Tag: UFC 172

UFC 172: Jon Jones ‘I’ll Be a Champion for a Long Time’

Jon Jones is the current No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, and he is the light heavyweight champion of the world.
Jones defended his title at UFC 172 in a five-round lopsided decision win over Glover Teixeira.
During the Fox Sports 1 pos…

Jon Jones is the current No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, and he is the light heavyweight champion of the world.

Jones defended his title at UFC 172 in a five-round lopsided decision win over Glover Teixeira.

During the Fox Sports 1 post-fight show, Jones stated he needs to keep improving as a fighter.

I’m realizing in my own game, through the hard work, the holes are closing up—jiu-jitsu, takedowns, takedown defense, close range fighting, long-range fighting, I do have a chin, and I believe I’ll be champion for a long time.

In Jones’ career we have seen him evolve as a fighter. He relied on his wrestling background numerous times early in his career, but more recently, we have seen his development as a striker. He utilized his long limbs to establish range and beat up his opponents.

Jones captured the UFC title with a vicious beating on Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, where he capped it off with a hook to the body.

That is the kind of development that sets champions apart from the field. The mentality he has to keep improving is one reason Jones remains the champion to this day.

The thought entering UFC 172 was Teixeira needed to get in range and use his heavy hands. Jones could have established the distance once more, but instead, he chose to fight the majority of the fight in close.

It was Jones who clinched up and wanted to strike in close. He utilized hand control and his elbows to slice up Teixeira’s face during the fight. The Brazilian did manage to land some shots, but they did not have the same power behind them required to truly hurt Jones. Regardless, Jones ate the shots and continued to pile on his own offense.

After narrowly escaping Alexander Gustafsson, Jones returned a sharper fighter. With Gustafsson looming again as his next challenger, Jones will need to continue to sharpen his skills so that he can retain his belt in the highly anticipated rematch.

As the young champion continues to improve, there is little doubt as his holes in his game get smaller, it will be more difficult to defeat him.

Jones broke numerous records at UFC 172. He broke his own title defense record but also passed Forrest Griffin in total number of significant strikes landed in the division with 824. He also moved his takedown defense to 96.6 percent by avoiding all of Teixeira’s attempts (stats courtesy of FightMetric).

The champion of the world continues to move closer to history.

Jones continuing to improve is a scary thought for the UFC’s light heavyweight division, and as he does, he will begin to put his name alongside the all-time greats of the sport.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 172 Photos: Isaac-Vallie Flagg’s Face Needs Some Repairs


(It’s what real estate agents would call a “fixer-upper.” / Photo via Getty. Click for larger version.)

Isaac Vallie-Flagg made $50,000 the hard way on Saturday night, when he lost a three-round demolition derby against Takanori Gomi in UFC 172‘s Fight of the Night. Though the fight remained close to the last bell, the judges were no doubt swayed by the fact that Gomi’s face was relatively unmarked, while IVF’s right eye was blown up and his nose was split open. Here’s what they looked like afterwards:


(Props: @IKEVF)

Gomi wound up taking a unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 29-28. Following the heart-warming bro-shot shown above, Vallie-Flagg selfied from an ambulance, then made his case for a new Harley-Davidson.

After the jump: Two gnarly photos of Ike from the fight, and a post-fight photo with Jon Jones just because.


(It’s what real estate agents would call a “fixer-upper.” / Photo via Getty. Click for larger version.)

Isaac Vallie-Flagg made $50,000 the hard way on Saturday night, when he lost a three-round demolition derby against Takanori Gomi in UFC 172‘s Fight of the Night. Though the fight remained close to the last bell, the judges were no doubt swayed by the fact that Gomi’s face was relatively unmarked, while IVF’s right eye was blown up and his nose was split open. Here’s what they looked like afterwards:


(Props: @IKEVF)

Gomi wound up taking a unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 29-28. Following the heart-warming bro-shot shown above, Vallie-Flagg selfied from an ambulance, then made his case for a new Harley-Davidson.

After the jump: Two gnarly photos of Ike from the fight, and a post-fight photo with Jon Jones just because.


