UFC on Fox 4: Rua, Vera, Bader and Machida's open workouts
Posted on August 1, 2012, 11:50 PM by Mike SearsonUFC President Dana White shifted gears somewhat, on his earlier announcement that UFC on Fox 4: Shogun vs. Vera would be a title eliminator. Shogun, Vera or the winner of this weekend’s co-main event between Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader will now become the top contender to the Light Heavyweight belt currently held by Jon Jones. White said via press release: “It is down to what these four guys do Saturday night in the octagon. Winning isn’t enough; they’ve got to win impressively. Any one of these four fighters can take things into their own hands and make a title shot happen. When the fans speak, we listen. So whoever scores the best win, whoever gets the fans excited by going out there on Saturday and looking the most impressive, he will get the winner of Jones vs. Henderson."
In advance of this Saturday's event, our good friends at MMA H.E.A.T. have provided us with the following open workout videos for each of the four fighters in the Main Event. Jones has beaten each of these four potential opponents, but an impressive win this Saturday night should make for a more legitimate title bout as opposed to a mediocre win by split decision. One of these men is going to get a rematch if Jones defeats Dan Henderson.
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua lost to Jones via third-round TKO at UFC 128. According to Rua: “The loss to Jones, I can’t live with. I could have done so much better and I want to fight him again.”
Brandon "The Truth" Vera lost to Jones via TKO in 2010's UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones: "I thought Jones was young punk when we fought and that I got what I deserved for underestimating him. I didn't train hard and didn't take him serious."
Ryan Bader succumbed to a guillotine choke in the second round against Jones at UFC 126. He wrote in a column today on Yahoo Sports: "I’d love to fight Jon Jones again. He was my first loss and I could have done so much better than I did. But first I have to beat Machida and Jones has to beat Dan Henderson."
Lyoto Machida met the same fate as Bader at UFC 140 and seems the least enthused of the four about a rematch with Jones or a title fight: "Really, anything can happen. I'm trying to train as hard as I can and put on a good fight. A future title shot is not really what I'm focused on right now."
Comments
Machida looked a bit tired ,slow and unconfortable like if he was sick (like if he got a cold or something) ... I hope I'm wrong and he is healthy,
I want to see him win.
The 3 other guys looked great, I think Vera is focused, he might surprise us on Saturday.
its called practicing he doesn't want to burnout before his fight.....FEDOR!!
I hope you re right ! Yes FEDOR Forever in our hearts my Friend
Isn't it interesting that the four contenders were already "destroyed" by the champ? Just shows that the shark tank of the LHW division is inhabited now by a large Leviathan. Even though I believe that one of these guys could potentially beat Jones with the right fight game, I wish a new contender would also emerge in this division to make the competition less expected and more intriguing. Guftasson seems like a promising newcomer...
Is it me or is it actually kinda crazy what Jon has done in the LHW division? I mean hes taken everybody out in such a short time that basically everyone is a number one contender with an impressive victory and even at that it would be a rematch. You don't have to like the kid if you don't want to but I think his run so far has been pretty impressive and I'm glad to see somebody at Jackson that still believes in finishing his opponent.
There's always Evans, Bonner and Jackson, if you didn't like the first four. There's even a couple of more beside that. I know between these comment there are only four former champions, so its probably not up to muffinman standards. Tell me muffinman how many A**es have you kicked?