UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage

[D. S. Veteran]

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Beh6fEJVs

Full Card

Main Card

Jon Jones vs Quinton Jackson

Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck

Travis Browne vs Rob Broughton

Nate Diaz vs Takanori Gomi

Ben Rothwell vs Mark Hunt

Prelims

Tony Ferguson vs Aaron Riley

Nick Ring vs Tim Boetsch

Junior Assuncao vs Eddie Yagin

Takeya Mizugaki vs Cole Escovedo

James Te Huna vs Ricardo Romero

[D. S. Veteran]

Diego Sanchez is out with a broken hand. Several source say that Josh Koscheck is going to step in and steamroll Hughes instead.

[Rappy Veteran]

[D. S. Veteran]

4 days out.

Untill the end of 2011, all of the UFC events are amazing (at least on paper) and I hope that they deliver fully.

[dippednbutter]

Nate vs Gomi will be funnest. War Page, Jones is a dhead.

[Yorak]

All I know is that I want Hughes to beat the hell out of Koscheck. He may. He has a reach disadvantage, so it will be tough. I am not sure who I want to win between Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson. Personally, I dislike Rampage for being a thug right off of the street. His ebonics drive me crazy. However, I never realized how rude Jon Jones could be until the press conference. So with that said, I hope Rampage knocks him out. Jon Jones is crazy accurate but does not have good stopping power. He also just has an average chin. If Rampage connects, it will be lights out for the skinny fella.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Really looking forward to the two main fights as well, just cannot justify paying $60 for a PPV. That is the cost of a video game and just seems way to much to pay. I swear, if they lowered their PPV prices to something reasonable, even like $25-$30, I would do it without even thinking about it. I really thought the prices of PPV would have come down by now, with so many choices to watch a fight online just hours after it is on, you would think they would wise up and lower the prices some, but I guess if they still have millions of people willing to pay the insane price, they are going to do it. I also do not drink, so going out to a bar and watching it is just not really an option that appeals to me. Last thing I want to do on a Saturday night is be in a New Jersey sports bar with some drunk knuckleheads all amped up because they are watching UFC. Oh well, will find a way to watch it first thing Sunday morning as I always do. So enjoy to those who do watch it tonight, I will avoid this thread until tomorrow afternoon when I have gotten a chance to watch it online.

[trag3dy]

I don't know how you feel about sitting in front of your computer but you can buy the ppv from Yahoo sports, and a few ther places for $44.95. Granted that's still a lot. I've personally watched through Yahoo sports and UFC live streaming, and yahoo was by far the better stream. The ufc one lagged very badly and cut out a lot, I had to ask for a refund on that one because it was nearly unwatchable. Looks like youtube has their own live stream too. I'd be interested in trying that one out.

To bad you can't invite people to share the cost with you and have your own private chat/stream. Anyways, check out the official streams here:

http://www.ufc.com/event/UFC135/watch

There are various free ways to watch too. I'll leave you to figure those out on your own though. :laugh:

[D. S. Veteran]

Forum is back up so let's talk about this event. It was good. Not great but very good. Comments in bold as usual.

Prelims

Tony Ferguson vs Aaron Riley - Like most TUF winners, Tony Ferguson immediately dropped a weight class (will also happen on TUF 14, just you wait). That only made him more dangerous. Aaron Riley is a middle of the pack LW and Tony dealt with him with powerful striking. He's tall, has reach advantage and hits really hard as you can see from the result of this fight: TKO by Corner Stoppage. This is the 2nd time Aaron Riley got his jaw broken in a UFC fight. Damn, that's some crappy luck. Tony Ferguson had a very good first swim in the shark tank that is the LW division.

Nick Ring vs Tim Boetsch - Boetsch's move to MW has proved fantastic for his career. He's stronger, faster and has better cardio than he ever had as a LHW. Nick Ring tried to play the cardio angle by circling out a lot but Tim move in and tagged whenever he could. And he tagged him a lot. He also outgrappled Ring a couple of times, most notably in that amazing throw in the 3rd round that slammed Ring with perfect technique and got Boetsch into side-control. His next fight should be a mid-high tier MW as a litmus test. Maybe Alan Belcher? Nick Ring on the other hand, should eat a dick and go back to Canada.

Junior Assuncao vs Eddie Yagin - Didn't watch.

