UFC 151 is the story that just won’t seem to go away. The infamous show fell through when Jon Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. Most criticized Jones but a new revelation by the American Gangster may change some opinions.

The beauty of Chael getting a weekly slot on UFC Tonight is that you just never know what he is going to say. Likely by design, Chael has been kind enough to offer up a juicy quote at least once a week on the Fuel TV UFC magazine show. His newest though is likely to open up some old wounds.

Jon Jones is still having a hard time winning fans months after refusing to defend the UFC light heavyweight title with short notice against Sonnen. Critics, including UFC president Dana White felt that Jones would have been had a massive advantage over Sonnen since Sonnen had not even been in camp. Jones’ team felt otherwise and accused Sonnen and Henderson of a conspiracy. Greg Jackson felt that Sonen had indeed been in camp and had been working with Hendo secretly to prepare for the fight well before Henderson officially withdrew. A new revelation from Sonnen supports that theory.

“You know, it really got put together through Little Nog’s cowardice,” Sonnen said. “I’ve been training for Shogun for a while. I knew this was going to happen. This kind of reminds me of the time me and Dan Henderson set up Jon Jones on eight days’ notice.”

Sonnen then turned to the camera and said, “he finally admitted it.”

The one thing you have to always keep in mind with Chael is whether he is toying around with the media or if he is really telling the truth. If he is telling the truth, that would make his manager Mike Roberts a liar. Roberts was adamant back in September that Chael had not been in camp and would be coming into the fight with only one-week of training.

“Everybody’s saying that Chael knew about Dan being hurt, that’s why he was talking about Jon (Jones). No, Chael was talking about Jon because Jon is the 205-pound champion and that is where Chael is shooting for; that’s who he wants to fight.”

Does it make you feel any different about Jones refusing the fight? I am going to guess that it does nothing to change the opinion of Dana White. I have always felt that Jones was getting much more blame about the show falling apart than he deserved. Knowing that he was being set up is just more reason to leave it alone and bury the incident once and for all.

If and this is a big if Chael is telling the truth, it is disappointing that nobody in the media ever picked up on this story. The same media that were brutalizing Jones for refusing the fight either didn’t do enough investigative work or were sworn to secrecy by Sonnen’s camp. Either way I wonder what the questions at that infamous conference call would have sounded like if someone in the media were able to corroborate the accusations from Jones’ camp.

GSP – The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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Although there isn’t really much of a formula these days for deciding who gets title shots in the UFC, the promotion is in a somewhat strange place where there is a clear-cut number one contender in almost every division. With many of these matches prepared to go down in the coming months, let’s take a look at the challengers who have the best chance of upsetting the respective champions in their division.

Women’s Bantamweight Championship – Challenger: Miesha Tate vs. Champion: Ronda Rousey

Upset Odds: +500

Despite the fact that everyone is laughing at the excuse that Tate won the first two rounds of her fight against Cat Zingano as reason enough to have her getting a title shot, it remains true. It’s probably also true that she’ll be a tougher test for champion Rousey come fight time. In the end, that’s likely going to mean very little as neither one stands a great chance. Tate has been in the cage with Rousey before, so she knows what to expect, unfortunately she knew what to expect the first time but still got arm barred for her troubles. At the end of the day, I think Rousey needs to stop trying to arm bar people at every opportunity. As we saw against Liz Carmouche, the ladies are figuring out how to escape and take advantage of it. Rousey needs to do the same and start throwing some new wrinkles at her opponents, expect it to start against Tate. Takedowns and top control en-route to a punishing stoppage in the second round, then we can all congratulate Tate on being the first woman to make it to the second round.

