UFC 159: 'Jones vs Sonnen'

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

The very distant notion that Sonnen could pull off the upset adds a bit more intrigue. Stranger things have happened in MMA I guess. But Sonnen has ONE finish on his UFC record, the sub of Brian Stann. People are talking about it being possibly his last stand, but on the flipside, if he won he'd be the LHW kingpin and hold a victory over the top P4P fighter in the world. Crazy times.

[The Natural]

Nick Catone vs. James Head pulled because Catone's in hospital due to dehydration after trying to make the welterweight limit and wasn't able to. This was a Facebook fight. The show's start time has been changed from 6:30 p.m. Eastern time to 7 p.m.

[jimufctna24]

I agree in theory David.

 

But, Serra had a punchers chance and it only takes one punch in this sport. Sonnen has a wrestlers chance, which takes 5 rounds of control and dominance. I would say Sonnen is a better fighter than Serra overall, but his win would be the bigger upset style wise.

Oh, if Sonnen wins this bout over five frames then I'd certainly rank it higher. As things stand we don't know how Jones would react to getting caught with a good, solid punch, do we? Or if Sonnen got the takedown and managed to open a cut via elbows etc.

 

Basically, where it would rank for me would rest on the way the fight went.

Okay you have me on the second one, maybe Chael could cause a cut of a takedown.

 

The first one, Machida did rock Jones with a pretty good shot and Jones was able to readjust. Chael's boxing is fairly okay, but he has little power in it, the knockdown of Anderson was a accuracy shot rather than a power shot, if you catch my drift. I think if Chael knocked down Jones it would be more shocking than Serra knocking out GSP. Serra had some power in his hands, Chael in my opinion does not.

[wandshogun09]

I've always thought Chael knocking Anderson down was just a case of Anderson really not expecting Chael to start off with punches. Nobody expected it, everyone thought Chael would be shooting double-legs out the gate. It was a bold but quite brilliant tactic by Chael and got the momentum on his side because he wasn't fighting how Anderson probably expected.

 

I just think Anderson was anticipating a shoot and got hit with a punch he didn't see coming. Even after the knockdown, when he regained his footing and Chael was landing more punches, he never looked hurt and had a kind of 'what the fuck?' look on his face. Once Anderson knew what to expect Chael never had that success again in the striking (aside from the 'knockdown' in round 4 or 5 which was actually more a slip).

 

Anderson is a better striker than Jones but Jones won't be as threatened by Chael's wrestling like Anderson was the first time around. Jones will probably have more freedom to let his strikes go.

 

A Jones cut would make things interesting.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Nick Catone vs. James Head pulled because Catone's in hospital due to dehydration after trying to make the welterweight limit and wasn't able to. This was a Facebook fight. The show's start time has been changed from 6:30 p.m. Eastern time to 7 p.m.

Probably the fight I was looking forward to least, so no loss as a viewer there. Lost a good half hour of sleep though.

 

It's a stark reminder of what a dangerous practice weight cutting can be though. The human body really isn't designed to have most of the water drained from it.

[wandshogun09]

Big weight cuts can be dangerous to the brain as well. When someone cuts a lot of water weight and dehydrates themself to make weight, they're dehydrating their brain as well so they're more susceptible to swelling of the brain. It's why they did away with same day weigh ins in boxing years ago. You can fuck your kidneys up and all sorts from cutting a drastic amount of weight in a short time.

 

People talk like cutting weight and coming in bigger than the opponent is an advantage but if it's not done smartly and safely it can be a massive detrement. You basically put a straight-jacket on your organs.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

The foot injury to Jones and Belcher's eye injury were fucking nasty.

[PowerButchi]

Chael Sonnen comes to fight and talks people into the arenas but his abilities aren't the best.

 

Sonnen is the Don Frye of the 2010's. Discuss.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Lack of tashe doesn't put him on that level for me. He has a nice robe, though.

[wandshogun09]

The robe was lovely.

 

What a fucking weird event though.

