UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida

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Grand Master

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So hot on the heels of the TUF 14 Finale and the absolutely amazing UFC 139, it's UFC 140. An event where a guy who is 2-2 in his last four fights (arguibly 1-3) gets a title shot against a dominat champion because Rashad Evans must have had sex with Dana's wife or something.

The UFC doesn't have an oficial promo because deep down they know this card is a bad move, sandwiched between possibly the two biggest cards of the year with an unworthy contender challenging a dominant champion.

Here is the card:

Preliminary card (Facebook)

Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz - Let's consider for a moment the streak that The Carny is in: he hasn't lost since 2007, his recent "loss" to Charles Oliveira was changed to a NC due to an illegal knee and he will never fight out of the undercard because he's BORING. Puts Fitch to shame. He started changing that with his submission of Waylon Lowe before getting sidetracked by Oliveira. Facing him is Bocek, fresh of a terrible beating at the hands of the current #1 contender Ben Henderson. He's a BJJ ace (7 wins by submission) so Lentz will need to have a good gameplan if he wants to take it to the ground.

Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht - Attonito has been holding on to his UFC contract since his UFC debut at the TUF 11 finale. He isn't anything special (especially for the WW division) but provides solid undercard fodder. He will welcome 10-2 newcomer Hecht to the UFC.

Mitch Clarke vs. John Cholish - Never heard of either but both are on nice win streaks and debuting in the major leagues. Clarke is 9-0 and Cholish is 7-1.

Preliminary card (Ion Television)

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac - Soszynski has carved quite a niche for himself in the undercards. He's no world beater but he's pretty solid all-round. He will finally face Pokrajac in a LHW battle of guys with weird foreign names. Should Pokrajac lose, he will probably be shown the door.

Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou - Philippou is 1-1 since his UFC debut and really needs another win to secure his fighting future. Hamman is 2-2 but hasn't been able to get a streak going. This fight could be the start of a 2 fight win streak for both and they are going to work for it.

John Makdessi vs. Dennis Hallman - Hallman lives to fight another day after his wardrobe malfunction against Brian Ebersole. Dana must be feeling benevolent. Or not, since in front of him is undefeated prospect Makdessi. Hallman clearly has the experience advantage but Makdessi is pretty strong for 155 and certainly no slouch.

Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson - Jabouin tries to revive his career on the BW division. He fights Watson who had a nice KO in his UFC debut at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson. If the weight cut doesn't mess him over, Jabouin is experienced enough to take it.

Main card

Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung - Has much as I love the Korean Zombie (the first fight at Aldo vs Faber was amazing), I think he's toast. Despite all of his training with Team Alpha Male and Ben Henderson, Hominick is an amazing fighter with crisp, powerful striking. Jung can plow allong against cardio machines like Garcia who throws haymakers untill gassed. Hominick, much like Martin Kampmann, will probably pick him apart with strikes like he did to Roop. This is just poor matchmaking. Hominick should be fighting Hioki, Garza or even the loser of Poirier vs Koch.

Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole - From late replacement to Main Card fighter, Ebersole has done well for himself being 2-0 in the UFC. He will fight late replacement to Rory MacDonald, Claude Patrick. Despite being no slouch at all, with his coming in on short notice and the wealth of experience that Ebersole has, I don't see Patrick taking it.

Tito Ortiz vs. Ant?nio Rog?rio Nogueira - The self-proclaimed Peoples Champion fights the not so good Nogueira brother. Both guys are going nowhere at LHW but seeing how Rashad keeps getting screwed over, if Tito wins he will get a title shot. If he loses, champagne for everybody because he'll probably get cut. The new Bellator LHW champion ladies and gentlemen.

Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - Mir, who's on a 2 (lackluster) fight win streak, which by HW division standards is contendership material, gets dragged into a fight against Big Nog in order to "prove himself". At least that's the narrative that they're going for due to Mir being the first guy to TKO Big Nog at UFC 92. Big Nog comes in after his incredible slaying of prospect Brendan Schaub, more due to Schaub's inadequacies than his miraculous comeback. If he's still in top shape, he will bring the fight to Mir. Can he manage a last title run? No, I don't think he wants to fight Cigano (or Brock/Overeem) for that matter.

Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida - Machida can go eat a dick. UFC matchmaking can join him. After feeding an unworthy Rampage to Bones, now it's time for Machida to get it's crack despite his win being over aging Randy Couture by (awesome) crane kick. He couldn't beat Shogun, he couldn't even beat Rampage, and he sure as hell isn't beating Bones. Bones will only be tested against Evans or Davis and those guys are fighting eachother for a "possible" titleshot. Seeing how things go, it's more likely that Ortiz gets it or even Alexander Gustafsson.

