Now what?
That has become the question following Jon Jones and his performances inside the Octagon. First it was the beatdown of “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 last March. Even though he was fighting for the UFC light heavyweight title just six weeks after defeating Ryan Bader, Jones fought the Pride veteran, and dismantled him. Then it was “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135. Even though the fight went into the fourth round, Jones was rarely challenged by Jackson. Then came the third consecutive former champion in Lyoto Machida. This was supposed to be the test for Jones, as Machida brings a distinct style that fighters rarely see in mixed martial arts. Despite that, along with a solid first round from Machida, Jones was able mount a charge and choked “The Dragon” out in the next round.
Then came Saturday and the highly anticipated fight against former training partner Rashad Evans. The matchup was long expected, as Evans was the man the UFC brought into the cage following Jones’ last two wins. But due to injury and other circumstances, the grudge match took nearly a year to come to fruition.
Evans was expected to test Jones. The physical challenges were there, with Evans’ premier speed and wrestling; but Evans also brought the mental challenge, as the two trained together at Jackson’s MMA in New Mexico. That was evident in the matchup between the two, as they clearly respected each other throughout the 25 minutes spent inside the Octagon. But Jones still showed off many of the reasons why he is considered one of the greatest fighters in the world. Evan at 24-years old, Jones shows off more maturity and patience than he did a year ago. Match that with his length and versatility, it has come to the stage of wondering just how great he can become, and if anyone can challenge him in his current division.
Yes, Jones went to a decision for the first time since defeating Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 in January 2009. But Evans did not test Jones for an extended amount of time. He landed a decent head kick in the first round, and clipped Jones with an overhand right in the third, but Jones was able to recover both times. Jones still landed the most effective strikes, and did so repeatedly. His forward elbows that he landed on Evans were clearly impacting him, and Jones was wise to continue using them throughout the match. Evans was able to survive those elbows and other strikes, but that should discount Jones’ performance.
That now transitions us to Jones’ next scheduled opponent, Dan Henderson. “Hendo” was named the next challenger at the press conference on Saturday by UFC President Dana White. Many fans and pundits have already stated that Henderson will present Jones his toughest challenge, but that is just continuing the pattern that has come to be after every one of Jones’ performances. Will Henderson actually prove those experts correct? That is to be determined, along with just how long Jones will remain at light heavyweight, given his first year as champion.
Biggest winner: Michael McDonald
After two solid performances in his first two UFC matches, the 21-year old from Washington has been one of the most impressive fighters in the entire organization in his last two matches. Coming into the matchup with Miguel Torres, McDonald was telling everyone that would listen just how confident he was going into the biggest matchup of his career. He put that confidence on display, knocking out the former WEC bantamweight champion in the first round. “Mayday” very well could be fighting for the title before he turns 23.
Biggest loser: Brendan Schaub
Losing to a former champion in his hometown is nothing to be ashamed of. That is something Schaub endured in losing to “Minotauro” Nogueira at UFC 134 in Brazil. Now eight months later, Schaub finds himself struggling to remain relevant thanks to the loss to Ben Rothwell on Saturday. Once considered a top prospect in the ever-changing heavyweight division, Schaub’s future has changed 180 degrees from just a year ago.
Also: Stephen Thompson
The touted Karate expert came into UFC 145 with a ton of hype, as he was touted as the best striker in the division, according to the division’s champion Georges St. Pierre. Unfortunately for Thompson, that all blew over thanks to Matt Brown. Speaking of which, it seemed Thompson and his takedown defense was that weak, as he looked like he fell down every time like he was blown over by the wind. That will have to be addressed for Thompson to hope to remain relevant in the UFC.
Biggest question: How soon will Rory MacDonald be fighting for the welterweight title?
Coming into the match, many fans were wondering “who is Che Mills?”. That question received the answer “oh, that guy that Rory MacDonald demolished” on Saturday. The training partner of Georges St. Pierre could find himself in the category of his teammate very soon, as the 22-year old has put on an impressive arsenal every time he has stepped in the cage. If he does, MacDonald has stated that he would rather move to middleweight before fighting his teammate. But MacDonald will be fighting for the title very soon, regardless of his friendship and partnership with St. Pierre.
Future matchups to make:
Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson: This matchup was announced on Saturday by Dana White, and will happen in late-summer or early-fall.
Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida: The last two victims to Jones, Evans and Machida nearly rematched at UFC 133 in August. But that is when Machida infamously asked for “Anderson Silva money”. Now the two are both coming off of a loss, and will hope to remain in the upper echelon in their second matchup.
Rory MacDonald vs. Johny Hendricks/Josh Koscheck winner: Hendricks and Koscheck will square off in two weeks at UFC on Fox 3, and the winner of that matchup would be an excellent candidate to take on MacDonald. With Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Ellenberger touted as a number one contender’s bout, MacDonald and Hendricks/Koscheck will be fighting at least twice more before challenging for the title.
