JON JONES FLAWLESS IN TITLE DEFENCE AGAINST RAMPAGE JACKSON – SUBLIME STRIKING THEN SUBMITS JACKSON IN FOURTH ROUND
There is no other walk to the Octagon which comes close to that of Rampage Jackson. “Switch on, switch on” his boxing coach Mark Kinney screamed at him over the thumping sounds accompanying Quinton Jackson's, slow, deliberate march up the steps and into the fighting arena here at the Pepsi Center in Colorado. Slow. Deliberate.
“Head on,” his team told him. They had been studying the movement of Mike Tyson, bobbing head, moving from the waist. He’d worked on it in training. Could he replicate it to get in close against Jon Jones, the UFC light-heavyweight champion ? Rampage waited. Now it was Jones…head upright, air of the champion, head shaven. Looking the business. There was huge anticipation here this week as fans and writers, analysts and the bookmakers debated whether Jones is simply too skilled, and has come to the fore ready to wipe out a generation of fighters with global acclaim.
Jones squatted to pray at the open door of the Octagon. The 23-year-old appears to grow as he steps into the fighting arena. He punched a pillar, wobbling it, twice, with his left hand as a sign to his rival Rampage Jackson.
There was an eagerness about Jones. They met in the middle. Jones did not look Rampage in the eye.
Jones began the opening seconds in a crouch. They clinched. Jackson was against the wall of the Octagon. Vicious elbow from Jones . Two minutes against the cage wall. They separated, and both were breathing heavily.
Kicks from Jones. Rampage seemed calm in there waiting for his opportunity. He was caught by a spinning back elbow, but then ducked under a huge reverse kick from Jones, yet ended the round pursuing the champion, as the partisan crowd reached fever pitch.
The second round was just as compelling. Jones was still scoring with single shots, leg strikes and punches mainly from the southpaw stance, but you could sense Jones’s fear – or a deep respect – when Rampage was throwing bombs, anywhere near him. He seemed to know that it might only have taken one big shot to change the course of the fight.
In the third, Jones had Rampage down, in side control, and then in full mount. When he regained his feet, there was a spiteful, heavy right-left from Jones; then more kicks.
Rampage seemed confused. He was bleeding from the right eye. Jones indulged in some showboating. He looked away, as a feint, and threw a left which landed.
They came out and boxed at the beginning of the fourth. Jones was dancing. He scored a few times, then took Rampage down, and then transitions on the ground to submit Jackson by rear-naked choke. It was one-sided, but utterly compelling. There is an argument that Jones has still not been fully tested. Yet it was a great performance.
Jones said: “He insulted my striking, so I lifted it up a level.”
“The kid is good. I thought he was hyped. But I take my hat off to him,” said Jackson. “But you know what, I’m staying home and getting drunk tonight. I want to fight Shogun in Japan in February. Make it happen UFC.”
Saturday, September 24, 2011
UFC 135: Rampage Jackson submitted by Jon Jones – admits he has handed over torch to a champion
Arizona State 43, USC 22 (final)
No championships were won for Arizona State on Saturday night, but Sun Devils football Coach Dennis Erickson got a Gatorade shower anyway.
USC's dominance of Arizona State is over.
The Trojans, who had won 11 straight over the Sun Devils -- the last loss, 26-15 in 1999 -- were crushed under the weight of their own mistakes in the second half.
USC sputtered on offense in the first half, managing just three field goals. And while the Trojans moved the ball at will for much of the second half, they had a lot of trouble keeping it.
Turnovers on three consecutive possessions -- two fumbles and an interception -- led to 22 unanswered points by Arizona State after USC had taken a 22-21 lead.
USC's five possessions to start the second half:
Six plays, 65 yards for a touchdown.
Nine plays, 80 yards for a touchdown.
Two plays, 24 yards ending in a fumble.
Ten plays, 73 yards ending in a fumble.
One play -- an interception returned 41 yards for an Arizona State touchdown.
Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler was terrific, completing 25 of 32 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Cameron Marshall did the ground work, rushing for 141 yards and three touchdowns in 25 carries.
Matt Barkley completed 21 of 33 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown for USC. But he also lost a fumble and had two passes intercepted -- one that was returned 41 yards for a touchdown by Corona Centennial High product Shelly Lyons.
Marc Tyler led USC in rushing with 149 yards and a touchdown in 22 carries, but he also lost a fumble.
Robert Woods had eight catches for 131 yards.
Arizona State 43, USC 22 (6:37 left in the fourth quarter)
The Sun Devils have used USC's third turnover of the second half to turn a close game into a rout.
