UFC 135 Thoughts/Rate it

I'll give it a 6. Very forgettable card from an overall standpoint. We got an eye opening performance or two, but overall the card was weak. I'm actually having trouble mustering up a whole lot of thoughts for it but i'll give it a go...

Fight of the Night: Takeya Mizugaki vs. Cole Escovedo
Submission of the Night: Jon Jones
Knockout of the Night: James Te-Huna

Jon Jones performance was amazing. Rampage being a statue standing turned out to be a bigger problem then i anticipated more so because i expected Jones to have a more wrestling approach to the fight but Rampage just does not move. He has good enough head movement. He avoided a few of Jones elbows and got out of the way of some punches, but the kicks just plagued him. His lack of movement on his feet did him in. Plus Jones threw in some things you know Rampage just did not expect at all.

Jones is good everywhere, but once again it's the reach coupled with the fact he's very very quick and skilled. It's going to be hard for anybody to crack that reach. Evans will do much better than Page for the simple fact that he moves around, is explosive, and has a better chance of getting in. Also, he knows Jon Jones a bit...but it's hard to imagine Jones losing that belt anytime soon. I view Evans and Machida as the best matchups for him. After that, i think it will have to be somebody new if we're talking 205.

Impressive technical performace by Jones, not as brutal as the ape smash on Shogun but every bit as impressive. He simply picked Page apart. Another thing that impressed me was how quickly he was able to get himsellf out of bad spots. Like i consider missing a spinning elbow and having your side turned to your opponent a bad spot, a lesser fighter gets knocked out by Page and Shogun in those spots. Jones has quick reaction time, he's actually pretty damn elusive.

Page on the other hand is who he is. The only thing he can really change is maybe wrestling more, he's still a top contender.


Hughes-Koscheck was whatever. I picked Hughes because i wanted him to win and maybe Kos was still ailing, which it looked like he might be because one punch messed that eye up. He looked good for awhile but every time he moved forward i cringed because i knew it was only gonna take one good one until Koscheck took over. It was inevitable. Not a huge one for Koscheck but i'm certainly not buying that Hughes should retire. He can still beat a lot of WW in the UFC.

Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell- Nice win for Hunt. Rothwell is considered a strong HW by most, but it got pathetic in round 3. Hunt should have finished that and probably would have if that shit ref didnt stand them up when Hunt had side mount. Glad to see Hunt having success on the big shows. His presence on the main card means he's won over the UFC brass who were openly admitting Mark Hunt in the UFC was pure obligation when they brought him in to finish his PRIDE contract. Hunt is showing in his shape(leaps better than what it sunk to in DREAM) and his performance that the second chance on a big show has motivated him. Rothwell on the other hand...WOW. That guy was DEAD in round 3...i was expecting if to just fall over.

Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton- Horrible fight. I'm sorry. I'm just not feeling Travis Browne...i really don't see what the guy is good at. I guess he's fairly agile and a bit unorthodox but is he just a guy that's just OK at everything? I don't know, Broughton and Struve are decent lower middle of the pack guys..and obviously going to a draw with Kongo is an oddity..i just don't get it. I don't understand why he's successful.

Eitheir way, whether Brown in for real or not..this fight was trash and the low point of the main card.

Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi- Like i said in the chat. Gomi was the over the hills and far away long before he came to the UFC. This guy was weak in his World Victory Road stint as well. All you have to do is compare this fight with Nate to his fight with Nick. Not the same fighter.

I knew Diaz would take this because Gomi is an easy target with the jab, which Diaz worked effectively early and he's easier to tap than a 5 cent hooker. I don't think this means too much for Diaz, i think he's a better LW than a WW but this is pretty much a repeat of the Markham fight. Gomi was a gimmie matchup for him. Overall though, you fight who they put infront of you and Diaz looked amazing.

Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley- Was very impressed with Ferguson. His strikign was very crisp and very powerful. Riley is not the best fighter in the world but it's not easy to just dominate the guy. Ferguson never even had to use his wrestling base. Definetly somebody to look out for at LW. Also, poor Riley..the guy can't catch a break..a GOOD break that is.

Tim Boetsch was actually pretty damn impressive. His throw on Ring deserves an OTN award on made just for it. I don't expect him to go far at 185 but definetly an impressive performance against a previously undefeated fighter who looked like he was going to pick him apart after round 1.

Junior Assuncao performance was nothing to write home about. I really don't expect him to last beyond a few fights.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Cole Escovedo- FOTN for me, which shows that the competitiveness on this card was lacking. The first round was fireworks, Mizugaki completely took over in the 2nd. Probably the best i've seen Mizugaki since coming over to the UFC/WEC. His 1 win 1 loss trend suggests his next fight will be a loss though.

James Te-Huna KO was impressive although his opponent looked as awful as i've seen anybody look in the UFC.

and thats that. A few good performances...this card was pretty weak.

6.

Diaz destroying Gomi pissed me off because I really can't stand Nate.

Browne showed a mixture of inexperience and too much respect for the limey who walked straight out of a pub.

Hunt vs. Rothwell was actually alright, but the lack of finish from Mark kinda bugged me. To be fair Rothwell is a tough SOB.

Hughes vs. Koscheck ended how I expected it to. Hughes should hang them up.

