UFC 135: One Main Reason to Watch Every Main Card Fight

Two of the sports’ hottest commodities will meet this Saturday as the Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones puts his championship on the line against the No. 1 contender, Quintin “Rampage” Jackson.  

I always get excited when I hear the promotional video the UFC released hyping the fact that Jones is the leader of the new generation of MMA, while Jackson is the hard-swinging veteran that swings with intentions to “kill you,” according to UFC Personality Joe Rogan.  

This is a perfect situation for Jones to be in defending his title for the first time. He’s fighting a well-known fighter that is never afraid to speak his mind.  

This fight has had a lot of drama surrounding it the past couple of weeks as Jackson accused Jones of having a spy in his camp.

To make a long story short, Jackson faked a hand injury, and according to Jackson, Jones’ camp found out before anything leaked on the Internet.  

Personally, I think Jackson is using this to motivate himself for the toughest test of his MMA career. Fans can’t wait to see this fight, but here are five reasons fans should get excited to see every fight on the main card.

Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt

Reason to watch: This fight has potential to be a slug fest. After all, it is a Mark Hunt fight.  

Should Ben Rothwell choose to stand and trade with Mark Hunt, expect the two fighters to put on an exciting performance.  

That’s if Rothwell chooses to stand with Hunt. If he doesn’t, expect a boring decision victory for Rothwell in the same way he defeated Gilbert Yvel at UFC 115.  

Both fighters are coming off of victories. Rothwell is coming off of the Yvel victory, and Hunt is still riding high off of his knockout win over Chris Tuchscherer.  

Win, lose or draw, Hunt always brings the fight to his opponent and should Rothwell choose to keep this fight standing, this has the makings to be a bloody affair.

Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz

Reason to watch: This will be fight of the night.  

It’s in the Diaz brothers’ nature to have exciting fights,and when Nate Diaz meets Pride Fighting Championship legend Takanori Gomi, expect the unexpected.  

This isn’t the first time Gomi has fought a Diaz, as he fought Nate’s brother, Nick, at Pride 33 four-and-a-half years ago. Diaz won the fight via Gogaplata, but that fight ended in a no contest. Diaz tested positive for marijuana after the match and the Nevada State Athletic Commission overturned the decision. 

No contest or not, that’s all in the past and Gomi will now take aim at Nick’s little brother, in what I’m picking to be fight of the night.

Gomi is never reluctant to trade hands with anyone and don’t think for a second that Diaz will be gun-shy to stand and bang.  

This fight could very well have every aspect of MMA in it as these two will likely stand and trade, clinch, scramble and fight on the ground. Let’s just hope this fight can live up to the classic Nick and Gomi put on back in Pride.

Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton

Reason to watch:  Don’t miss out on witnessing the birth of a superstar.

Travis Browne’s role in his short MMA career can be summarized as playing the spoiler. Tune in Saturday night to watch Browne’s role of spoiler transcribe into superstardom.

Browne’s first UFC fight was against James McSweeney, who was riding high from generating a lot of publicity from his stint on the Ultimate Fighter. Browne didn’t care.

Browne knocked out McSweeney in the first round of the Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale and then went on to play the role of underdog against his next foe, Cheick Kongo.

He was able to escape the fight with Kongo at UFC 120 with a draw and is now riding high after his lethal Superman punch knockout victory over Stefan Struve at UFC 130. Enter Rob Broughton.

Broughton is on a five-fight winning streak with his most recent victory coming inside the octagon as he defeated Vinicius Kappke de Queiroz in his UFC debut at UFC 120.

Browne will now play the role of favorite and another knockout victory in spectacular fashion will only make his star shine brighter.

Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck

Reason to watch:  This fight will end with a knockout and could be Koscheck’s last fight at welterweight. 

Let’s face it, Matt Hughes isn’t the same fighter he was when he was dominating the welterweight division years ago.  

His last three fights, he went in and traded with Renzo Gracie, Ricardo Almeida and B.J. Penn because of the strength each opponent had in BJJ on the ground.

The first two fights ended up paying off for Hughes as he was able to finish or set up a finish on his feet, but the last one didn’t go so well.  

Penn knocked out Hughes in 21 seconds. The bottom line is even if Hughes wants to take this fight to the ground versus Koscheck, I don’t think he’ll be able to.

Koscheck is one of the best wrestlers to ever tackle MMA and his stand up is much better than Hughes.   Koscheck’s striking might not have the best technique, but he does have knockout power.

When Koscheck’s right hand connects with Hughes chin, the lights will dim and it could very well be the end of the line for a legend fighting inside the octagon.  

Koscheck has flirted with the idea of jumping to middleweight and Hughes has flirted with the idea of this being his last fight, as it’s the last fight on his UFC contract.  

There’s so many variables going into this fight, but the most interesting has to be the likely possibility of Hughes going to sleep. Quite frankly, this is just not a good match-up for Hughes.

Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson

Reason to watch:  When two of the biggest personalities in the sport meet, it’ll have a big fight feel with an exciting conclusion.  

Here it is. This is the big fight that I’ve been waiting months to see. In his short time in the UFC, Jon Jones has elevated his status to must-see entertainment.  

Jones will throw everything but the kitchen sink in a fight and is never shy to try to pull off a wild technique.

Now he’ll meet one of the biggest personalities the sport has ever seen when he faces Rampage Jackson.  

Worldly-renown for his howling and comedic interviews in both Japan and the United States, Jackson is a man that draws interest to the sport. So from an excitement standpoint, this fight is off the charts.  

As far as the match-up goes, I believe the fight favors Jones in every phase of the game. Jones uses his reach well enough to keep Jackson at bay, has outstanding wrestling skills and has shown great ability in BJJ with submission victories over Ryan Bader and Jake O’Brien.  

Jackson’s only chance in this fight is to test Jones chin and test it early. Jackson has to find a way to get inside of Jones’ reach and drop some “bungalows.”  

The longer this fight goes, the more Jones’ confidence will strengthen and he’ll go in for the kill.   Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens and even though I’m only giving Jackson a puncher’s chance, I’m still excited to see if he can land that knockout blow.

Whether Jones dominates or not, it’ll still be fantastically entertaining to watch and I’m not missing it for anything.