UFC 135: 'Jones vs Rampage' Discussion Thread

[wandshogun09]

 

MAIN CARD

Jon Jones vs Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (UFC Light Heavyweight Title)

Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck

Travis Browne vs Rob Broughton

Takanori Gomi vs Nate Diaz

Ben Rothwell vs Mark Hunt

 

SPIKE PRELIMS

Tony Ferguson vs Aaron Riley

Tim Boetsch vs Nick Ring

 

FACEBOOK PRELIMS

James Te Huna vs Ricardo Romero

Takeya Mizugaki vs Cole Escovedo

Junior Assuncao vs Eddie Yagin

 

Another strong line up. The Sanchez pullout hasn't really hurt the card for me with Koscheck stepping in, still a worthy co-main there and an interesting fight.

 

The main event is gonna be fun but I can't see Rampage winning. Outside of landing a big haymaker this is Jones' fight to lose as far as I'm concerned. Browne/Broughton should be a fun one, I'd be surprised if that went past round 2. Diaz vs Gomi could be a great little fight. If it's anything like Gomi's fight with Nick Diaz we're in for a treat.

 

Prelims look decent too. Interesting to see how Ferguson gets on with Aaron Riley. Riley seems to have fallen into that gatekeeper role where they give him TUF winners to see where they stand but Riley's a tough little fucker. He's been around forever and I could see him possibly derailing Ferguson here.

[wandshogun09]

Just seen this on MMAMania.com

 

Dan Henderson wants the winner of Bones vs Rampage

 

"I think the biggest fight that the UFC would make money on and the fans would want to see, I would think, would be me against the winner of Jones and Rampage. That would be a fight to unify the titles with Strikeforce and UFC, I think that would be a good move. ... I'm not opposed to (fighting Shogun) but I think it wouldn't be a fight that I would be excited about right now. I think maybe if he's got one more big win on him. I don't know, it's not really my place to say but I think business wise for the UFC, it would be the biggest thing for them, to unify the titles."

 

If Rampage wins and they do Hendo vs Rampage 2 to unify the titles that would be the second time that fight unified the 2 major 205lb titles. They unified the UFC and Pride titles when they fought at UFC 75.

 

Dunno where it would leave Rashad though if they did this? He's earned his shot over a year ago, seems harsh to make him wait again.

[Silky Kisser]

Yeah It would be way harsh on Rashad. He's been promised another title shot against the winner of this and I'm hoping he gets it.

Strange why they're talking about unifying the LHW titles when they made Diaz drop his belt before he could fight in the UFC (Assuming the same will happen to Overeem too). I'd prefer we see Hendo/Shogun and the winner of that to fight the winner of Rashad v Jones/Rampage.

 

As for this event, it really does look great on paper. The main card looks a great night of fights and Sanchez's withdrawl hasn't hurt it at all. Hoping Hughes puts a beatdown on Fraggle too The Heavyweight scraps should be a bucket load of fun, as will Gomi/Diaz. I'm picking Jones to win comfortably too.

[TotalDebacle]

I think Rampage would have to get lucky to win this. I just can't see it. Jones is on the up and I think he'll know Rampage's game well. We all know it only takes one mistake though.

[Swift89]

Yeah It would be way harsh on Rashad. He's been promised another title shot against the winner of this and I'm hoping he gets it.

Strange why they're talking about unifying the LHW titles when they made Diaz drop his belt before he could fight in the UFC (Assuming the same will happen to Overeem too). I'd prefer we see Hendo/Shogun and the winner of that to fight the winner of Rashad v Jones/Rampage.

 

As for this event, it really does look great on paper. The main card looks a great night of fights and Sanchez's withdrawl hasn't hurt it at all. Hoping Hughes puts a beatdown on Fraggle too The Heavyweight scraps should be a bucket load of fun, as will Gomi/Diaz. I'm picking Jones to win comfortably too.

 

The poster for GSP vs Diaz is calling it Champion vs Champion and has them both holding their belts. So who knows what is actually going on there.

[Silky Kisser]

The poster for GSP vs Diaz is calling it Champion vs Champion and has them both holding their belts. So who knows what is actually going on there.

 

I'm right in thinking they said he had to drop it initially though yeah? Or am I making stuff up?

 

I'd much prefer the titles to unify, just seemed silly to unify one and not another. If they end up doing this then it's without a doubt one of the final nails in the Strikeforce coffin.

[wandshogun09]

The poster for GSP vs Diaz is calling it Champion vs Champion and has them both holding their belts. So who knows what is actually going on there.

 

It's all gotta mean Strikeforce is pretty much dead. If they start promoting fights as Champ vs Champ unifications then that's effectively putting the SF titles into non existance. This plus Overeem signing and Hendo likely coming over it's all looking like Strikeforce is pretty much finished.

 

They've gotta keep it around for the Showtime deal but maybe they could come to some arrangement to give Showtime a certain number of UFC shows until the deal runs out. Which would probably do better numbers for Showtime than Strikeforce were pulling anyway.

 

Fuck knows but it's clear Strikeforce and the titles there are totally pointless now. Even the fighters seem to think so. Hendo's talking unifications and King Mo said this the other day

 

"If I'm going to fight for the belt, I want to fight the champ, and that's Dan. The thing is, what's the point? What's the point of having the belt when it's been vacated, and the person who vacated it is still fighting somewhere else within the same umbrella, but not the same organization?"