UFC 135: Can Rampage Jackson bring his A-Game against Jon Jones ? Prelims/Facebook reports
Underway in the mile-high city….the spiritual and physical birthplace of the UFC back in November, 1993.
REPORTS ON THE PRELIMS AND FACEBOOK FIGHTS
A bizarre 47-second contest between James Te Huna and Ricardo Romero to open the night. To the uninitiated, it resembled one man looking for his glasses on the floor in the dark – Romero – while Te Huna swatted flies around his knees. To those who follow the mad mix of styles, Romero wanted a ground fight, while Te Huna wanted to let his hands go. He did, knocking Romero down with a right uppercut and then finishing him by boxing the New Jersey man around the ears.
"I'm feeling really relieved. I was glad to get it over. I took my time and followed it up with one punch after another
I was looking to catch him with the uppercut and caught him and hurt him. My last fight i wasn't mentally there but tonight i got everything right," said Te Huna. One of his training team revealed to The Telegraph he had damaged his fingers in training three weeks ago. Little wonder Te Huna was relieved.
Romero said: "My game plan was to fight my fight. I guess I lost." Not much.
Brilliant fight between Takeya Mizugaki and Cole Escovedo. It lasted thirty seconds short of ten minutes, the Japanese fighter bringing a brutal finish with sharp, accurate left-right combinations, and right uppercuts, sending Escovedo to the ground. Bravery from Escovedo, clinical stuff from Mizugaki. Escovedo suffered from not releasing from the Thai clinch. It was almost impossible to separate the pair in the first round. Arguably 10-10. All three judges gave it to the Japanese fghter. Both bowed together in the Octagon after the contest. Moving end; great sportsmanship.
"I'm not tired but I didn't follow my game plan. The liver shots were piling up but I can take those," said Escovedo. "I needed to maintain the distance and shoot in. Obviously, I wasn't successful."
Mizagaki was visibly emotional after the victory. "I finally was able to score a KO in the Octagon and show the American fans what I'm made of. I really needed this win."
Junior Assuncao defeated Eddie Yagin in a stop-start contest not appreciated by the stentorian crowd in the Pepsi Center, 30-26, 30-26, 30-27.
Tim Boetsch battered Nick Ring for the last two of three rounds to earn 29-28, 29-28, 30-27. Ring moved and evaded in the first, but then Boetsch the battering ram caught up with him and showed some adeptness on the ground, throwing Ring to the ground with a hip toss. Boetsch continues to look good at middleweight.
Tony Ferguson defeats Aaron Riley. Doctor stoppage at end of round 1. Riley, as I suspected at the time, has broken jaw. Ferguson, the last Ultimate Fighter winner, looks to have some talent as a lightweight, though he was expected to beat veteran Riley. Riley was unable to speak afterwards and was clearly in discomfort after the first stanza.
USC vs. Arizona State: Live game updates from Tempe
Arizona State 7, USC 3 (5:42 left in first quarter)
The second time is apparently the charm.
USC kicker Andre Heidari missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt, but Arizona State was penalized for being offside.
Heidari got another chance from 41 yards and nailed it to pull the Trojans to within four points.
Arizona State 7, USC 0 (early first quarter)
Well, that's not exactly the way USC wanted to start.
Arizona State tailback Cameron Marshall took a handoff from quarterback Brock Osweiler, ran to his left and then bounced outside around the end on his way to a 70-yard touchdown.
USC safety Jawanza Starling had a clean shot at Marshall at the 20-yard line, but missed the tackle.
Osweiler scrambled for a first down to set up the scoring play.
--Gary Klein
Photo: USC quarterback Matt Barkley barks signals at the line of scrimmage during the Trojans' last visit to Tempe. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
UFC 135: Live blog main card Jon Jones versus Rampage Jackson
Rob Broughton, from Wolf's Lair in Warrington and the only British fighter on this event, was defeated 30-27 unanimously by Travis Browne, in a sluggish heavyweight contest.
UFC 135: Can Rampage Jackson bring his A-Game against Jon Jones ?
Underway in the mile-high city….the spiritual and physical birthplace of the UFC back in November, 1993.
A bizarre 47-second contest between James Te Huna and Ricardo Romero to open the night. To the uninitiated, it resembled one man looking for his glasses on the floor in the dark – Romero – while Te Huna swatted flies around his knees. To those who follow the mad mix of styles, Romero wanted a ground fight, while Te Huna wanted to let his hands go. He did, knocking Romero down with a right uppercut and then finishing him by boxing the New Jersey man around the ears.
