UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort

[John F Kennedy III]

After UFC 151 being cancelled in the wake of Jones declining to fight Sonnen, or anyone on Sep 1st for that matter, as a replacement for the injured Dan Henderson, then Machida declining to fight Jones on Sep 22nd and asking for the fight to moved to UFC 153 on Oct 13th and being declined by the UFC, the fight is now Jones vs Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 on Sep 22nd.

UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It is expected to take place on September 22, 2012 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and will be broadcast live on pay-per-view.

Background

Rory MacDonald was expected to face former dual-division champion B.J. Penn at the event, but MacDonald pulled out of the bout after sustaining a cut to the forehead while training. The bout has now been rescheduled for UFC on Fox 5 on December 8, 2012.
Roger Hollett was expected to face Matt Hamill at the event. However, Hollett was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Vladimir Matyushenko.
As a result of the cancellation of UFC 151, a bout between Kyle Noke and Charlie Brenneman was rescheduled for this event.
Dan Miller was expected to face Sean Pierson at the event. However, Miller pulled out of the bout after getting news about his son's kidney transplant operation. He was replaced by Lance Benoist.

Main event

The main event will see current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones facing former champion Vitor Belfort. Originally, Jones was set to defend his title against Dan Henderson at UFC 151 on September 1, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, but UFC President Dana White announced on August 23 that Henderson had a partial tear in his MCL and would not be able to compete. It was than revealed that Jones declined a fight against Chael Sonnen, who offered to take the fight on eight days notice. As a result, the event was cancelled. This marked the first time the UFC had cancelled an event, with the official fight card having been announced, in the organization's history.
Following the cancellation of the Las Vegas UFC event, White said that UFC 151 simply will not exist. Jones was set to face Lyoto Machida in a rematch at this event after the cancellation of that event, but Machida eventually declined the fight. Subsequently, Vitor Belfort was chosen to take Machida's place at this event. Jones is a massive favorite (13-to-1) coming into the bout.
The co-main event, originally serving as the evening's main event, is set to feature Joseph Benavidez taking on Demetrious Johnson for the inaugural UFC Flyweight Championship. Benavidez earned the right to fight for the championship by defeating Yasuhiro Urushitani by TKO in the second round where as Johnson defeated Ian McCall by unanimous decision.

Official fight card (my picks in bold)

Jon Jones vs Vitor Belfort

Joseph Benavidez vs Demetrious Johnson

Michael Bisping vs Brian Stann

TJ Grant vs Evan Dunham

Matt Hamill vs Vladimir Matyushenko

Cub Swanson vs Charles Oliveira

Igor Pokrajac vs Vinny Magalhães

Jimy Hettes vs Marcus Brimage

Seth Baczynski vs Simeon Thoresen

Mitch Gagnon vs Walel Watson

Charlie Brenneman vs Kyle Noke

Sean Pierson vs Lance Benoist


* Of course with 3 weeks to go until the event, the line up can still change due to training injuries

 

[Sola_Fide]

Not too excited about this one. Jones will dominate Belfort. Benevidez should be able to outpoint Mighty Mouse.

The only fight I'm excited for is Bisping v. Stann. Could be an awesome stand up war, and both of those guys bring it every time.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

In my experience, MMA and UFC fights are too ego-driven. I like Judo and other eastern martial arts better because the focus is more on the sport than the melodrama.

 

[Sola_Fide]

In my experience, MMA and UFC fights are too ego-driven. I like Judo and other eastern martial arts better because the focus is more on the sport than the melodrama.

I love Judo. I can watch judo matches on YouTube for hours. The skill of some of these judo players is absolutely unreal. A judoka can literally break your arms and legs and choke you to death...literally.