Flyweight Championship – Challenger: John Moraga vs. Champion: Demetrious Johnson

Upset Odds: +450

Moraga has been openly campaigning in the media and calling the champion “boring.” This isn’t really a bad strategy for him, since getting in the champ’s head is never a bad idea. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s going to get a fighter as well coached as Demetrious Johnson riled up too much. Moraga is a former NCAA Division 1 Wrestler and is a highly capable grappler, his striking is decent and he’s fast. The champion? He was a standout wrestler in high school, although he never translated that to NCAA success, however his striking is excellent and his hand and foot speed is second to none in the Flyweight division. Add to the fact Moraga has never competed in a five round fight before and Johnson excels in them and it’s going to be a long night for Moraga. Johnson is somewhat deserving of his reputation as a points fighter, but he moves in and out so quickly it’s hard to fault him for the strategy. I expect his output to actual increase as the fight goes on and as Moraga begins to fade late, I expect Johnson to really poor on the offense. Still, this one is probably headed for judge’s scorecards either way.

Interim Bantamweight Championship – Challenger: Eddie Wineland vs. Interim Champion: Renan Barao

Upset Odds: +450

Despite Wineland having a height advantage heading into this fight, he actually doesn’t have a reach advantage as both men possess a 70-inch reach. Wineland got this opportunity more as being the only one available who hadn’t faced Barao yet and is on a winning streak. The most important fights on Wineland’s ledger are his two recent losses to Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez. In both of those fights Wineland enjoyed some initial success in the striking department, but he was quickly figured out by the two of them. Against Urijah Faber, Barao was completely dominant. Wineland has proven somewhat susceptible to leg kicks in past bouts and in that fight Barao blasted Faber with kicks. I expect a similar game plan against Wineland. Hobbled and stiff, I expect that Wineland’s offense slows down and Barao starts picking up the pace. Barao wins with an impressive flurry somewhere around round four or so.

Featherweight Championship – Challenger: Anthony Pettis vs. Champion: Jose Aldo

Upset Odds: EVEN

This bout actually has a line on it already and Pettis is currently slated as a +130 underdog. However, I think this bout is close to a true pick ‘em. Against Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo began to tire and slow down as the fight went on and some people felt that Edgar may have done enough to win that fight. I’d consider Pettis a very competent striker, even more well rounded than Edgar. Pettis also has underrated grappling skills and has fought and excelled in five round bouts in the past. In addition, this will be the first time that the champion Aldo has faced a fighter who may be quicker and more accurate than anyone he has faced before. I actually like Pettis in this fight. He’s aggressive, he won’t be intimidated, he’ll likely have a size advantage and he’s shown an ability to control opponents on the mat before. It’s still a close and dangerous fight for both guys. But I’ll take Pettis via decision.

Lightweight Championship – Challenger: TJ Grant vs. Champion: Benson Henderson

Upset Odds: +250

Grant doesn’t seem to possess any amazing skills or freak athleticism, but he has completely run through the Lightweight division since making the drop. Add to that, no one has really looked at all impressive against him and you have to at least consider the chance that he upsets Benson Henderson in this fight. Henderson is a talented wrestler who employs strong game plans in his fights, however it’s going to be hard to game plan against a fighter who hasn’t looked weak in any of his Lightweight fights. At Welterweight Grant was dominated by smothering wrestlers like Johny Hendricks and Dong Hyun Kim.  Despite his stellar wrestling credentials, Henderson isn’t likely going to be able to smother him like those Welterweights, he simply doesn’t have the size to do it. Still Henderson is probably the more technical striker, although Grant hits like a truck, but Henderson’s speed is excellent and he’s going to be very tough to hit. I honestly don’t have a prediction yet, but I’m leaning towards the champion.

Welterweight Championship – Challenger: Johny Hendricks vs. Champion: Georges St. Pierre

Upset Odds: +225

Knockout power, that’s probably the one reason that most people think that this fight is so close. Hendricks has knocked out a high number of the Welterweight contenders and many people think that he’s going to be able to do that to GSP. Still St. Pierre is one of the most dominant champions of all time in the UFC and is a master tactician who will certainly have a plan to avoid the big power punches of Hendricks. It’s also important to note that Hendricks himself is an accomplished wrestler, who GSP may have a hard time wrangling to the ground. The other thing going for the champion is that in his most recent bout against Carlos Condit is that Hendricks faded in the third round and looked incredibly hittable, if he fades like that against GSP it’s going to be tough for him to win. I usually root against GSP, as I might be the one Canadian guy who isn’t a fan of the champion, so I’ll definitely be doing so again. But I’m not so sure Hendricks has it in him to take this one.