Brilliant fight between Takeya Misugaki and Cole Escovedo. It lasted thirty seconds short of ten minutes, the Japanese fighter bringing a brutal finish with sharp, accurate left-right combinations, and right uppercuts, sending Escovedo to the ground. Bravery from Escovedo, clinical stuff from Misugaki. Escovedo suffered from not releasing from the Thai clinch. It was almost impossible to separate the pair in the first round. Arguably 10-10. Both bowed together in the Octagon after the contest. Moving end; great sportsmanship.
UCLA 27, Oregon State 19 (final)
UCLA won its Pacific 12 Conference opener Saturday, holding off Oregon State when Sheldon Price knocked away a late fourth-down pass by the Beavers at the Bruins' 22-yard line.
The Bruins (2-2 overall) survived despite a blocked field-goal attempt, a blocked point-after try and a UCLA punt that was returned 85 yards for a touchdown by Jordan Poyer.
"It was a great win on the road. That's what you have to do in this conference," UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel said afterward in a television interview.
Asked if the win might have also made the hot seat he's on "a little more tepid," the coach said, "I'm just trying to stay standing. That's it."
UCLA was able to control the ball, rushing for 211 yards in 49 carries. Derrick Coleman led the way, running for 100 yards in 20 carries.
Oregon State (0-3) managed only 88 yards rushing in 29 carries, though freshman quarterback Sean Mannion completed 24 of 40 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown with one interception.
UCLA's Richard Brehaut passed only 11 times, completing seven for 146 yards and a touchdown.
RELATED:
UCLA 27, Oregon State 19 [6:15 left in fourth quarter]
The Bruins grind out a drive when they needed it most, going 65 yards after defensive end Damien Holmes stopped Oregon State's Terron Ward on a fourth-and-one play.
UCLA football: Safety Tony Dye to sit out Oregon State game
Rick Neuheisel said Thursday that Dye was “50-50” due to a “nerve issue.” Dye was injured against San Jose State on Sept. 10, but played last week against Texas. He did not practice this week.
Dye, a team captain, has started 28 consecutive games. Tevin McDonald will start in Dye’s place.
-- Chris Foster
Photo credit: Associated Press
UCLA vs. Oregon State: Live updates from Corvallis
UCLA 7, Oregon State 3 [1:36 left in the first quarter]
UCLA answers quickly, taking the lead with two big pass plays.
Richard Brehaut found Josh Smith down the sideline for a 62-yard gain to open the drive. Two plays later, Taylor Embree out-jumped two Oregon State defenders for a 22-yard touchdown reception.
Oregon State 3, UCLA 0 [2:52 left in first quarter]
Oregon State drove from its own 10-yard line to the UCLA five on its first possession, getting a 25-yard field goal from Trevor Romaine.
The Beavers took 7 minutes 46 seconds off the clock, converting three times on third down. Quarterback Sean Mannion completed four of six passes for 67 yards, including a 31-yard completion to James Rodgers, who is playing his first game since severely injuring his left knee against Arizona last Oct. 9.
Mannion completed three third-down passes.
Pregame
UCLA free safety Tony Dye is not expected to play against Oregon State on Saturday because of a shoulder injury.
Rick Neuheisel said Thursday that Dye was “50-50” due to a “nerve issue.” Dye was injured against San Jose State on Sept. 10, but played last week against Texas. He did not practice this week.
Dye, a team captain, had started 28 consecutive games. Tevin McDonald will start in Dye’s place.
--Chris Foster
Photo: UCLA quarterback Richard Brehaut gets the offense in position during a game at Houston earlier this season. Credit: Thomas Campbell / US Presswire
30 Seconds With Joe Namath
Joe Namath led the Jets to an upset over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, the team’s only championship. This year’s Topps football cards capture the greatest players and moments in Super Bowl history. Some cards contain codes that can be entered in the Super Bowl Legends Giveaway at toppslegends.com for a chance to win prizes, including a card signed by Namath, 68, who was in Manhattan recently to promote the contest.
The Jets have appeared in the last two A.F.C. championship games but were eliminated each time. Are they talented enough to get to the Super Bowl this season?
I have my doubts, and I don’t want to get on the wrong side of people because I’m a real Jets fan. But I’ll tell you what; to get there three years in a row against all that competition, with Lady Luck and injuries involved, uh, the odds aren’t as good as you’d like them to be. I looked at their schedule from Day 1 with the Dallas Cowboys coming to town, and whoa, man, do they have some monsters.
Can you compare Mark Sanchez to a young Joe Namath?
He’s got pretty good feet and good arm strength, like I had, and he works hard, like I did. I was a workhorse; there was never a practice that I didn’t enjoy. Of course, in pro ball, they never hit the quarterback in practice.
