UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson

It’s tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime! UFC 165 kicks off in Toronto on Saturrday night with a legendary match between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. The first ever Swedish fighter in MMA to challenge for a title. Can Jones be stopped? How will Sweden’s biggest MMA star fair? A lot of questions indeed.

Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson
The main event. The biggest talent ever in MMA, Jon Jones will seek to defend his belt again, which I think he’ll do with ease. Gustafsson looks nervous, sloppy and unpolished in comparison. Round one TKO or round two submission for Jones. This man simply won’t be defeated in the coming five years.

Renan Barão vs Eddie Wineland
This is a fight I am very much looking forward to. I think Wineland is an exciting fighter and I love his personality. Barão on the other hand, is a beast. He is looking unstoppable right now and I think it will be a slug fest here with Wineland going down in the second round by TKO. But it will be entertaining for sure, maybe even the most entertaining fight of the card.

Brendan Schaub vs Matt Mitrione
Former TUF buddies will face each other in the octagon and these heavyweights know how to talk trash for sure. I think it’s a fun match and a very tough call. Earlier in his career Schaub looked sharper but now it seems that Mittrione is sharper. A very tough call. If Mittrione doesn’t knockout Schaub I expect a grinding decision victory, but to whom? I don’t know.

What are your thoughts on UFC 165?

The man who will remain the Light Heavyweight champion on Saturday.

MMA Madness

Every week now is fight week and not only that, but a great fight week every week. Madness? No, THIS! IS! UFC!

Coming up tonight is Ultimate Fighter 17 finale with Urijah Faber taking on Scott Jorgensen as the main event and also, of course, the finale of the Ultimate Fighter. Very exciting.

The week after that we have Henderson vs Melendez which is an insanely promising match-up that I have been wanting to see for a long time. Cannot wait for it.

And to wrap up the month, we have the main event of the main events: Jon Jones vs Chael Sonnen. I expect Sonnen to get killed here, or close to it, but I think it will be an entertaining fight from a fan perspective. Needless to say, April looks like the best month to be an MMA fan in a long time.

In all honesty, these two fights are more appealing to me than the others, but I know all of them will deliver entertainment for sure!

The new TUF season surprises

So I finished the two-hour premiere of the new TUF season and it didn’t really offer any true insight to what the season will be like as it was the try-outs for who gets to be in the house and who doesn’t. But what I can say is that the try-outs were by far the most interesting ones in terms of the fights and the surprise of the season already for me was that Chael Sonnen has taken on a very professional and mature attitude. How will this affect the season? Good question.

I am sure most of you expected Chael to be trash talking in his usual way and hype things up but this was not the case for the two hours I saw. He was very mature, calm, collected and professional. Sure, he talked a tiny bit of trash but it was done in elegant style and a fun way. I was in shock. Will this be a friendly and boring season? I certainly hope not. Now I don’t know what to expect.

What did you think of the first episode?

Team Sonnen!

TUF: Jones vs. Sonnen

A new season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has begun and you might remember me trashing the previous ones for getting stale, boring and predictable with clichés and boring… everything.

So can this season with the ultimate trash talker Chael P. Sonnen and the biggest talent in MMA history change it? We’ll see. I, of course, plan to watch this one (I didn’t finish the last one) from start to finish due to Chael.

I’ll get back to you with impressions after I’ve seen the two-hour premiere.

In my house there’s only team Chael Sonnen, of course.

TUF: Jones vs. Sonnen

Yesterday I blogged about how TUF has hit an all-time low in viewer ratings and how I feel that over the past few season the show has been dying.

Well, now the UFC has announced its upcoming season for January for TUF and the new coaches are Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, which means that Chael Sonnen has been setup for a title shot in his debute in LHW. Shocking? Indeed.

Chael Sonnen is the most entertaining fighter in the UFC in terms of talking skills. He is unmatched and knows how to promote a fight so that it sells well. It’s a fact. The numbers back it up. Dana White must have been desperate to try to boost the TUF ratings and this was the most logical choice out of them all. Now skeptics will watch to say how outrageous it is for Sonnen to be there without having a single fight at LHW. Now Sonnen fans will watch because they love him. Now Sonnen haters (and there are a lot of them) will watch it because they want to see him fail.

Will this ressurect TUF? No. It will not. That concept is done and done. It was created to promote UFC and make it grow. But the UFC is already growing own its own and so well-established that the TUF has served its purpose and should be cut. I understand TUF India and Australia and so on to promote the UFC abroad, but in the US, cut it please. I am sure Sonnen will be making a lot of funny comments and I will watch the next season (this one I already abandoned all my hope for) as I love Sonnen and will support him fully.

Only this man could talk himself into a title shot without a single fight in his new weight class.

The Dragon Is Back

Lyoto Machida knocked out Ryan Bader in the second round of UFC on FOX 4 and did dominate the first round as well. He is now next in line for the winner of Dan Henderson and Jon Jones for yet another title, well worthy in my opinion as he is the only one who has won a round against the current champ.

Machida has always been my favorite Light Heavyweight due to his philosophy towards life and his strategic fighting. I know a lot of people find it boring, but I don’t. I enjoy smart fighting far more than brawls, although they have their charm too, I’ll admit.

