UFC 140: Jones vs Machida

[JWGunslinger]

Main card
•Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Jon Jones (c) vs. Lyoto Machida
•Heavyweight bout: Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
•Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Antônio Rogério Nogueira
•Welterweight bout: Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole
•Featherweight bout: Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung

Preliminary card (Ion Television)
•Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac
•Middleweight bout: Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou
•Lightweight bout: John Makdessi vs. Dennis Hallman
•Bantamweight bout: Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson

Preliminary card (Facebook)
•Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz
•Welterweight bout: Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht
•Lightweight bout: Mitch Clarke vs. John Cholish


Saturday's card has the making of one of the best we've seen in a while, the fights are stacked from the bottom on up and we're in for some great stuff.

Mitch Clarke vs John Cholish
Two relative unknowns here, but I expect these two young men to put on a show as they look to prove they deserve to fight at the highest level of competition in the sport. Clarke is a young Canadian fighter from Saskatchewan sporting a record of 9-0, and although he hasn’t fought any notable opponents he seems to have a decent knack for submissions as he has finished 6 of his fights this way. Cholish is a Jersey boy who’s got slick subs as well, then again you kind of have to if you train under Renzo Gracie. He’s 7-1 and he holds a submission win over TUF 12 cast member Marc Stevens in Strikeforce. Clarke is talented but here he’s outmatched by a guy who has more experience fighting on a bigger stage and with better ground skills. I see Clarke trying his luck on the ground but ending up tapping himself.
Cholish by Submission(Guillotine)

Rich Attonito vs Jake Hecht
Here I expect the guy with the experience and tougher competition in the past to come out on top. Hecht has only fought two notable fighters, he beat TUF 13 cast member Charlie Radar by decision and then more recently lost a decision to now UFC fighter Che Mills. Attonito meanwhile made his way to the UFC through The Ultimate Fighter season 11, he didn’t win the show but won some pride by TKO’ing loudmouth and fellow cast mate Jamie Yager at the TUF 11 finale. Since then he has gone 2-1, first scoring a major upset over Rafael Natal, then dropping a decision to Dave Branch and boucing back win a decision over Daniel Roberts at 170 lbs. I see Hecht being over powered in this fight and losing a decision, although you can’t take much from his experience I do think that if he could survive against Che Mills for 3 rounds he will probably lose but he won’t be finished, if he is it’ll be a TKO from not defending.
Attonito by Decision

Mark Bocek vs Nik Lentz
Nik Lentz, the puzzle that nobody in the UFC has been able to solve. Since coming to the company at UFC 103 he has gone 5-0-2 with a majority draw against Thiago Tavarez and a DQ that was originally a Rear Naked Choke Loss to Charles Oliveira, he holds wins over notable opponents such as Tyson Griffin and Rob Emerson. Bocek has really been on a roll since losing to Mac Danzig at UFC 83. Since then he’s gone 4-2 but has been improving ever time we see him and his only other losses were to top guys Frankie Edgar,Jim Miller and Ben Henderson. I can definitely say that Bocek is Lentz’s toughest match since Oliveira and I see him having a lot of trouble with the Canadian. If Lentz doesn’t manage to avoid losing by DQ again then I see Bocek being the first man to hand him a loss in the octagon.
Bocek by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)

Yves Jabouin vs Walel Watson
Yves Jabouin made his way to the big show the hard way, he was facing tough competition like Sam Stout and Jonathan Brookins long before even making it to the big leagues. Once there it didn’t get any easier as he had hard fought battles with Mark Hominick, Rafael Assuncao and Brandon Visher. You’d think by the time he got to the UFC he’d catch a break but his debut ended with him on the wrong end of a highlight reel flying triangle choke from Pablo Garza, but in his most recent fight he picked up his first UFC win over Ian Loveland at UFC 134. Walel is a fighter that I am not familiar with, that’s no surprise though because this guy hasn’t fought anyone notable and almost all of his fights took place in Tijuana, Mexico. So his competition is questionable but he has never gone out of the second round and 7 of his nine wins are by submission, he won his UFC debut by TKO against another newcomer. If Walel is legit then he’ll win this if it goes to the ground, but Jabouin is striker and a pretty darn good one at that.
Jabouin by KO