When you were a kid in Beaver Falls, Pa., who was your football idol?
Johnny Unitas was my hero. In my senior year at Alabama, I got to wear No. 19. Johnny was on the Colts when we played them in the Super Bowl, which was one of the more surreal experiences of my career. Just walking out for the coin flip and seeing him there, that was kind of cool.
Any regrets from your pro career?
If I could go back and change one thing, it would be my nutritional intake. We didn’t have the kind of knowledge that we wised up with over the years. A pregame meal for me at 8:30 in the morning was a cup of coffee and chewing tobacco. It was only after I retired that I began looking back and asking myself, What was my physiology really like? In the third and fourth quarter of games, was I as strong as I could have been?
How come you never went into coaching?
Coach Paul (Bear) Bryant once told our whole freshman class at Alabama that if we could learn to do anything else in life besides coaching, go ahead and do it, because he didn’t get to know his children well enough when they were growing up. Weeb Ewbank told us the same thing. Coaching is so time-consuming, and it’s a hard job. If you have the passion, fine, you make it your life’s work. As a football coach, everything in your life comes after your football schedule. I just could not make that commitment.
Who were your best friends during your professional playing career?
I had a few good buddies on the Jets and some of us still maintain contact. Guys like Billy Mathis, Winston Hill and Don Maynard. You keep in touch not just because of the good times you’ve shared, but the lessons you learned and the values you shared along the way.
Tell us something no one knows about you.
Uh, no, and there’s more than one thing, so I’m never going to do that.
Remembering Orlando Brown the Football Player
He may be remembered more for his lawsuit against the N.F.L., but few players got more out of what they were given than Orlando Brown. He achieved his potential. Brown was found dead on Friday in his apartment in Baltimore. He was 40 years old:
When Orlando Brown arrived at the training camp of the old Cleveland Browns in 1993, he was, to say the least, an unlikely candidate for a lengthy N.F.L. career. He was slow, he didn’t have the quickest feet around, and he had little experience as a pass blocker. He made up for it with a positive attitude, the capacity for hard work, and a love for the game of football. It didn’t take long for Brown to develop into one of the better offensive tackles of the 1990s.
Brown was a defensive lineman at South Carolina State until the middle of his junior year. He finished his college career as a tackle on a run-first offense. When Cleveland’s pro personnel assistant, Scott Pioli, visited the campus to work out another player, Brown insisted on a tryout. He was obviously a project, but the Browns saw enough to sign him as a free agent after the draft. That summer, at training camp, Brown got into so many fights that Cleveland’s coach, Bill Belichick, sometimes had him wear just shorts and a T-shirt while everyone else was practicing in helmets and shoulder pads.
Brown, better knows as Zeus (a nickname given to him by his mother before he was born), spent his rookie year on injured reserve. He used that time diligently learning and refining the fundamentals of offensive line play. The organization was impressed with his desire to improve, both on the field and in the classroom. Brown studied a lot of tape that year of the Rams Hall of Fame right tackle Jackie Slater.
Halfway through the 1994 season, Brown became Cleveland’s starting right tackle. At first, the offensive coaches put a tight end next to him to help on passing downs, but, before long, he was on his own. Brown did a good job of picking up stunts and, by keeping his hands within the frame of the defender’s body, he was able to hold without being detected by the officials.
At 6-7 and about 360 pounds, Brown used his size, strength, power and toughness to intimidate the opponent. He understood the psychology of the line of scrimmage. The goal was to physically dominate the man across from you, to break his will, and to make him quit. While technique was important, once the game started, this was accomplished by any means necessary. “I love to see people bleed”, he once said. “I’m no big talker. I do my talking by hitting my man, throwing him to the ground, jumping on him.” (Leigh Montville, “Shall We Dance”, Sports Illustrated, Dec. 6, 1999)
Brown went with Cleveland when the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1996. After three years with the Ravens, he signed a 6-year, $27 million free-agent contract with the expansion Browns in 1999. Late that season he received national attention because of an accident that nearly blinded him.
Early in the second quarter of a Week 15 game against Jacksonville, the Browns were called for a false start penalty. The referee, Jeff Triplette, blew the whistle and threw his flag, which was weighted with BBs. The flag flew between the bars of Brown’s cage facemask and struck his right eye. Brown went to the sideline holding his eye but turned around and came back onto the field and shoved Triplette to the ground. He was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and was immediately ejected from the game. Three days later, the league suspended him indefinitely.
