UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson

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Grand Master

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UFC_151_poster.jpg

After a series of lackluster cards, we get one of the most expected PPV of year, with a pretty nice card top to bottom. Let's look at the fights.

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

Charlie Brenneman vs. Kyle Noke - Brenneman took quite a tumble, going from a Main Card on FX to a Facebook (blargh) prelim. Despite that, I still think the Spaniard can make a nice home for himself at WW, a division that still provides employment to 1-4 in his last 5 fights, Dan Hardy. The matchmaking here sure supports that idea. Noke is not a bad fighter per se, but he's been an average journeyman his whole career. He clearly isn't being brought into this fight to win. Brenneman's losses were to humoungous Anthony Johnson and Erick Silva, who's a top tier WW in his own right. He has a strong wrestling base and knows how to create a gameplan that plays to his strenghts. If he can get past the mental issues and put on a performance like when he derrailed Rick Story's title train, he'll be back on the televised card in no time.

Shane Roller vs. Jacob Volkmann - Both of these guys are probably fighting for their jobs. Volkmann is a grindy, boring LW that put together a 5-0 and was never going to leave the prelims. He comes into this fight on a loss to Paul Sass, a finish no less. He very open about his political views to the point that is very detrimental to his career. The UFC would love to send him packing and 0-2 should do the trick. Roller seems like he never adapted to the WEC - UFC switchover and has been losing a couple of fights. He bounced back against John Alessio, but that's not enough. His path to victory is simple: keep the fight standing. If Volkmann takes him down, it's 15 minutes of grinding and 30-27.

Preliminary Card (FX)

Daron Cruickshank vs. Henry Martinez - Cruickshank fizzled out on TUF, losing in the first fight by brutal KO despite controlling most of it. He gets a chance to prove himself against Martinez, another "fresh" hire that is also nothing special. Undercard fodder at it's best. I don't even know why this is being televised and Brenneman vs. Noke is on Facebook.

Tim Means vs. Abel Trujillo - After seeing last Means' last fight, I'm curious to see this one. He was full on beast mode against Justin Salas. He welcomes Trujillo, who hails from the Blackzillians camp, into the UFC.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland - Hougland was at one time scheduled to fight current BW champion, Renan Bar?o, in what would probably be the missmatch of the year. He instead faced Yves Jabouin and lost. Mizugaki is 4-4 in his last 8, never winning 2 in a row. He's not a bad fighter, just not very consistent. This is a winnable fight for him but his employment is pretty secure until the UFC Macau card.

Main Card (PPV)

Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson - Johnson has shown a LOT of improvement in his last 2 fights, especially on his unexpected win over Tony Ferguson, where he didn't even have to use his wrestling, displaying crisp striking and good range. Castillo is pretty much opposite, using his wrestling to beat his opponents, as one would expect from a TAM fighter. This should be an interesting fight to start the PPV.

John Lineker vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani - Lineker's UFC debut was a very nice fight against Louis Gaudinot. He lost, but he showed heart and strenght to duke it out. Urushitani, on the other hand, was clearly outclassed and TKO into oblivion by Joseph Benavidez, the future FLW champion. This should be a fun fight with a couple of implications in the FLW division. Will Urushitani display the skill that made him the Shooto BW champion or will he just be yet ANOTHER japanese dud? Flyweight fights always deliver so...

Dennis Hallman vs. Thiago Tavares - Tavares is a physical freak but I feel like this fight will be a repeat of Hallman's last outing. Unless Tavares can keep the fight standing and unload on Hallman (who has a pretty strong chin), he will get crumpled up on the mat and probably submitted.

Dennis Siver vs. Eddie Yagin - Siver continues his FW adventure and now faces Yagin, mostly known for beating Hominick. His strategy is pretty much stand and wing bombs until his cardio runs out. If Siver fights smart and uses his kickboxing at range, he shouldn't have much trouble beating him.

Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron - Hieron is 0-2 in the UFC (last fighting in 2005), but he picked up some wins at other organizations. He was on a nice streak until he ran into Ben Askren, who held him down against his will for 5 rounds. He gets called in on short notice to face Ellenberger, fresh of a brutal loss to Martin Kampmann, a fight where he was very close to finishing. Barring some psychological problem, Ellenberger is still The Juggernaut and will probably try to make a statement out of Hieron. This should be a fun and brutal fight.

Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson - Do they need introductions? Bones, an incredibly talented MMA fighter, undefeated, finished 3 out of his last 4 opponents in brutal fashion. Facing him is Dan Henderson, one of best MMA fighters ever, with victories over a who's who of Top Tier MMA fighters, adjusted for time. His KO over Bisping is still one of the best highlights in the UFC. Can he use his big right hand to take the title away from Bones? Not likely but he has a puncher's chance and there is no doubt that he can KO with one punch. Bones has had a lot of time to train and has always shown improvement in the cage. This is going to be an amazing fight.

Bonus:

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Grand Master

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Henderson has to do what all the others have failed to do: get inside of Jones' reach. If he can find a way to do that, I think he has the upper hand. But that's a big 'if.'

Almost as big as the reach/height difference. Jones has a massive reach advantage and good enough footwork to keep himself on the outside. We saw that in the Rampage fight. The other big question is: will Jones be able to take Dan Henderson down if the situation so requires?

