UFC 172: Jones vs Teixeira

Remember when these guys fought at 170?

So last time Jon Jones defended his title I had to admit I was not that excited for his fight.  Turns out I was wrong to underestimate the skills of the Mauler, Alexander Gustafsson.  He put on a fight of the year candidate and came as close to dethroning the champ as anyone.  I do not think Glover has much of a chance in this fight, but I am not going to miss this fight.  Hopefully we have another fight of the year candidate on Saturday.

Not even touching the Fight Pass prelim fight.  This card does suck in the fact that it only has 10 fights.

FS1 Prelims:

• Danny Castillo almost beat Edson Barboza in his last fight.  As scary as Barboza is, he probed last Saturday that his chin is garbage.  Regardless, Castillo should have enough skills to dispose of Charlie Brenneman.  Funny that Brenneman is fighting at lightweight on the same card as Anthony Johnson who fights at 205lbs now.  They fought at welterweight back in 2011 and now fight 50lbs apart which is a crazy thought.
• Bethe Correia is a mean mugging girl in the women's bantamweight division.  Most people are probably expecting the more popular Jessamyn Duke to pick her apart in an exciting standup war but I see things differently.  The more well-rounded Correia is taking home a decision in my books.
• Takanori Gomi was on different ends of split decisions in his last 2 fights.  Isaac Vallie-Flagg won 3 consecutive split decision before dropping a unanimous decision in January.  Naturally I pick the person who deserves the win to lose a split decision in this one.  So I say IVF will fight well and should win, but Gomi will get the split decision.
• Joe Benavidez has only lost to Dominick Cruz (twice) and Demetrious Johnson (twice) in his MMA career.  There is no shame in losing to those 2 guys, especially since 2 of them were split decisions anyway.  However, coming off a that brutal KO loss in the first round of his last fight, it will be interesting to see how he bounces back.  Tim Elliott, on the other hand, is a funky striker with good wrestling.  He is also coming off a loss but is a hell of a good fighter.  Needless to say, I am going with Benavidez here.  His striking is insanely good and powerful.  He will beat anyone who isn't the champ, except maybe John Dodson.  Please UFC, make Dodson fight the winner of this fight.  It will be awesome.

PPV:

• Andre Fili and Max Holloway are on Pay-per view and Dana White still called this one of the best cards of all time.  No.  The flyweight prelims main event should be on PPV instead of this garbage fight.  Regardless, Fili wins via decision.
• Jim Miller vs Yancy Medeiros!  Now we are talking.  Medeiros is a sick prospect that KOed Yves Edwards before that was changed to a no contest due to him smoking weed.  Miller was saved of a loss because of Pat Healy smoking weed.  Anyway, Miller throws those NASTYYY clinch elbows and busts Medeiros up here.  Yancy goes down all bloodied up and Miller chokes that sucker out.  1st round RNC for Mr. Miller.
• Luke Rockhold liver kick KO of Tim Boetsch.  Next!
• Phil Davis outwrestles Anthony Johnson and wins a decision.  Don't forget about this guy at 205!  With Gustafsson getting a title shot and DC vs Dan Henderson scheduled, I would love to see this guy avenge his only loss to Rashad Evans in the near future.  If Rumble Johnson pulls off the upset, that only sets up bigger and better fights for this division, but I'm not banking on a Johnson victory here.
• Jon Jones will likely wrestle Glover Teixeira down early and throw elbows to beat Glover up.  The unknown in this fight is how good is Glover's ground game?  If Glover has a sick ground game we may be in for a surprise.  But I fully expect Jones to beat Glover up on the ground until he feels safe on his feet.  Jones via decision because Glover is a tough customer and will be hard to put away.