Locked in the Guilltoine 01.06.12: Looking Back at Bones

Posted by Robert Winfree on 01.06.2012

411's Robert Winfree takes a look at Jon Jones' impressive showings in 2011! Plus a look at what Brock Lesnar's retirement means for the UFC, a breakdown of the Strikeforce Middleweight title fight and more!

Welcome readers, it's Friday once again and you've decided to spend some of it with me here. I thank you for that. We had a pretty big week, mostly centered around Brock Lesnar retiring. Though that wasn't all, as Miesha Tate's next challenger was announced, and there's a Strikeforce card this week. Who knew right? I'm taking a look back at the biggest story of 2011, and my apologies to wylun in advance. Take a look and get Locked in the Guillotine this week.

Feedback

We had a few comments last week, mostly related to my look at the Brock vs. Overeem fight, but I'll take what I can get really. Let's take a look at what was said.
Nippalaeon agreed with my assessment of the Lesnar Overeem fight, which was sadly quite inaccurate now that we have hindsight to look back with. He also admitted he's a fan of Vladimir Matyushenko, which is very cool. He might be stuck as the upper level gatekeeper for the rest of his career, but there's no shame in that.
Brock Smash used a little pro-wrestling fantasy booking about what he'd like Brock to have done in 2012. It's a real shame Brock retired, but there's a little more on that lower in the column.
Reality, who claims to be related to Truth and Fact, stopped by to say that he agreed with Brock probably picking up the victory. I can't say how much I wish I had been right about that one, though I have to somewhat disagree with the bit he relayed from Speculation. Still thanks for stopping by, and hopefully despite my awful performance at UFC 141 you'll be back.


UFC 141


The Gun beats the Anvil: There must be a pro-wrestling reference in there somewhere, but I'm not going to the effort to look it up. The opening fight of the night saw a decent fight between Diego Nunes and Manny Gamburyan that saw Nunes use movement and kicks to out-point Manny. Decent wan to start the night off.

Efrain's return get's Fitched: Jacob Volkmann put on a dominant grappling performance against the returning Efrain Escudero. While not the most exciting fight, Volkmann is undefeated at 155 and should get some stiffer competition in his next fight. For Efrain, his last minute choke attempts might not have won the fight, but they could have saved his job. If he gets another shot he needs to win and look good doing it.

Dong Hyun Kim returns with a victory: Dong Hyun Kim returned to the octagon after getting blitzed by Carlos Condit in his last fight to get a decision over Sean Pierson. The fight wasn't terribly exciting, but Kim's kicks looked very good. This was the improvement that Kim needed, and he looked pretty good. Hopefully he's learned from the loss and will keep improving.

Well that was uninspired: Danny Castillo got a split decision victory over Anthony Njokuani. Both guys came to fight, but I just didn't feel they were really going after it. Castillo getting the first and third rounds wasn't terribly controversial, but his cardio seemed to falter which isn't a huge surprise considering he took the fight on short notice. Decent win for Castillo.

Speaking of uninspired...: Ross Pearson got a decision win over Junior Assuncao in the final prelim of the night. The fight didn't feature a ton of action, and really I don't have much to say about it. Pearson starts off his featherweight career with a win though, so good on him.

Boy was I wrong: Jimmy Hettes put on a dominating performance against veteran Nam Phan. I predicted Phan would persevere through an early storm, but he didn't. Hettes never stopped coming forward, used great trips from the clinch, and pummeled Nam Phan for the full fifteen minutes. Great performance for Hettes.

The Janitor gets Mauled: Alexander Gustafsson stopped tough veteran Valdimir Matyushenko in the first round. Gustafsson is the best prospect in the 205lbs division now that Phil Davis has moved up to main eventing events. Great performance for Gustafsson who should get a step up in competition now. For Vladi, he's a tough guy who always comes to fight, I hope he stays with the UFC.

That Just Happened: Johnny Hendricks KO'd Jon Fitch in just twelve seconds. This is the only time in the UFC that Fitch has been stopped, and this rockets Hendricks up the rankings. An absolutely huge with for Hendricks. For Fitch it's back to the drawing board, he's got to come up with something new.