Grand Master

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UFC 151 Canceled After Dan Henderson Injury

An injury to Dan Henderson has forced an unprecedented cancellation of a major UFC event.

UFC president Dana White announced on Thursday that because Henderson, who was set to challenge Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 151 on Sept. 1 in Las Vegas, suffered a partially torn MCL, the event would be canceled.

Jones will instead fight former champion Lyoto Machida on Sept. 22 in Toronto.

During the teleconference, White said that Chael Sonnen was offered the bout with Jones and accepted, but Jones refused to take the bout, forcing the cancellation.

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Yorak

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Can you believe that ****? Hendo injured and Jon Jones won't accept a fight with Chael Sonnen. What a coward. I understand it is short notice (very short), but you are doing a disservice. Greg Jackson is a tool...telling Jon Jones never to accept that fight with such short notice. **** that douchebag. Argh...

Grand Master

D. S. Veteran

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Can you believe that ****? Hendo injured and Jon Jones won't accept a fight with Chael Sonnen. What a coward. I understand it is short notice (very short), but you are doing a disservice. Greg Jackson is a tool...telling Jon Jones never to accept that fight with such short notice. **** that douchebag. Argh...

He had every right to refuse the fight. Had this card not been built on the back of the Main Event, the show would've gone on. The PPV market is oversatured but that's another story. Am I upset that Jones didn't take a very winnable fight? Sure, but I'm just a fan. This is his livelihood. He's already got a fight lined up with Machida again, a losing situation. He's just signed a huge sponsorship deal with Nike. Should he really risk it all against the 1% chance Chael had on 8 days notice for the fans? I would like to think so but in the end, it's not my decision to make. Does it hurt his credit with the UFC? Very much so. Victor Belfort took a fight against a overweight Rumble to save a UFC card and reaped the profits with a TUF season gig and some nice fight placements. He'll be around but won't be granted any leeway.

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Yorak

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He had every right to refuse the fight. Had this card not been built on the back of the Main Event, the show would've gone on. The PPV market is oversatured but that's another story. Am I upset that Jones didn't take a very winnable fight? Sure, but I'm just a fan. This is his livelihood. He's already got a fight lined up with Machida again, a losing situation. He's just signed a huge sponsorship deal with Nike. Should he really risk it all against the 1% chance Chael had on 8 days notice for the fans? I would like to think so but in the end, it's not my decision to make. Does it hurt his credit with the UFC? Very much so. Victor Belfort took a fight against a overweight Rumble to save a UFC card and reaped the profits with a TUF season gig and some nice fight placements. He'll be around but won't be granted any leeway.

Dude, plenty of people have taken fights on short notice. The point is that now UFC 151 is cancelled because Jon Jones was a coward. A true champion would take any fight. There is lower-card fighters that needed this paycheck to feed their families. Is that Jon Jones responsibility? No, but he knew the repercussions. I am absolutely certain Dana White told him everything at stake if he declined this fight. Not many people liked Jon Jones anyways, so good luck to him now. I cannot wait until Machida whoops his ass.

Grand Master

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Dude, plenty of people have taken fights on short notice. The point is that now UFC 151 is cancelled because Jon Jones was a coward. A true champion would take any fight. There is lower-card fighters that needed this paycheck to feed their families. Is that Jon Jones responsibility? No, but he knew the repercussions. I am absolutely certain Dana White told him everything at stake if he declined this fight. Not many people liked Jon Jones anyways, so good luck to him now. I cannot wait until Machida whoops his ass.

Holy foreshadowing there with my Belfort reference. :|

Fighters do take fights on short notice but don't forget what's at stake here: a massive sponsorship, a LHW title. The card isn't cancelled because Jones chose not to fight, as been proven when other cards lost their main events. It was cancelled because it just wasn't sellable without a BIG Main Event. I dislike Bones' decision, I think he would've wiped the floor with Sonnen, but I still respect that he had every right to do it.

Grand Master

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Bun-Bun, a little correction to your fight listing in the first post, Jones isn't undefeated.

I know he's officially 16-1 but come on, Matt Hamill "won" that fight like Okami won against Silva. It should have been ruled a TKO because Hamill's shoulder was busted and he couldn't continue. He just couldn't communicate that because 1) he's deaf 2) he was getting destroyed at the time. Still, it would be fun to see the UFC try and spin that if Hamill picks up a couple of LHW wins...

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Grand Master

Kriz

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Can you believe that ****? Hendo injured and Jon Jones won't accept a fight with Chael Sonnen. What a coward. I understand it is short notice (very short), but you are doing a disservice. Greg Jackson is a tool...telling Jon Jones never to accept that fight with such short notice. **** that douchebag. Argh...

Trust me im one of the first people to start bad mouthing Jones, im not his biggest fan at all, but i can understan why Jones turned down Sonnen. For starters why does Sonnen deserve a LHW title shot in the first place? Lost his last fight, in a weight class below against smaller guys, then leaps over Machida/Rua and a handful of other LHW fighters. Im glad Jones turned it down, and im glad Sonnen didnt get what he wanted, let them carry on having twitter arguments, thats entertainment enough for me.

Jones cant be blame entirely for the cancellation, Hendo's team knew 3 weeks before the fight that he'd injured his knee, but decided to leave it to a week before the event to notify UFC, there are a load of people to blame, i dont know where to start pointing the fingers, but it was a complete shambles and complete disrespect to the other fighters on the card.

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