Bad News for the UFC

Lately the UFC has faced nothing but bad news. First, the UFC 151 cancellation, the first ever time they’ve ever canceled since the company was founded. Also to top it off the fighters that dropped out their bouts for UFC 153, Jose Aldo and Quinton Jackson. Everyone including myself was looking forward to the main event of UFC 151 the fight card was stack and the fighters looked ready, but then a week before the fight Dan Henderson was sidelined for a partial rapture in his MCL and could not fight. Dana White (the president of UFC), worked restlessly to find the light heavyweight champion Jon Jones an opponent that would: first, be able to fight in a weeks’ notice, second would bring back fan attention. The fighters that he called were ex light heavyweight champions Mauricio Rua and Lyoto Machida. Rua declined the offer saying he was not ready(about a couple of months back he lost the championship to Jon Jones via TKO) and Machida still needed time to tweak his gameplan( Lost to Jon Jones via submission). All hope was lost but someone stepped up to the plate, Chael Sonnen, to face Jon Jones. Chael wanted the fight badly calling out Jones on being a fraud and an unworthy champion. Also odds were against Chael too. He was unprepared and had not been training for a good two months. Also Chael had to go up a weight class from middleweight (185 lbs.) to light heavyweight (205 lbs.). Many things change when a weight class is changed from lasting all the fight to punching power. The UFC started making promotional videos, posters, etc.. just to spread the word very fast. It seemed like the UFC was back on track and could pull this off, but then the champion Jon Jones declined to fight Chael Sonnen in a weeks’ notice. Dana White had no other choice but to completely cancel UFC 151.

After the UFC got hit hard from the cancellation of UFC 151 it had to make things better. They gave the fans 2 title fights in one event. Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort for the light heavyweight championship and for the first ever Flyweight(125lbs.) championship bout Joseph Benavidez vs. Demetrious Johnson. The card, in my opinion had great potential, from Vitor having a great upset on Jon by winning the fight and the first ever Flyweight champion will be crowned. Leading up to the fight everyone had given the fight to Jones but there was still hope for the chanlenger Vitor Belfort. There was a 10 to 1 chance that Jon Jones was going to win. The card went great overall and finally the main event was up. Both of the fighters looked ready for the fight. Jon Jones main tool is his really long reach, 84.5 inches to be exact, most all his opponents have fallen victims because of being scared of his reach. Vitor was a very great opponent for Jon, he has champion experience and lightning fast punches. Everyone expected Jon to use his reach and beat Vitor up for 25 minutes or if the vintage Vitor came into this fight, Vitor would knockout Jon. All the talk was over when they both stepped into the octagon and the referee asked,"fighters are you ready?!?!.... Let's get it on!!" Both fighters came out, Jon started first by throwing front kicks that hyperextended the knee, Vitor responded with his own kicks, and eventually Jon took Vitor down with a takedown. Everyone knew what was in store, Jon using his reach to throw numerous of elbows and punches. They were both very close to the cage, Vitor's legs were on the cage and suddenly he pushed off and got an armbar. An armbar hyperextends the elbow and could break an arm. The answer was here to end the reign of Jon Jones, victory seemed so close for Vitor. Eventually Jon slipped out and continued the fight. In the same round, the 1st, after Jon slipped out he landed shots that cut Vitor. The second and third round was controlled by Jon with either his long punches standing up or with his elbows on the ground. The fourth round opened with Vitor charging at Jon violently, but Jon took him down and submitted Vitor in the first minute. Everything worked out for the UFC even after the cancellation of UFC 151 but not for the champion Jon Jones, to this day he still receives hate from some fans.

    Nothing but injuries fill up on the UFC main events. Two fighters dropped out of the UFC 153 card, the defending champion Jose Aldo and Quinton Jackson. Jose dropped out because of a foot injury caused by a motorcycle accident and Quinton dropped out because of an injury. Everyone was looking up to see the super fight Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar. Edgar was a fill in be cause the prior opponent dropped out because of an injury. Now fill ins were brought in and none other to headline this event in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The very popular and arguably the best fighter in the world, Brazil's very own, Anderson Silva is set to fight Stephan Bonnar. For the co-main-event Antonio Nogueira vs. Dave Herman. Even though the great UFC 153 card was switched around it will be a great one.