On Tuesday, July 19, the UFC used an open to the public press conference to begin building awareness for UFC 135, which will take place on September 24 at Denver, Colorado’s Pepsi Center. The two main event fighters, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson joined UFC president Dana White at the dais for a, spirited press conference.
The September bout will be Jones’ first defense of the title that he wrested from Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 128 in March of this year. Jones, dominated the fight with Rua, using an unorthodox and aggressive style to defeat the much more experienced Rua. With the third round TKO victory, Jones, at 23 years of age, became the youngest UFC champion in history.
Jones was originally scheduled to face former UFC light heavyweight champion ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans in his first title defense, but a lingering hand injury to Jones prevented that fight from taking place.
As has been the case with many UFC bouts as of late, the injury caused some reshuffling and when all the dust settled, Jones was matched up against another former UFC light heavyweight champion in ‘Rampage.’
The UFC has struck marketing gold with UFC 135’s main event. In Jones they have a fighter that many see as the future of the organization, while the verbose and unfiltered ‘Rampage’ is always ready to share exactly what’s on his mind. When the two met in front of the press on Tuesday, they showed some of what can be expected as the fight draws near.
Jackson got things started early in the press conference when a member of the press referenced his ‘old school’ status in MMA. “Who you calling old, dawg? I’m only 33, man. You all act like I’m Randy Couture’s old decrepit a**, goodness,” an incredulous Jackson said. “You know, if I gotta represent the old school, then I gotta represent ‘em.”
Jackson then used the old school reference to segue into the first personal attack on his opponent, “I was younger than him (Jones) when I started in Pride, I was 21, 22, when I was fighting people like Wanderlei, so I guess so, I’m old school. With old school comes experience. He’s the youngest champion, but I think he’s the least experienced champion in UFC history.”
The shot at his age and inexperience did not faze Jones as he retorted, “I believe Brock Lesnar might have been the least experienced champion, but fighting ‘Rampage’ is an honor, I’ve been watching him since I was in high school and college and I respect what he does for our sport,” Jones said. “I’ve been training for me to elevate. I think when you beat people that have accomplished so much you almost take a little bit of their thunder, their accolades, that’s what I’ve done with ‘Shogun’ and that’s what I’d like to do with ‘Rampage’ Jackson.”
Jackson then offered that all the pressure was on Jones in this bout and that he felt no matter what the outcome was he would walk away a winner, “I’m already winning, I’m already successful. A lot of my friends I grew up with didn’t make it, they ain’t breathing. I feel like I’m already winning, you can’t beat a guy like that, no matter what. I come to put it all on the line. I’m not coming with some crazy gameplan.”
Jackson then stressed his confidence level, comparing it to when he defeated Chuck Liddell for the light heavyweight title at UFC 71, “The last time I was this confident I knocked somebody out in the first round and I got that belt.”
Jones then said he would not be intimidated by Jackson’s stand up game, referencing his performance against Rua, another famed striker. To which Jackson replied, “I just have to say, I do respect you dawg, straight up, I do think you’re the future of MMA, straight up, keeping it real, but you fought ‘Shogun’ when he was rusty as hell, dawg. He was off of injury, off for like two knee surgeries.”
The two then had a brief exchange in regard to the topic of fighters making excuses for losses which ended with Jackson stating, “Oh, there ain’t gonna be any excuses after this fight. I ain’t gonna need not one, you’re gonna need a bunch of ‘em.”
The oddsmakers disagree with Jackson’s assessment of the fight, making Jones a huge favorite. Jones is coming in at -500 in the early betting lines while Jackson is +350.
You can call this fight new school versus old school. You can view a Jones victory as a passing of the proverbial MMA torch. You can see a Jackson win as proof that the old warriors still have it. Whatever the outcome of the fight, one thing is for certain the build up and anticipation for this fight will be palpable.