Ben Rothwell vs. Pat Barry/Lavar Johnson winner: Rothwell came back from being clipped by Brendan Schaub in the first round to knock out “The Hybrid”. Many pundits have discussed Rothwell replacing Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva against Roy Nelson next month, but Rothwell would be better served taking on the Barry/Johnson winner because…
Travis Browne vs. Roy Nelson: “Hapa” is closer to title relevancy than Rothwell is. If he is able to defeat Nelson, it would push Browne into the upper echelon of the heavyweight division. He mentioned that his extended training camp for Chad Griggs was grueling, so a four-week training camp will not be as much of a prolonged issue for him.
Michael McDonald vs. Brad Pickett: Both are coming off terrific wins over the last week, as Pickett defeated Damacio Page last week in Sweden. I mentioned Pickett as a good opponent for Brian Bowles, but this matchup works out even better, as the winner of this one could be a title contender by the end of 2012.
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Mayday fight for title by 23?? He might fight for it by end of the year! I also thought he and pickett should fight next, and that would def be his hardest fight by a long shot.
Rashad/Machida I love! Give rashad a big boost and some redemption and get him right back at the top of the class again.
Wonderboy was not a disappointment. He has 6 pro fights and kos some dude named stitgen and we declare him king. He actually fought an amazingly tough fight and showed gigantic stones in going the distance with the crafty brown. Sure people who don’t really know much about mma and how quick things change should be disappointed. But thats really on them, not on Thompson. This sport is all about longevity, and 6 fights against anybody isn’t enough to grade someone on with all accuracy. I see it happen all the time where we over hype someone and all the casual fans get biased or uninformed views. Sure Thompson needs to get much better on the ground and td d in generald, but the guy was not a disappointment.
Dude if Hendricks beats Kos its so lame that he has to fight another fight before title fight. It should be him fighting Ellenberger for top contender as it is. Meanwhile Macdonald continues to get baby fed. It’s so.lame how Silva does this with certain fighters. Mills never deserted to be in that ring with a total of 0 ground skills. Hendricks takes on fitch and Kos while Macdonald fights 3rd tier talent and then Hendricks has to meet him for number one contender fight? So lame. I’d like to.see Macdonald get past a Matt brown or a decent wrestler like Mike pierce first.
Macdonald comes off as a cocky robot to me, and I’m pretty its I can’t root for him, but he’s good. Real good. Still he barely squeeked by pyle and.I’m wondering when Joe lover boy Silva will give him a real wrestling test. I guess in the end he will unfairly give him the winner of Kos and Hendricks.
Wow big MacDonald hater here huh? I really don’t see why, “baby fed” are you serious? The kid at 22 is more talented and confident than any other 22 year old i’ve seen…and he was honest about his projection of 2 years before a title fight before he might be ready.
He would pound Matt Brown into pudding, but i don’t see you complaining about Brown fighting a guy with zero ground game.
Forgot to mention…Che Mills requested this fight, the UFC didn’t select it but approved it.
Rory also dominated the interim champ for 2.5 rounds, and I believe he was 19 at the time. Give rory ellenberger and he will prove he is the next real challenge at the WW belt.
Yea Mayday looked real sharp. I kinda agree with you about Rory MacDonald. I think he is great enough to fight for the title right now, but I have no idea why he has not been getting any top fighters until now. Now meaning his next fight.
The only thing I can think of is to build his hype long enough until GSP decides to move up or retire so they won’t have to fight and Rory doesn’t move up. In my opinion, if anybody can put a beat down on Nate Diaz like Rory did, he deserves top fighters, regardless of Diaz’s natural weight.
rory would dominate matt brown IMO and i love matt brown, but i like the idea of pierce vs rory cuz i think pierce could end up winning that but it cant happen right now becuz of the winning streak of rory
Good stuff Bryan.
I honestly don’t think anyone will beat Jones at LHW. He’s too big and his reach is too much. Hendo has been on a roll, he seems to always find a way to land his dynamite right hand (which is his only chance at beating jones) but i think Jones will beat him. I mean, i never say this stuff but all Hendo has is a “punchers chance” against jones. Rashad didn’t attack enough or shoot in for td’s enough. Just another example of coulda/woulda/shoulda…I got a lot of $hit from people because i said in this fight all jones proved is that he’s bigger and has longer reach. Call it what you want, that’s what i thought. But nonetheless props, to Jones. He’s on a roll and seems almost unbeatable at the moment.
My biggest loser of the night was my boy Miguel Torres. He has fallen soo far since losing his title by way of ko to Bowles. He was finished by a tiny dude in Benavidez, he lost to might mouse and had some ok wins after that. Then he gets KTFO by Mayday…All Miguel has become is just another “big name”. At least after this loss. He’s not very relevant at the moment imo.
Here’s what he needs to do.
1.) Move to 145 or 155.