 

*Dislocated thumbs

*Two eye poke endings

*Belcher getting his ankle wraps cut off during the intros

*Buffer fucking up and announcing the loser as the winner

 

and

 

 

A destroyed toe.

 

With a Jones vs Sonnen main event, originally scheduled for the UFC PPV that didn't happen, it seemed like the ghost of UFC 151 was hanging around to fuck this one up as well.

 

Jones vs Sonnen

Seems like that's it for Chael. Jones beat him easily as expected. Fair play Chael came out aggressive and didn't look intimidated at all. He just didn't have what was needed to cope with Jones. Just outmatched in all areas.

 

Jones' toe looked fucking disgusting at the end there. What a bizarre end to the PPV watching Jones sitting on a stool grimacing while Rogan interviewed him.

 

Interesting to think what would have happened had the fight gone to round 2 with that injury to Jones. What would have happened? Would the fight be stopped adding to the run of freak finishes tonight? If Jones continued Chael might actually have been able to work his takedowns. Surely he wouldn't be shaking Chael's takedowns off on one foot? They'd have had to stop it.

 

I hope Chael fights again but really, what can he do? He wants a title and he's out of chances now. Even Dana couldn't spin Chael deserving another crack after that.

 

Hope Jones isn't out too long.

 

Bisping vs Belcher

This wasn't as good as I was hoping but I didn't think it deserved so much booing. What was that about with the wraps on Belcher's ankles?

 

As the fight went on I thought Belcher might have an injury to his right foot/leg. He kept switching to southpaw and barely kicked at all with his right leg. He didn't look nearly as dangerous or explosive with his striking as usual. Bisping looked good though. He was landing hard shots and he mixed it up well as usual.

 

The ending was shit. Just really unfortunate. Bisping was winning anyway but you hate to see a fight end like that. Hopefully it looked worse than it actually is because Belcher's eye looked fucked at the end. Hopefully there's no permanent damage.

 

Bisping vs Okami next maybe?

 

Nelson vs Kongo

Big Roy did it again. I think they might let Kongo go now. If he's not getting sparked lately he's stinking up the joint. He can't live off the Pat Barry fight forever and he's not getting any younger. I think they might just cut their losses on Kongo now.

 

Anyone else notice Rogan was quick to moan about the ref splitting up the clinch yet he was calling for the ref to stand up the womens fight pretty quick earlier? McMann was working and they'd only been on the floor about a minute. Rogan can't make up his mind on stand ups.

 

Dana said at the press conference that they want to do either Nelson vs Cormier or Nelson vs Hunt if Hunt beats JDS.

 

Davis vs Magalhaes

This wasn't very good. It became the fight you always fear with two great grapplers - a sloppy stand up fight. Rogan keep going on how good Davis' striking was got old quick. Yeah he looked improved but it's surely easier to look good when Vinny looked like shit. We really can't tell much from Davis' striking based off this fight. Vinny just posed very little threat as long as the fight was standing.

 

Vinny also fucked up my treble on him Healy and Nelson. Twat.

 

Miller vs Healy

This was awesome. FOTN for me. I really liked Siler vs Holobaugh as well but I enjoyed this more. Healy out Jim Miller'd Jim Miller. He weathered the storm in round 1 and came back with a vengeance in the 2nd and 3rd. The grappling was excellent and the finish was great as well. Choking out Jim Miller in your UFC debut is a huge statement.

 

Oh and Jim Miller looked like a mini, in shape Tank Abbott.

 

Prelims were hit and miss.

 

*Thought Sara McMann looked really good. I thought the crowd was quick to boo all night and Rogan calling for the standup was a bit premature I think. Like I said they'd been on the ground about a minute or 90 seconds and he was giving it the "I'm surprised the ref isn't standing them up" bit. Gaff looked pretty dangerous on the feet but once McMann got the crucifix that was a wrap. No way out.

 

McMann could be a good opponent for Rousey down the line. Wrestling vs Judo. Would be the first UFC fight between two Olympic medalists as well.