Over the course of the last few days the UFC has added (and subtracted one) a huge number of fights for upcoming fight cards. Not only has the promotion added fights to events that had been set, they added a new October event to the mix:
UFC 133 Updates
UFC 133 will take place on August 6, from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa.
Phil Davis injured and out of the main event and replaced by Tito Ortiz. Ortiz will now fight Rashad Evans.
Vladimir Matyushenko injured and pulled from card, Matt Hamill will take his spot and face off against Alexander Gustafsson.
Antônio Rogério Nogueira injured and pulled from card. No replacement is assigned to Nogueira’s opponent Rich Franklin and Franklin is scratched from the card.
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Vitor Belfort moved to co-main event status and Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman is moved to the main card.
Chael Sonnen to host Q&A session on August 5.
Battle on the Bayou
UFC Fight Night in New Orleans, La. will take place on Sept. 17.
Michael Lullo Jr. vs. Mackens Semerzier
Evan Dunham vs. Shamar Bailey
UFC 136 Additions
UFC 136 will take place on October 8, from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
Jose Aldo vs. Kenny Florian
Joe Lauzon vs. Melvin Guillard
Josh Grispi vs. Matt Grice
Jeremy Stephens vs. Anthony Pettis
Jorge Santiago vs. Demain Maia
Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow
UFC 137 Additions
UFC 137 will take place on October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
B.J. Penn vs. Carlos Condit
Dennis Siver vs. Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout
Roy “Big Country” Nelson vs. Mirko “Cro Cop”
Matt “Meathead” Mitrione vs. Cheick Kongo
Eliot “The Fire” Marshall vs. Brandon “The Truth” Vera
UFC on Versus 6
Date and location will be announced at a later date.
Charlie “The Spaniard” Brenneman vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson
News broke on Tuesday, July 12, that Phil Davis had suffered a knee injury and was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Rashad Evans at UFC 133.
Davis and Evans had been set to faceoff in the main event on the Aug. 6 fight card. The news of Davis’ injury was initially reported by MMAFighting.com.
Wednesday brought a handful of rumors as to who would replace Davis and when the smoke finally cleared, it was Tito Ortiz that stepped up to the plate.
The news came as a surprise, as Ortiz had tweeted earlier on Wednesday:
I have a life and things to take care of. The fight game is about making the right choices of my career. If you knew what I have been going through you all would understand.
Peaking for a fight is what makes a fighter unstoppable! Timing is everything in life. This is a rebuild year for me not do or die. The time will come again! #positive
The change of heart was welcomed by UFC president Dana White who told MMAJunkie.com, “The storyline is what’s so interesting. Tito went from ‘You’re about to be cut,’ to now, if he beats Rashad Evans, he’s back in the mix. He’s back in the picture.”
White stopped short of stating that the winner of the Evans vs. Ortiz bout would be next in line for a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title, but it is not a stretch to believe that to be a likely scenario.
Jon Jones is currently set to defend his title for the first time on Sept. 24 when he meets Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135.
Evans and Ortiz have met in the Octagon once before, fighting to a draw in July 2007 at UFC 73. Ortiz had a point deducted for grabbing the cage during the second round of that bout and it cost him dearly, as the final scorecards read 28-28 from all three judges.
Evans has not fought since he defeated “Rampage” Jackson in May 2010. That victory earned him a shot at then light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. That fight was delayed due to Rua undergoing knee surgery.
Evans opted to not take a fight while he waited for Rua to recover. When Rua was healthy, the fight was set for UFC 128 in March 2011, however a training camp injury forced Evans off that card. Rua would stay on the card, losing his title to Jon Jones.
Ortiz is coming off a career-saving victory. Ortiz was a huge underdog when he faced Ryan Bader at UFC 132 on July 2 and Dana White had made it known that a loss would cost Ortiz his UFC career.
Ortiz took the decision out of White’s hands as he forced Bader to tap to a guillotine choke 1:56 into the fight. The win was Ortiz’s first since he defeated Ken Shamrock in 2006.