John Makdessi vs Dennis Hallman
Here we have a battle between a true veteran of the sport and a rising star looking to prove his worth. Any hardcore fight fan knows the name Dennis Hallman, known for his battles with the likes of Jens Pulver and one of few men who can say he’s submitted Matt Hughes, and he’s done it twice. He made his return to the octagon after time in smaller organizations, and lost to John Howard but bounced back quickly with a decision over Ben Saunders and an impressive knock out over Karo Parisyan. Most recently he battled another MMA vet in Brian Ebersole but came up short, losing by TKO late in the first round. Now he comes in to UFC 140 to prove that he still has what it takes to beat the younger talent and looks to pick up his 51st MMA win. John Makdessi meanwhile will be looking to add to his legacy by defeating such a respected fighter as Hallman, and so far he’s been making a hell of a name for himself. The young Canadian fighter holds a record of 9-0 so far, with all but two being finished by knockout. Since coming to the UFC he has won two fights, the first a decision to Pat Audinwood and an incredible spinning backfist knockout over TUF 12 cast member Kyle Watson. When this fight is on the feet I have no doubt that Makdessi will beat up on Hallman, but if Hallman can avoid that he’ll take care of business the way he always does and pick up the submission. Any fight with either of these men is exciting, so having the two of them against each other is sure to be fireworks.
Hallman by Submission(Kimura)

Jared Hamman vs Constantinos Phillippou
This one should be a very entertaining stand up war at 185 between team Serra trained Phillipou and team VMAT member Jared Hamman. Phillipou is probably best known for his recently battle with Jorge Rivera at UFC 133 where he won a Split Decision after a 3 round war. Before that fight he made his UFC debut at UFC 128 where he lost a Decision to Nick Catone, snapping a 7 fight win streak after losing his MMA debut to Ricardo Romero. Hamman is a guy who has never had a boring fight, in his 13 wins 10 of those were finished by TKO, 2 by submission and one decision. Before coming to the UFC he went 11-1 picking up wins over UFC fighters Travis Wuiff and Aaron Rosa. Since his debut in the organization he has gone 2-2, not the most impressive on paper but he has put on outstanding performances in all these fights, picking up impressive wins over Rodney Wallace in a Fight Of The Night performance and most recently a TKO win over CB Dolloway. This should be a great brawl if Constantinos is willing to stand with Hamman, I’ll bet that he doesn’t finish him as Jared has one of the better chins around.
Hamman by Decision

Krzysztof Soszynski vs Igor Pokrajac
With the recent loss of Mirko Cro Cop the UFC has been lacking a Croatian presence, on Saturday we will see a young man who is one of the top young prospects to attempt to fill that void when Igor Pokrajac steps into the octagon. He had a rocky start in the company dropping a decision to Vladimir Matyushenko and suffering a TKO loss to James Te Huna, but bounced back with a win over feared striker James Irvin by Rear Naked Choke. He then faced a major step up in competition facing respected veteran Stephan Bonnar and losing a decision, but most recently returned to his winning ways with an impressive TKO win over Todd Brown. Pokrajac may not have the talent of Cro Cop but I do believe he’s underrated and alongside Stipe Miocic could be the new star of his home country, but he’s got his hands full against fellow European Krzysztof Soszynski. Polish standout Soszynski has been kicking ass and taking names since his time on The Ultimate Fighter 8, and has scored notable wins over Brian Stann and Stephan Bonnar. Despite setbacks to Brandon Vera and Bonnar in a rematch, he has regained his momentum with two straight wins over Goran Reljic and Mike Massenzio. In this fight Igor will most likely have the speed advantage but Krzysztof has power and submissions in his corner. I expect him to use his superior size and strength to hold Igor against the cage to minimize his opponent’s offense and have an easier time inflicting damage on Pokrajac.
Soszynski by TKO

