What a very strange night of fights. There were two technical decisions from eye pokes, the second Mom to record a win inside the Octagon, and Jones’ broken toe interview with Joe Rogan. Weird stuff.
Jon Jones easily defended his belt against Chael Sonnen, or as he put it “He Chael Sonnen’d Chael Sonnen”. Hopefully, Chael’s WWE BS won’t be heard now for a while.
Weigh-ins for ‘UFC 159: Jones vs Sonnen’ took place today at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. All 24 fighters made weight with the exception of Nick Catone who has been fined 20 percent of his purse, but the fight will go on as scheduled.
A very high-energy weigh-in overall with a mixed bag of entertainment. The champion Jon Jones delighted the crowd when he threw them his new pair of Nike sneakers into the seats. Imagine if you came home to your significant other with one brand new sneaker, “No, I swear, it’s Jon Jones’ shoe that I caught at the UFC weigh-ins today”.
Fighter Profiles
Leonard Garcia (15-10-1)
Cody McKenzie (13-3)
CageWall Event Page
UFC 159: Jones vs Sonnen
Overview
A fight that was supposed to happen for UFC 155 back in December, is back on, as Leonard Garcia and Cody McKenzie have been matched up once again.
Leonard Garcia, even though he’s lost his last four fights, will still get his crack at McKenzie. I think it was just too good a matchup to pass up. Garcia goes out there and bangs, and is definitely not afraid of getting hit. So, it’s no wonder he’s still on the UFC roster. His fights have produced four ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses in the past three years, with his fight against the Korean Zombie earning several ‘Fight of the Year’ nods as well.
Junior dos Santos
Salary information for UFC 155: dos Santos vs Velasquez II was reported today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The total payroll for the event was $1,261,000.
Here is the breakdown of all salaries earned:
Nothing like a heavyweight title fight in Vegas a few nights before New Year’s to end the year on a high note, and what a fight it was. Mad props to Cain who came out and attacked from the start. I was shocked throughout as Cain controlled the action and tossed Junior around like a rag doll. Unbelievable display of cardio and heart. He wanted that belt back and he got it. Brilliant performance and congrats to Cain on one of the greatest achievements in UFC history.
As for the rest of the card, we had some great finishes from John Moraga, Todd Duffee, Erik Perez, and Constantinos Philippou, a bunch of decisions, and then an epic bloody battle between Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon that will surely rank high as one of the year’s best fights.