Despite the fact that Ortiz is the fresher of the two fighters, Evans is the odds-on favorite to win the rematch. BetOnFighting.com has Evans listed at -450 and Ortiz at +300, odds very similar to those that Ortiz faced in the Bader bout.
It’s been a very eventful 24 hours for the UFC, but the dust has cleared and on Aug. 6, the next contender for the UFC light heavyweight crown could be decided in the City of Brotherly Love.
Time to take a look back at the UFC 132 main card.
After defeating Nate Diaz at UFC 125 Dong Hyun Kim called out UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. At UFC 132 Carlos Condit let Kim know, in no uncertain terms, that looking past the other fighters in the welterweight division and setting his sights at the top was a big mistake.
Condit handed Kim his first career loss on July 2, landing a perfectly placed flying knee to Kim’s chin. Not only did that knee give Kim his first loss, it earned Condit a nice $75,000 bonus for “Knockout of the Night.”
The victory also moved Condit’s record to 12-1 in his last 13 fights and 27-5 overall. Of those 27 wins, 26 have come via some form of stoppage.
So, what’s next for Condit, one of the few top ranked welterweights that St-Pierre has yet to face? Speaking to 106.7 The Fan, Condit offered the following, “I would like to think it (the win over Kim) puts me in the top five. There are some other big names that I have yet to fight (Jon) Fitch, (Josh) Koscheck, I have a loss to (Jake) Shields. I feel like I really should beat a guy before I’m ranked above him, but I’m right in the mix.”
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was fighting for his UFC career when he faced off against heavily favored Ryan Bader at UFC 132. Ortiz made short work of the younger Bader, dropping him to the canvas with a big right hand and then applying a guillotine choke that forced Bader to tap at the 1:56 mark of the first round. After the bout Bader claimed that he had briefly been unconscious from the punch that dropped him.
Ortiz had a good night; he saved his career, pocketed a nice check for his performance ($450,000) and added the $75,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus. Ortiz wasted no time in calling for his next opponent, saying he wouldn’t mind facing the winner of the Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua versus Forrest Griffin bout that is scheduled for UFC 134. The win was Ortiz’s first since he defeated Ken Shamrock back in 2006.
Ortiz would be wise to consider retiring on his own terms at this time, but when your check is almost half a million dollars for, at most, 15 minutes of work, well, that will make anyone think twice about stepping away.
Bader has now lost two fights in a row, the first to current UFC light heavyweight champion. With the loss to a fighter that he was such a favorite against in Ortiz, ‘Darth’ Bader will have some work to do to regain his standing in the light heavyweight ranks.
The lightweight bout between Dennis Siver and Matt Wiman was a very even fight, but in the end all three judges saw it 29-28 for Siver, giving the surging lightweight his fourth straight win. Wiman, obviously thinking that the fight was his, ripped his arm free from the referee when Siver was announced as the winner. Wiman continued his performance, throwing off his hat, and removing his tee shirt before stalking out of the cage in disgust.
The fight between Chris Leben and Wanderlei Silva was highly anticipated, as a knockout was expected from these two ‘stand and bang’ crowd pleasers. Early on Silva momentarily stunned Leben and moved in for the kill. When Silva advanced on his opponent he did so with no defense and Leben took that opportunity to grab the back of Silva’s head and tee off with strong uppercuts that left the ‘Axe Murderer’ sprawled unconscious on the canvas a mere 27 seconds into the first round.
The KO put Leben back in the win column and put Silva’s career in question. After the fight UFC president Dana White mentioned that he thought it would be the last we would see of Silva in the UFC and that he may have to ‘Chuck Liddell’ him into retirement.
The main event was a grudge match between UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and the only man to ever beat him, former WEC champion Urijah Faber. The fight was 25 minutes of non-stop action with the champion offering more aggression throughout the bout. Faber was able to tag Cruz and drop him a few times, but he could not capitalize once he had Cruz stunned. In the end, the odd angles and movement that the champion offered proved too much for Faber to overcome and the unanimous decision went to Cruz.