Middleweight Championship – Challenger: Chris Weidman vs. Champion: Anderson Silva

Upset Odds: +200

I think this might be one of the closest title fights of the summer. Anderson Silva has looked like an unbeatable champion for most of his UFC career, save for the couple of bouts against Chael Sonnen. The good news for Weidman, is that he’s a highly capable wrestler and grappler who is capable of pulling off a similar game plan. Anderson is capable from his back and has pulled off a number of submissions from his guard, but Weidman is much more submission savvy than Chael Sonnen and won’t be easily caught in a triangle. Anderson Silva is still one of the best technical strikers in the world bar none, and with every round starting on the feet, the onus will be on Weidman to drag the champion to the mat at least once a round. If he can avoid the punishing clinch game of Silva, he has a shot, but he’s still facing Anderson Silva and you can’t consider him to be an underdog.

Light Heavyweight Championship – Challenger: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Champion: Jon Jones

Upset Odds: +400

This bout isn’t yet confirmed, but the young and talented Swede is looking like the most likely challenger to Jon Jones’ title. Gustafsson has only one loss in the UFC and in his entire career and it came against Phil Davis, who himself is a highly talented wrestler. Gustafsson is a talented striker, one of the best in the division, but one of his greatest strengths is his height and reach, which he uses to excellent effect. Against champion Jones, he will actually be at a significant reach disadvantage, likely for the first time in his career. Against a striker as talented and as unorthodox as Jones is, I could see this being a problem for Gustafsson. One of his other strengths has been his improving wrestling and grappling skills, which he has been working on since switching his training to Alliance MMA with Phil Davis and company. However, against a dominant wrestler like Jones, his improvements aren’t likely to be enough to win the ground battle. It could be an exciting bout, but I think another dominant win for the champion is in store.

Heavyweight Championship – Challenger: Junior dos Santos vs. Champion: Cain Velasquez

Upset Odds: +175

Out of all of the Heavyweights in the world, Junior dos Santos probably has the best chance of dethroning Cain Velasquez, in fact he’s done it once already. However, in the rematch he was soundly beaten by Cain and was dominated over five full rounds. I am of the belief that the second fight is more closely linked to both fighters full potential than their first encounter and I envision the rubber match going in similar fashion to the second. Cain’s wrestling is top notch and he’s one of the most athletic fighters in the Heavyweight division, with the ability to physically control and impose his will on many fighters who are significantly larger than him. His striking has also made vast improvements, to the point where he is definitely one of the top strikers in the division as well. Dos Santos still holds the edge in a pure kick boxing bout, but the threat of takedowns and clinch games, swings the advantage back to Cain. The one lingering issue is that Cain’s chin hasn’t looked overly impressive throughout his career and he’s been rocked in some of his past fights, dos Santos is a big time heavy hitter, who can knock out even the toughest of fighters, as he recently proved against Mark Hunt. So you always have to consider dos Santos live in the fight if he’s standing, I just don’t think Velasquez will give him much room to operate. I think he crowds and controls dos Santos en-route to another dominant performance.

GSP – The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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The UFC have high aspirations that ironically would coincide with their 20th anniversary celebration. A new report suggests that the UFC have their sights set on Texas Stadium with what they hope is their biggest event in history.

Dave Meltzer broke the news in his latest Wrestling Observer newsletter. The new report indicates that the UFC are working on a preliminary plan that would involve a late October event at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. The event is far from a lock due to a number of key components, specifically the main-event.

“The idea would be to have Silva vs. Jon Jones and Velasquez vs. Dos Santos at the stadium, in October, at the same time as the state fair of Texas, perhaps on 10/12 or 10/19. That much is known to be at least something talked about. With Madison Square Garden seeming more and more unlikely for November, this show could be billed as UFC 20th anniversary show, with the idea of trying to repeat the success of UFC 100.”

Meltzer is also quick to point out that this is not necessarily a 20th anniversary event. The timing just happens to coincide within a few weeks of the UFC’s first event. A few months back Anderson Silva told reporters that he was planning on fighting Jon Jones in Madison Square Garden in November which would have been an anniversary show. That event got scratched once it became apparent that MMA would not be legalized in New York in time.