(Getty)


(USA TODAY SPORTS / MMAJunkie)


(@IKEVF)

UFC 172: 3 Fights for Glover Teixeira to Take Next

Glover Teixeira came up short in his title bid against Jon Jones at UFC 172, and now he must look toward the future.
Teixeira is a talented fighter. He has a good ground game and power in his hands. Unfortunately for Teixeira, he was not able to utiliz…

Glover Teixeira came up short in his title bid against Jon Jones at UFC 172, and now he must look toward the future.

Teixeira is a talented fighter. He has a good ground game and power in his hands. Unfortunately for Teixeira, he was not able to utilize any of that against Jones in Baltimore. The talented Brazilian’s stock took a hit in the lopsided decision, but he is not out of the hunt just yet.

Options for Teixeira’s next opponent are slim. The light heavyweight division is in a state of flux. Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier are slated for a fight at UFC 173, Rashad Evans is injured, and Teixeira should not take a big step back for his performance.

Here are three realistic options for Teixeira’s next fight.

 

Phil Davis

A bout between Teixeira and Davis leaps off the page because they were two highly ranked light heavyweights who lost at UFC 172. It would make sense to put them against one another moving forward.

I do not think this is the best move for the fighters or the UFC. A second straight loss would be damaging, and placing them together ensures that one will suffer that fate.

The winner of the bout would put themselves right back in the mix at 205 pounds. This is the only upside to this potential bout. Regardless, it is a realistic option on the UFC’s table for an easy bout to make following the show in Baltimore.

 

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

A bout against Shogun could headline a future show in Brazil, and that has to be an enticing option for the UFC.

Shogun is coming off a KO loss to Dan Henderson, and he had surgery to repair his broken nose following the fight. He was suspended for six months, but can be cleared sooner. This would give Teixeira ample time to recover from his beating at UFC 172.

This would be an exciting fight between two fighters in similar positions. They both want another run up the ladder but are unlikely to draw much interest at this point. A stand-up bout between Teixeira and Shogun would bring them attention, if nothing else.

If the UFC is seeking an exciting fight to headline a card in Brazil, they could do much worse than Teixeira-Shogun.

 

Anthony Johnson

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson came away with one of the most impressive performances at UFC 172. After a win over the No. 4-ranked Phil Davis, Johnson will thrust himself up the ranks at 205 pounds.

It would make sense for Rumble to take on someone in the upper echelon of the division, but there are no open fighters except for Teixeira.

It would be the fight I suggest the UFC make. A loss to Teixeira does not hurt Johnson, but a win would elevate him as a potential contender for 2015. And the UFC needs contenders for Jones.

As for Teixeira, the fight is an opportunity to regain his status in the division. If he wants to have another run at the title, it needs to start with an impressive showing against a quality opponent, and Johnson offers him the opportunity.

Of the few options the UFC has, without giving Teixeira a young up-and-comer, Johnson is the best.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 172 Injury Report: Glover Teixeira’s Shoulder Is All Jacked Up, Thanks to Jon Jones’s Brilliant Standing Arm-Crank


(Photo by Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY SPORTS via MMAJunkie)

Jon Jones‘s performance against Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 — particularly during their clinch exchanges against the fence — redefined the limits of how one human being can hurt another human being without the use of a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. It wasn’t just the way Jones battered Teixeira in close with punches, kicks, and even flying chin-checks. “Bones” took away the Brazilian’s primary weapon in the very beginning of the fight with a brilliant standing arm-lock that wrecked Teixeira’s right shoulder. (Watch the GIF here, via Zombie Prophet.)

As Teixeira’s trainer John Hackleman explained after the fight:

“I’ve never seen Glover lose a fight like this. I’ve never seen Glover bleeding. I’ve never seen Glover hurt so bad. Glover hurt his right shoulder really bad the first round. The first round! That’s not an excuse, because Jon Jones hurt his shoulder. Jon Jones hurt Glover’s shoulder in the tie up on the clinch against the cage, tweaked his shoulder and he hurt it. So Glover couldn’t use his right hand very well. You see me in the corner trying to get him to throw that right hand harder. He told me, ‘Hey, can you get some ice on it?’

…[During the fight] he never said he had an actual torn ligament or torn tendon so we found that out after. It was obvious. It was actually disfigured and swollen. You could tell something was seriously wrong with it. He’s going to have an MRI Wednesday.”