I don’t foresee Henderson beating Jones, and it will be interesting to see how Machida approaches the second fight with Jones next year. But if Jones beats Machida, is there really anyone left for him in that division? I want a superfight, but Dana White refuses to give superfights to his fans. Not cool.

Jon Jones Dominated – Again

Jon Jones once again dominated in his title defense and has done so in pretty every single fight of his career in the Light Heavyweight division. He has more than cleaned out the entire top seven ranked guys in impressive fashion and there are only a few worthy challengers in the near future, if at all. So what’s next for Jones?

Some people are arguing for a move up to Heavyweight. I think that’d be a mistake on his part, and he should instead arrange the dream fight everyone wants to see: Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones instead. A superstar fight in catch-weight where they meet half way. Their match-up is perfect and it is a fight I am sure that every single MMA fighter wants to see.

What are your thoughts on the current situation of the Light Heavyweight Division in UFC? Do you think that Jones has cleansed it out already in less than two years? Or do you think the match with Dan Henderson will be an exciting one and that Henderson might win? I consider Henderson to be amongst the greatest legends of all times in this sport, but unfortunately I don’t foresee his H-bomb defeating Jon Jones.

The most superior fighter I have ever seen.

UFC 128: Rua vs. Jones

It’s time! Tonight we go five five-minute rounds in the octagon for the Light Heavyweight championship of the world. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua defends his belt against Jon “Bones” Jones. And trust me folks, you do not want to miss that fight.

Event: UFC 128

When: March 19

Why you should watch:

One of the most badass fighters on the planet will fight to defend his belt against the most explosive and entertaining fighters in the world. A fight that I can under no circumstances see going more than possibly three rounds, but certainly not to a decision. This fight will end by stoppage or tapout. The only question is: who walks out with the belt?

Fight of the Night:

Shogun versus Jones will take the Fight of the Night honors no doubt. These two fighters match perfectly and this has success written all over it. It is handsdown one of the most anticipated fights ever for me. And I have seen hundreds and hundreds of fights but this one stands out. Do not miss it.

Brawl of the Night:

Faber versus Wineland will be a brawl to remember. These former WEC fighters always put up a show and this will be fast-paced and entertaining brawl that will most certainly win over some fans for the winner. I think Faber has the slight advantage coming into this fight but you can never count out Wineland. It will be great.

Knock out of the Night:

Once again I think that we will have to look to the main event for this one. One of these fighters will be stone cold out tonight but who? That is indeed the question and never has a title fight been this hard for me to call.

Submission of the Night:

Marquardt will most likely take Miller down and try to go for a submission. Triangle Choke or Rear Naked Choke.

Saturday night! Jones is going for the world title, let’s do it baby!

Shogun will look for the KO just as he did with Machida.

UFC On Versus 2 ikväll

Ikväll (i USA, i alla fall) så är det dags för UFC On Versus 2. Deras andra gång de skippar ett PPV-event och kör helt gratis på kanalen Versus som finns i USA. Givetvis är det inga titelmatcher, eller direkta superstjärnor, men det ser faktiskt ut att kunna bli ett underhållande event ändå. Låt oss titta på några intressanta fighter:

Tyson Griffin mot Takanori Gomi kommer nog att bli en intressant fight. Japan har inte direkt imponerat i MMA, och man har hört flera gånger om hur diverse japaner slåss för Japans stolthet och har förlorat. Det ska bli kul att se om de lyckas att lyfta upp Japan som nation inom MMA och ändra min syn på japanska fighters. Jag tippar på submission-vinst för Gomi, som även ska få en titelchans om han vinner. Lite orättvist mot Florian tycker jag, som Gomi borde få möta vid vinst och sedan få en titelchans, men det är inte jag som är matchmaker inom UFC tyvärr.

Mark Munoz mot Yushin Okami blir en tyngre match och förhoppningsvis blir det en knockout här. Munoz har tunga händer och Okami har bra groundgame och det kommer bli intressant att se hur dessa balanserar ut varandra. Jag tippar på vinst för Okami, mycket möjligt att det blir genom beslut faktiskt så det finns risk att det kan bli för mycket dansande och kramande, men det är ju sådant man får ta någon gång. Vinst som vinst.

Jon Jones mot Vladimir Matyushenko är kvällens tyngsta match. Light Heavyweight. Detta är faktiskt matchen jag ser fram mest emot. Jones är grym, och det sägs att Matyushenko är en rising star så att säga, och det ska bli kul att se om jag kommer att börja följa hans matcher. Eftersom att jag aldrig har sett Matyushenko slåss kan jag tyvärr inte förutspå matchen mer än att jag vet att Jones är snabb och stark och kommer sikta på knockouten, som jag tippar på att Matyushenko också kommer att göra. Låt oss hoppas på en solklar knockout i minst en av kvällens matcher.

Där har ni det mest intressanta på kortet ikväll enligt mina ögon. UFC On Versus 2 alltså. Sedan nästa vecka har vi UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen som kommer att bli galet intressant. Det har varit lite dött inom MMA senaste två-tre veckorna men nu har det börjat att ta fart igen. Mycket bra.