This is a very ambitious plan but not a well thought out one if you think about it. To even think about the event I would imagine that the UFC had to put some kind of deposit down on it. Once that happened, why in the world would they book Anderson Silva in July? Let’s be honest for a second here. There are only two fights that you could put on top at Texas Stadium and they both involve Silva. The UFC are really playing fire with here if this is the case. If Silva loses or gets hurt they are screwed. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not like some people who think the Silva vs. GSP or Jones fights become meaningless with a loss. I still think they are big fights but they certainly aren’t as enticing and probably aren’t enough in this climate to sell out Texas Stadium.

Once you take an undefeated Silva out of the equation you don’t have anything that can fill Texas Stadium. The UFC is not nearly as hot today as it was a few years ago in the United States. Going in there with Cain vs. JDS on top is not going to do it with all due respect to the two great heavyweights. Unless they can somehow lure Brock Lesnar back into the octagon all they have is a stadium reserved with a lot of “what ifs”.

The other part of the equation is Jon Jones. Jones has been adamant about wanting to break Tito Ortiz’s UFC light heavyweight title defense record in his next fight and not fighting Silva in 2013. Jones isn’t booked to fight anyone right now so either the UFC needs to keep him on ice until the Weidman vs. Silva fight or book him quickly. I have always felt that Jones’ dancing around the Silva fight was more a negotiating ploy. I heard a rumor that he was asking for $10 million for the fight which if in Texas Stadium, is a number that the UFC could meet or come close to meeting. Booking a stadium for that fight makes me believe those rumors because it wouldn’t be feasible to pay him $10 million and Anderson’s money if it were booked in a 20,000 seat arena.

Georges St-Pierre could be the wild card here. GSP has reportedly told Dana White he believes Silva will lose to Weidman and would like to fight Johny Hendricks. The rumor is that they are looking to set this fight up around August. That would take GSP completely out of the mix for a Silva October fight if that were the case. As much as I’d rather see Silva vs. GSP I think GSP vs. Silva is the fight to make on a big show like this. Jones is not the kind of draw that Silva and GSP are for a reason. GSP and Silva are more recognizable names to casual fans. Keep in mind that nothing is signed yet for GSP vs. Hendricks so you never know. The UFC may be thinking the same way and setting up a smokescreen with this GSP-Hendricks talk.

This is not Dana White’s first flirtation with Texas Stadium. He has had his eyes locked on the stadium for a long time now in regards to a big UFC event. White revealed back in January that he was close to setting up a Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko fight at the stadium and was close to signing Fedor.

“It went well and then Fedor’s dad died, he wanted to fight Fedor….Fedor was done, he said ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with my family.’ We were negotiating for months. And then after his dad died he said, ‘That’s it I’m done,’ or whatever and then Brock said, ‘I’m done too.’”

White has said several times that he plans to deliver Jones vs. Silva at the end of 2013. I’d love to see it happen but October seems a little ambitious even for him.

GSP – The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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Early estimates for the UFC 159 Jones vs. Sonnen buyrate are in and whether it is a success or not depends on your criteria. The good news is that the pay per view was the second biggest of the year. The bad news is that it should have done more.

Dave Meltzer at MMAFighting.com did his usual investigative work and reported on early estimates for the event. Dave’s numbers are not official, yet he is generally considered an authority on the subject. According to Meltzer, the pay per view is coming in at between 500-520,000 buys for the Jones vs. Sonnen event.

Those numbers put the event in line behind UFC 158 Diaz vs. GSP as the second highest buyrate of the year thus far for the UFC. The number blows the show past Ronda Rousey’s debut and will probably hold up as one of the top 3-5 events of 2013 looking at the tentative schedule.

The pay per view is a bit of a rebound for Jones who is coming off 410,000 buys for his previous fight against Vitor Belfort. Meltzer reports that Jones averages just below 500,000 buys so this would certainly be a win for Jones in the eyes of many.