Mark Hominick vs Chan Sung Jung
Yet another match up that is very unlikely to be boring as recent title challenger Mark Hominick takes on The Korean Zombie Chan Sung Jung. Hominick has been a force in MMA for some time now, a former longtime TKO Featherweight Champion in Canada, he has made his way from promotion to promotion over the years and now has come back home to the UFC. He first fought in the promotion back in the day at UFC 58 when he submitted Yves Edwards and then again when he won a Decision over Jorge Gurgel at UFC Fight Night 2. After that he went to other promotions like TKO and WEC where he continued his winning ways before returning to the UFC in the WEC merger earlier this year, picking up a quick and dominant win over George Roop. This win earned him a title fight against Jose Aldo and did he fight his heart out, he went 5 rounds with the champ and nearly won the fight several times but ended up losing the decision, now he looks to bounce back with a win over fellow standout Chan Sung Jung. Before making his way to the UFC this young Korean superstar compiled a record of 10-3, and although he lost his two fights in the WEC his battle with Leonard Garcia earned him the honor of not only Fight Of The Night but Fight Of The Year as well. Then in March he made his UFC debut in a rematch against Garcia, but this time it was Jung who picked up the win when he submitted him with a Twister submission. This marked the first time this submission was used in the UFC and he earned yet another double honor of receiving awards for Submission Of The Night and Submission Of The Year. Both of these guys have very impressive credentials, will this fight win bonuses? I saw it’s very likely and although Jung is a very formidable opponent, I believe after what we saw from Mark in his last fight there won’t be any stopping him.
Hominick by KO

Claude Patrick vs Brian Ebersole
This one I’m not too interested in, I hope Ebersole wins it but I don’t really care too much about either guy to be honest. Ebersole has quietly been building an impressive record of 48-14 since 2000. He’s always fought in smaller organizations but he’s still fought tough competition despite this, some men he’s faced include Stephan Bonnar, Ed Herman and he holds wins over Matt Horwitch, Shannon Rich and Carlos Newton. Since coming to the UFC in February he’s picked up very impressive wins over vets Chris Lytle and Dennis Hallman, and he looks to pick up another over Claude Patrick. Another man who found plenty of success before coming to the bright lights of the UFC, Patrick came in with a record of 11-1 with all his wins coming by choke or TKO and his sole loss coming from Drew McFedries. Since coming to the UFC he’s gone 3-0 with a submission win over Ricardo Funch and two Decisions over Daniel Roberts and James Wilks. Patrick is a great fighter and one of the best Canada has to offer but I see Ebersole’s experience and skill taking this one.
Ebersole by Submission(Kneebar)

Tito Ortiz vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
As long as this fight goes the way I want it to I do not care what happens on the rest of the card, that is how important this fight is to me. Tito Ortiz recently picked up some much needed momentum with a Guillotine win over standout Ryan Bader. It revived his fading career and brought many of his old fans back out of hiding since he hadn’t had a win since 2006. He then filled in for an injured Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 133 in a rematch with Rashad Evans, where he lost in a valiant effort by TKO. Now he looks to refuel the fire with a win over Pride star Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Lil Nog is a very respected vet in the MMA world, especially for his time in Pride where he defeated top fighters like Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba and Alistair Overeem on two separate occasions. He came to the UFC and picked up an impressive TKO win over rising star Luiz Cane, and then followed it up with a close Decision win over Jason Brilz, but since then though he has lost some steak, dropping two straight decisions to wrestling powerhouses Ryan Bader and Phil Davis. Nog hasn’t been quite the same fighter since coming to the promotion but he’s still a tough SOB and a very difficult fight for anyone, I see him giving Tito a lot of problems with his stand up. However I am a big Tito fan and I’m standing by him, I’m going for a Tito Decision with him using his wrestling to control the fight, but odds are this one goes to Nog.
Ortiz by Decision

