UFC WEBSITE STORY TELLS UFC 140 STORY
Toronto, Canada– We can’t say UFC light heavyweight (205 lbs) champion Jon Jones looked human yet, but in his second title defense in the main event of UFC 140 at Air Canada Centre Saturday night, “Bones” did actually get punched by challenger Lyoto Machida. But soon enough, the inevitable sunk in, Jones found his range, and he cut, hurt, and then submitted the Brazilian in the second round, capping off a year in which he handed Ryan Bader his first loss, defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the 205-pound title, and then defended his belt with submissions of former champs “Rampage” Jackson and Machida. And he’s only 24. Just how do you top that in 2012?
POST FIGHT COMMENTS
“He’s just smart,” said Jones of Machida. “He’s definitely a very tough puzzle. He didn’t have me hurt, but he did punch me pretty good and wobbled me a bit.”
But that was it. From there, it was all Jones, but Machida did present some interesting problems for the young champion at first. Coming out of his corner in a crouch, Jones slowly rose to his feet and scored first with a leg kick. Machida, eyes fixed on the champion, did his best to stay out of range as he backpedaled and looked for an opening to fire back. Jones did his part, staying the aggressor as Machida aimed to counter, but neither fighter was landing with anything of consequence and the brief exchanges were sloppy at close range. A slapping left kick from Machida drew a roar from the crowd, with Jones firing back but missing. With a minute left, a quick flurry knocked Jones off balance, and the crowd erupted. In response, Jones kept pressing, but he was unable to get a clean shot off before the bell sounded.
CHAMPION WENT DOWNSTAIRS TO LEGS
Jones continued to seek out Machida’s legs for kicks as round two commenced, following the strategy Mauricio “Shogun” Rua used in his first fight with “The Dragon” Machida. With two minutes gone, Jones moved in, but got cracked with a hard right hand for his trouble, but moments later, he landed with a hard right of his own before shooting for and getting his first takedown of the fight. After eating a couple strikes, one that cut his forehead, Machida made it to his feet, but referee John McCarthy wanted to have the Octagonside physician check the cut out. After getting the green light to resume, Machida escaped Jones’ grasp against the fence, only to get nearly dropped by a left hand. Jones, staying calm, locked in a guillotine choke on the stunned challenger. Seconds later, at the 4:26 mark, Machida was asleep and the new champion had finished perhaps the greatest year a UFC fighter has ever had with another impressive victory. With the win, Jones improves to 15-1; Machida falls to 17-3.
YAHOO SPORTS RECORDS ANOTHER TITO ORTIZ LOSS
Tito Ortiz was finished on Saturday night, and he’s been hinting at retirement, but the former “Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” redubbed the “People’s Champion,” is not ready to call it a career just yet. Ortiz came out gunning, but Antonio Rogerio Nogueira rocked him early with punches and drove home two punishing knees to the gut, the second of which dropped Ortiz to the mat. He quickly followed the former UFC light heavyweight champion down, pouring on the punishment, hammering Ortiz’s ribs, until the finish.
ORTIZ INTENDS TO HAVE FAREWELL FIGHT
‘
Despite taking such a drubbing, Ortiz isn’t ready to walk away. “I take my hat off to him. That body shot hurt me. My game plan was to get on top and do a ground-and-pound. I gave it my all,” said Ortiz after the fight. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I’m going to take some time off and enjoy the holidays with my family.” Ortiz began this journey just shy of 15 years ago – on May 30, 1997 – and he wants to finish out the final fight on his current UFC contract. “I have one more fight in my contract. I’m going to give the fans one more fight that is my best.”
TITO’S FUTURE IN UFC UP TO DANA
UFC president Dana White wasn’t quite so quick to endorse Ortiz’s plea to finish out his contract… but he also didn’t immediately shoot it down either. “I gotta talk to Tito. We’ll see,” said White at the UFC 140 post-fight press conference. “I’m always looking out for guys’ health. It’s not like Tito got vicously knocked out tonight; he got punished to the ribs. We’ll see.”
“Ring Talk New Service”