In the days following the fight the idea of a rubber match was bandied about and honestly, an immediate rematch would probably not be out of line for these two, that’s how good the fight was.
We are a few days removed from UFC 132 and it’s time to take a cold, hard look back at the July 2 fight card. Who were the real winners and losers? What’s next for the fighters? What does it all mean going forward? First, we’ll look at the preliminary fight card.
Anthony Njokuani showed that “The art of eight limbs,” or Muay Thai is much more effective in an MMA fight than boxing is. Njokuani took the fight to Andre Winner during their preliminary card battle. Winner’s boxing base was no match for the striking ability of Njokuani and it looked like the fight was going to be stopped near the end of the first round as Njokuani positively battered Winner, putting on a Muay Thai clinic. The fight went the distance with Njokuani taking an easy unanimous decision. In falling to Njokuani, Winner lost his third fight in a row a number that has been the unofficial release point for several UFC fighters. If Winner stays in the UFC he will need to look at training to become a more well rounded fighter.
Former WEC champion Brian Bowles defeated Takeya Mizaugaki via unanimous decision and then wasted no time calling out UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz after the fight. Cruz is the only fighter to defeat Bowles, taking his WEC bantamweight title from him in March 2010. Cruz took the title when Bowles could not continue due to a broken hand. It is not likely that Bowles will make the leap from the undercard to a title fight for his next fight.
One question that came to mind during the fight was the toughness of Bowles. Between the second and third round Bowles said that he thought his hand was broken, which earned a quick comment of, “Champions fight in the third round,” from his corner. After the fight it was revealed that his hand was not broken, but there may be questions about Bowles mindset with that hand knowing it cost him his title in the past. Does he have some lingering doubts about that hand?
George Sotiropoulos was knocked out by Rafael dos Anjos in under a minute in their bout. In those 59 seconds Sotiropoulos went from hearing his name mentioned as a potential contender in the UFC’s lightweight division to an afterthought. The loss was Sotiropoulos’ second in a row and he was dominated in both bouts, he will have a tough hill to climb to get back in the mix in a stacked lightweight division.
As Sotiropoulos fell in the lightweight division at UFC 132, Melvin Guillard continued his climb. Guillard disposed of Shane Roller in 2:12, earning a knockout victory and his fifth straight victory. While the win will most likely not put him in line for an immediate title shot it should earn him a fight with a top ten contender.
Most of the highly ranked fighters are booked into the not too distant future, save one, Clay Guida. Guida is coming off an impressive victory over Anthony Pettis. The winner of a Guida versus Guillard bout would most likely put their name on a very shortlist, next to the winner of the upcoming Ben Henderson versus Jim Miller bout for the next shot at the UFC title currently held by Frankie Edgar.
Coming Next: A Cold Hard Look at UFC 132: The Main Card
On Tuesday, July 19, the UFC used an open to the public press conference to begin building awareness for UFC 135, which will take place on September 24 at Denver, Colorado’s Pepsi Center. The two main event fighters, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson joined UFC president Dana White at the dais for a, spirited press conference.
The UFC has struck marketing gold with UFC 135’s main event. In Jones they have a fighter that many see as the future of the organization, while the verbose and unfiltered ‘Rampage’ is always ready to share exactly what’s on his mind. When the two met in front of the press on Tuesday, they showed some of what can be expected as the fight draws near.
Jackson then offered that all the pressure was on Jones in this bout and that he felt no matter what the outcome was he would walk away a winner, “I’m already winning, I’m already successful. A lot of my friends I grew up with didn’t make it, they ain’t breathing. I feel like I’m already winning, you can’t beat a guy like that, no matter what. I come to put it all on the line. I’m not coming with some crazy gameplan.”