It isn’t all good news if you ask me. The number is a bit of a disappointment if you take a look at the big picture. By all accounts this fight should have done 750,000 buys. Consider all of the resources that went into this fight and the personalities involved and I think 500-520 k is a disappointment.

The UFC spent an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter to build up this fight. The season averaged 1.2 million people from week to week to listen to Jones and Sonnen build up their show. Those are a lot of eyes watching this build up week to week and a lot of those people didn’t think it was worthwhile to buy. The sacrifice here was keeping Jones on the shelf until April when he probably could have fought sooner. In the long run that could have cost them one more fight in 2013 with one of their biggest stars.

Then there is the star power here that I don’t think necessarily delivered. Jones is arguably the best fighter in the UFC, top three at minimum. A guy like Jon Jones should be a superstar but superstars deliver better buys than Jones. The fact that Jones is not drawing on par with Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre has to be cause for concern, especially since he is the face of the future once those guys retire.

Chael Sonnen did his best but even his promos and gimmicked quotes couldn’t pull in the casual fans that generally get caught up in Chael’s hype. Chael is coming off a monster buyrate against Anderson Silva and while the circumstances are different, he is still one of the top draws in the company. The top drawing heel against the superstar champion should have done better. It’s just that simple.

Why did it only do 520 k which again isn’t bad, but not great? This was supposed to be an easy sell, so much that a lot of sacrifices were made. The timing was just awful. Nobody bought Chael as a serious challenger. For whatever reason the casual masses still aren’t connecting to Jon Jones. A guy like him should be bringing in more casual fans and he’s not.

Most importantly I think that Sonnen and Jones blew it. They had something when the fight was first made. However, the two slowly did everything they could to convince fans that there was no beef between them and that they actually liked each other. That Thanksgiving picture probably cost them a few hundred thousand buys alone. I don’t know what the motivation was between these two guys but they certainly exposed the “wolf ticket” theory that Nick Diaz exposed leading into his fight with GSP.

If I were the UFC I’d probably be disappointed today. If these two couldn’t do more than 500k with a successful season of TUF and the personalities involved, they have big problems moving ahead. The number was nice and it certainly wasn’t a failure, but it should have been much bigger.

The Voice of Reason: A V.I.P. Pass to Enlightenment

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The future of Chael Sonnen in the UFC has been in doubt since he was stopped in the first round against Jon Jones at UFC 159. Sonnen didn’t take long to put those retirement rumors to rest and even has an opponent in mind.

Not even a brutal beating can humble the mouth of Chael Sonnen. A few days after being embarrassed on pay per view Sonnen is already running his mouth. Sonnen is back at war again with the Brazilian fighters and has his eyes set on a fighting legend to break his 0-2 losing streak.

Sonnen wants Wanderlei Silva. Sonnen and Silva have had a beef on Twitter going back to when Sonnen was cutting promos on Brazilians in the UFC 117 build up. According to Sonnen, “I’m not going anywhere until me and Wanderlei straighten this thing out once and for all.”

“Wanderlei called me out before, but the fight never made sense. Now it does. I’m not going anywhere until me and Wanderlei straighten this thing out once and for all. Wanderlei pulled a dirt bag move on me one time. He said something to me that I couldn’t hear, and then put it on YouTube with subtitles because he knew I couldn’t understand it and called me out. If you’re a fighter, that doesn’t fly. You must respond to him, and I’m ready to respond to you Wanderlei.”

The other big question was whether Sonnen would stay at 205 or move back down to middleweight. I thought in the brief time Sonnen was in the octagon against Jones he looked great at 205. Sonnen has put the division on notice as he isn’t going anywhere.

“I will definitely continue, and at 205 pounds,” Sonnen told UFC Tonight co-host Kenny Florian. “Unless they come up with a catchweight…I have a lot of goals I want to achieve still, and retirement won’t help me get them done.”

As badly as Sonnen got beat at UFC 159 the twisted reality of the situation is that Sonnen was under a minute away from being winning the UFC light heavyweight title and shocking the world. Hypothetically if the fight went to the second round there are many that feel that the fight would have been stopped due to Jones’ toe and Sonnen would have been given the title.