Frank Mir vs Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira
One of the greatest in UFC history clashes with one of the greatest of Pride when Big Nog faces off against Frank Mir in this epic heavyweight rematch of their coaches fight from The Ultimate Fighter 8.Frank Mir is a guy who’s been with the brand since the early days of his MMA career, since his second professional fight he has spent the rest of his career fighting in the UFC compiling a record of 13-5 with the record for most wins in the heavyweight division. He has faced everyone from Brock Lesnar to Mirko Cro Cop and beaten most of them, among his most notable victories is the man he will face this Saturday. December 8th 2008, Frank Mir and Antonio Nogeuira faced off after coaching opposing teams on The Ultimate Fighter, before this fight Nog had never been finished in his professional career and Mir had a very large task in front of him in taking on one of the most respected and fear heavyweights of all time. But in this fight it was not Nogueira once again coming out on top, but Mir showcasing his improved stand up skills and putting on one of the best performances of his career, dominated the former Pride Champion and finishing him off with a TKO in the second round to become the first man to stop him. After this fight Antonio went on to fight three more times, defeating Randy Couture in an entertaining war but then went on to be brutally knocked out by future champion Cain Velasquez. Then he took a year before he returned to the octagon when he returned at UFC 134 to silence loud mouth Brendan Schaub who needed to learn how to respect his elders the hard way, Nogueira knocked him out in the first round, returning to the octagon in style ready to fight Frank Mir. Meanwhile Mir went on to fight Brock Lesnar for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship but came up short in a valiant effort. After that fight Mir wanted to get right back into contention, he was matched up with heavyweight gatekeeper Cheick Kongo and rocked him early before sinking in a tight guillotine choke to finish off the french striker, this earned him a interim title fight against Shane Carwin. Mir may have been coming into this fight hot, but Shane Carwin was undefeated and had just knocked out several tough fighters and unfortunately Frank was next on that list and suffered a knockout loss. Since that loss Mir has made vast changes to his workout regime and how he trains, and this has resulted in two straight wins over Mirko Cro Cop and Roy Nelson. This is an interesting fight as we don’t know what to expect from Nog who was thought to be done after the loss to Velasquez, but Schaub did hurt him a bit before getting knocked out so I have a feeling his chin will defintely be a major factor and I think it’ll let him down in this one. He proved he’s still got it in his last fight but I do not think that he has what it takes to get revenge on Mir. I see this fight going a lot like it did last time but in the end this fight will be finished in a much more brutal fashion.
Mir by KO

