Jon
Jones has worn the bull’s eye well. | Photo: Jay Kopinski/Icon
SMI
Combat sports’ pound-for-pound moneymaker, Floyd Mayweather Jr.,
had his bag filled with gold bullion again, so he is done sucking
up all the fight talk, at least for now. It is time to turn our
attention to boxing’s younger brother, MMA, and its current
pound-for-pound king,
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder
Jon
Jones.
UFC
165 on Saturday will cost you about $10 less than did watching
Mayweather run circles around another opponent, and I know you have
the money, since you did not buy UFC 161 (150,000 buys) or UFC 163
(170,000 buys). Count your blessings that you saved some coin,
because the rest of this year’s Zuffa calendar is chock full of
can’t-miss pay-per-views.
Photo:
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Can “The Mauler” put his length to work?
How We Got Here: For the third
time in his career, Jones will defend his light heavyweight
championship inside the Air Canada Centre in Toronto; he has
already scored two submissions in the Great White North during his
reign, victimizing
Vitor
Belfort and
Lyoto
Machida. With his mangled toe healed after his victorious
encounter with
Chael
Sonnen, Jones will look to make Sweden’s best fighter his
latest victim, as he meets
Alexander
Gustafsson in the main event. “The Mauler” punched his ticket
to face Jones on the back of a six-fight winning streak ... The
co-headliner pits interim 135-pound champion
Renan Barao
against
Eddie
Wineland. Bantamweight boss
Dominick
Cruz’s run of bad luck with knee injuries is nearing two years,
but Barao has been more than happy to prop up the division in his
stead, as he is unbeaten in his last 31 appearances.
A Real Reach: As the current pound-for-pound king,
Jones should be accustomed to being the heavy favorite. Since he
savagely beat the belt out of
Mauricio Rua
at UFC 128, Vegas oddsmakers have never had him as less than a
3-to-1 favorite. That is no small feat considering his list of
fallen challengers includes Belfort, Machida,
Rashad
Evans and
Quinton
Jackson. When compared to this murderer’s row, the still
relatively unknown Swede seems bound to eventually become a
footnote in Jones’ growing history book. He is a 5-to-1 underdog,
so the UFC based its push on Gustafsson’s 6-foot-5 frame and how
his long limbs could hold the secret to dethroning “Bones.”
Gustafsson’s reach is listed at 76.5 inches, though he claims it is
actually 81.2 inches. Jones’ reach is a promotional-best 84.5
inches. Reach is a simple term even novice fight fans can grasp. I
understand the approach, but when the UFC’s best pitch for its
challenger is the length of his arms -- in a fight in which he will
be at a reach disadvantage -- the idea cupboards in the marketing
team’s office have to be pretty bare.
Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com
Cormier looms as a potential challenger.
The Weighting Game: Speaking of
bare cupboards, Jones has not fought a true 205er since he took a
unanimous decision from Evans in April 2012, as he has carved
through natural middleweights Belfort and Sonnen with varying
degrees of absurdity. He has simply beaten everybody, and he has
beaten them so badly that rematches seem like little more than
cruel and unusual punishment for the challengers. Should the
26-year-old get past Gustafsson, he has two options at 205 pounds:
Glover
Teixeira and
Daniel
Cormier. Teixeira was promised a shot at the title after he
dispatched
Ryan Bader at
UFC Fight Night 28. Later, UFC President Dana White told a Google
chat room that Jones-Cormier would “probably” happen if the
American Kickboxing Academy export defeats
Roy Nelson at
UFC 166. He retracted his statement the next day. Perhaps he
was gauging fan interest before bout agreements are signed and
fights are fought. Still, Cormier is the more intriguing
possibility. The Olympic wrestler is undefeated and wants out of
the heavyweight division, where teammate and friend
Cain
Velasquez rules as champion. The takedown advantage Jones
always enjoys would likely be eliminated, and with both men
essentially unbeaten, it would be an enormous fight. “Bones” has
mentioned his desire to one day test heavyweight waters, and
Cormier would present an interesting middle ground for him -- a
heavyweight dropping down to 205 pounds. Cormier said he is already
cutting weight slowly in anticipation of the move. His weigh-in
against Nelson next month will be more of an audition for the light
heavyweight division than it will be for his bout against “Big
Country.”
Useless Fact: UFC 165 will be the first time the
Ultimate Fighting Championship has had two belts on the line at the
same event since UFC 152. Jones headlined that one, too, also in
Toronto. No one can say the fine people of Ontario, Canada, do not
get meaningful scraps when the Octagon comes to town.
Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com
Bad luck undercut Cruz.
Say What: Put on Cruz’s shoes for
a moment. The belt around your waist represents every round of
sparring, every mile of running, every pound of sweat that dripped
onto a sauna floor, every sacrifice made. Now, because one knee
ligament does not appear to be as dependable as the rest of your
body, that belt could soon disappear. White said if Cruz cannot
return to defend his title by early 2014, the interim belt could
become undisputed. “The Dominator” said he will be ready on time,
and his perspective on Barao as interim champion shows a level of
maturity and respect we have to applaud. “I view Barao as a
champion,” Cruz told video journalist Rick Lee. “Anyone who says I
don’t view him as a champion is not correct, so the media can’t
twist that. I view him [as] a champion. I just deserve my
shot.”
Awards Watch: Lightweights
Pat Healy and
Khabib
Nurmagomedov have the inside track to “Fight of the Night.”
Nurmagomedov is 20-0 and ragdolls fighters in a sport where not
getting ragdolled is the whole point. Healy is two-dollar-steak
tough and fighting better than he has ever fought during his long
career ... “Knockout of the Night” is the easiest pick on the card.
Brendan
Schaub and
Matt
Mitrione are two heavyweights featuring kill-or-be-killed
styles. Do not let Schaub’s performance against
Lavar
Johnson at UFC 157 lead you to believe he is a changed fighter
... Five rounds is a long time to be in the cage with Barao, even
for someone as gritty as Wineland. “Submission of the Night” goes
to the
Nova Uniao-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.