 

*Khabilov vs Medeiros was just getting interesting when Medeiros' thumb went wonky. Shame. He was doing good as well. Would have answered some questions on Khabilov.

 

*I think Leonard Garcia might be out of favours after that. He got schooled. I know Dana loves him but it's hard to justify keeping him around at this point.

 

Up and down show. Two really standout fights in Miller/Healy and Siler/Holobaugh, and a couple of good finishes. The rest was either lacklustre or ended in a fucked up way.

 

Poor Lamby it was just one of those cards which looked great on paper but got violently buggered by bad luck.

[lambyUK]

I'm fucking tired, its gone past 2am and getting back to Manhattan from Jersey after an event is a nightmare.

 

I will post further thoughts if I get the chance but overall I thought the event was shit. Bizarelly it was Roy Nelson that brought the place down and it was the only fight that had my wife interested.

 

"How's that fat man going to beat him?"

 

Well, I saw my hero in the flesh and what you didn't see on camera was Sonnen peering down at Jones coming down the aisle and waving him down as if to say "stop wasting fucking time"

 

I would like to see him move back down but that's it for Chael I think.

 

Amazing arena too

[wandshogun09]

Well, I saw my hero in the flesh and what you didn't see on camera was Sonnen peering down at Jones coming down the aisle and waving him down as if to say "stop wasting fucking time"

 

There was actually a brief shot of that during Jones' entrance. The camera panned across and you could see Chael waving Jones down.

 

"How's that fat man going to beat him?"

 

Yeah going off looks alone, you'd assume Cheick Kongo would murder Roy Nelson. Kongo would probably be the undefeated champ actually if it was a film. He looks like such a monster. Roy's fatman power is something to behold though isn't it.

 

Chael did have a dig at Wandy at the press conference so maybe he's already planting a seed there, knowing Wand will likely bite and respond. He said something like - "I got beat by the two best fighters in the sport. What am I going to do? Have them match me with Wanderlei Silva?" He said it with such a sarcastic tone as well.

[The Natural]

A weird night with all the injuries and noises, that's what the card will be remembered for. Interesting to think what would have happened had Jones/Sonnen gone past the first round. I can't imagine them letting Jones go back out there if a doctor or referee spotted that. I like Kevin Mulhall from the couple of fights I've seen him referee but that was a bad call calling for a break between Nelson/Kongo when they were in the clinch. While the result wasn't what I wanted, Healy/Miller was one of my favourite fights this year.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Healy vs. Miller was the only real bright spot of this card. The rest... normally when I have low expectations for a card I get pleasantly surprised, with all the weirdness with injuries and controversial finishes it didn't even meet those low expectations.

 

Props to Jones for beating Chael handily with a broken foot. Crazy to think if Chael survived that barrage and made it to the horn, he'd be the LHW champ. Totally different situation, but it's really the story of his career, isn't it? So close to the pinnacle only to fall short. Interestingly, when the commentators brought up that it was Chael's 3rd shot at UFC gold, I immediately thought of Kenny Florian, and based on his post-fight speech, it looks like Chael is following KenFlo's path.

[reychampion]

While not the greatest UFC event, I did enjoy it. Nelson's big right was spectacular, there was some lively undercard scraps, the miller match was constant action, Bisping looked very smooth and Jones looked unbeatable.

 

How Jones messed his big toe up so much, i don't no. Credit him for keeping going, even though he hadn't noticed - the effect of adrenlin i guess. Not sure where Sonnen goes now, clearly not at the level to win titles so I'm guessing he'll go for more grudge matches.

 

Did seems a bit of a cursed card with all the eye pokes and injuries.

 

Finally for reason's I can't explain, I felt so nervous during the Bisping fight. Really wanted him to win but there always seems to be a chance of him getting KO'd with the right shot. Really hoping he gets a match with a title shot on the line, still praying for a Silva/Bisping title fight here in the UK - it has the potential to draw big although the likelyhood isn't high. A guy can dream