Light Heavyweight Championship Bout: Jon “Bones” Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
What happened? Jon Jones was able to use his sheer length and versatility of striking to completely confuse Rampage. Feeding Rampage a steady diet of leg, body, and head shots, Jones ultimately broke Jackson’s spirit in route to submitting him via rear naked choke for the first time in over 10 years early in the fourth round. I think that saying Jones’ performance was anything less than surgical would be doing the champion an injustice. Outside of seeing some of his takedowns stuffed, Jon Jones did exactly what he wanted, when he wanted to do it. Jackson, for his part, did his best to keep up but Jones proved to be just plain too much to handle.
What does it mean? After watching this fight, I’m beginning to wonder if even the sky can limit Jones. While I had him picked to win, I did expect Rampage to give him trouble and make him earn every inch of the defense of his title. Once again, however, Jon Jones left everyone scratching their heads in amazement. For Rampage, it’s back to the drawing board. I applaud him for showing true focus in the training for this fight, and his great takedown defense, but to truly come back and challenge for the title again, Jackson must evolve. He’s become far too content to just box given his ability to end fights in one punch. He must now realize the deadly truth of how condemning being a one dimensional fighter is when facing well rounded competitors or face the fate of fading into irrelevance in the division.
Welterweight Bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Matt Hughes
What happened? Matt Hughes came out looking to prove that he could still hang with the best, and for those of us feeling nostalgic over the iron grip he once held on the division, it looked like he might do it. Hughes got a few good punches through before reality set in. Koscheck brought the hammer down on any hope Hughes had of staying meaningful in the shark tank that is the UFC welterweight class, and pounded Hughes out in brutal fashion. My hat goes off to Hughes for looking to make a real fight of it, but Koscheck, for all his failures at championship level glory, will not be going away anytime soon.
What does it mean? Yes, Koscheck had to overcome a few hiccups early on, but he proved that he’s still up there within the welterweight ranks. He won’t be challenging for the title again anytime in the near future, but he’s got a solid place for himself battling it out amongst the elite of the division. Hughes on the other hand (and I hate to say it) may have finally come to the end of his career. He made statements leading people to believe that he still has some fight left in him, but as far as I’m concerned, there is no shame in walking away now on what has been an epic career.
Heavyweight Bout: Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt
What happened? Mark Hunt threw everything but the kitchen sink at Ben Rothwell including several takedowns and submission attempts….something NOBODY saw coming from Mark “take me down to beat me” Hunt. Rothwell wouldn’t go away despite taking some of Hunt’s best power shots and getting out grappled, but from the middle of the second round on, he looked as if he might have a heart attack. Hunt tired quickly after, and from that point on it was a match revolving around who had the most gas left in their tank. At the end of the bout, it was Mark Hunt who proved himself to be the better fighter.
What does it mean? Ben Rothwell needs to sit down and seriously re-evaluate his game. Even though Hunt has made great strides in improving his ground skills, the fact remains that Rothwell got out grappled by a man who, up until last night, was a laughing stock amongst fans for his lack of submission defense. Hunt turned some heads and demonstrated that he’s not done learning all of the facets of MMA by putting in some solid work into developing his skills on the matt. If he wants to truly make an impact on the heavyweight division however, he must also put some major time into taking care of his cardio. A few more minutes, and it might very well have been Rothwell on the winning side of things.
Heavyweight Bout: Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton
What happened? Travis Browne looked like he was getting warmed up in the first round against Broughton. From then on however, both men fatigued and the rest of the fight was really not the conquest we expected from Browne considering the brutal knockout win he was coming from going into this fight. Granted, he won the fight both standing and on the ground aside from a late kimura attempt from Broughton. But the way in which he won was only ho-hum.
What does it mean? As with Mark Hunt and Ben Rothwell, both fighters need to but some serious time in on the stairmaster. Whereas the Hunt/Rothwell fight was at least entertaining, this fight was almost a burden to watch. Browne still has potential, but absolutely must up his endurance in order to continue making a splash. Broughton proved here that he might best be used as a low-to-mid tier gatekeeper for up and coming heavyweights.
Lightweight Bout: Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz
What happened? Once again, the lengthier fighter in Nate Diaz absolutely flustered the powerful but one dimensional Gomi. Diaz established his reign early on and just dominated to the point that he was even just taunting Gomi to try and land anything significant. In desperation, Gomi took the fight to the ground where he found, like he did when facing Nate’s older brother Nick, that the Diaz Brothers’ ground games are not to be messed with. Diaz locked in a triangle choke and quickly transitioned to an arm bar for the submission victory.
What does it mean? Nate Diaz re-affirmed his status as a potential contender with his return to the lightweight playing field. His lack of strength and his inability to deal with high caliber wrestlers are still issues he needs to address, but he’s still a handful for anyone he faces. Gomi, I’m afraid, is just too much of a one trick fighter to be competing at this level. The “Fireball Kid” who ruled the Pride lightweights with his powerful boxing and solid wrestling has become a shell who just swings wildly in the hopes that the game ending punch will land. If he sticks around, Gomi needs to do some epic levels of work to break out of the funk he’s in.
Well my friends, that is UFC 135 in a nutshell. I had a lot of fun watching and writing on this event, and I hope you’ve enjoyed following it. Until next time, keep those hands up and stay ready for the next hit to come from the unpredictable world of MMA. And before I go, special thanks to Buffalo Wild Wings for providing free showings of the fight.
- The Blue Eyed Ronin
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