“Diplomatically you don’t ever want to win that way. The ones that hurt are the ones you’re supposed to win and then you blow it. But if it was given to me, I would have grabbed that belt, I would have held it up, grabbed the mic and told the crowd the golden rule is ‘he with the gold rules,’ and I would have walked out of the place and never looked back”

I can’t say that I am not surprised in the least that Sonnen is sticking around. Sonnen is in the midst of his prime earning years as a UFC fighter. Since UFC 117, Sonnen has now cashed in on three big pay days if early estimates on UFC 159 buyrates are correct. Sonnen was stopped in round one but I never got the feeling that Sonnen was too old or shot as a fighter.

I don’t know what you do with Sonnen at this point. He is probably out of title shots for a long time, although you never know. Strange things happen, injuries occur, and it wouldn’t shock me at all to see Sonnen step up and fill in for a last minute scratch in a title fight. Sonnen is one of a very few UFC fighters who get it and understand the art of promoting. The second those buyrates start dropping is the second I’ll believe that Chael is truly done.

Even then I don’t know if I’ll necessarily ever believe he is truly done.

Anderson Silva: Like Water

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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The fight has come and gone, and at the end of the day it appears as though the Light Heavyweight title fight between Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones was indeed the mismatch that so many people thought it would be. The rest of the card was a mixed bag, including some highly entertaining bouts, some thoroughly lackluster bouts and a few controversial stoppages mixed with borderline terrible officiating in some cases. Let’s take a look back at the card that was UFC 159 and see what’s next for the main card fighters involved.

Lightweight Bout: Pat Healy defeated Jim Miller via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:02 of Round Three

The opening round of this bout went almost exactly as most people (including the bookies) expected it to. Miller dominated much of the action both standing and on the ground, in fact he came close to stopping the fight at one point. Then in the second round, the tide began to turn. Healy continued to grind against Miller, not abandoning his wrestling for a second, using takedowns and top control to steal back a round and make it even heading into the third. In the final round, Healy continued to keep up the pressure while Miller began to fade slightly. Healy took advantage on the ground of a Miller mistake and was able to sink in a Rear Naked Choke and coax a tap with less than a minute remaining in the fight.

What’s next for Healy? He knocked off a top-ranked contender and the Strikeforce Lightweights are proving that they are every bit as talented as their UFC counterparts. There are a couple of big Lightweight contest coming up most notably Evan Dunham taking on Rafael dos Anjos, the winner of that fight would be a logical match up. As would recent Strikeforce import Josh Thomson who recently knocked off top Lightweight Nate Diaz.

What’s next for Miller? He’s doing nothing to shake his status as Lightweight gatekeeper. He’s a tough, well-rounded fighter but he struggled against Healy who seemed to dwarf him come fight time. This has some people speculating that a drop to Featherweight could be in Miller’s future. For now, we’ll assume he’s staying at Lightweight. He should take a fair step down in competition now that he’s lost 2 of his last 3. Brazilian Thiago Tavares could be a good match up for Miller when he’s done his suspension, or possibly former TUF winner Tony Ferguson.

Light Heavyweight Bout: Phil Davis defeated Vinny Magalhaes via Unanimous Decision after Three Rounds

Phil Davis continued to win in mostly unimpressive fashion this weekend. Despite the trash talk leading up to this fight, Davis never let it bother him and never showed a lot of emotion during the fight. In some ways, that has to be considered a good sign, but in other ways, one really wonders why Davis was so uninspired to go after a finish. Despite dominating the first two rounds and well on his way in the third, Davis never looked to get overly aggressive or search out a finish, instead he was content to cruise the final minutes of the fight and lock up a decision. While it is another win for Davis, many fans are left complaining about Davis and his fights, which isn’t going to earn him a shot against Jon Jones any faster.

What’s next for Davis? Even though he didn’t show us any killer instinct or finishing ability, he still showed that he’s a dominant wrestler who can absolutely smother anyone underneath him. He has one career loss and that was to top contender Rashad Evans, so Davis should be working his way back to the top of the Light Heavyweight pecking order. Ryan Bader is a wrestling standout with big power and has a top ten ranking, he’s the fighter that probably makes the most sense for Davis right now.