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Grand Master

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Styles make fights, matching Machida up with Jones is what I've been waiting for. I'm giving Machida a better chance in this fight than most of the Jones fanboys will. Interesting match up.

Machida is still a very good fighter but by giving him a title shot just like that, you run the risk of diluting the value of the belt. Like the Strikeforce MW title that is so worthless they're having Keith Jardine fight for it. Machida, despite being a counter-puncher, has found more success when he takes the fight to the opponents. Bones won't let him do that and he still has the wrestling edge. Have we ever seen the Machida ground game tested at all?

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dippednbutter

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Machida is still a very good fighter but by giving him a title shot just like that, you run the risk of diluting the value of the belt. Like the Strikeforce MW title that is so worthless they're having Keith Jardine fight for it. Machida, despite being a counter-puncher, has found more success when he takes the fight to the opponents. Bones won't let him do that and he still has the wrestling edge. Have we ever seen the Machida ground game tested at all?

Not many are able to take Machida to the ground. His experience with Jits, Sumo, Judo, even modern day Karate has proven its worth. Jones is no slouch on the ground though so I'm hoping if Machida can defend well, he will have a better shot. The match up is intriguing due to the most technical aspects and creativity of both fighters. I'm psyched more than any other match up they could feed Jones right now.

I'm not so sure you can make the comparison of strikeforce and UFC when its comes to diluting the title. Machida vs Page was pretty darn close, so much that Page thought he had lost that fight. I did too by the narrowest of margins. Then to keep the champ busy because everyone wants to get freakin hurt nowadays, feeding him Machida is not an insult. He is a world competitor with 2 losses, 1 was very close, and former champ, just as deserving as Rashad.. I'd say its pretty insulting to just pass off Machida as some Keith Jardine character.

Grand Master

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Not many are able to take Machida to the ground. His experience with Jits, Sumo, Judo, even modern day Karate has proven its worth. Jones is no slouch on the ground though so I'm hoping if Machida can defend well, he will have a better shot. The match up is intriguing due to the most technical aspects and creativity of both fighters. I'm psyched more than any other match up they could feed Jones right now.

I'm not so sure you can make the comparison of strikeforce and UFC when its comes to diluting the title. Machida vs Page was pretty darn close, so much that Page thought he had lost that fight. I did too by the narrowest of margins. Then to keep the champ busy because everyone wants to get freakin hurt nowadays, feeding him Machida is not an insult. He is a world competitor with 2 losses, 1 was very close, and former champ, just as deserving as Rashad.. I'd say its pretty insulting to just pass off Machida as some Keith Jardine character.

Of course it's not on par with the Strikeforce situation but Machida at this point does not deserve a title shot and that's bad for the UFC in the long run. He's not just as deserving as Rashad, he's less. Rashad's only loss is to Machida and he has since beaten Silva, Rampage and Ortiz with flawless performances. As for Machida, for me he lost both of his fights with Shogun, the fight with Rampage should have been a draw (or a loss for both) and his only win is against retiring Couture. There is no buzz for that fight, there is no one clamoring that Machida is the guy to beat Jones. Evans is the fight that everyone wants to see and he's off fighting Phil Davis instead of Bones waiting just a couple of months for the fight. Machida is being disrespected by the UFC here by considering him a warm body to keep Jones busy. How are they going to continue the prodigy narrative if Bones ends up losing? They aren't even considering it. Machida can't really refuse the fight, it's a huge payday and a shot, despite very slim and remote, to get his title back.

As for the defensive wrestling of Machida... Bader, Rampage, Hamill, Shogun, none of those guys could stop Bone's shot. I don't think Machida is going to fare very well there. As for match ups that trump Machida vs Bones, aside from Evans obviously, it's easy to disprove that there isn't a more exciting match available: Dan Henderson.

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dippednbutter

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Of course it's not on par with the Strikeforce situation but Machida at this point does not deserve a title shot and that's bad for the UFC in the long run. He's not just as deserving as Rashad, he's less. Rashad's only loss is to Machida and he has since beaten Silva, Rampage and Ortiz with flawless performances. As for Machida, for me he lost both of his fights with Shogun, the fight with Rampage should have been a draw (or a loss for both) and his only win is against retiring Couture. There is no buzz for that fight, there is no one clamoring that Machida is the guy to beat Jones. Evans is the fight that everyone wants to see and he's off fighting Phil Davis instead of Bones waiting just a couple of months for the fight. Machida is being disrespected by the UFC here by considering him a warm body to keep Jones busy. How are they going to continue the prodigy narrative if Bones ends up losing? They aren't even considering it. Machida can't really refuse the fight, it's a huge payday and a shot, despite very slim and remote, to get his title back.