On the bright side, Teixeira’s arm wasn’t actually snapped in half, Aoki vs. Wisniewski-style, so he’s got that going for him. As for Jones, he was well-aware of how nasty the move was as he was doing it:


(Photo by Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY SPORTS via MMAJunkie)

Jon Jones‘s performance against Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 — particularly during their clinch exchanges against the fence — redefined the limits of how one human being can hurt another human being without the use of a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. It wasn’t just the way Jones battered Teixeira in close with punches, kicks, and even flying chin-checks. “Bones” took away the Brazilian’s primary weapon in the very beginning of the fight with a brilliant standing arm-lock that wrecked Teixeira’s right shoulder. (Watch the GIF here, via Zombie Prophet.)

As Teixeira’s trainer John Hackleman explained after the fight:

“I’ve never seen Glover lose a fight like this. I’ve never seen Glover bleeding. I’ve never seen Glover hurt so bad. Glover hurt his right shoulder really bad the first round. The first round! That’s not an excuse, because Jon Jones hurt his shoulder. Jon Jones hurt Glover’s shoulder in the tie up on the clinch against the cage, tweaked his shoulder and he hurt it. So Glover couldn’t use his right hand very well. You see me in the corner trying to get him to throw that right hand harder. He told me, ‘Hey, can you get some ice on it?’

…[During the fight] he never said he had an actual torn ligament or torn tendon so we found that out after. It was obvious. It was actually disfigured and swollen. You could tell something was seriously wrong with it. He’s going to have an MRI Wednesday.”

On the bright side, Teixeira’s arm wasn’t actually snapped in half, Aoki vs. Wisniewski-style, so he’s got that going for him. As for Jones, he was well-aware of how nasty the move was as he was doing it:

“That’s a move that I’ve been doing since [I was] a little boy in wrestling. It was [something] you could never do on your wrestling partners and it’s dirty in wrestling, but it’s always there when someone has an underhook on you and you have an overhook, and you can just crank their arm…I always wanted to do it during those wrestling matches and finally got to hit it on somebody. I felt his elbow pop two times — a consecutive ‘pop pop’ — and I was just like, ‘Aw, nice.’”

Nice, indeed. Jones’s standing arm-lock definitely falls under the “dirty, but awesome” category, as opposed to the “dirty, and they should really start taking some points away” category.” What did you think?

UFC 172: 5 Key Takeaways from Baltimore

The UFC hit Charm City on Saturday for its latest pay-per-view card. The main event featured the top pound-for-pound fighter in the organization, Jon Jones, defend his UFC light heavyweight strap against Glover Teixeira.
It was another fantastic perfor…

The UFC hit Charm City on Saturday for its latest pay-per-view card. The main event featured the top pound-for-pound fighter in the organization, Jon Jones, defend his UFC light heavyweight strap against Glover Teixeira.

It was another fantastic performance from the young champion. He spent 25 minutes controlling the action and battering the face of his challenger.

The night featured nine other bouts that thrilled us from start to finish. The start of the event gave us two highlight-reel knockouts from Chris Beal and Danny Castillo, and the finishes continued with four submissions.

UFC 172 gave us plenty to think about and discuss.

Here are five takeaways from the UFC’s latest event.

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UFC 172: What’s Next for the Winners and Losers?

After a somewhat questionable performance against Alexander Gustafsson last September, Jon Jones erased any and all doubts that he is the greatest light heavyweight of all time with a thorough domination of Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 this past Saturday…

After a somewhat questionable performance against Alexander Gustafsson last September, Jon Jones erased any and all doubts that he is the greatest light heavyweight of all time with a thorough domination of Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 this past Saturday night in Baltimore, Maryland.

With a dynamic arsenal of attacks, highlighted by his patented elbow strikes, Jones systematically dismantled Teixeira through five rounds.

It was vintage Jon Jones at his best, and the MMA world is foaming at the mouth in anticipation for a colossal rematch between the champ and the Swede.

UFC President Dana White has already pretty much guaranteed that Gustafsson will be next in Jones’ crosshairs if all goes according to plan.

But what about the rest of the fighters who competed at UFC 172? Let’s take a look at what should be next for them on their path towards a UFC championship.

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