Nate Diaz is legit folks: Nate Diaz battered Donal Cerrone for three rounds and took home a unanimous decision win. Going into the fight I thought Cerrone's more diverse attack would help him, plus his wrestling ability. Cerrone wanted no part of the ground game, which I think was a mistake, and on the feet just stood in range and got punched over and over again. Nate looked awesome here, and he seems to have really found his stride at 155. For Cowboy, he had a damn busy year and I think it just finally caught up with him. Hopefully he rests and comes back better for the experience.

Overeem retires Brock: Well after all the effort I went to last week I now look pretty stupid. Brock didn't try to wrestle with Overeem at all, save one single leg attempt, and the result was pretty predictable after that. Overeem used knees and kicks to the body to take out Brock, which is a very good strategy against someone with a good chin, and finish him in the first. After the fight Brock announced his retirement from MMA, saying that either this fight or his title fight if he'd have won would have been his last. Bad news for the UFC as Brock is a huge draw. This was a good introduction for Overeem, but I honestly don't give him much of a chance against Junior dos Santos, but that's another topic for another time.

News

Brock hangs up the gloves: Following his loss to Alistair Overeem Brock Lesnar announced his retirement from MMA. He stated that if he had beaten Overeem his title fight, win lose or draw, would have been his final fight. This news sucks in many ways, firstly from a business standpoint for the UFC. Brock was either the biggest or second biggest draw the UFC had, depending on where he or GSP were in any given year. Brock also brought electricity to the octagon. Fighters who naturally generate that kind of buzz are few and far between, and their loss is never a good thing for an organization. Brock took the hardest road possible in his MMA career, and retires as a former champion who beat some of the very best the sport had to offer. Whatever he does next I wish him well.

Ronda Rousey fights Miesha Tate: Strikeforce announced that undefeated Ronda Rousey will challenge for the Strikeforce bantamweight womens championship against Miesha Tate. This is a huge step up in competition for Rousey, and we'll learn a great deal about her from the fight one way or the other.



Anyone else pretty much forget there was a Strikeforce card this week? Because I did. That said, there's a pretty good reason, this is a hugely underwhelming card, and I'm already cringing at the thought of Mauro Ranallo calling it. The only fight that I'm going to break down here is the title fight, if you want my thoughts on the rest check out the roundtable.

Rockhold vs. Jardine: This will be Luke Rockhold's first title defense since upsetting Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza last year. This is also Jardine's first ever fight at 185. Not his first fight at 185 in Strikeforce, his first fight at 185 ever. The reality is that Strikeforce doesn't have the talent depth to make most of these title fights interesting. So there will be questions about Jardine's ability to make the cut, his cardio after the cut, and if he'll lose any of his skillset by dropping down. If Jardine wins this fight, it's in either the first or second via stoppage. Jardine's standup is awkward, but has proven to be effective, and if he catches Rockhold he will swarm and try to force the stoppage. That said, I think Jardine will tire rapidly into the second round and Rockhold will control the fight from there. I think Rockhold makes a successful defense of his title via decision.

2011, a year in retrospect

Many writers will begin 2012 by talking about the best and worst of 2011, or will talk about what they hope happens for the new year. I've decided to take a deep look at the biggest story of 2011, the rise of Jon Jones.



Jon Jones entered 2011 as the biggest prospect in the light-heavyweight division. That said, he had only fought on the main card of two PPV's coming into the year. Coming into his fight with Bader, Jones' last two fights had been on the Versus network against Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko. The fight with Bader was his first appearance on a numbered UFC event since he choked out Jake O'Brien at UFC 100. Bader was also a top prospect at 205, known for powerful wrestling and his right hand. Bader was undefeated at the time, and Jones' only loss was via disqualification against Matt Hamill in a fight he completely dominated. This fight was to determine which of the two prospects would take a step towards becoming a contender and which one had more work to do. While Jones was regarded as the more talented of the two, there were plenty of people picking Bader going into this fight.

