UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida

[smike]

Dit is wel een gruwelijke card hoor!
De Nogueira brothers zijn al sinds Pride 2 van mijn favoriete vechters, pure iconen voor de sport!
Jones is the next big thing en Machida werd lang zo gezien, het zal mij dus benieuwen!

[wrestler_nl]

[-=AL CAPONE=-]

De film zegt genoeg Machida gaat winnen

[cholitzu]

hahah rashad

[Lionheart]

Een hele vette card!

Alleen spreekt de match Jones-Machida mij niet echt aan...
Denk wel dat Jones m pakt op TKO 1st round..

[Virtus]

Machida zie ik als de laatste vechter die enigzins kans heeft om Jon Jones te pakken. Zo niet, dan voorzie ik dat Jones lang gaat domineren in de light-heavyweight klasse.

[goro]

Als machida niet wint... Dan zal Henderson dit snel oplossen. In 3 rondes slaat die met overhand right Jones terug naar waar hij thuis hoort. (New York)

[mr.smokey1980]

Machida zie ik als de laatste vechter die enigzins kans heeft om Jon Jones te pakken. Zo niet, dan voorzie ik dat Jones lang gaat domineren in de light-heavyweight klasse.

phill davis zie ik binnenkort ook wel als groot gevaar voor jones, henderson z'n hoeken zijn altijd gevaarlijk. Voor de rest zie ik inderdaad weinig man die jones zouden kunnen pakken, Of er moet een heel groot talent binnenkort opstaan

[Bromios]

Machida zie ik als de laatste vechter die enigzins kans heeft om Jon Jones te pakken. Zo niet, dan voorzie ik dat Jones lang gaat domineren in de light-heavyweight klasse.

Als ie steeds na elke partij een half jaar pauze neemt dan kan het wel even gaan duren ja.

[Kemal]

Frank Mir Doesn't Want to Hear Excuses from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Three years ago, Frank Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in a one-sided beating that many of Nogueira's supporters blamed on a staph infection that had plagued Nogueira during his training camp.

After three years of hearing people suggest that he only beat Nogueira because of that staph infection, Mir has heard enough.

In comments to the media Thursday during a promotional call for his UFC 140 rematch with Nogueira, Mir said he thinks fighters who blame a sluggish performance on illnesses or injuries are doing a disservice to their opponents, and that he's tired of all the talk that the staph infection had something to do with Mir's second-round technical knockout victory in December of 2008.

"There were a lot of words, circumstances surrounding the last victory how legitimate it could possibly be because of the illness of Nogueira," Mir said of what he's heard about his victory over Nogueira.

Mir then added, "No excuses afterward."

Although Mir said he realizes that health problems can affect a fighter, he thinks that if you agree to take a fight, it's disrespectful to your opponent to bring up those health issues after the fact.

"As fighters, any time you say you lost because of injury, that's a strike against your opponent," Mir said. "No, the guy in front of you beat you."

In his last two fights, Mir beat Roy Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop, and he said he believes he's getting close to heavyweight title contention if he makes it three in a row against Nogueira. But Mir said he's expecting to see an even better version of Nogueira at UFC 140, considering how impressive Nogueira looked in his victory over Brendan Schaub in August.

"His confidence has to be up higher," Mir said. "You see it in all sports, when people's confidence is high that can be the difference between them being successful and not."

And if he is able to beat a Nogueira who's riding high after beating Schaub, Mir won't want to hear any excuses.

[Fyodor]

Frank Mir Doesn't Want to Hear Excuses from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Three years ago, Frank Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in a one-sided beating that many of Nogueira's supporters blamed on a staph infection that had plagued Nogueira during his training camp.

After three years of hearing people suggest that he only beat Nogueira because of that staph infection, Mir has heard enough.

In comments to the media Thursday during a promotional call for his UFC 140 rematch with Nogueira, Mir said he thinks fighters who blame a sluggish performance on illnesses or injuries are doing a disservice to their opponents, and that he's tired of all the talk that the staph infection had something to do with Mir's second-round technical knockout victory in December of 2008.