Jon Jones vs Lyoto Machida
Jon Jones, the hottest hype train currently in the UFC, but considering what he has done it is well warranted. Jones had his first professional fight in April of 2008, by August he had fought 6 times and won his UFC debut against Andre Gusmao. After that he went on to go 5-1 from January 2009 to February of this year, picking up wins over notables such as Stephan Bonnar, Ryan Bader and Brandon Vera, with his only loss being a DQ that he would have won against Matt Hamill for a BS 12 to 6 elbow rule. Then he got his shot at Mauricio Rua’s Light Heavyweight title two PPVs after he defeated Bader and demolished “Shogun” to become the youngest champion in UFC history. He then fought feared striker and former Light Heavyweight Champion Rampage Jackson at UFC 135 where he became the first man to stop Rampage in the octagon, submitting him with a rear naked choke in the 4th round. Now he faces a very difficult task in taking on former Champion Lyoto Machida. For Machida this fight is about getting back what he worked so hard for and proving that he is still at the top of the sport and his division. Machida’s early career was very impressive like Jones’s but instead of winning a bunch of fights in a short peroid of time he made a name for himself by defeating big names. Before making it to the UFC he defeated legends of the sport like Stephan Bonnar, BJ Penn, Rich Franklin and Vernon White. He made his debut in 2007 at 8-0 and from his debut to the beginning of 2009 he won 6 straight fights with wins over guys like Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva and Kazuhiro Nakamura. Then he had his golden opportunity to become a champion and he did just that, he knocked out recently crowned Rashad Evans and took the title to hold onto for a long time, unfortunatly for him Mauricio Rua was in his future. In his first title defense at UFC 104 Lyoto won a Decision over Rua that was very controversial, so much so that his next defense was a rematch at UFC 113. But this time it was Shogun who was victorious, knocking out Machida and putting the first dent in his record making him 16-1. After that the bad luck continued when he lost a split decision to Rampage at UFC 123, yet another controversial battle but one that stuck. Finally Lyoto got back in the winner’s circle with an incredible front crane kick that knocked out Randy Couture and sent him into retirement which has brought him to where he is now getting a shot at the belt that once lived around his waist. In the past I would have said that Machida’s style would win him this fight but now that his stand up riddle has been solved it is not the same threat it used to be, mix that with Jon’s athleticism and reach to get a bad night for Machida. I hope that he can do something to defeat Jones but I don’t see it happening. Jones by TKO

Bonus Predictions
Fight Of The Night:Jared Hamman vs Constantinos Phillipou
Knockout Of The Night:Mark Hominick
Submission Of The Night:Mark Bocek

 

[jmt225]

Hell of a main card for this show.

The main event between Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida... let me tell you, I'm 90% sure this will be another dominating performance for Jones. Regardless, there's still that 10% of doubt, because at the end of the day, more than anything else, STYLES MAKE FIGHTS, and you just never know... Machida's styl very well may be the style to dethrone the seemingly unstoppable Jon Jones. I wouldn't bet on it, but it wouldn't surprise me either if Machida somehow wins this fight, because let's face it, Shogun is the only person to make Machida look bad, and that was because Shogun presented a style Machida couldn't counter attack. Against everybody else though... Machida has looked pretty much unbeatable himself (and yes, that goes for the Rampage fight as well since if that fight were 5 Rounds, there's absolutely no doubt Machida would have finished Rampage off in the 4th or 5th Round).

Either way, it's a fun main event, and while I have absolutely nothing against Jon Jones, I'm still sort of rooting for Machida to get an upset. Behind Shogun and Mousasi, Machida is my favorite fighter at 205 and I'd be really happy for him were he to come out on top Saturday. However, if Jones' reign continues, I won't bitch because the guy represents everything an MMA Champion should represent and is pretty much the perfect man to lead the charge as the UFC becomes more and more exposed to the American audience.

Big Nog vs. Frank Mir is an awesome co-main event and a fight I'm very much looking forward. I'm a big fan of both guys, but I'm rooting for Big Nog big time here. I'm also rooting for this fight to become a ground war, rather than a stand-up war, and that's unusual for me, but I think this fight would be more entertaining with these two going for subs on the ground rather than throwing bombs on the feet.

Both of these guys rose up the Heavyweight ranks because of their Jiu-Jitsu skills, but we haven't seen either of these guys on the ground in a VERY long time. They both have been knocking people out or getting knocked out themselves.

Regardless if it goes to the ground or not, this fight is anyone's game. People are counting Big Nog out, but the fact is... he has one punch knockout power, as does Mir. It's anybody's game on the feet, same for the ground. Hard fight to call in my opinion, but Big Nog has my full fledged support.

Little Nog vs. Tito... Tito's simply going to get boxed up this entire fight. Little Nog's takedown defense is highly underrated, while Tito can't get a takedown after the 1st Round. Plus, Tito is feeling confident in his stand-up anyway, so I'm sure he'll want to test it here. I'm sorry, but anyone who gets beat on the feet by Matt fucking Hamill is not going to give Little Nog a good fight standing up. I don't think Nog has the power to finish Tito, but he'll dominate him for 3 Rounds.

Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole... kind of an unfair fight for Ebersole since he's been on such a role lately and shouldn't be used as someone to test a fighter to see if he's legit or not, but this should be a good one nonetheless. While Patrick has looked promising in his fights in the UFC, Ebersole has looked FANTASTIC in his last couple of fights and I just don't see him losing to a prospect. Hopefully it just turns out to be a great fight.

Mark Hominick vs. Korean Zombie should be a fun scrap. I see Hominick winning, but will be rooting big time for my main man KZ. If he fights smart KZ should have a few advantages over Hominick, but if he gets in a brawl like usual... it's Hominick's fight to lose. Here's hoping for the former...

And the prelim fights couldn't suck more ass. I don't give a damn about a single one.

 

[INDYjon22]

Should be solid. I'm looking forward to a few of the main card fights.

Machida vs. Jones should be a lot of fun. A lot of people I hear talking are saying Jones is gonna run through Machida. I don't think this will be the case. I don't like Machida but he has the perfect kind of striking to combat a guy like Jones. Jones loves to come forward, sometimes in a sloppy manner, Machida is the best counter striker in the UFC right now and could easily catch Jones and finish him. That said, I think Jones long arms and legs will be able to keep Machida honest and at a distance. Jones is going to either decision Machida or pick up a TKO around round 3.

Big Nog vs. Mir is four year overdue. I love Big Nog and when he got beat by Mir is damn near broke my heart. Mir is a very solid fighter and a win here would surely shoot him up into contenders status again, however, his previous win over Nog was when Nog was way less then 100%. If Nog is at 100% tonight then I believe he will either KO Mir or get the submission. I don't care how good Mir is on the ground, Nog is better.

Lil' Nog vs. Tito could be another good fight. Tito has been a banger as of late and I don't know if that is the best idea against Lil' Nog. Tito should use his wrestling and ground n' pound to beat Nog. However, he needs to be careful of Nog's submission skills, as well as his deadly boxing.

Sung Jung vs. Hominick should be a great scrap. Both guys love to bang and this could turn into a late year contender for fight of the year. I believe Hominick is the better fighter though, and expect him to pull of the decision.

 

[Fizzy]

Machida is the best counter striker in the UFC right now

Erm, not quite. There happens to be a 185 pound menace that you seem to have forgotten. Check my sig.

Anyways, i'll be ordering this show because Jones has quickly become one of my must see fighters. The guy is so fucking good, it's unbelievable and honestly, this is the only real test left for him. Machida is a superb striker with great TDD. He judges distance better than most fighters and is incredibly quick when moving in and out. The question is, can he overcome the monster reach that Jones possesses? I doubt it, but it's MMA, anything is possible.

Mir/Nog should be a great fight. I've got Nog winning, but that may just be my inner fanboy talking. As much as it kills me, I have Lil Nog beating Tito. I think his TDD and boxing will light Tito up all fight leading him to a 30-27 UD. Hopefully I am wrong. Don't care about the Patrick/Ebersole fight. K-Zombie and Hominick should be a fucking WAR and I cannot wait. Other than that, nothing on the undercard matters. Hallman will be released even if he wins. He failed to make weight by two pounds in his first fight since the infamous dick slip incident. Fucking idiot...

 

[JWGunslinger]

Hell of a show last night, aside from one of two results I wasn't thrilled by and one bout that didn't deliver no matter who you wanted I would say that UFC 140 was a definite success. The highlights of the preliminary card were the excellent performances by Dennis Hallman, Igor Pokrajac and Constaninos Phillipou.

Hallman dominated his opponent from the start, taking him down early and working on him from the back and mount until he finally sank a nice rear naked choke in the 1st, hopefully his dominant performance puts him in a better light after missing weight.