The fight wound up not being very close. After a brief feeling out period, Jones was able to shoot a double leg and get Ryan Bader onto his back. This should have been telling, Bader was a much more accomplished freestyle wrestler than Jones, whose background is more in greco-roman, and Jones took him down with relative ease. Jones transitioned on top, escaping a potential guillotine by moving into side control, then towards a north-south choke. Bader survived the attempts and eventually regained his feet, but Jones had sent a clear message that his grappling was superior. If there was any doubt to that fact it was erased when Bader shot in a bit later and was stuffed with ease by Jones. The first round ended with Bader on his back. Jones proved physically stronger than Bader, which was surprising at the time, and was the superior grappler. The corner advice proved telling as well, Mike Winklejohn advised Jones to play the length, to let Bader's punches fall and then attack. The advice from Bader's corner was to put his hands on Jones.

The first minute of the second round was contested on the feet, and Jones followed his corners advice landing with some long blows and letting the punches of Bader fall short. Jones even threw a jumping left high kick against the accomplished wrestler without suffering for it. The majority of the round saw Jones using superior reach to control the distance as well as land leg kicks. Following a left kick to the body Bader got close, but wound up pulling half guard against Jones. From that position Jones first worked towards a d'arce choke, then adjusted to a guillotine when Bader defended that forced the previously unbeaten Bader to tap out.



What came next could be described as fate. Rashad Evans had injured his knee and would be unable to compete in his scheduled title fight with champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in three weeks time. The first person the UFC went to as a replacement was Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but Jackson declined the fight knowing that he'd be unlikely to make weight or perform at his best if he did make the 205lbs limit. With Evans and Jackson unable to fight for the title, the next opportunity went to the victorious Jon Jones. Watching Jones' eyes widen and him sink to his knees at the news remains one of the most genuine moments to have taken place post fight in the octagon. Jones emphatically accepted the shot, and shook hands with Rua who was inside the cage.

The fight was a difficult one to call, and Jones was a slight betting favorite but many experts still favored the champion. The 411 staff here went 5-4 in favor of the then champion. The general feeling seemed to be that Rua was just too big a step up in competition for Jones at this stage in his career. The level in talent and ability between Ryan Bader, who was the toughest test to that point for Jon Jones, and the champion Shogun can't really be compared. Rua was a proven veteran, he'd only really been stopped twice in his career, he was submitted by Renato "Babalu" Sobral, and Forest Griffin in his UFC debut, but now was coming off of a fantastic KO win over Lyoto Machida. No matter who you picked to win, all eyes were on the octagon when the young hungry Jon Jones stepped inside to challenge the champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

It seemed no matter who you were picking to win it was expected the fight would be somewhat close. What followed after the bell rang was the single most dominant win of Jon Jones' career, and the most devastating loss of Shoguns. The first technique Jones used was a flying knee to the body after which he pushed off a clinch attempt and threw a head kick at Rua. Jones scored the first takedown from the clinch barely thirty seconds into the fight, and looked to unleash his ferocious ground and pound on Rua. Rather than attack the head of the iron-jawed Brazilian, Jones landed vicious elbows to the body over and over again. Rua's conditioning had long been a question mark, and attacks to the body drain even the best conditioned fighters. There was one point in the first round where Shogun tried to sweep from half guard, you could see the strain on Rua's face as he tried and failed to so much as budge Jones from top position. In the second round Jones opened up on the feet a bit more, using Rua's high striking guard against him by going to the body repeatedly. Joe Rogan summed up the fight best, "Jones is hitting him from like, the next block." In the third round Jones reversed an attempted leg lock by Rua and wound up on top for the last time. From full guard Jones landed huge punches and elbows that rocked Rua. Sensing the end, Jones swarmed on Rua. The champion rolled to his knees and turtled up, hoping to gain time to recover, but Jones threw two vicious knees to the liver that prompted Rua to stand up. As Rua put his guard up again, Jones again went under with a nasty left hand to the liver that would make Bas Rutten proud. Rua crumpled to the canvas, tapping out to strikes moments after referee Herb Dean waved off the contest.

Jon Jones was now the youngest champion in UFC history, and had completely dominated the universally ranked number one fighter in the 205lbs division. The only question was what was next?



The answer came in the form of former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. This time most experts were picking Jon Jones to win, but there were still people thinking Rampage could win. Jones appeared tired in the third round of his title victory, and if Rampage could survive long enough for Jones to tire he has proven capable of stopping anyone with his fists.

