We are all aware of the class hierarchy involved in the game of mixed martial arts. There are the best of the best, like Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez and Jose Aldo, among other UFC champions. Next, you have the true title contender…
We are all aware of the class hierarchy involved in the game of mixed martial arts. There are the best of the best, like Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez and Jose Aldo, among other UFC champions.
Next, you have the true title contenders that are also among the very elite fighters in the world, fighters like Junior Dos Santos, Mauricio Rua, Gray Maynard and Rashad Evans. These men are gamers who are expected to contend for the title or be in and near the top three in their respective weight classes.
After those two classes, you have an unbelievable number of fighters who want to be considered for the title, who have been or are working towards that next class. Experienced veterans hanging on by a thread and young up and coming lions ready to make that jump are all in this mix and jockeying for that chance to get to that next level.
Out of this class comes the dark horse for the title—the man who may not be a sure thing to get there but who gets there anyway through hard work, determination and timing.
Here are my top three dark horses for the title in each weight class of mixed martial arts.
Last Saturday at UFC 134 in Brazil, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was able to do what many expected he would do and defeated Forrest Griffin in devastating Shogun-fashion—via first round knockout—thus redeeming his upset loss to Griffin back in 200…
Last Saturday at UFC 134 in Brazil, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was able to do what many expected he would do and defeated Forrest Griffin in devastating Shogun-fashion—via first round knockout—thus redeeming his upset loss to Griffin back in 2007 at UFC 76.
This marks the third time Shogun has been able to avenge a loss and do so by KO. With only five losses on his record, three of which while in the UFC, this former UFC light-heavyweight champion is that much more impressive and dangerous.
His first rematch came against Mark Coleman in 2009 at UFC 93. Coleman had handed Shogun his second career loss back in 2006 at Pride 31 by breaking his arm during a takedown. As astonishing as the arm break was, the post-fight brawl was the most surprising part of the night involving not only Coleman, but Wanderlei Silva, Shogun’s brother Murilo and Coleman cornerman Phil Baroni.
Next up was Lyoto Machida last year at UFC 113. This was one of the most anticipated rematches in MMA history, as Shogun lost a very close and controversial decision to Machida in each fighter’s previous outing at UFC 104. Shogun delivered on his promise and ended the fight by KO in the first round, thus dethroning The Dragon.
After he captured the title, Shogun was on the sidelines for a year. Upon his return, he met the young star that is Jon “Bones Jones.” While some believed Jones was not yet ready to fight for the title, he proved the critics wrong and gave Shogun his fifth career loss.
No one was calling for an immediate rematch this time around, but that should not be reason enough for their not to be one in the future. As Shogun has demonstrated on numerous occasions, he not only has what it takes to come back and get revenge, but he does so in knockout fashion.
The truest mark of any champion isn’t the ability to become an unstoppable force, but the ability to pick yourself up when you’re knocked down and recover to achieve victory. It is clear which kind of fighter Shogun is, and for that reason alone he will one day defeat Jon Jones and win UFC gold again.
Well this is certainly a new one.It would appear that the camp of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, Greg Jackson’s MMA, may have a spy amongst the ranks of upcoming opponent, Rampage Jackson’s camp.Rampage Jackson talked to Yahoo! Sports on Mon…
Well this is certainly a new one.
It would appear that the camp of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, Greg Jackson’s MMA, may have a spy amongst the ranks of upcoming opponent, Rampage Jackson’s camp.
Rampage Jackson talked to Yahoo! Sports on Monday, and accused Jones’ camp of spying on him.
At some point last week, Rampage made up a story about having a hand injury, and no more than four hours later, his manager received a call from UFC matchmaker, Joe Silva, to find out what happened.
Rampage’s manager, Anthony McGann, assured Joe Silva that everything was fine, and then asked Silva where he got the information.
Guess where.
From Jon Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa.
In the interview with Yahoo! Sports, Rampage said
“One of my friends was talking to Jon Jones’ manager recently, and Jon Jones’ manager was saying that he knows everything that is going on in our camp, he said he had spies in our camp and he knew everything that was going on. That got me thinking. How did he know about my hand injury that fast? It wasn’t on the Internet, and yet he knew about my hand injury right away. The UFC people were in Brazil, which is why it probably took them four hours to call me. That shows me two things: They have spies in my camp, one, and two, they’re dumb as hell, because they didn’t know how to use the information correctly and to wait. He called right away, running to Joe Silva. Joe Silva called my manager right away.”
