UFC 152: Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfor, Plus the First Ever UFC Flyweight Title
UFC 152: UFC 151 is finally here. Jon Jones puts his light heavyweight title on the line against Dan Henderson Chael Sonnen Lyoto Machida Vitor Belfort and Demetrious Johnson takes on Joseph Benavidez for the inaugural flyweight championship. Plus, Michael Bisping and Brian Stann meet to determine who Anderson Silva will be one of the main people Anderson Silva will continually turn down fights with for the next year.
UFC 152 also features what has to be a first. Via Wikipedia:
UFC newcomer Roger Hollett was expected to face Matt Hamill, who returned from retirement, at the event. However, Hollett was forced out of the bout for undisclosed reasons and replaced by Vladimir Matyushenko. Then, on September 11, 2012, Matyushenko pulled out of the fight after suffering a torn achilles tendon while training, and Hamill vs. Hollett was rebooked by UFC officials.
A fight was booked, canceled and re-booked. An injury forced a booked fight to take place. You know what that means? Dan Henderson could still show up tomorrow!
Back to Jon Jones versus Vitor Belfort. This fight is completely out of left field. If Vitor had been fighting at light heavyweight for his last few fights, then this fight wouldn’t be so crazy. Let me make a case for Vitor Belfort to be in this fight. Belfort is 3-1 in his latest UFC run with his only loss at the feet of Anderson Silva in a title fight. His three wins have all come by stoppage – Rich Franklin (TKO), Yoshihiro Akiyama (KO), Anthony Johnson (sub). The only people that have beat Vitor Belfort? Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and Kazushi Sakuraba. He is a former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion. There.
Having said that, Vitor’s last light heavyweight fight was in 2007 and there are a plenty of people who deserve a title shot at light heavyweight before Vitor. So no, in the end this doesn’t really make sense. Jon Jones is a huge favorite, as he should be.
Joey Benavidez will attempt to become the first member of Team Alpha Male to win a UFC belt after Urijah Faber went 0-12. Benavidez is coming off a knockout of the night and and has finished 4 of his 10 Zuffa-branded fights. Demetrious Johnson previously fought for the bantamweight championship and has finished just 1 of 8 fights during his time in Zuffa. Promoting the smaller weight classes has been difficult for the UFC. Anyone who has been watching MMA closely for the last few years knows that the WEC was awesome because of how great the little guys were. We all wanted the WEC to merge with the UFC so that the smaller fighters could get more money and exposure. Tomorrow could be the flyweights’ best chance for fame. With people tuning in for Jones – Belfort, an exciting flyweight title fight (hopefully with a great finish…) could prove to people that the smaller guys can scrap.
As for Bisping – Stann, this is a great chance for both guys to prove something as well. I’m sure whoever wins gets crowned the #1 contender by Dana White post-fight, but that doesn’t mean shit. Anderson Silva is going to do something violent to Stephan Bonnar in October then he’s going to go into semi-retirement where he talks nonstop about how no one deserves to fight him. Hopefully, by next Fall the Stann, Bisping, Weidman, Boetsch thing settles itself out and two people are healthy at the same time for another middlweight title fight.
Also: Oliveira – Swanson or Magalhaes – Pokrajac are my GUESSES for FotN. And welcome back Matt Hamill!
UFC 152 – PPV – 10pm
Jon Jones (16-1, 10-1 UFC) vs. Vitor Belfort (21-9, 10-5 UFC)
Joseph Benavidez (16-2, 3-0 UFC) vs. Demetrious Johnson (15-2-1, 3-1-1 UFC)
Michael Bisping (22-4, 12-4 UFC) vs. Brian Stann (12-4, 6-3 UFC)
Matt Hamill (10-4, 9-4 UFC) vs. Roger Hollett (13-3, UFC Debut)
Charles Oliveira (16-2, 1nc, 4-2, 1nc UFC) vs. Cub Swanson (17-5, 2-1 UFC)
FX Prelims – 8pm
Vinny Magalhaes vs. Igor Pokrajac
Evan Dunham vs. T.J. Grant
Lance Benoist vs. Sean Pierson
Marcus Brimage vs. Jim Hettes
Facebook Prelims on Facebook – 6:30pm
Seth Baczynski vs. Simeon Thoresen
Mitch Gagnon vs. Walel Watson
Charlie Brenneman vs. Kyle Noke