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Who’d have thought Jones would have that easy a time with Rampage?Okay, so most people did, but that’s besides the point.Jones was able to handle Rampage with ease and submit him with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round of their fight for the light …
Who’d have thought Jones would have that easy a time with Rampage?
Okay, so most people did, but that’s besides the point.
Jones was able to handle Rampage with ease and submit him with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round of their fight for the light heavyweight belt.
Jones and Rampage were both on the list of the top 25 pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, so did Rampage move down?
I think we’re all really wondering how high—if at all—Jones moved up.
Read on to find out.
UFC 135 proved that Jon Jones is undoubtedly the very best 205-pound mixed martial arts fighter in the world when he pummeled and eventually submitted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the fourth round of their title fight.The next step for Jone…
UFC 135 proved that Jon Jones is undoubtedly the very best 205-pound mixed martial arts fighter in the world when he pummeled and eventually submitted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the fourth round of their title fight.
The next step for Jones has already been set, as he will fight his former teammate Rashad Evans in his next title defense, but what’s next for Rampage is still to be determined.
Judging by what we’ve seen in the past from Jackson, it could be a few months before we actually see something booked. But there are still quite a few fights that are both intriguing as well as make sense business-wise.
Here are the five fights that Rampage Jackson should consider taking following his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 135.
UFC 135 has passed and left us feeling like its bark was louder than its bite. One of my favorite shows to watch is Pardon the Interruption. If you’re not familiar with the show, two sports journalists debate popular topics of the day. In the mid…
UFC 135 has passed and left us feeling like its bark was louder than its bite.
One of my favorite shows to watch is Pardon the Interruption. If you’re not familiar with the show, two sports journalists debate popular topics of the day. In the middle of the show the two men engage in a “game” of sorts.
One of the games is called “Report Card.” The hosts are asked to give a letter grade on certain sports topics for day ranging from F-A. In the spirit of PTI, I’ll give the main card fights for UFC 135 a report card.
Jon Jones’ destruction of the UFC light heavyweight division continued last night as he added Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to his list of victims. We saw what has happened to those who have challenged Jones thus far, but the question now…
Jon Jones’ destruction of the UFC light heavyweight division continued last night as he added Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to his list of victims. We saw what has happened to those who have challenged Jones thus far, but the question now has become, “Can anyone can beat him?”
The next guy with a chance will be Jones’ former teammate and training partner Rashad Evans, who manhandled Tito Ortiz to earn back his No. 1 contenders’ spot at UFC 133. But does Rashad Evans stand a better chance against Jon Jones than Jones’ previous opponents did?
On the surface, it’s hard to answer that question. We’ve seen enough of both Jon Jones and Rashad Evans to know what they are capable of, but the story around Rashad Evans goes a lot deeper than just his history of fighting.
Evans missed over 14 months due to a string of untimely injuries and scenarios that kept him from training and competing. His first fight back was supposed to be Jon Jones for the title at UFC 133, but Jones got sidelined by a hand injury himself. Jones was replaced by Ortiz in the event and then went on to fight Rampage Jackson at UFC 135 shortly thereafter.
It’s not that Jones or Evans were specifically trying to avoid one another, but the timing of the injuries that each fighter sustained was just unfortunate. With Ortiz stepping in for Jones, it was up to Evans to walk through the 36-year old and again solidify his shot at Jones.
Though Rashad was able to get through Ortiz, some would argue that we didn’t get to see enough of him to decide whether or not he was really “back” or if he was just beating up on an old and overwhelmed Tito Ortiz, as many others had done over the past few years.
Certainly, Rashad looked good, but it was his first fight after leaving Greg Jackson’s gym and it’s hard to determine if he stuck to an effective game plan or if he just used his physical superiority to win the fight.
The beauty of this fight between Evans and Jones is that while every other fighter that Jones has faced has been “mesmerized,” as Rampage said last night in his post-fight interview, by the 24-year old, Rashad Evans should already have a pretty good idea of what he’s getting himself into.
Evans was once a member of Greg Jackson’s gym along with Jones, and the two fighters trained alongside one another in preparation for one another’s fights.
There have been conflicting reports about which fighter usually came out on top in their sparring sessions, but there is no doubt that Evans does have an advantage over any of Jones’ previous opponents when it comes to game-planning for the long-legged champion.
Another interesting aspect is that, like Jones, Rashad has a very unique fighting style that has caused many problems for his opponents. At 16-1-1 in his professional career, Evans has only ever been really figured out in his knockout loss to Lyoto Machida.
The fact is that Rashad Evans has never been given the credit that he deserves by the mainstream. While fighters like Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz have been absolutely adored by the media at times; they all have one thing in common—each one of them has been defeated by Rashad Evans.
Whether Jon Jones is ready to admit it, Evans is set to be the biggest challenge he has ever faced. He’s still going to be the underdog against the champion, but Evans has a better chance of coming out with a win over Jones than anyone who has faced him yet in his career.
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Jon Jones is a great fighter. There’s no questioning that. There is some questioning as to some fans’ ideas that Jones should be put up against Anderson Silva. Following Jones’ beat down of Quinton Jackson, the post-fight press conference s…
Jon Jones is a great fighter. There’s no questioning that. There is some questioning as to some fans’ ideas that Jones should be put up against Anderson Silva.