Pokrajac surprised me with his power and how much bigger he looks since his last fight, he came in hard and fast without hesitation and had Soszynski backing up quickly intil he pounded him out on the ground for his biggest win in the octagon.

Phillipou definitely had the most exciting performace on the undercard when he dominated Jared Hamman and hit him with many big power punches and dropped him several times before finishing him. The resiliance of Hamman was a testament to his great chin, after taking the first big bomb he recovered almost instantly but Phillipou kept pouring on the heat and really impressed me.

The main card as a whole was very entertaining minus Brian Ebersole vs Claude Patrick, it was a close fight but neither man did anything worth mentioning. Neither did any real damage, the spent most of the match in a very inaffective clinch for either of them and Patrick seems to only know how to do one submission as he went for the anaconda about 5 times.

Chan Sung Jung on the other hand looked great when he picked up his 7 second knockout of Mark Hominick. I was really worried about him coming in overconfident, I knew he had the skills to take it but he gets really up on himself after a good performace and sure enough he waded way into his first punch and payed for it dearly. While I'm sad for Mark(especially with his trainer Shawn Tompins passing recently) I'm also very happy for Jung, he's extremely entertaining and I was happy to see him pick up another win.

The Lil Nog-Ortiz fight was a disappointment, I was hoping if Tito did lose that it would be in a good 3 round battle but unfortunatly he took a big shot to the ribs where he was screwed up by Rashad in his last fight and Nog capitolized by hitting him with some nasty ground and pound to that spot until the ref stopped it. Nog did a great job in this fight, winning on the feet and going after the injured ribs but in a totally unbaised way I am more impressed by Tito. I am impressed because as soon as he feel from that knee I thought he was done, but he continuously took major punishment to his busted ribs and did not give up, you could see the pain he was in with every shot but he stayed in there and tried to survive to the next round and I was incredibly impressed, it's part of why I love the guy.

Frank Mir vs Big Nog was the highlight of the night for me, especially after the letdown of seeing Ortiz lose yet again. When the fight started I was very worried, Frank looked like absolute shit on his feet. He looked slow, in horrible condition compared to UFC 107 Mir and seemed like he was about to get wrecked by a Nog who fought phenomenally. Then he got pounded and started to fall to the ground and I thought it was over, then somehow by the graces of god Frank locked on that Kimura and followed Nog as he rolled. I honestly was 99 percent sure Nog would get out just because he's Nog but man when Frank cranked that arm I was so surprised and excited at the same time it blew me away. I felt horrible for Nog and knew instantly that his arm was bad but that moment when it happened was nothin but joy for a Mir fan, especially after such a horrible start.

Jones vs Machida was much better than I expected, I saw either Jones demolishing him instantly or both of them staying away the entire fight and having go to a horribly boring decision. But it was anything but, after a pretty short feeling out process they exchanced kicks and bounced in and out for punches for a very entertaining first round where Machida actually looked like he had a chance when he caught Jones. The second round though was where Jones finally got what he needed, delivered a gnarley elbow that split open Machida and then after having it looked at by the doctor he slapped on a great standing guillotine to finish off the former champion. Nobody can dispute that Jones has had the most amazing year of any fighter in MMA, he defeated 4 extremely talented men, won the Light Heavyweight title at 24 and defended it twice against two legendary champions. 2011 belongs to Jon Bones Jones.

 

[INDYjon22]

Very sad, but very fun show last night.

Jon Jones is the man. Plain and simple. Machida tested him on the feet, and Jones passes with flying colors and an incredibly sick standing guillotine. The last real test for Jones at LHW is Rashad Evans. That fight needs to happen next, as long as Shad beats Davis.

Big Nog looked really good, but Mir did impress me. I hate Mir but that kimura was amazing. Such a great grappling match. It was a wonderful thing to watch go down. I hope Nog can rehab that arm and come back better. Mir should be in a contenders fight with someone, don't really know who but I'd love to see him get his face beat in by the winner of the SFGP or Big Foot Silva.