What’s next for Magalhaes? Back to the unaired preliminary card is my guess. He did his best to sell and hype this fight on social media by engaging in a war of words with Davis, but he wasn’t able to do much inside the octagon where it counts. If Ilir Latifi is getting another fight in the UFC for doing them a solid in Sweden, match him against Magalhaes and get rid of the loser. Put that fight in Europe or Brazil and it seems like a fine fit to me.

Heavyweight Bout: Roy Nelson defeated Cheick Kongo via KO (Punch) at 2:03 of Round One

Cheick Kongo had a massive reach advantage heading into this fight and that was what some people believed would be the difference. Instead, Nelson did what he does best. Relied on his iron chin to close the distance and crowd Kongo up on the inside. He landed a couple of big right hands on a referee break from against the cage and Kongo was down for the count.

What’s next for Nelson? He’s fought a lot of the top names in the Heavyweight division and seems to be quite good at separating the upper-tier fighters from the lower-level fighters. At the post-fight press conference Dana said he’d like to match Nelson up with Strikeforce import Daniel Cormier should he stay at Heavyweight. That fight makes a whole lot of sense. The other potential fighter for Nelson is Travis Browne.

What’s next for Kongo? Kongo showed low fight IQ and despite his past as a professional kick boxer he often chooses to wrestle instead of striking, which makes for sometimes boring fights. I think the UFC could match him up with Stefan Struve. They’re both European, so a spot on the next International show makes sense and the match up will prove which one of them deserves to stay in the UFC and which the UFC could part with.

Middleweight Bout: Michael Bisping defeated Alan Belcher via Unanimous Technical Decision at 4:29 of Round Three

This bout was marred by a bit of an ugly ending as an accidental eye-poke from Bisping cut open Belcher’s eye lid and caused a stream of blood to come from the eye in the third round. Since it was ruled an accidental foul the bout went to the scorecards and Bisping won a Technical decision. With all of the trash talking these two men did leading up to their fight, many thought that they would come out guns blazing, but instead the opposite was true as neither man wanted to make a mistake in the opening minutes which led to an action light striking battle in the first round. In the second, Bisping became more aggressive and the Brit was landing in combinations. Belcher returned fire on several occasions, but often missed as Bisping did an excellent job of getting his shots off before shuffling away from the counter punches of Belcher. The third round featured more of the same, for the four minutes that it lasted as Bisping continued to land better combinations and get the better of Belcher in the striking.

What’s next for Bisping? Well, he’s still a top contender at Middleweight and seems incredibly popular with the fans, (who either despise him or really love him.) The UFC would love to have him work his way to a title shot, but he always seems to falter on the way. If the UFC wants to get him to a Middleweight title shot, they need to give him a couple of match ups that benefit him while gaining name recognition on his resume. The winner of the upcoming bout between Mark Munoz and Tim Boetsch would be a good candidate. Some fans are calling for a bout against Yushin Okami, but I think that’s a bad match up for Bisping and one the UFC will likely avoid, despite it making a lot of sense.

What’s next for Belcher? With his history of eye injuries (he was nearly blinded by a detached retina from an eye poke in a previous bout) one has to hope that this injury won’t be too damaging to his career. Still he proved that he’s at best a mid-tier fighter that can’t hang with the top fighters of the Middleweight division. Still he has exciting fights when they pair him against strikers so possible match ups include Nick Ring or Brian Stann.

Light Heavyweight Championship Bout: Jon Jones defeated Chael Sonnen via TKO (Elbows and Punches) at 4:33 of Round One

Jon Jones shocked several fans when he went right after Chael Sonnen. Many people predicted that he would use his huge reach and kick boxing ability to fight at a distance and pick Sonnen apart from relative safety. Nonsense said coach Greg Jackson and Jon Jones who likely surprised Sonnen when he rushed him from the opening bell. He clinched with Sonnen and battled in close quarters for most part of the opening round. It was close for the first minute or so, but Jones used his size and strength advantage and began to overpower Sonnen. From there he got a takedown and swarmed with ground and pound. Delivering some big elbows that opened a cut on Sonnen’s face and then following it up with more punches and elbows until the referee stopped the fight. Although some people felt the stoppage was a bit premature it was unlikely that Sonnen would survive another 30 seconds and despite looking initially upset with the referee, when interviewed by Joe Rogan, Chael said that he had no problem with the stoppage. After the fight it was revealed that Jones had suffered a nasty toe injury, a likely dislocation at some point and needed doctor’s assistance as he completed his post-fight interview with Rogan.