Following Jones’ beat down of Quinton Jackson, the post-fight press conference seemed to be abuzz about the possibility of Jon Jones and super fights. Even Dana White admitted that he and Jones have had discussions about Jones moving up to heavyweight.
Pump the breaks please.
Jones has defended the belt once, and while I admit his destruction of Mauricio Rua and his dominant win against Rampage are impressive, the UFC should be under no pressure to put Jones in any kind of super fight.
I do not want to discredit Jones’ win at all, but when you consider that many analysts (and the UFC hype machine) believed Rampage offered nothing but a punchers chance against Jones, is his performance so impressive it warrants a fight against Silva?
I think not.
Jones still has plenty of fights at 205. Rashad Evans is next in line of course, and while Evans is shorter than Rampage, he offers more tools to attack Jones with. Arguably for the past few years, Evans has been the best at 205 and he will do his best to make fans believe he is the one to dethrone “King Jones.”
Although a few fights away from a title shot, young prospect Phil Davis and former champion Lyoto Machida offer some stylistic matches. Davis is untested on the big stage, but he has shown glimpses of brilliance as evident by the “Philmura” against Tim Boetsch.
Machida’s style of in and out strikes could force Jones to leave his reach advantage. We saw last night that Jones has the awareness not to trade shots on the inside—but what if someone were to make Jones do the chasing?
I’m not saying Davis (9-0) or Machida are the answers to the Jon Jones riddle. I’m just saying that before people get carried away with Jones vs. Silva or Jones in the heavyweight division, let him first clear out his own division.
For every Anderson Silva or George St. Pierre, there’s always a Chael Sonnen or Matt Serra who reminds fans that on any given night any man can be beaten.
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Josh Koscheck returned to action at UFC 135, stopping Matt Hughes by strikes at 4:59 of the first round.Following a layoff prompted by an orbital bone smashing by GSP at UFC 124, Koscheck took advantage of a short-notice booking with Hughes (in a co-he…
Josh Koscheck returned to action at UFC 135, stopping Matt Hughes by strikes at 4:59 of the first round.
Following a layoff prompted by an orbital bone smashing by GSP at UFC 124, Koscheck took advantage of a short-notice booking with Hughes (in a co-headliner slot, nonetheless), delivering a powerful, finishing performance of one of the UFC’s beloved Hall-of-Famers.
Koscheck now finds himself in a quagmire.
The welterweight division is seemingly booked for the next 4-6 months with GSP meeting Carlos Condit and BJ Penn facing Nick Diaz at UFC 137, with the winner of the latter either getting a title shot or an eliminator bout with fast-rising Jake Ellenburger.
The division’s other top fighter, Jon Fitch, a teammate of Koscheck’s at American Kickboxing Academy, will fight Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 in late December.
Barring unnecessary rematches with Paulo Thiago or even Anthony Johnson (if Rumble can take out Charlie Brenneman at UFC on Versus 6), Koscheck is left with few viable options at welterweight.
Yes, Kos is a top welterweight and has been for years. He’s garnered many co-headlining slots on pay-per-view cards and fought GSP twice in his career. Which, in the case of marketable or even viable fights, will prevent him from rising to No. 1 contender status in the 170 pound division. Losing twice to the champ, even if only once in a title fight, will do little for a fighter’s chances in that same division.
Also, with Fitch being perennially at the top of the heap, knowing AKA’s stance on teammates fighting each other, Koscheck simply has nowhere to go.
Except up.
Yes, to middleweight and an eventual run-in with Anderson Silva.
Given the state of the 185 pound division, a move to 185 makes perfect sense for a wrestler of Koscheck’s ability.
The division has essentially been cleaned out by the “Spider” and has few rising stars knocking on the door for a title shot. Brian Stann will face Chael Sonnen in Houston at UFC 136, but conventional wisdom says that barring a submission victory by Stann, he has neither the wrestling chops, nor the experience to handle a very game Chael Sonnen.
With a victory, Sonnen will undoubtedly get the rematch he so craves after beating Silva for 4.75 rounds over a year ago only to be caught in an arm triangle in the 5th round,
So where does that leave Kos?
Smack dab in the middle of the 185 pound heap—one or two wins away from a title shot. Given the UFC’s propensity to elevate long-time fighters’ position in new weight classes once a drop or climb is made, Koscheck would not be left fighting a new fighter or a fighter on the lower tier.
Example: Kenny Florian.
Kos would get Belcher, a Leben-Munoz winner, a Stann-Sonnen loser, Bisping or Mayhem.
A win over any of these opponents would give him cause to ask for a title eliminator while the rest of the division shakes out.
He has the chops, the fighting experience and the wrestling to cause all sorts of problems for the striker-heavy division. His only fights where he could not grind out a decision may be with Sonnen or Munoz, and with either fighter he may have the more sound stand-up.
He is completely capable of making a two to three fight run at a middleweight title shot.
Will it happen? It is left to be seen. But the horoscope for Josh Koscheck calls for heavy lifting, a higher walk-around weight, and a whole lot of jawing up controversy with his new division. Fights get made by fans via Dana White, and if Kos can position his jawing and that power-double in the right direction, he’ll find himself across the cage from a legend in no time at all.
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