2.) Abandon his new “Style” and get back to what made him the champ. That style got him to 31-1 and he was even thought of as one of the p4p best.
His chin is completely gone.
Schaub was a big loser as well but the dude wasn’t anywhere near the top anyway.
I also think Homminick has fallen hard and far. He totally got his a$$ kicked by a much smaller, lesser known fighter in Yagin. That’s 3 a$$ whoppins in a row for Homminick. Maybe he should try a new weight class too. HAHA that’s my answer to a long losing streak, swtich classes! Props to Homminck though because he has heart and balls.
Hahaha 3 butt whoopins. I don’t think Homminick has any more heart than the other guy. He has better cardio and is much taller so Yagin could not reach him to ground and pound in full guard. That’s all.
I agree with you about Jones. I just don’t like Jones, but he does need to move up. I see Hendo getting picked apart like Rampage did, but he does have a punchers chance.
Rashad v Shogun would be more interesting than a rematch with Machida. Machida v Gustafsson. I like both of those fights.
I agree that both fights are more interesting, but to put Gustafsson in against someone who JUST lost to the champion can lead to a big question mark if Machida wins. But I’ve wanted to see Shogun vs. Evans for a while now, and I’m so glad this title shot mess is out of the way for Evans so we can finally get that chance.
Macdonald apologist? Lol. I don’t hate him, I dislike him, but he’s a good fighter. We all say he is the next champ and then he fights mills, pyle, and a Dude in the wrong weight class. It’s my opinion only, but I think its pretty obvious that he is being babied. Sure he fought a great fight against condit, and got knocked out. And whatever you say about mills asking for that fight, if they weren’t babying Macdonald he could’ve been fighting Hendricks or Ellenberger Saturday. Instead he fought an absolute nobody.
There is no real cheap opponent for gustaffson imo, as he deserves title shot next already. I do know that Machida is coming off losing 3 of 4 and he shouldnt get a top contender. Personally I think gustaffson/rashad makes most sense, and I’d even love to see him fight Bader to see how he handles the wrestling. As far as rashad goes, we can’t lose with a match up with gustaffson, shogun or Machida.
I don’t see an argument for Gustafsson getting a title shot immediately. He hasn’t fought anybody considered a contender. He needs to be tested against top talent, and I think Machida is a great test. Rashad would be a good test as well, but that doesn’t leave many options for Machida or Shogun’s next opponent, and a third fight between them is not going to be very popular.
I agree that Bader is an option too, if the UFC wants to build him up slowly. But there was a lot of screaming about a title shot for him, which I think is premature, so why not give him somebody else in the elite of the division.
Also, Gustafsson fought Hamill already, so it’s not like he’s ever fought a wrestler.
Fair is becoming irrelevant as you may know. Jones wiped out everybody that is relevant except for Hendo. Gustaffson might be the only test at this point because everybody else he smashed.
Rory def needs to fight a high caliber wrestler next he has pretty much ripped through the competition thus far but the best and only wrestler he has faced is mike Pyle and that didn’t even last a round to rorys credit but still.
I like the idea of the winner of Hendricks or koshcheck either one would beat him IMO as long as koscheck doesn’t try to strike I mean throw only punches with his right hand.
Justsomeguy, good going he did beat hammer, but he’s a tiny lhw and was at end of his career. He needs to fight a beast like Bader or rashad. Machida has plenty of options losing 3 of 4. Lil nog, te huna, even Bader. He just needs to win a fight.
Macdonald barely beat the only.wrestler he fought, Mike pyle, by split decision, that is the next big test he needs. And the more I think about it the more I see that Joe Silva will give him one of Kos or Hendricks, and not necessarily the winner.
MacDonald beat Mike Pyle via TKO in the first round at UFC 133.
Isn’t it crazy that rory has virtually the same record as hendricks but hendricks has fought TJ WALDBURGER, BRENNAMAN,FITCH, MIKE PIERCE, AND RICK STORY.
Rory has fought MIKE GUYMON, CHE MILLS, MIKE PYLE, CONDIT, and an undersized NATE DIAZ
IMO there is definitely a discrepency between the two levels of competition, Pyle is the only solid win for Rory IMO, and condit was not the same fighter then.
I don’t disagree with a wrestling test at the top of the division. I just think the timing works out well for a fight against Machida, and it would be an exciting fight for us fans. Saying Machida lost 3 out of his last 4 makes things sound very bad, but it’s not so terrible when you look at the details. 2 of the 3 losses were title fights, one against Jones, who he actually put in danger. The other loss was against Rampage, a fight which arguably could have gone either way. I don’t think Machida needs a huge drop in competition, he is still an elite fighter, and I still want to see him in competitive fights.
I guess Bader earned a step up by beating Rampage (though Rampage’s condition was very questionable), so you could say a Machida fight makes sense, but I’m pretty sure Machida would kill him.