Jackson went on to say that he doesn’t care what Jon Jones is doing, and that he still has “the honor of a fighter.”
Kawa responded to the allegations soon after, defending himself saying he saw a report on Twitter, and adding,
“I promise to God, I have no spy in that camp, it’s completely and totally untrue. There is nothing to it at all. It’s funny he said that, though, because we’ve heard he has had old training partners of Jon coming in to work with him. We don’t care and it’s kind of hilarious he’s doing this. But I can guarantee you there is nothing at all that is true about this other than that I called Joe Silva after someone put out a thing on Twitter that Rampage was injured and pulling out. I wanted to know what was up, but it was no more than that. That is it.”
Jackson first became suspicious of a spy back in May of 2010, when he was preparing for a No. 1 contender fight with Rashad Evans.
Jackson said he suffered a knee injury that nobody knew about, and when he got in the cage, he found himself being punched in the knee for the first time in his 38 fight career.
After the fight was over, Evans said
“I never heard a thing about it, I heard him talk about it after the fight. I didn’t know about it going into the fight. When I had him against the cage, I kept hitting him in the knee because of how he was reacting, not because anybody told me anything prior.
That still didn’t convince Rampage, and this probably didn’t help.
One day in camp, Rampage was working elbows, and the next day, Jones tweeted that he had to start working elbows.
It could be a coincidence, but Rampage doesn’t think so.
Rampage also said he believes he knows who the leak is, but he would not publicly release the name, and will not release the name even if it is confirmed.
So what do you think? Is Rampage crazy, or is Jon Jones not the golden boy that everyone pegged him as?
For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on twitter @tmt2393.
Many questioned how much fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had left in him prior to his bout with Brendan Schaub at UFC 134. With lingering injuries and a long layoff, the outcome wouldn’t look to be in the Brazilian’s favour. However, N…
Many questioned how much fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had left in him prior to his bout with Brendan Schaub at UFC 134. With lingering injuries and a long layoff, the outcome wouldn’t look to be in the Brazilian’s favour. However, Nogueria might of possibly turned in one of the most memorable performances of his career. […]
During the UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami prelims, fans were treated to what seemed like an inept, if hilarious, move by Brazilian middleweight Rousimar Palhares.After kicking Dan Miller in the head and knocking him flat on his back, “Toquinho” s…
During the UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami prelims, fans were treated to what seemed like an inept, if hilarious, move by Brazilian middleweight Rousimar Palhares.
After kicking Dan Miller in the head and knocking him flat on his back, “Toquinho” started punching his grounded opponent repeatedly. Miller was helplessly covered up, and Herb Dean looked ready to stop the fight.
Palhares walked away—hands in the air in total elation of his latest win, and jumped on the fence.
Only there was a problem: Herb Dean never stopped the fight. He dragged Palhares down from the fence and restarted the fight again. In the confusion, Miller lands a left and nearly stops Palhares!
Unfortunately for Miller, that was the closest he got to winning the fight. It went the distance, but not before Palhares established his dominance time and again.
So what caused all this confusion? Did Palhares try to referee his own fight? Is he an idiot?
Or is Rousimar Palhares simply misunderstood?
Let’s examine a few facts and attempt to draw some conclusions.
The California Kid, Urijah Faber, is one of the fastest rising stars in the world of MMA today and we have the exclusive interview. We sat down with Faber at his gym—Ultimate Fitness in Sacramento—to talk about some of the hottest top…
The California Kid, Urijah Faber, is one of the fastest rising stars in the world of MMA today and we have the exclusive interview.
We sat down with Faber at his gym—Ultimate Fitness in Sacramento—to talk about some of the hottest topics in the UFC. Urijah gave us his thoughts on the UFC adding a female division along with a 125-pound weight class. He also makes some predictions for UFC 133; did he hit the mark or was he way off?
Faber riffs on his fight of the year as well as his thoughts on what the UFC providing health insurance means for the future. Also, he reveals his favorite movie—and it might not be what you think.
All this and more as Bleacher Report presents the Urijah Faber interview—uncut.
For more videos like this click here and head over to the Bleacher Report productions home page.
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