Brown had blurred vision and bleeding in the eye and was hospitalized for six days. Despite numerous treatments around the country, he wasn’t medically cleared to play again until early 2003. That March, Brown signed a free-agent contract with the Ravens. He played his final three seasons back in Baltimore wearing a tinted visor over his facemask and goggles underneath. In the meantime, his lawsuit against the N.F.L. was settled out of court in 2002.
The doctors told Brown that getting to the hospital so soon after the incident probably saved his eye. “People ask me what I’m going to do when I see that ref”, Brown said in 2003. “I’m going to kiss him, that’s what I’m going to do. If he hadn’t thrown me out, I would have lost my eye.” (Phil Taylor, “Seeing Is Believing”, Sports Illustrated, June 9, 2003)
Week after week, Brown lined up against defensive ends who were more athletically gifted than him. Many were high draft picks from major football powerhouses. And yet, most of the time, he was able to defeat them. He’s a great example of a self-made player, of the connection between hard work and results. When given the opportunity, Orlando Brown was ready.
Andy Barall writes about pro football history for The Fifth Down.
Congress Pushing N.F.L. Over H.G.H. Testing
With negotiations to begin a program to test N.F.L. players for human growth hormone at a standstill, 14 members of Congress, led by the former N.F.L. quarterback Heath Shuler, sent a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell and the union chief DeMaurice Smith asking for an explanation of their positions on the test and an expected start date for the testing.
The sides have been in a standoff almost since they agreed in the new collective bargaining agreement to begin blood-testing for H.G.H. this season. At the time, the hope was that testing would begin by the season opener, with what both sides said were details of the testing procedure — like how blood would be procured and transported — to be settled.
Soon after the deal was signed in early August, the union began to question the validity of tests endorsed by the World Anti-Doping Agency and used to test minor league baseball players and athletes in Olympic sports. A meeting with WADA officials in Canada, which Goodell attended but Smith did not, did nothing to move the negotiations along.
“We are therefore disappointed that the testing has not yet begun,” said the letter, which was sent by the Professional Sports Caucus. “It is important that fans, and especially your youngest fans, believe that the N.F.L. is doing all that it can to ensure the integrity of the game and the health of the players. Not testing for H.G.H. given the widespread acceptance of the science underlying it sends the wrong message.”
Until H.G.H. testing begins, the N.F.L. has reverted to its old testing program for performance-enhancing drugs. That program does not include an independent third party to decide appeals of drug suspensions, a right the players won in the new labor deal.
Rugby World Cup 2011: England show they are getting better with every game in big win over Romania
This was little more than a training run for England, one in which they executed things slickly and with purpose.
In that regard they can be satisfied with their evening’s work, 10 tries is a decent return in anybody’s book, a bonus point secured and the prospect of a quarter-final place tantalising close. They will be through if Argentina fail to beat Scotland on Sunday.
Uplifting as the performance might be for England fans, there was a sadness in the hearts of those who would like to see the second tier nations being given a fair crack. Romania, with 11 changes, had their sights set firmly on what will be their World Cup final when they play Georgia next Wednesday. These four-day turnarounds have really taken their toll with some scorelines that embarrassingly blown out this week.
England though had been looking for a more polished display and they got it. Their attacking game had been faltering, interaction between backs and forwards fractured. The fact that the backs scored nine of the tries tells you all you need to know about the quality of the ball. It was fast and decisive.
Mark Cueto made a welcome bow in the tournament with his rat-a-tat hat-trick in the first 26 minutes, the Sale wing showing that he had fully shaken off the back injury which has delayed his entrance in the tournament. Cueto’s work rate has always been admirable but his finishing has tailed off. The three tries were all well taken, Cueto being in the right place at the right time.
Chris Ashton, inevitably perhaps, couldn’t allow anyone to steal his limelight and he showed a true finisher’s instinct. He has been searching for a bit of form himself so this was good to see also.
And what of the ill discipline that so annoyed Martin Johnson last week? Well, England were not without blemish, dropping back into old errant habits when a little bit of pressure came on but there was at least some sign of improvement.
England didn’t allow themselves to get too loose and overeager even though it was obvious that Romania were there for the taking. Often in games like this individuals can go glory hunting but there was a refreshing sense of England playing as a team.
Five tries were scored in either half indicating that they were determined to keep their shape and keep their pedal to the floor.
The wings did well, of course, the fly-halves shared a half each, and performed as one would expect, reliably so in all phases. The scrummage had the occasional creak but there were sound performances from Alex Corbisiero, Tom Croft and, albeit occasionally ragged at the base, from James Haskell.
England are moving through the gears, all too aware that Scotland at Eden Park next Saturday will be a tougher test all together.