Hate him or love him, Jon Jones is here to stay. Proving the evolution of mixed martial arts, Jon Jones (14-1) established himself as the current and future of this ever growing sport. Displaying an array of diverse striking, defense, and grappling to complete tonight’s mission, Jones impressively retained his light heavyweight crown over the charismatic Quinton Jackson at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO.
In the opening seconds, Jones crouched down and crawled, attempting to go for the single leg. Jackson, weary of his opponent’s grappling strength averted and tried to force a boxing contest. It didn’t matter however, as Jones’ freakishly long reach allowed him to strike from the distance, landing a variety of leg kicks from all angles to keep his stalking opponent at bay.
In the third, Jones was able to take Jackson down and secure a full mount, followed by devastating elbows to the head. Jackson was cut above the eye and looked visibly worn out. Jones, aided by his plethora of tools, had his way by the fourth round. Again, securing a takedown, Jones went for the rear naked choke, and successfully sunk it in, forcing the former champion to tap at the 1:14 mark of the round.
It was another flawless performance by the young champion, who has now dominated Rampage, Shogun Rua, and Ryan Bader in his last three outings. With the win, the twenty-four year old former junior college wrestling champion moves on to face yet another tough opponent in Rashad Evans possibly slated for early 2012.
Jackson (32-9) was humble in defeat, crediting and recognizing his conqueror as a great fighter.
Two welterweights collided in hopes to rebound from their disappointing losses in previous bouts, but it was Josh Koschek (16-5) who got back on the winning track, stopping welterweight legend Matt Hughes in the first round. Both wrestlers kept the fight standing from the start of the bell and Hughes seemed to have the advantage in the early going. However, Koschek, the former NCAA Division-I champion began to find his mark, repeatedly landing hard right hands to buckle the hall of famer. Hughes valiantly fought back and went for a knee, but fell down, which cost him dearly as Koschek jumped on him immediately to land unanswered punches to the ear and temple area prompting the ref to call a halt to the fight.
With another knockout loss, it’s unclear where the former two time welterweight champion’s career stands. In the post fight interview, Hughes, now 45-9, refused to announce his retirement.
The effects of the Colorado altitude clearly showed in the heavyweight slugfest between Mark Hunt (7-7) and Ben Rothwell (39-8), as two big men somehow finished the grueling battle in three exhausting rounds. Rothwell’s takedown attempts were denied by Hunt, the former K-1 Grand Prix winner, who was able to utilize his superior boxing throughout the fight. In round two, Hunt, who’s notoriously known for his lack of grappling skills, managed to force takedowns against his tiring challenger and also landed blows that cause a cut above the eye. The Super Samoan pursued for the knockout in round three and nearly pulled it off with several hard shots, but Rothwell, seemingly out on his feet, somehow managed to survive and finished the fight. Hunt won unanimously on all three judges’ scorecards.
Faded veteran and former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi (33-8) suffered yet another loss, this time by the hands of Stockton’s Nate Diaz, who was able to outstrike his shorter opponent and then later finishing the living legend with a modified arm bar in the first round. Gomi , who hasn’t had much to offer since his arrival in the UFC, looked sloppy as he did against Clay Guida back in UFC 125 and succumbed to another submission loss. With the win, Diaz breaks his two fight losing streak and improves his ledger to 14-7.