Shame to see Tito get beat up like he did. Lil' Nog looked very good and those body shots were nasty. Hopefully Nog can turn around and fight on the Japan card next. I know Rampage is busy, but a fight with Page in Japan would be awesome.

Chan Sung Jung looked awesome in his fight against Hominick. Zombie may be ready for a run at the belt in 2012. I've been a pretty big critic of him since his WEC debut, but he made me a fan last night.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

What a show!! 10 finishes out of 12 fights, you don't see that to often. We might have seen the best back to back ppv shows in recent times with 139 and 140.

Prelims - Cannot believe Attonito lost after he was in clear control of that fight. He just got caught. How many punches did he suffer to the back of the neck, my God.

Cholish looked pretty good, reminds me of a skinny Cena. Clarke is probably a one and done for the UFC.

Lentz/Bocek, I don't think anyone thought that would be an entertaining fight, they proved us right, Bocek just Fitched himself to a win (Sorry Jon ).

Jabouin/Watson pretty entertaining fight, some wild stuff was thrown between the two. Definitely a close fight, whatever judge scored it 30-27 was definitely on some of Canada's finest.

Wasn't expecting Hallman to dominate like that, at least until they squared off, when you seen the huge size difference. Hallman had me pissed after he weighed in heavy, didn't even attempt to shed the extra weight, just took the 20% purse hit. He did at least look sincere about being pissed for missing the weight in the post fight interview.

Man, can Hamman take a beating without being put to sleep. Philippou looked great. Definitely the best he looked yet in the UFC, same can be said for Pokrajac, just dominated Krzyztof. I was laughing at Mike Goldberg when he said Pokrajac was making a name for himself by beating Tod Brown and James Irvin before the fight started.

Main Card - Just WOW for the Korean Zombie! Definitely a dumb move by Hominick for starting like that, but KZ made him pay for it, tough lesson learned for Mark. I definitely didn't see Zombie winning that fight as well as many other educated mma followers. Hopefully he keeps this up, a date with Aldo or Mendes may be coming summer 2012.

Ebersole/Patrick the only other fight to go the distance, was alright. Nothing to special. Close fight though. For a guy that has 9 loses by submission he showed some nice sub defense, Ebersole is starting to make a nice run in the UFC. He should be getting a nice move up in competition in his next fight.

I couldn't believe the amount of people that thought Tito was going to win this fight. Of course it's easy to say this after the fight has happened, but before the fight I said Tito really doesn't stand a chance. A lot of people were saying Tito would just use his wrestling and get the decision, because of Lil' Nog's poor TDD. If you remember back to the Davis fight, Nog was defending everything for a long time, until Davis switched to a single. In noway did I see Tito who is much older, slower, less stronger than Davis pulling off the win. I would like to see Tito get that last fight honored though. He just needs to heal up his body, come back for that last fight, fall 2012.

I really thought for a second there that Big Nog was going to pull off the upset again. He had Mir badly hurt. Somehow Mir came to, we some great JJ transitions, to Mir then breaking his arm with a Kimura, just great awesomeness. Fun fact from this, Mir is the first person to KO and Sub Nog.

What a bunch of horseshit that 2 of 3 judges had the 1st round to Jones. Glad this fight didn't go the distance, would've sucked to see Machida lose based on that round. Luckily we didn't see it go that far as my fellow Western New Yorker dazzled once again. Back to the 1st round, Machida had that one as he landed the better more effective strikes, even stumbling Jones a little. All Jones had were a few leg kicks and a few other strikes. Once Jones scored the takedown in the 2nd and landed that elbow, that instantly opened a huge cut to Machida's forehead, you seen the tides shift rather quickly. Like Jones said, you could see his confidence soar after that. After that cut was checked, it was lights out with the standing Guillotine.