What’s next for Jones? Likely some time off after that toe injury. It’s hard to pin point where the injury occurred, but it’s scary to think that if he didn’t finish Sonnen in the first, he likely would have lost the belt in between rounds, since no referee would let him fight with that gruesome toe. So people who hated the match to begin with, must certainly be happy that they’re not getting a rematch with Sonnen as champion right away. After the fight Jones called for Alexander Gustafsson which makes sense since the Swede is at the top of the division. Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is apparently also a possible contender as is former Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida.

What’s next for Sonnen? He seemed to tease retirement after the bout, but didn’t say much. If he does decide to hang it up, no one can blame him. He’s made a ton of money in his last few fights and surely has a job as a commentator on Fox for the foreseeable future. But if he does decide to fight and stay at Light Heavyweight, he should fight anyone who is Brazilian. Especially Wanderlei Silva or Lyoto Machida.

Georges St-Pierre: The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva: Like Water

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Daniel Cormier and the UFC appear to be on two different pages. Cormier seems steadfast in staying at heavyweight, at least for the time being while the UFC would like him to drop to 205. Dana White has upped the stakes by offering Cormier a fast track at the championship.

I have to be honest and tell you that watching Cormier and his safe game plan against Frank Mir didn’t exactly have me thinking title shot. Cormier did win his UFC debut over Mir but it wasn’t the exciting fight you would have expected from D.C. Fortunately for him impressing me means nothing because it would appear from all accounts he has impressed the boss.

Dana White has mentioned in the past that he would shoot Cormier to the front of the line to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title if he could get Cormier to drop to 205. White is again dangling that carrot out there for the former Olympiad as he indicated last week.

“He could drop to 205 and get a shot at the title in my opinion, on day one,” he said. “Look at the guys he’s beat at heavyweight. I actually prefer him at 205,” he said. “This heavyweight division isn’t like other heavyweight divisions. And in saying that, he beat Josh Barnett. That’s a big deal. I just don’t think he has the punching power at heavyweight that he’d have at 205.“

Cormier isn’t so hot on the idea. Cormier had a weight cut go wrong during the Olympics when his kidneys shut down as he dropped to 211 pounds. Cormier has been very non committal to the drop and has even said he’d take a fight with training partner and current UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez if he stayed at heavyweight.

My problem with this is that I have watched now two guys get UFC light heavyweight title shots in a row who had not fought in the division for years. Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen both wound up with title shots in cases where legitimate top contenders like Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida sat on the sidelines. Here we go again with a third potential challenger in a row with not even one fight at light heavyweight in his career.

I like Cormier but White has to be kidding himself if he thinks fans are going to buy into Cormier earning a shot at the light heavyweight title because he beat Giant Silva, Josh Barnett, and Frank Mir. Additionally, he was not even that impressive over Mir. The interest for a Jones vs. Cormier fight won’t be where it needs to be without Cormier getting at least 1 impressive win the division first.

Jones is already talking about wanting to fight Alexander Gustafsson. I can’t imagine that Jones would be interested in fighting a guy who has no wins in the division. Reportedly there was some kind of issue between Cormier and Jones so maybe there is some interest. I just think the UFC has to really limit these championship fights going to undeserving contenders. Awarding a shot to Cormier is not the way to go here.

The title shot will probably wait for a variety of reasons. The most important being that it appears the UFC is going to move towards a Roy Nelson vs. Daniel Cormier and Jones is hurt. So what happens if Cormier beats Nelson? Does he deserve a crack at Jones then? I just don’t see it.

Georges St-Pierre: The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva: Like Water

UFC shirts and videos on Amazon.com