Jon Jones retains his title. Photo: UFC.
This Saturday at UFC 135 in Denver, Colorado, served up a night replete with submissions, Jiu-Jitsu of the finest quality. Most notable was the submission hold that brought the evening’s main event to a finish and yielded Jon Jones his first successful title defense, against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, in a fight that played out just as could be expected: Jones dominated.
Jones set the pace from the outset, working his clinch, throwing his trademark spinning elbows, and displaying a broad array of strikes. The second round provided a clue that he was in fact looking for a submission, though, when he pulled guard for a triangle. Rampage tried to land some strikes here and there but appeared to be fatigued and couldn’t make it to the end of the third round. After getting taken down, Jackson yielded to back mount and offered no resistance to a rear-naked choke, promptly tapping out. In his 14-win career – with one disqualification loss – this is Jon Jones’s fourth submission.
At 37 years of age, Matt Hughes offered little resistance to Josh Koscheck’s onslaught. The UFC Hall of Famer suffered a barrage of strikes that laid him out with just one second left in the opening round.
Another who showed some first-rate Jiu-Jitsu was the Cesar Gracie-trained Nate Diaz. The brown belt submitted Takanori Gomi after shifting from armbar to triangle and then back to armbar.
An interesting feature of the night was the marked evolution in Mark Hunt’s ground game, since he began being trained by Carlson Gracie black belt Ricardo Libório, even getting in a knee on belly and coming close with an armbar. The former K-1 champion won a unanimous decision against Ben Rothwell.
Check out the complete results:
UFC 135
Saturday, September 24, 211
Denver, Colorado, USA
Jon Jones submitted Quinton Jackson via rear-naked choke at 1:14 min of R4;
Josh Koscheck defeated Matt Hughes via TKO at 4:59 min of R1;
Mark Hunt defeated Ben Rothwell via unanimous decision;
Travis Browne defeated Rob Broughton via unanimous decision;
Nate Diaz submitted Takanori Gomi via armbar at 4:27 min of R1;
Tony Ferguson defeated Aaron Riley via doctor’s intervention following R1;
Tim Boetsch defeated Nick Ring via unanimous decision;
Junior Assunção defeated Eddie Yagin via unanimous decision;
Takeya Mizugaki defeated Cole Escovedo via TKO at 4:30 min of R2;
James Te Huna defeated Ricardo Romero via KO at 0.47 min of R1.