Bones was impressive as usual, I wasn't surprised by his domination.

this card is not forgettable to me . it will be remembered for its lack of overall quality .

Looks like maybe i should have watched Bellator...Warren got knocked the fuck out.

Would be easier to get excited for the 10-0 Villa if he was not 40 years old already.

Yeah he's up there, but he is the best fighter in the world so..

-Mizugaki was impressive, loved that fight.

-Boetsch showed me more than I ever expected out of him and I was more than impressed in his performance.

-Hughes needs to retire. That is 2 first round KOs in the last 2 fights.

-Jones has potential to be a great fighter, but he is no Spider. He can be beaten, but you can't just stand there and wait for him to make a mistake. You have to attack him and keep attacking him until he buckles.

-I was really happy for Mark Hunt, but Rothwell had nothing left in the 3rd.

Overall it was a 7...

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

-Mizugaki was impressive, loved that fight.

-Boetsch showed me more than I ever expected out of him and I was more than impressed in his performance.

-Hughes needs to retire. That is 2 first round KOs in the last 2 fights.

-Jones has potential to be a great fighter, but he is no Spider. He can be beaten, but you can't just stand there and wait for him to make a mistake. You have to attack him and keep attacking him until he buckles.

-I was really happy for Mark Hunt, but Rothwell had nothing left in the 3rd.

Overall it was a 7...

Thats easier said than done. Its starting to look like at least 4 of the divisions have dominant champs that may not be able to be beaten with Spider, GSP, Aldo and now Bones.

Rate it a 6 as well, I walked out of the room on some fights, Browne, Rothwell I have never seen a main card UFC fighter that tired and gas, Rothwell looked like he could just go to sleep right there. And I was looking forward as much to the staredown after the main fight with Rashad as much as the fight, standing what looked like 5 feet apart, no words exchanged, unless Shad said something to you before he got in the cage or before we saw you two, pretty sure that UFC asked him to be there, so did he just ruin Bones's special night by being there?

Jones keeps people on the outside with his arsenal of kicks and elbows, there was no way that a slow plodding Rampage who at times had no clue what to do except duck was going to touch that chin, Evans has quickness, explosiveness, that being said not sure if that is going to be enough, the kid is damn good, he even pulled a Spider last night and still Rampage did not attack.

Drew, Jones would ruin Anderson in a fight. Sonnen got closer to beating Anderson than anyone has to beating Jones.

Haven't seen either of the two HW fights, don't think I need to

Disappointing effort from Page. He looked in shape and had nice defense and movement, just simply not enough offense or aggression. Needed to let his hands go in spots and didn't

Jones/Machida is still the fight that interests me most at 205. Rashad should be pretty competitive though

bobbitt15 wrote:

Haven't seen either of the two HW fights, don't think I need to

Disappointing effort from Page. He looked in shape and had nice defense and movement, just simply not enough offense or aggression. Needed to let his hands go in spots and didn't

Jones/Machida is still the fight that interests me most at 205. Rashad should be pretty competitive though

Totally agree with this and i give the card like a 6.

Kings your pretty much spot on and I give it a 6.

freakzilla wrote:

Drew, Jones would ruin Anderson in a fight. Sonnen got closer to beating Anderson than anyone has to beating Jones.

When Rampage Jackson is slipping your punches and ducking your elbows Anderson Silva makes you look like the a kid with Down's. Striking wise Jones would get wrecked by Anderson, but he would probably just wrestle him down and work from guard. But there's no reason to believe Anderson couldn't make something happen in the two minutes he'd get standing before Jones decided he wanted to wrestle.

Did I say anything about Jones beating Anderson by out striking him? Jones would use his wrestling and take him down at will. He wouldn't make the same mistake as Sonnen and get subbed.

freakzilla wrote:

Did I say anything about Jones beating Anderson by out striking him? Jones would use his wrestling and take him down at will. He wouldn't make the same mistake as Sonnen and get subbed.

Still would like to see it, I did not like Dana saying that fight is way in the future or something of that nature, Anderson is 37, Jones is 24, everybody slows down unless Anderson is going to be like Randy

I'm going with a 7. Seeing Nate dismantle Gomi alone makes it atleast satisfactory.

IDK who would win between Jones/Silva, that both have the ability to make their opponents so scared that they just stand in the cage and defend. We've seen Anderson overcome a fighter not afraid to come at him we haven't seen that from Jones yet. So I'd pick Anderson if they faught today

still haven't seen one fight from the card... sounds like i didnt miss mutch

killerofchicken wrote:

still haven't seen one fight from the card... sounds like i didnt miss mutch

Nate beating Gomi's ass was entertaining, but Page's performance made the whole ppv suck imo.

im a gomi fan so boooo

killerofchicken wrote:

im a gomi fan so boooo

Well, tecnically it was not Takanori Gomi in spirit...it was just his corpse.

i haven't seen it yet but it is in my download queue.

would you say it isn't worth the bother then?

hahaha,

heavyweight fights at altitude carry a certain novelty value

Jones fight is worth watching obviously because he represents a serious evolution when he renders Rampage predictable and harmless. Any fan of the game would want to see that.

Jones would get KTFO! He may have similar speed and elusiveness, but he doesn't have Spider's power, nor Sonnen's TD ability. He has a great clinch game, though I don't think that would help much against either one.