"There were a lot of words, circumstances surrounding the last victory how legitimate it could possibly be because of the illness of Nogueira," Mir said of what he's heard about his victory over Nogueira.

Mir then added, "No excuses afterward."

Although Mir said he realizes that health problems can affect a fighter, he thinks that if you agree to take a fight, it's disrespectful to your opponent to bring up those health issues after the fact.

"As fighters, any time you say you lost because of injury, that's a strike against your opponent," Mir said. "No, the guy in front of you beat you."

In his last two fights, Mir beat Roy Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop, and he said he believes he's getting close to heavyweight title contention if he makes it three in a row against Nogueira. But Mir said he's expecting to see an even better version of Nogueira at UFC 140, considering how impressive Nogueira looked in his victory over Brendan Schaub in August.

"His confidence has to be up higher," Mir said. "You see it in all sports, when people's confidence is high that can be the difference between them being successful and not."

And if he is able to beat a Nogueira who's riding high after beating Schaub, Mir won't want to hear any excuses.

Als ik me goed herinner is er door Nogueira helemaal niets gezegd na het gevecht, maar was het Dana White die het ter sprake bracht.
Hoe dan ook, een gezonde Nog tegen Mir levert hopelijk een interessant gevecht op.

[fightlove]

[univers1l]

als jones wint, dan blijft hij een tijd kampioen want ik zie hendo niet winnen van jones, als er iemand kans maakt is het phil davis met zijn wrestling skills. anders zal hij naar heavyweights moeten verkassen voor nieuwe uitdaging.

[Kemal]

[Kemal]

Jon Jones: 'I'm the Best Fighter I've Ever Been Right Now'

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones says he'll be better than ever when he steps into the Octagon with Lyoto Machida at UFC 140.

Jones said on The MMA Hour that he's been training four times a day, and that he's physically stronger, in better shape and a better mixed martial artist than he's ever been before.

"Judging on my numbers in the weight room, judging on my numbers in the cardio tests, it's the best I've ever been," Jones said. "I'm the best fighter that I've ever been right now."

If that's true it would be bad news for Machida, as in Jones's last two fights he had no trouble running through two fighters who have previously beaten Machida, Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson. Jones also said that he believes that dealing with Rampage before their previous fight -- when Rampage frequently denigrated Jones -- has made him mentally stronger.

"Rampage elevated me in a way of being able to handle future opponents who are going to get under my skin and try to trash talk me," Jones said.

As Jones has become one of the freshest faces and brightest young stars in the UFC, there's been something of a backlash among MMA fans , and Jones said he hears from fans on Twitter who tell him he's too cocky or arrogant. Jones said he's not sure what he's done to inspire that kind of backlash, but he has learned to accept it.

"I could see if I was Floyd Mayweather," Jones said, referring to the brash boxing champ who seems to delight in making fans hate him. "I deal with it by realizing that not everyone's going to love you."

Although Jones has become a star, he says that hasn't changed who he is deep down -- even though he has changed as a fighter and become, in his own mind, better than ever.

"In high school I got the free lunch because we didn't have the finances to go to Wendy's for lunch like the other kids," Jones said. "That I got good at fighting ... that changes nothing about the real world. I have changed as an athlete -- I believe in my heart that I'm the best, I believe I won't lose to Lyoto, or Rashad [Evans], or [Dan] Henderson or any of the other guys. ... As 'Bones' I'm growing and yeah I'm a little cocky and it's important to be that way. But as Jonathan, in the real world, everyone who meets me will say I treated them with the utmost respect."

[breahule]

[breahule]

Machida: Don't be suprised if i take Jones down

Conventional wisdom has Lyoto Machida trying to keep it standing when he faces Jon Jones this weekend and attempts to take the light-heavyweight title from him.

A black belt in his own family style of karate - which has hefty doses of Muay Thai and boxing thrown in - the Brazilian former champion has caused problems for all his opponents bar one when standing with them. He is famously hard to hit, throws his own shots with raw power and has an unusual arsenal which opponents cannot always pre-empt.

