and the PR and all the rest of it. But then after a certain amount of time you’ve just got to think ‘awww (expletive) it, if that’s what they’re going to think, that’s what they’re going to think,’ and go with it. That’s certainly how it was for me.
Although Bisping has certainly embraced his role as a villain in MMA, he isn’t putting on an act to get a reaction from fans.
I’m certainly not one of these fake (expletive). Trust me, there’s a lot of fake people out there that will be a nice guy to your face, on camera or whatever they’re super nice, but when there’s not a camera around, they’re absolutely (expletive). I’m not naming names, but I’m not one of those guys.
Jones believes himself to be a good individual, and I’m sure he does plenty of good in his life, but unfortunately for him, it’s all the negatives that are pointed out the most by MMA fans and media. The champion will likely continue to clear his name of any bad connotation with fans, but it will take some time for fans to forgive and forget.
Can Jones maintain his crusade of good will, or will he join Bisping and just say whatever he wants to?
Guys like Tito Ortiz and Josh Koscheck have built their entire careers off being the bad guy. It’s certainly worked out well for those two and Bisping, as they’ve all become synonymous with the UFC.
Jones may continue to try and secure a good reputation with the fans, but it will be interesting to see if the champ’s tone changes following the negative reaction he receives from the fans in Toronto. Anyone who’s seen a WWE event in Canada knows that Canadian fans have no qualms about booing whomever they want, and Jones is an easy target.
The champion may put up a valiant effort in attempting to be the good guy, but at what point does he finally give up and be the bad guy that seemingly everyone believes him to be?
There are two pay-per-views coming up soon, as UFC 152 touches down in Canada and UFC 153 makes its way back to Brazil.Two of the world’s best fighters will be performing, as Anderson Silva, the pound-for-pound king, meets Stephan Bonnar and light heav…
There are two pay-per-views coming up soon, as UFC 152 touches down in Canada and UFC 153 makes its way back to Brazil.
Two of the world’s best fighters will be performing, as Anderson Silva, the pound-for-pound king, meets Stephan Bonnar and light heavyweight champ Jon Jones fights Vitor Belfort.
Further than that, there are a number of great fights that will grace both cards. But, which card is better from top to bottom? Let’s take a look and find out.
After an unscheduled gap in the schedule, the UFC will return to action on Saturday, September 22 when Jon Jones puts his light heavyweight crown on the line in the main event of UFC 152. The fight card will also feature a second title fight, as Joseph…
After an unscheduled gap in the schedule, the UFC will return to action on Saturday, September 22 when Jon Jones puts his light heavyweight crown on the line in the main event of UFC 152. The fight card will also feature a second title fight, as Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson battle it out to see who will be the first fighter in UFC history to wear the promotion’s flyweight title belt.
With UFC 152 quickly approaching, what better time to take a look back at fights from the combatants that will compete in the headlining bouts at the Air Canada Center. As a bonus, you get a Michael Bisping bout as well.
Just because we are well past the cancellation of UFC 151 doesn’t mean that the fallout from that decision has totally dissipated. If you have been following the UFC for any length of time you know that the half-life of UFC president Dana White&r…
Just because we are well past the cancellation of UFC 151 doesn’t mean that the fallout from that decision has totally dissipated. If you have been following the UFC for any length of time you know that the half-life of UFC president Dana White’s anger is up there with Uranium-238. The latest fighter to be on the receiving end of the bosses vitriol is former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida.
If you recall, upon announcing the cancellation of UFC 151, White informed fight fans that a light heavyweight title scrap between the current champ, Jon Jones and former champ, Machida would headline UFC 152. Unfortunately, Machida turned down the September 22 bout with Jones, making it necessary for the UFC to find another challenger to face Jones. They found that man in VitorBelfort.
That fight, Jones versus Belfort, got UFC 152 squared away. However, questions still remain as to what’s next for Dan Henderson once he heals from the MCL injury that knocked him from his title shot at UFC 151, as well as what’s next for Machida, the man that was supposedly next in line for a shot at the light heavyweight title.
If one listens to White, those two will be meeting in the not-too-distant future, and White made it clear that in his mind, Machida made a huge mistake in turning down the fight with Jones at UFC 152. According to MMAFighting.com, White had the following to say about Machida,
“[Machida] should have taken the fight. We’ve seen it, history always repeats itself. Look how long it took Rashad (Evans) to fight for the title again. So you wanted to fight Jon Jones, you climbed up to the title fight and you don’t take it. Now you’re fighting (expletive) Dan Henderson. Now you might not even get to the (expletive) title again. You lose to Dan Henderson you’re not anywhere near Jon Jones.
You jump on opportunities when they’re available. You get a shot at the title, the biggest money fight you can be in, the highest profile fight you can be in. And if you win that (expletive) fight, the whole world changes overnight.”
While White didn’t discuss a possible date for a bout between Henderson and Machida, according to MMA Junkie, Henderson is on the mend and he expects to be ready to fight by the end of 2012.
The UFC’s end of year fight card, UFC 155, will take place on December 29 in Las Vegas, and already features a heavyweight title bout that will see Junior dos Santos defend his title against the man he defeated to become champion, Cain Velasquez. Also on the card is a light heavyweight scrap between ChaelSonnen and Forrest Griffin, as well as a middleweight bout between Chris Weidman and Tim Boetsch. If the UFC were able to add Henderson versus Machida to that card it would make for some very happy UFC fans heading into 2013.
In his remarks about Machida, White points out that with a loss to Henderson, Machida would be far removed from a shot at Jones, but he doesn’t mention what a win for Machida would mean.
One would presume that a Machida victory would mean he would be next in line to fight for the light heavyweight crown, but you never know. One thing we can say with almost full certainty, a Machida win would mean the likelihood of UFC fans seeing the UFC 151 main event between Jones and Henderson would be very slim.
The last time we had a UFC pay-per-view was August 11 when Benson Henderson defended his lightweight crown against Frankie Edgar. Well rest easy fight fans, UFC 152 is coming on September 22 live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. UFC 152 was origi…
The last time we had a UFC pay-per-view was August 11 when Benson Henderson defended his lightweight crown against Frankie Edgar. Well rest easy fight fans, UFC 152 is coming on September 22 live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
UFC 152 was originally set to be headlined by Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson facing off to decide who would be the UFC’s first flyweight champion, or as Benavidezput it, the “George Washington” of the 125-pound weight division. Alas, that fight has been bumped to co-main event status.
Instead of Benavidez versus Johnson, the main event will see Jon Jones defend his UFC light heavyweight title against VitorBelfort in a fight that was booked after Dan Henderson pulled up lame in the days leading up to UFC 151.
A lot of virtual ink has been spilled on UFC 151 and its subsequent cancellation—and rightly so, since it was the first time the promotion cancelled a fight card. However, if there’s a positive to come out of that cancellation it’s the fact that fans will get to see two title fights at UFC 152.
In addition to those two title scraps, fans will also get a chance to see Michael Bisping compete against Brian Stann in a fight that, if one is to believe Bisping, could have potential title shot ramifications in the middleweight division.
In all UFC 152 will feature 12 fights. Three preliminary fights will stream on the UFC’s Facebook page, four preliminary card fights will be broadcast on FX, while the five main card bouts will be on pay-per-view.
After the UFC 151 fiasco finally ended, we were left with Jon Jones against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 in Toronto. It’s a solid and exciting fight that the fans will appreciate.