UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will defend his title next against former champ Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 on December 10th. Dana White announced the fight via twitter.
The fight comes as news spread that Rashard Evans injured his hand in training. Once again, Evans is shelved and misses out on another title shot. For his part, Evans understood the decision and took the news with grace despite the likely frustration.UFC 140 will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In the co-main event, Frank Mir will face Big Nog in a rematch from 2008 in which Mir won the interim Heavyweight championship. Also, Tito Ortiz will face Little Nog on the same card.
Payout Perspective:
Its a little disappointing that we will not see Jones vs. Evans considering the genuine bad blood and intense staredown in the Octagon at UFC 135. It seems soon for Jones to defend his title again but Jones does not seem worried about it. The UFC needed a big title match-up considering the great fans in Canada. Mir vs. Noguiera just isn’t a top draw main event. Machida was the best opponent available although you may argue that Shogun Rua could have received a rematch after Rua KO’d Forrest Griffin in Rio. It will be interesting to see if Machida is a big enough name for the casual MMA fan. Also, we will see if Jones will improve as a PPV draw.
Dear Zuffa,
Please, please don’t have Evans and Jones do a staredown for a FOURTH time. Just… don’t.
This will be a tough sell for more informed fans who know that Machida is 1-2 in his last three fights (and how DARE you think “and the win was against a 47 year-old Randy Couture”! You know it went through your head! For shame!). It should be an easy sell to more casual fans due to the coolness factor of Machida’s karate style and training.
Machida has the best chance of any of the contenders to beat Jones. Jones is still the favorite but imo not by a lot. I would take Machida at +160 or higher. He has the speed and the power to get to Jones untested chin. Proven takedown defense vs shots and Jones doesnt have much power to KO him. We should at the very least get some questions answered about Jon Jones.