But that also sounds a lot like Jones, who already has a reputation as one of the most unorthodox fighters in the UFC. He seamlessly blends techniques from different arts to produce a style which has allowed him (bar one disqualification) to remain undefeated for his whole career.

“I guess it’s hard to predict how things will go on during the fight, but we trained a lot offensive wrestling, me taking him down. Besides the takedown defenses, we trained counterattacks with the takedowns, so if I take him down, it won’t be a surprise for me, for my team, because we know what we’ve been doing here,” Machida told Tatame.

He has been working with Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal on his wrestling, but much of that will probably be defensive work. Machida’s chosen way of bring the fight to the floor is the foot-sweep, which he has proven his effectiveness with time and again.

If he can get Jones down and keep him there the fight will become extremely interesting as we have not seen enough of Jones working from his back to assess his Jiu Jitsu, although the flying triangle attempt on Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson recently suggests that he is as creative there as he is striking.

The fight takes place this weekend as the headline bout of UFC 140, which is being staged at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada.
This article was written by

[Soulbringer320]

[blackadder]

Geeuw. Doen ze dat soort shit nog steeds?

[Kemal]

UFC 140 Prelims to Air Live on ION Television

Four of the seven UFC 140 preliminary bouts will air live on ION television, the UFC recently announced.

Beginning at 7 pm. ET, ION will air Igor Pokrajac vs. Krzystof Soszynski, Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou, Dennis Hallman vs. John Makdessi and Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson.

The remaining preliminary bouts will be streamed on Facebook. Those fights are Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz, Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht and Mitch Clarke vs. John Cholish.
This will be the third time ION has televised UFC undercard bouts, but the first time with two hours set aside. ION aired one-hour UFC prelim shows for UFC 125 and UFC 127 earlier this year.

The UFC 140 pay-per-view starts at 9:00 p.m. ET for one final time before pay-per-views return to the 10 p.m. ET start time beginning with UFC 141.

Pay-Per-View Bouts - 9 p.m. ET
Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida
Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung
Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole

ION TV Preliminary Bouts - 7 p.m. ET
Igor Pokrajac vs. Krzystof Soszynski
Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou
Dennis Hallman vs. John Makdessi
Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson

Facebook Preliminary Bouts
Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz
Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht
John Cholish vs. Mitch Clarke

[Kemal]

[Kemal]

UFC 140 Predictions

Will Jon Jones continue his domination of the light heavyweight division, or will Lyoto Machida get the belt back? Can Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira avenge his loss to Frank Mir? Will Tito Ortiz continue his surprising career resurgence, or will he be sent a step closer to retirement by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira?

We'll answer those questions and more as we predict the winners at UFC 140.

What: UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida

When: Saturday, the Facebook stream begins at 5:45 PM ET, the Ion televised card starts at 7 and the pay-per-view starts at 9.

Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto

Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights below.

Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida
With a win, Jones would put a bow on what may have been the best year any fighter has ever had in the UFC: Jones has already destroyed Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson in 2011, and adding Lyoto Machida to that list would be an incredible feat.

Machida, however, may be the light heavyweight whose style is the trickiest for Jones to handle. Machida is so elusive that Jones is going to have a hard time getting to him even with his decided reach advantage, and Machida is such a good counter-striker that Jones is going to have to be careful not to get too fancy. Machida has frustrated a lot of great fighters, and it wouldn't shock me to see him win a decision.

But Jones has been so dominant of late that I simply can't pick against him. If Jones is able to take Machida down he should be able to use his superior strength to bully him on the ground, and even if the fight remains standing, Jones is eventually going to tag Machida the way Shogun Rua did. Of all the light heavyweights in the world, I give Machida the best chance of beating Jones. But right now I'd pick Jones over anyone.
Pick: Jones

Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mir has made no secret that he's a little annoyed that he even has to give Nogueira a rematch, three years after Mir won by TKO. And Mir really doesn't like the fact that Nogueira and his supporters have suggested that an illness prior to the last fight is the reason Nogueira won.