 

"It's like a cancer patient, like a dying cancer patient. That's how I feel like the organization is. We're just waiting for it to die, to pass."

[pryko]

I see Jones finishing Rampage inside 2 or 3 rounds to be honest.

 

Koscheck taking Sanchez's place makes it more interesting in my eyes coz I'm a Koscheck fan.

 

Anyone think Gomi vs Diaz loser could get cut? I think Nick being in UFC now is Nate's saving grace, and the Japan card being Gomi's, but if it weren't for those circumstances, this could have been a loser leaves town fight

[Swift89]

I'm right in thinking they said he had to drop it initially though yeah? Or am I making stuff up?

 

I'd much prefer the titles to unify, just seemed silly to unify one and not another. If they end up doing this then it's without a doubt one of the final nails in the Strikeforce coffin.

 

Yeah, you are correct, they did initially say that.

[jimufctna24]

I favor Jones in the main event, but by no means is Rampage a easy fight.

 

If Jones chooses to stand with Rampage a upset could happen, Rampage is one of not if not the best boxer at 205lbs, now Jones will have a reach advantage and more dimensions to his striking, but Rampage has power in his hands, experiance and a unproven chin in front of him.

 

Before the Rashad fight, Rampage had never been takendown consistantly, he gave Chuck Liddel fits in Pride with his supirior wrestling and Chuck was a decent wrestler in his day. If Jones can take down Rampage like he did Shogun, it could be a major beatdown that ends in the middle rounds. If Rampage can stop Jones tremendous trips and throws then Jones may freeze in the moment, remember Jones has not been in a proper fight yet because he has been so dominent, it would be interesting to see how much heart he has when someone is competive against him.

 

Bar Machida, this could be the biggest chance of Jones losing the title for quite some time.

[wandshogun09]

I've always thought Machida would be the one to give Jones trouble. I'm starting to think Rashad could give him problems too, despite not thinking it before. I dunno why but I get the feeling Jones is a bit rattled by Rashad, maybe it's nowt or maybe something happened in training.

 

Rampage deffo has a shot. He's probably the hardest hitter at 205, he has heavyweight power, a granite chin and like you say excellent defensive wrestling but I can't help thinking he'll be too slow and one dimensional for Jones. Jones seems to make it look easy taking wrestlers down. It really shocked me how he threw Hamill around like a frisbee. No-one had done that and the ease with how he manhandled Vladdy and Bader (2 very strong wrestlers) was scary too. I don't think Rampage will be able to stop it, as good as his takedown defence is Jones explosive throws and trips will be too much for him to fend off I reckon.

 

It's up to Rampage to make the most of the times where the fight is on the feet imo. I want Rampage to land something good on Jones just to see how he takes it. Jones could be in for the test of his life chin wise this fight. I've had doubts about Jones cardio too, he looked pretty knackered the few times his fights went a bit longer (Bonnar and Shogun). And he dominated both of them so if that tired him fuck knows how he'd handle it if he was taking a bit of punishment back. If Rampage can make the first 2 or 3 rounds tough physically then who knows?

 

Thing is, Jones seems to improve a ton between each fight so this little things might be a non factor now anyway.

 

I'm taking Jones by stoppage in the 3rd or 4th round with ground and pound.

[jimufctna24]

Whilst it is a hard comparision to make, I believe the Rampage of 2007 under Iberra (dickhead that he was) would give Jones serious problems.

 

A good point is made above about Page being one dimensional and slow these days, Iberra didnt change that but he did bring out the best in him. He looked like a complete fighter against Henderson that was prepared to combat anything.

 

I dont have hope that Rampage will turn up in a few weeks, Page seems in the same "its all about the paycheck" mode he was in for the Hamill fight. Rampage could be so much more as a fighter if he enjoyed training and had more disapline, he had that the most under Iberra.

[the_mole]

I really hope that Rampage proves me wrong but I see an embarrassing one sided victory, with Jones greco throwing him down and just destroying him with gnp from the top. I know Rampage has stuffed takedowns from the likes of Hammill but Jones uses great technique as well as power, which is why he never struggles to take anyone down and don't see Rampage being the first to do it.

 

Dan Henderson if he's not fighting Anderson Silva in a super fight should have to fight Lyoto Machida for a shot at the tite, he's already lost two unification fights in the UFC and the Strikeforce title is a joke, it was held by Bobby Southworth about 3 years ago. Rashad Evans deserves his shot plus he has a beef with both Jones & Rampage that should help PPV sales.

 

It's not official Hughes-Koscheck but he has said yes to either him or Fitch, have to give Hughes props he's on the downside of his career but is not scared to face guys who on paper are a really bad match up for him.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah they really are in a win/win if they have Rashad fight the winner. Bad blood either way.

 

Like the idea of Hendo vs Machida. Or Hendo vs Shogun. Either of them would be great fights to make, possibly stick one of these on the Lesnar/Overeem card as co-main event and you've got a huge PPV there already.

[Egg Shen]

they are promoting GSP/Diaz as Champion vs. Champion but there's only 1 title on the line and Diaz has given up the Strikeforce title, but i guess untill someone else fights for it he is technically still the champion...although they didn't promote Shields/GSP as Champion vs. Champion, but that was before the Zuffa takeover. I think it's just a little promotional tactic, not something we should read too much into.