As for the defensive wrestling of Machida... Bader, Rampage, Hamill, Shogun, none of those guys could stop Bone's shot. I don't think Machida is going to fare very well there. As for match ups that trump Machida vs Bones, aside from Evans obviously, it's easy to disprove that there isn't a more exciting match available: Dan Henderson.

I think timing is everything when it comes to match making and keeping the fighters busy. Otherwise we would be waiting around too much like frickin boxing matches. Not that there are many matches left at this point.

The only reason for Rashad is the feud between the two that makes it interesting. Rashad is just too damn small for bones, I don't care if they trained before, Rashad has no secret moves for the man. His fight against Page wasn't flawless, it was careful. Fighting Tito is worse than fighting an aged Couture. Machida's TDD will be tested but I'll bet he does better than most think. I am putting my neck on the line here.

Yes, the UFC has a lot to lose if Bones were to lose this fight. He just might, there I said it. But I am biased when it comes to Machida :p, if it were anyone else I'd pick Bones haha

Grand Master

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I think timing is everything when it comes to match making and keeping the fighters busy. Otherwise we would be waiting around too much like frickin boxing matches. Not that there are many matches left at this point.

The only reason for Rashad is the feud between the two that makes it interesting. Rashad is just too damn small for bones, I don't care if they trained before, Rashad has no secret moves for the man. His fight against Page wasn't flawless, it was careful. Fighting Tito is worse than fighting an aged Couture. Machida's TDD will be tested but I'll bet he does better than most think. I am putting my neck on the line here.

Yes, the UFC has a lot to lose if Bones were to lose this fight. He just might, there I said it. But I am biased when it comes to Machida :p, if it were anyone else I'd pick Bones haha

Rashad is fighting Phil Davis on January 28th. Come on, couldn't the UFC wait 1 month and get Bones to face him? Really? Really?? Why couldn't Machida fight Phil Davis instead? He's an hot prospect and he's a proven fighter. It would make MUCH more sense than this.

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dippednbutter

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Rashad is fighting Phil Davis on January 28th. Come on, couldn't the UFC wait 1 month and get Bones to face him? Really? Really?? Why couldn't Machida fight Phil Davis instead? He's an hot prospect and he's a proven fighter. It would make MUCH more sense than this.

Looking at the events, it was setup to try and promote a technical style fight, and then promote a wrestle fight with the injured. Seems Dana doesn't have any interest in having Rashad fight Jones, probably politically motivated or they are throwing their cards in for a different reason.

Grand Master

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Like I said before, Rashad must have plowed Dana's wife or something because he keeps getting passed over. Evans will beat Phil Davis convincingly but Dan Henderson is getting a title shot before him. You just wait and see.

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dippednbutter

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Looks to me like Hendo will get it first. In that aspect, I can see it becoming a little farther from being recoverable in deserving title shots. I think Davis can outwrestle Evans but not outstrike him. We will see where this goes. Hendo doesn't have the cardio to stand with Jones.

Oh yeah, War Machida!

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Yorak

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Like I said before, Rashad must have plowed Dana's wife or something because he keeps getting passed over. Evans will beat Phil Davis convincingly but Dan Henderson is getting a title shot before him. You just wait and see.

Aye, Hendo will definitely get a shot before Rashad. Realistically, we may not see the fight we want to see until the end of next year, seeing as how far apart fights usually are.

Grand Master

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Seriously, that was awesome! I mean I respect Big Nog, but man these guys should already know the risk of not tapping.

Nogueira is a master in BJJ and he's very proud of that. He would never tap. MIr is the first guy to ever submit Nogueira in an MMA bout.

This event ended up being quite good. I'll post some more once I see all the fights.

Grand Master

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Despite looking meh on paper, this card ended up being quite good. Not UFC 139 good, but really good. Also ION Television sucks. A LOT! Comments in bold.

Preliminary card (Facebook)

Mitch Clarke vs. John Cholish - Clarke's cardio was pretty bad. For the whole of his 2nd round he was making a serious effort just to keep standing, all the while eating every punch. Cholish kept working, tagging Clarke until he got him down and got his back on a scramble, rolling for a kimura/armbar, pouding him out for a TKO victory. Clarke had nothing left in the tank. His face was smashed.

Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht - Rich reminded me of his companion in the TUF 11 season, Court McGee. Boxing base, average wrestling, will bully an opponent and decision him to bits. Like Court, he is also pretty stoppable because he's an easy target. McGee could have easily lost his last fight to Dongi Yang had Yang homed in on his chin with some nice strikes. Attonito put in a dominant first round on the ground but since the 2nd round started standing, he was at a disadvantage. While trying for his much needed takedown, Hecht hit him with elbows on the side of the head that caused him to wilt and he just had to pound him in half-guard for the win. Attonito needs to round out his game, he can't be dependent on bullying someone on the ground when his wrestling isn't even that good. Also, "UFC vet" Che Mills? He just debuted in the UFC, like yourself. He also slayed a ex-TUF fighter.

Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz - I just can't help but laugh at Lentz's complain about top control being overvalued. You're Nik Lentz. You decision people to death. I warned you about the need for a gameplan on the ground. Dana must be happy as hell that someone finally put a L on Lentz's record. Let's hope it's the wake up call he needs to improve on his style.

Preliminary card (Ion Television)

Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson - Yves Jabouin used his experience to survive some near submissions and kickbox his way to a win. Walel lost the fight but has nothing to be embarassed about. They put on a good fight but it ends up being eclipsed when every other fight on the prelims (except the one expected to be a decision) is a finish.

John Makdessi vs. Dennis Hallman - Hallman, who took this fight at LW and didn't make weight, came out with the perfect gameplan. He looked HUGE, Makdessi is quite small for a LW. He took him down as soon as possible, taking advantage of the former kickboxer's weak grappling, and pounded him out as quickly as he could. He probably wasn't that fresh after a difficult weight cut and knew his cardio wouldn't hold up for 3 rounds. Makdessi couldn't even adequately defend in mount, not trying to tangle Hallman, just trying to avert his shots to the face with his palms. He ends up giving up his back. Bad move. RNC for the finish. Makdessi should look to cut to FW and continue to work on his grappling. He's undersized at LW which makes him easier to outgrapple due to size and leverage. Hallman was humble in his victory, recognizing he came in heavy... and wishing for the Rapture to come. Dude, come on. He's got a long way to go until Dana forgets about the Ebersole fight.

Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou - Rogan was calling Hamman the "American Zombie". Didn't he watch the Roop fight? Hamman has a chin on him, sure. But you don't win a fight by being the guy who gets hit the hardest in the chin. Philippou is scary strong and consistently hit Hamman on the button. Props to him for sustaining as much as he did but damn, what a finish. Philippou even let him back up just so that he could finish the fight with a KO instead of letting it stay on the matt. He was that confident he was going to put Hamman away. The punch that wobbles him back to the fence and the final blow, BAM! He goes out on his feet and drops face first to the canvas. Philippou finally gets a streak going.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac - Both guys come out swining. Soszynski's chin came out on the losing end. It starts with a punch that staggers him back and Pokrajac just pours it on. What a beatdown. Soszynski was fully KO'ed with GnP. Totally limp on the canvas. Pokrajac picks up a dominating win but he must be aware that there aren't many LHW fighters to whom he can repeat that feat.

Main card

Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung - WHAT!? WHAT!?? Jung is now a FW title contender? What? He may even leapfrog Mendes because of his fan friendly style (much like Kenny Florian)? WHAT??? What was Hominick thinking? Was he trying to finish the fight right out in the first so he could go to bed? Jesus. This victory says more about Hominick's cockyness than Jung's skillset, seeing how he was KO'ed to oblivion by Roop (and Hominick put a beating on Roop). I'm still in desbelief that Hominick got careless like that. Make Jung fight Hioki next. UFC 144 is right around the corner.

Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole - Ebersole edged out a win against Patrick. It was a tough battle, tons of grappling. It could have gone either way really, I would give Patrick some kudos for his near submissions but Ebersole's escape also scores on the cards. The fight would have been pretty different had he fought Rory MacDonald. Ebersole is 3-0 in the UFC's WW division. Where does he go next? Is he ready for a mid-tier WW? Someone like Charlie Brenneman? I know, have him fight Dan Hardy! It's perfect.

Tito Ortiz vs. Ant?nio Rog?rio Nogueira - If anyone needed MORE proof that Tito is done, there is was. Tito was TKO'ed with body shots after being dropped by a knee to the body. His years of faking injuries have put a toll on his body and it's now pretty toast. Little Nog knew what he had to do, as soon as he got Tito staggered, he pounced on him with all his might. His cardio is pretty dodgy but he knew that if he put all his power into it, he didn't have to go for a 2nd round. Tito begged for a last fight in the UFC. If he gets to fight Forrest it could go either way, it depend on which Forrester he gets. If it's the Forrest that fought Shogun in Brazil, he can win it. If the one that fought Rich Franklin, despite being just an average Forrest, Tito has no chance. He should retire before he worsens his record even more.

Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - :woot: UFC gave this fight to Mir for him to "prove himself". He said he didn't need to it but he would fight anyway. Man, he did prove something alright. He's was the first guy to KO Big Nog and he's now the first guy to ever submit Big Nog! GODDAMN! He looked like he was going to get KO'ed by Nog on the feet but then that scramble on the ground was amazing. That's top level BJJ right there. Nog, being the proud BJJ master like H?lio Gracie, wasn't going to tap to anything so SNAP! It was vicious. Mir puts himself on a path to a title fight. But it isn't all roses here. Mir should probably work out on his conditioning. He came in at 264lb and that takes a huge toll as the fight goes on. Not that he would ever survive a 5 round war with Cigano but still, good cardio is a game changer in the HW division. Big Nog gets his comeback dreams broken, in more ways than one. Like I said at UFC 134, his win said more about Schaub's inadequacies than PRIDE MInotauro being back. Frank Mir put a definite end to that tonight.

Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida - A picture is worth a thousand words.

096lyotomachidavsjonjones.jpg

At this moment, I'm not even sure that Rashad can pose a significant challenge to Jones. Not after that fight. It's the fight that needs to happen, yes. But I don't see any current UFC LHW being able to beat Jones in any area of the fighting game. Unless Bones is like Aquiles and Rashad is the only one that knows it, Evans isn't going to win. Bones is kind of helping the fight along by saying he wants to take 5 or 6 of months of before his next fight. That puts his next fight window where Rashad's next fight window will be provided he beats Phil Davis.

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dippednbutter

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Two of the judges gave the first round to Bones, how on Earth? Sure a picture is worth a thousand words but Jones got a little schooled in the first round. Made him look human. Got to give Machida some credit. The only one I think that will pose a threat would be Hendo getting a right hand in, but thats about it. No one else left for Bambi legs at LHW.

Grand Master

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Two of the judges gave the first round to Bones, how on Earth? Sure a picture is worth a thousand words but Jones got a little schooled in the first round. Made him look human. Got to give Machida some credit. The only one I think that will pose a threat would be Hendo getting a right hand in, but thats about it. No one else left for Bambi legs at LHW.

Bad judging? On my MMA? No way. I'll admit Bones wasn't dominating the 1st round but he wasn't dominated himself. Machida got some good exchanges in but nothing that ever put Jones in danger. He did one of those crazy karate rushes, Jones took the first hit and got away pretty quickly. Didn't outright win the 1st round but wasn't dominated in it. And all that humanity left him pretty quickly once R2 started. It was like the 1st round of Anderson vs Okami. Studying him, learning what he does... and BAM! Lights out.

Why on Earth did he not tap?! Master of BJJ or not, pride or not, was it really worth the damage, pain and probable long lay off? Looks so nasty...

nor-arm-big.jpg

Big Nog? The guy who needed surgery on both hips at 35? It's pretty easy to point out why he didn't tap. For that I'll just use another picture.

Masahiko_Kimura_vs_Helio_Gracie_ude-garami.jpg

That's Masahiko Kimura snapping H?lio Gracie's arm, one of the creators of BJJ. That's what made the kimura famous. And H?lio did never tap, despite losing consciouness during the match. Machida didn't tap as well.

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dippednbutter

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Whew I sense a little bias, thats cool. Not taking anything away from Bones just calling it bad judging. Machida landed more and had the better game in round 1. He was also doing fine in round 2 until he got owned but whatevers.

Grand Master

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Whew I sense a little bias, thats cool. Not taking anything away from Bones just calling it bad judging. Machida landed more and had the better game in round 1. He was also doing fine in round 2 until he got owned but whatevers.

Actually, they landed pretty much the same number of strikes (http://hosteddb.fightmetric.com/fights/index/3678). I think Bones lost the 1st round due to way the strikes were applied (that single Machida counter edged the round there) but the judges didn't see it that way. Sometimes it happens. Machida was doing fine in the 2nd round the same way Hominick was fine the first 5 seconds of his fight :rofl: Bones got his timing down and was the agressor now that he had him figured out.

Grand Master

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Bones didn't get the timing down, he got the elbow down. All he had to do was grab Lyoto which is what I expected to happen crap.

Imagine a world were 12 to 6 elbows are legal... :rofl: Lyoto would have needed surgery.

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