This time around there should be no excuses, and the fight should go more or less the way the last one did: Mir will get the better of Nogueira standing, and he won't even try to engage Nogueira on the ground. Nogueira did earn a solid win over Brendan Schaub in August, but to the extent that these two have changed since the last time they fought, I think Mir has become bigger and stronger while Nogueira has become older and slower.
Pick: Mir

Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogério Nogueira
A year ago Ortiz was largely written off as washed up, but he deserves a lot of credit for persevering: He beat Ryan Bader soundly and then fought a good fight in a losing effort against Rashad Evans. And the mere fact that Ortiz is now preparing to fight for the third time in less than six months, after fighting only once a year every year from 2007 to 2010, says a lot about how much healthier he is after his recovery from back surgery.

Nogueira, on the other hand, is on a two-fight losing streak and hasn't had a really strong performance since he TKO'd Luiz Cane more than two years ago. If either one of these guys has looked washed up recently, it's Little Nog.

However, in this particular matchup Nogueira's boxing is going to carry the day: Nogueira should be able to keep Ortiz at range and batter him with punches, and eventually Nogueira will wear Ortiz down enough to win by TKO.
Pick: Nogueira

Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole
Patrick is 3-0 since signing with the UFC lat year, and if he can win this one he'll start to make some noise in the welterweight division. But Ebersole, who's been fighting for 11 years, is much more experienced than Patrick and has a more versatile ground game, and should be able to win a decision.
Pick: Ebersole

Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung
My pick for fight of the night, Hominick vs. Jung has all the makings to be one of those fights that makes you lean forward, clench your fists and stare in awe of the intensity of the action. Hominick will have the hometown crowd on his side in Toronto, just as he did the last time he fought, when he lost to Jose Aldo at UFC 129, but in that fight it was a Rocky-like crowd, cheering him because he simply wouldn't quit no matter how much punishment he took. In this fight, Hominick will be the better striker in the cage, and he should be able to out-land Jung and win convincingly.
Pick: Hominick

[Kemal]

[Kemal]

[Kemal]

The Cut List: Who's in Desperate Need of a Win at UFC 140?

The UFC returns to Toronto this weekend for another big pay-per-view event, though don't expect an all-star stadium show this time around. What you can expect at UFC 140 is a quality card with some big name fighters who are hungry for a win, along with a few lesser-knowns who need a victory just to make sure there are presents under the tree this Christmas.

So who needs a win like Dana White needs a Saturday night off, and what are their chances for a bright future and an upbeat after-party? For answers, we turn to the Cut List.

Tito Ortiz (16-9-1, 15-9-1 UFC)
Who he's facing: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Why he's in danger: Remember back before his career-salvaging victory at UFC 132, when Dana White said, "Dude, it's 2011; He's got to win"? Yeah, well I'm pretty sure he didn't mean, 'He's got to win once and then never again.' Ortiz rose from the ashes with his surprising submission of Ryan Bader, and then he further ingratiated himself to the UFC by offering to step up and fight Rashad Evans just a month later. The UFC was so grateful for that favor, it probably didn't even care that he went right back to his losing ways with a second-round TKO. A little goodwill is a fine thing to have in this business, but Ortiz is still 1-5-1 in his last seven bouts, stretching all the way back to 2006. I can see cutting him some slack after his two-month stint as unlikely hero this summer, but how long can he survive on those rapidly fading glories? If he loses to Nogueira, as oddsmakers expect him to, then what? He'll still be a marketable commodity, still one of the UFC's most famous, yet least successful fighters, and he'll still be the guy who did the UFC a solid when others wouldn't. That will buy him some time, but it won't make him untouchable. He's still got to win a few fights here and there, and he'd really help himself out if he can start with a middle-aged Brazilian.
Outlook: Not good. Ortiz is in a tough spot. He's too famous and too expensive for the UFC to put him in against mid-card guys, but he's not quite well-rounded enough to handle the new generation of talented 205-pounders. I don't want to say the game has passed him by, but...okay, it probably has. I think he loses this fight, but still gets one more chance to pull off a resurrection. The more fights he drops, the more the win over Bader looks like one good night in a sea of bad ones.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-5, 2-2 UFC)
Who he's facing: Tito Ortiz
Why he's in danger: After dropping back-to-back decisions to Ryan Bader and then Phil Davis, Little Nog is now one defeat away from the dreaded three-fight losing streak. He's also 35 years old and the lesser-known of the two Nogueira brothers in the UFC, so it's not at all unfathomable that a loss here could convince the brass that they're carrying one more Nogueira than they need. Face it, it's not as if the UFC is hurting for popular Brazilian fighters at this point. They've got better and they've got younger, so what does Little Nog bring to the table? His ability to shut down strong wrestlers (which the division is positively choking with these days) is questionable at best, and he hasn't finished an opponent since his UFC debut a little over two years ago. So what's keeping him employed? Well, he's still a Nogueira, which is the Brazilian MMA equivalent of being a Baldwin brother. Even if he might be Stephen to Big Nog's Alec, it's still better than being some nobody. Plus, he's still a threat when he can stay upright. If his takedown defense is good enough to force a stand-up fight with Ortiz, you have to like his chances.
Outlook: Cautiously optimistic. I think he beats Ortiz, barring another career resurrection by the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy." Even if he loses, though, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get one more go. Long-term, it's hard to see him lasting in this division with this style.

