UFC 151: 'The Event That Never Was'

[GlennCullen]

I hope Vitor smashes him, and then Dana drops him to the bottom of the card. Complete shambles of a champion.

 

Wow! Really? Because he turned down a fight he's now a 'shambles of champion'? Him tearing through the division is disregarded as easily as that?

 

Yes.

[The Natural]

Update on fights moved from the cancelled UFC 151:

 

Kyle Noke vs. Charlie Brenneman will be on 9/22 in Toronto

 

Danny Castillo vs. Michae Johnson, Jacob Volkmann vs. Shane Roller and Jay Hieron vs. Jake Ellenberer will be on 10/5 in Minneapolis. Ellenberger vs. Hieron will be pushed as the co-main event behind Travis Browne vs. Antonio Silva for the show.

 

Credit: f4wonline.com

[wandshogun09]

Jones vs Belfort. This is all nuts. That never even crossed my mind. What next? Frankie Edgar vs Alistair Overeem? Nick Diaz vs Chael Sonnen?

 

I like the fight though. Belfort is a MUCH better striker than Hendo. He's got good boxing, really fast hands, KO power, he's southpaw, good chin. I said recently that if anyone will give Jones trouble on the feet it's that kind of striker, not a headhunter looking for that one shot like Rampage or Hendo. The two who have landed most consistently on Jones were Machida (technical/fast/southpaw) and Rashad (fast hands). Belfort has all those attributes as well but I'd say he packs more power than Machida and probably Evans too. i'd still favour Jones but the first two rounds when Vitor is fresh will be very interesting.

[jimufctna24]

I believe that the best way to beat Jones is to get him on his back by using explosive wrestling, something that Mo Lawal and to a lesser extent Chael could do.

 

Belfort has never excelled in the wrestling department, despite training with Russian nationals, he had fuck all for Couture and his Greco Roman wrestling. However, I like Belfort to have more of a chance than Hendo, whilst both would be taken down with ease by Jones and both offer very little of a threat of taking Jones down himself, Belfort as said above does have faster hands than Hendo and just as much KO power.

 

If Belfort can clip Jones early, make no mistake Jones could lose. Belfort usually either wins early or fades late and either gets stopped or loses a lopsided verdict. Its forgotten that Belfort was giving Anderson a bit of trouble in their brief bout, no one remembers that they just remember the legendary KO.

 

I am not saying Belfort will outstrike Jones, far from it, the most likely outcome is that Jones will win the first few rounds standing in modest fashion then finish Belfort with a takedown and GnP once Belfort starts to tire and lose interest.

 

Will be a dicey first few moments though and if Belfort lands, fucking hell the roof will come of my living room.

[The Natural]

NSFW:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XorPhiPhrd8...player_embedded

[wandshogun09]

I actually think Belfort's offensive wrestling is a bit underrated. He's one of very few who were able to put prime Chuck Liddell on his back a few times in their fight. Wound up on top of Tito once or twice and used good grappling to control heavyweights like Heath Herring and Gilbert Yvel in Pride. Training with Randy at Xtreme Couture since then will have helped as well.

 

Randy's Greco style was very effective in shutting him down though and Jones has good clinch work. He'll probably try to Greco him early, tire him out then go for the kill.

 

On paper I'd agree putting Jones on his back is a good idea but there's a reason no-one's been able to, Jones has excellent defensive wrestling. If Chael had trouble getting Anderson down late in their rematch he'd be fucked with Jones. Be fun to watch him try though.

[jimufctna24]

I actually think Belfort's offensive wrestling is a bit underrated

 

Jones has excellent defensive wrestling.

Rashad did not test Jones defensive wrestling that much, I would not expect Chael to test it but Mo Lawal I think could give Jones problems. Its still a question mark in Jones game, a small one but then again I am nit-picking there is not much to question as Jones is very well rounded and at least very good in every area.

 

Maybe you have a point about Belfort, I think he is a decent grappler, but get on top and you can control him as Randy and Hendo showed, he has trained on his wrestling for so long, I do not see him improving at this stage in his career.

 

Either way even of his offensive wrestling is underrated, I still cannot see him using it against Jones, which I am sure you will agree.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah it's unlikely Belfort would go the grappling route. Especially when he's a better boxer than Jones, if he can get in close range and unleash a Belfort flurry then who knows.

 

That's what Belfort brings to the table which even Machida doesn't, combinations. Machida is fast but with his Karate style he lands a shot and darts out of range. Now and then there's a combination but it's mostly one shot at a time. If Belfort tags you, you can bet there's about 50 punches coming behind it.

 

As for Jones wrestling, after he fought Bonnar he was matched with nothing but wrestlers for a while. O'Brien, Hamill, Vlad, Bader. None got close to taking him down and he basically threw them around like frisbees. His wrestling, is really good. I think in some ways that may have scared Rashad off trying to shoot as well.

 

Interestingly, it's actually the ones who have sodded the wrestling approach and tried to stand with Jones have actually done better or at least lasted longest against Jones.

[jimufctna24]

Yeah good point Jones has been in with a lot of wrestlers.

 

I think he has never faced a wrestler the standard of Lawal though shame that fight is unlikely to happen anytime soon, agreed also of the combinations point.

[Patrick "Madman" Kelly]

Hendos wrestling ain't bad. He might not get around like Jones but his wrestling is rock solid and better than most.

[Patrick "Madman" Kelly]

For the record I believe that he should have taken the fight. He's in the fight business so you fight whoever you employers put in front of you. Jones is going to out heel Lesnar by a country mile on the back of this.

 

Great admirer of his abilities as a fighter but there's something about him that makes me feel he would sell his mum and feel no worse for it. He's false as fuck in my opinion and so is that Greg Jackson. They made for each other.

[firstnameunknown]

Nick Diaz vs Chael Sonnen?

That would be outstanding.

[David]

For the record I believe that he should have taken the fight. He's in the fight business so you fight whoever you employers put in front of you. Jones is going to out heel Lesnar by a country mile on the back of this.

 

Great admirer of his abilities as a fighter but there's something about him that makes me feel he would sell his mum and feel no worse for it. He's false as fuck in my opinion and so is that Greg Jackson. They made for each other.

He may be in the fight business, but should that mean he takes a fight with three days prep time? After listening to Mauro Ranallo's interview with Greg Jackson, it may not have been the best thing from a purely fighting standpoint.

 

I know it would have made Jones a lot of money, but there must be a reason why they didn't take the fight. Jackson is far from being an idiot, so he'll have been fully aware of the financial benefits of such a fight.

[Egg Shen]

what do you think the reason could be?

[METAL ON METAL]

A bit more about why Machida didn't take the fight (MMAFighting.com):

 

Machida turned down the bout because he felt four weeks was inadequate time to prepare for a fight with the current light heavyweight champion.

 

"I want to serve the UFC and recapture the belt. I always respect my opponent," Machida stated. "For those reasons, I must prepare myself in the manner I believe in."

 

According to Friday's press release, Machida wanted to take the fight on the Oct. 13 event in Rio de Janeiro. The UFC instead offered the title shot to Vitor Belfort, who accepted and will fight Jones in Toronto.

 

 

 

Edit: Also it appears there's another reason why Belfort stepped in to fight Jones - Alan Belcher has a spinal fracture. Luckily he says he'll be fine and will be back by November and wants Chris Weidman next.