While I made no bones about my disappointment with the majority of the action at UFC 126 earlier today, several of the fights on the card were very important. And now today we are on the verge of some of the biggest possible fights in the sport. My opinion on the evening's quality notwithstanding it is a great time to be a fan of MMA.
UFC 126 Results: Mega-Fights On The Horizon
Regardless of the selective memory of many fans, Jon Jones did not enter the UFC as a can't miss prospect and he did not look unbeatable in his first few outings. In fact, Jones' first UFC fight had the youngster entering the cage as much as a +190 underdog against Andre Gusmao and the second time out he was yet again an underdog (as much as +162) against Stephan Bonnar. Granted, Gusmao was impressive in his time in the IFL and Bonnar was viewed as a crafty veteran who would likely be too much for Jones but it still speaks to the fact that Jones did not enter the UFC as a worldbeater.
In the Gusmao and Bonnar fights there were also some issues that Jones needed to work on. Against Gusmao he displayed his trademark flashy striking but he also left defensive openings and took some decent shots. When in with Bonnar he was incredible in the first two rounds but did appear to tire in the third (somewhat invalidating Joe Rogan's overly rosy view that we've "never seen Jones hit" and "never seen Jones tired"). But the improvement every time he has stepped into the cage is what makes him the phenom that he has become. Against Ryan Bader, Jones showed incredible awareness of spacing and used his length to do damage while never really allowing Bader to get strikes off or attempt much beyond desperate wrestling shots.
In the wake of his victory it was revealed that Rashad Evans had suffered a knee injury and was forced to pull out of his UFC 128 light heavyweight title shot against Mauricio Rua and Jones was now going to get the title shot. On March 28 we will get the chance to see if Jones can remove the "prospect" tag and become known as a champion. The bout promises to be a wonderful clash of styles with the wrecking muay thai and solid Brazilian jiu-jitsu game of Rua against Jones' unorthodox striking and incredible wrestling game. A recent MMA Mania poll shows as of the time of this article that 46% of fans feel Jones will win the title while 36% feel that Shogun will retain (with the remaining votes going to "other" categories). Even more interesting are the opening odds for the fight as Jones is a -150 favorite.
In addition to the guaranteed (barring injury) Jones vs. Shogun fight, we also appear closer than ever to a showdown between the sport's top two pound-for-pound fighters in Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre.
Silva retained his UFC middleweight championship at 126 with a stunning front kick KO of Vitor Belfort. With the victory Silva improved to 13-0 in the UFC. Meanwhile, St. Pierre has gone 15-2 in the UFC and has not been so much as mildly tested in over three years while running through the best welterweights in the world.
A battle between Silva and St. Pierre was often dismissed as “not necessary” by UFC president Dana White but he recently played up the idea that both men had almost “cleaned out their divisions” and that once they had a superfight would be put together. Here are White’s quotes from a recent ESPN piece:
"What happened is they're both close to cleaning out their division. If Anderson (Silva) beats Vitor Belfort and (Georges) St. Pierre beats Jake Shields, seriously, what's left for them?"
"It's a fun fight to do."
"The fans [understand] that (moving up weight classes is a long-standing tradition for any elite fighter). No doubt about it. That's what I love about this fight. I'm all about legacy. That's what matters more than the money. I love it if a guy will go up for a super fight like this. Anderson Silva has already moved up and fought at 205. For 'GSP' to do it, I think it's big for his legacy."
Silva did his part in vanquishing Belfort and it appears that all that is left is for GSP to get past Jake Shields at UFC 128. Dana made it clear that people shouldn’t be quick to write off Shields:
"I've been saying this fight is all just a dream fight right now. And everybody keeps acting like he's going to get past (Jake) Shields. I think Jake Shields loves that (expletive)," UFC President Dana White pointed out when speaking about GSP vs. Silva. "Jake Shields has been a low key guy his entire career and a lot of people don't realize what a record this kid has.
"I know how I felt, and I know how everybody in this room felt right now, and if you say otherwise you're a liar, thought that Dan Henderson was going to kill him. Dan Henderson was going to kill him and so did Strikeforce, and he didn't. So you can't count Jake Shields out."
Shields didn't look impressive in his first UFC outing, a decision victory over Martin Kampmann. Still, Shields has a great ground game and would love to play the spoiler.
I don’t usually go into fights “rooting” for one fighter or another, long ago having the responsibilities of being part of the “media” erode that part of my fandom. But I know that I’ll be pulling for St. Pierre to dominate Shields and make the biggest fight in the sport a reality.
(Photo via MMA Weekly)
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