The action was different than many people, myself included, expected. Rampage's defense looked very good, he didn't get tossed around in the clinch and wasn't taken down until the third round. The problem was his offense was non-existent. Jones was able to land kicks to the legs and body with virtual impunity, as well as doing damage to the legs and body in the clinch with knees. At the end of the second round Jones even attempted a flying triangle choke, and would have had it locked in but the round ended. The first successful takedown of the fight was in the third round, and Jones moved from side control to mount very quickly and landed a big elbow that cut Rampage. To his credit Jackson was able to escape back to his feet, but the clear message was that on the ground he had nothing to trouble Jones. In the fourth round Jones was again able to secure a takedown, this time when Quinton got to his knees Jones took his back, used one hook to prevent him from regaining his feet, and got an arm around the neck. Jones transitioned from a traditional rear naked choke to more of a gable grip and force Rampage to tap out.



Jon Jones became the first person to finish Rampage Jackson inside the octagon, and the first person to submit him since Kazushi Sakuraba choked him out way back in 2001. While this wasn't the same level of violence that he had brought against Shogun, Jon Jones again proved why he was the champion. The UFC was planning on having the long rumored Jones vs. Evans title fight near the end of the year in Toronto, but after Rashad hurt his hand fighting Tito Ortiz it was delayed. Instead the title shot went to former champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida.



There were some skeptics about Machida getting a title shot, he was just 1-2 in his last three fights and that victory was over Randy Couture. Jon Jones responded to the criticism with simple logic, Lyoto is one of the best fighters in the world and he would face him eventually. This time around everyone predicted a Jon Jones win, the only question seemed to be how he would chose to dispatch yet another former champion. Lyoto Machida actually added some muscle to his frame in preparation for the fight, and it was evident that Machida was taking the fight very seriously.

As for the fight itself, Machida reminded us of a single terrifying fact: Jon Jones still has room to improve. Going into the fight it was thought that the reach of Jon Jones would prove problematic for Lyoto Machida, who's primary weapon was striking. The reality was much different, as despite the reach difference it was Machida who was the most successful in the striking. Machida's mastery of distance and timing was on full display as he moved out of range of Jones' striking and moved in with accurate striking. While Jon Jones had used spinning techniques and side-kicks to the leg against more orthodox strikers such as Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson, they weren't successful against Machida. Machida's karate style meant he'd seen those unorthodox techniques for the vast majority of his life and knew how to react and counter them. The second round was different. Jones stopped switching stances and didn't use many spinning techniques, instead he focused on trying to establish his jab and getting close to the challenger. Near the end of the second round the two men clinched and Jones first tried a trip then transitioned to a traditional double leg takedown and put Machida on his back. Jones landed only two strikes before Machida scrambled back into a clinch, but one opened a large gash on his forehead. After a brief timeout to check the cut the two men resumed fighting from the clinch. While Machida was able to push away the momentum had drastically shifted. Jones landed a left hand that rocked Machida, then followed up by clinching and grabbing a hold of Machida's neck. Jones twisted the angle and forced Machida against the cage leaving him almost no movement to escape the standing guillotine. A few seconds later Machida was unconscious on the canvas, and Jones was still the champion.



In 2011 Jon Jones spent forty seven minutes and thirty seven seconds fighting and beating the best in the world. He entered 2011 as a prospect, and it was generally thought he'd have the title either late 2011 or early 2012. He ends the year having dominated three former champions, only arguably dropping a single round, and one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. I don't think calling Jon Jones' 2011 the single best year in MMA history is that far off the mark.

Before I finish this column, I'd like to discuss one brief thing. In my first ever column here I talked about emotional investment in fighters, and as 2011 came to a close I realized something. 2011 was a pretty bad year for me and the fighters I choose to support. The reality is that I invest a part of myself into someone else, who I have never met, in an event I have absolutely no control over, and allow that to effect how I feel. Objectively that is absolutely nuts, so I'm going to be trying something in 2012. I am going to do my best to divorce my emotions from MMA. While I have always tried to be analytical despite my feelings one way or the other, I'm going to try removing them completely and see how that goes. It may be that I can't do it, or that MMA loses some of its appeal this way, but I think it's worth giving a try and seeing how things go. That does it for me this week, you've successfully escaped the Guillotine and I'll see you all next week.