UFC 135 Picks

UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage

Location: Denver, Colorado
Venue: Pepsi Center
Broadcast: Pay-per-view, Spike TV and Facebook.com

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

• Champ Jon Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (for light-heavyweight title)
• Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck
• Rob Broughton vs. Travis Browne
• Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi
• Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Aaron Riley vs. Tony Ferguson
• Tim Boetsch vs. Nick Ring

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

• Ricardo Romero vs. James Te Huna
• Cole Escovedo vs. Takeya Mizugaki
• Junior Assuncao vs. Eddie Yagin

 

As a prequel to the much anticipated headliner card for UFC135, the Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th season, this time it will be bantam and featherweights battling it out with Michael “The Count” Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller as the coaches.  For the first time in TUF history, all 16 fights to get in the house will be shown in its entirety, and Dana White says they are awesome.

In one of the most anticipated match ups of the year, Jon “Bones” Jones will be defending his light-heavyweight title against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.  Though this fight started off with some spygate controversy, it is very doubtful that there will be any controversy as to who will win this fight.  Bones has been destroying all opponents, and Quinton when he does win, he barely wins (see Lyoto Machida).  Quinton has the power, but Jon has the speed, and the huge advantage in athleticism.  Rampage will be lucky to land a punch in this fight, the odds are against him for a reason.

Nobody can send Hughes away to retire for good, and probably for one of the first times, most will be cheering for Koscheck to finally get Matt to lace up his boots.  Matt is still a decent fighter, but a mere shadow of his once dominant self, and it’s tough to watch fighters in this downward outlook.  Josh now has the better wrestling, standup, probably even stamina.  Another heavy favorite that will surely hold.

Travis Browne is back, and fans have been waiting for it since his last knockout of the night via the superman punch over skyscraper Struve.  He will be fighting British heavyweight Rob Broughton, who will be making his 2nd ufc appearance.  I don’t really know too much about Rob, don’t even remember his fight, and appears to be a British wrestler, didn’t know there was such a thing.

Nate Diaz versus Takanori Gomi will easily be the closest fight on the main card.  Most people would love to see Gomi lay one out on Diaz, but that seems to be all that Gomi is these days, a one trick knockout pony.  Diaz is much too quick of a boxer, and you never see a huge punch land on him.  Diaz should win this on the scorecard, as it doesn’t appear that he enjoys using his bjj to finish guys anymore.

In a combined 520+ pounds this heavyweight fight between Ben Rothwell and Mark Hunt will be a big one, physically.  Let’s hope that this doesn’t go the distance as they will be gassed by the end of the first round.  As long as Big Ben takes the fight to the ground, he will have no trouble finishing off Hunt.  If he tries to stand and trade, look out.  I think he will be smart about it.

UFC 135 Fight Odds

• UFC 135 •
Jon Jones vs. Quinton Jackson	-700 +450	-550 +400	-550 +425	-600 +400	-588 +350
Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi	-250 +190	-260 +200	-240 +200	+ -	-278 +190
Rob Broughton vs. Travis Browne	+265 -350	+300 -400	+300 -360	- +	+280 -455
Josh Koscheck vs. Matt Hughes	-450 +300	-480 +380	-500 +400	- +	- +
Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt	-340 +260	-350 +275	-335 +255	- +	- +
James Te Huna vs. Ricardo Romero	-155 +125	-160 +130	-165 +135	- +	- +
Aaron Riley vs. Tony Ferguson	+275 -350	+240 -300	+240 -300	- +	- +
Nick Ring vs. Tim Boetsch	+130 -160	+140 -170	+140 -170	- +	- +
Eddie Yagin vs. Junior Assuncao	-115 -115	-115 -115	-115 -115	- +	- +
Cole Escovedo vs. Takeya Mizugaki	+175 -225	+160 -200	+160 -195	- +	- +
tbd vs. tbd	- +	- +	- +	- +	- +

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