Takeya Mizugaki vs Cole Escovedo - This was a very good fight. Mizugaki clearly has problems with grapplers (loses to Bowles, Faber, Jorgensen and Torres) but Cole wasn't interested in that (save for that standing triangle where Mizugaki should have slammed him to bits). Mizugaki showed some very good boxing and put a beating on Escovedo. Good knees and dirty boxing in the clinch from both parts. That finish was an incredible flurry. This fight should have been on the main card, not an afterthought from the Main Event. UFC start showing more BW fights, they deliver. If Mizugaki gets a streak going (not likely) he could probably challenge for the title soon. The BW division is so starving that after Cruz cleans the floor with Mighty Mouse (who will drop to FLW as soon as he can), he will probably have to fight Faber again.

James Te Huna vs Ricardo Romero - Ricardo Romero has been the punching bag of the LHW division. He starts by beating Seth Petruzelli, the Kimbo Killer, but ends up getting smashed quickly by better LHW (who are still bottom tier), both times in less than a minute. I don't know why he hasn't been cut yet. Not much can be said about Te Huna. Romero repeatedly tried to shoot in and he punished him for it, viciously. Next time he'll learn to keep it standing.

Main Card

Jon Jones vs Quinton Jackson - Bones won. Did anyone doubt? Rampage hasn't evolved his skills and it showed. He must have thrown less than 5 leg kicks the whole fight, Bones had no trouble evading his swinging hooks. Looks like his trainining at Wolfslair hasn't been teaching him anything. Bones was calm, collected and was never in any real danger during the fight. Evans will pose more of a challenge to him. Rampage should be relegated to Pride Never Die novelty fights (he should have called out Shogun before being put in a cage with Bones).

Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck - Matt Hughes needs to retire NOW. He's become WW record padding with name recognition. Koscheck got a giftwrapped fight and he took full advantage of it, smashin Hughes to bits into a very damaging KO.

Travis Browne vs Rob Broughton - One of the most boring fights of the night. Rob Broughton was brought in to lose and lose he did. But Browne didn't look all that good in his victory. He wasn't agressive, kept circling around trying to wreck Broughton's cardio but the thing is he also didn't have a good tank. It was sloppy striking all around and a terrible show of a HW fight. Browne won but that won't do him any favours for his UFC HW division standing.

Nate Diaz vs Takanori Gomi - Gomi, once one of the best LW in the world and P4P great got beaten by Nick Diaz's mediocre brother. His whole gameplan was to throw haymakers straight out of Leonard Garcia's School of Fighting. Kept getting tagged over and over and over right in the face. Mediocre as Nate is, he had no trouble outboxing and outgrappling him, winning the fight by armbar out of a triangle just for spite. Gomi will still be around, at least until the UFC goes to Japan. Mizugaki would be a better choice.

Ben Rothwell vs Mark Hunt - Chris almighty what was this? Everyone expected Rothwell to take Mark Hunt down and submit him within the first but then something happened... he took Hunt down AND HUNT KNEW ENOUGH TO DEFEND HIMSELF/GET BACK UP. HOLLY! This was a sloppy brawl that showed how much Mark Hunt has improved at ATT (he's now on a 2 fight win streak) and that Rothwell has a lot of heart. The referee was also retarded (especially that stand-up when Mark was in side-control). Mark Hunt beat Ben Rothwell to a pulp and almost got an armbar! Didn't know how to finish it but almost had it. Rothwell should have been considered TKO'ed at the end of the 2nd when he couldn't return to his corner by himself. The 3rd round was a gassed out war with Mark getting very close to a stoppage but not putting enough pressure to edge the retarded referee. Still, he deserved the win and improves to 7-7. Joe Silva should take a note next time and not put 2 HW fights in a Main Card fought in an high altitude venue. Gas companies thank you.

[Colin.B]

Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck - Matt Hughes needs to retire NOW. He's become WW record padding with name recognition. Koscheck got a giftwrapped fight and he took full advantage of it, smashin Hughes to bits into a very damaging KO.

I agree Hughes should retire but he didn't look bad in the fight and I have to say....I think he should fight Shields before retiring. Shields wouldn't knock him out with his still sub-par striking, they're both coming off of two fight losing streaks and it's a winnable fight for Matt Hughes.

Of course, if he won and beat a "top 10", that would make his decision to retire even more difficult.

[D. S. Veteran]

If Shields lost to Matt Hughes, could he really be considered a Top 10 WW? I don't think so. Hughes is 37 and was brutally KO'ed two fights in a row. He could probably go one or two more fights but why risk more damage? Shields couldn't KO him but I don't think a TKO would be out of his reach. Even 3 rounds of lame kickboxing could take it's toll. And it's a very losing position to the UFC: if Shields wins, whatever he beat an aging WW he has been used solely for padding lately. If Hughes wins, the UFC now has a dud in Jake Shields and a Matt Hughes that wants to fight again. It's not good for future fights.