Dennis Hallman (50-14-2 [1 NC], 3-5 UFC)
Who he's facing: John Makdessi
Why he's in danger: Did you see the man's speedos at UFC 133? Better yet, did you catch Dana White's reaction to the speedos? Personally, I thought it was kind of funny, and not too different from the stuff we see MMA fighters wear with a straight face, but apparently the boss isn't into that brand of humor. It's never a good sign for your career when the other guy gets a bonus solely for getting you and your wardrobe off TV quickly. Hallman didn't make many friends in the UFC that night, and he was already on slightly shaky ground. At 36, Hallman is the journeyman's journeyman. There were times when he would have fought on a week's notice in your living room for a hundred bucks, and he'd even help move the furniture back into place afterward. He put together a couple UFC wins over guys who have since been shown the door, but he squandered whatever good will he had with the speedo stunt. Now he needs to win just to stay viable, and Makdessi's an unbeaten prospect who could make up for what he lacks in experience (and few are as experienced as Hallman) with youth and speed. If Hallman becomes the latest Makdessi knockout victim, you just know White would take pleasure in informing Hallman that he'll soon have plenty of free time to spend sunbathing on the French Riviera.
Outlook: Grim. Hallman's as grizzled a vet as they come, and if he shows up healthy he could definitely give Makdessi problems. Still, he'll need to save a kitten from a burning building to get back in White's good graces. That kitten had better be cute, too. And just adorably smudged with ash, blinking its big, innocent eyes at the new world that Hallman's heroism has allowed it see. Sorry, got carried away.

Mark Bocek: (9-4, 5-4 UFC)
Who he's facing: Nik Lentz
Why he's in danger: Bocek has spent more than half his career quietly toiling away in the UFC, but he's yet to really distinguish himself. He doesn't have a single win over anyone who's still in the UFC, and every time he's faced a high-level opponent he's ended up on the losing end. Then again, he's been in there with some tough customers -- guys like Frankie Edgar, Ben Henderson, and Jim Miller. In fact, the only loss on his record where he hasn't been vindicated by future results is a submission loss to Mac Danzig, so cut him some slack, right? To a point, yes. But eventually he's going to start to look like a guy who'll never be really popular with the fans, will never be anything more than a mid-level truth serum for guys who don't belong in the UFC at all, and is only useful on the fight cards where the UFC needs a local boy. If he loses to Lentz, who has a way of making people look bad, things could come to a head sooner rather than later for Bocek.
Outlook: Hazy. He's a skilled enough fighter that he can still beat a lot of people on the UFC roster, but will he ever beat the big boys? I doubt it, and you can only hang around the middle for so long.