Machida out Belfort in UFC 152 Jone's V Belfort

dave1982

Aug 24, 2012 - Jon Jones will not be facing Lyoto Machida at UFC 152 after all.

Instead, Vitor Belfort will fight Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title on Sept. 22 in Toronto. UFC president Dana White confirmed the change with MMAFighting.com late Thursday night.

According to White, Machida turned down the title shot on Thursday. At some point during the day, Belfort volunteered to fight Jones on one month's notice, and after Machida decided he wanted more time before he fought Jones again, Belfort was granted the title shot by the promotion.
Belfort was originally scheduled to face Alan Belcher at UFC 153 in October. White said he hasn't decided who will fight Belcher instead.

White added since Machida turned down the title shot, he will most likely have to fight another top contender before he gets an opportunity to fight for the title again.

Didn't see this coming

cowzerp

WE Vitor, I'm way more excited by this, hope he beats jones after his bottling antics v Chael.

JoeyJJ

Jones pissed Dana off big style listened to the press call yesterday, not a happy man. Jones will not get any special treatment for a while. Now isn't that the 2nd time Machida was in a fight and then out. What happened there?

ATMatm

UFC 152 will mark the five year anniversary of Vitor Belfort's last light heavyweight win.

cowzerp

ATMatm wrote: »

UFC 152 will mark the five year anniversary of Vitor Belfort's last light heavyweight win.

You can't win if your not in the Division!

I'm 33 years without a UFC win.

ATMatm

cowzerp wrote: »

ATMatm wrote: »

UFC 152 will mark the five year anniversary of Vitor Belfort's last light heavyweight win.

You can't win if your not in the Division!

I'm 33 years without a UFC win.

Obviously up for a lightweight title shot soon then Paul!

El Guapo!

This is such a weird situation. I'll be surprised if anybody is cheering for Jones in this fight! I hope Belfort knocks him out. Can't really see it happening but that's who I'll be cheering for anyway.

DrPhilG

This has got to take some of the heat off Jones.

He's getting ripped for turning down a fight on a week's notice, then Machida turns it down on 30 days?

reganreggie

cowzerp wrote: »

ATMatm wrote: »

UFC 152 will mark the five year anniversary of Vitor Belfort's last light heavyweight win.

You can't win if your not in the Division!

I'm 33 years without a UFC win.

I cant belive your only 33. ;-)

Shazbot

DrPhilG wrote: »

This has got to take some of the heat off Jones.

He's getting ripped for turning down a fight on a week's notice, then Machida turns it down on 30 days?

I should take some heat off him but I really doubt it will. People dislike Jones and this will help them justify that hatred. Whereas fans like Machida and would have loved to see him fight Jones.

I was looking forward to Vitor vs Belcher though. I'd say they'll put Weidman in against Belcher for a contender bout.

cowzerp

reganreggie wrote: »

I cant belive your only 33. ;-)

Just gone the other day!
Still a bambino ;-)

DRose1

Looking forward to see if Belfort can fare better than Machida and Shogun. I think he will but will ultimately still be stopped by Jones by the end of round three. Like him or not (not a big fan myself), Jones is completely unstoppable at 205 imo.

Sean Quagmire

I rarely right off fighters but Belfort hasn't a chance against Jones. It is a silly match up.

Similarly with sonnen v griffen, its a terrible match up.

Jason McCabe

Think bones would have smashed the crap outta sonnen. What was his excuse for not taking it?

Logical Fallacy

Jason McCabe wrote: »

Think bones would have smashed the crap outta sonnen. What was his excuse for not taking it?

He didn't want to have to fight a guy on such short notice due to the stylistic differences and also the fact that his trainers would not have been around until the day before the fight.

cowzerp

Sean Quagmire wrote: »

I rarely right off fighters but Belfort hasn't a chance against Jones. It is a silly match up.

Similarly with sonnen v griffen, its a terrible match up.

Belfort will sit back waiting for counter and when he strikes he can end fights-write him off at your peril.

jayteecork

UFC 152 looks great though. I'm a big fan of Vitor, Bones, Jimmy Hettes, Bisping, Stann, Matyushenko, and Mighty Mouse.

Should definitely make up for losing 151

Be like Nutella

Just get in his face and start swinging it's the only way I reckon... coz in every other area Jones has a total unbeatable advantage.. just come out swinging and try and dominate him and break him... unlikely of course but better that then just go the same way as everybody else (bar Machida who did the best so far). I hope he risks it all and goes out on his shield if needs be... hope to god he wins it'd be so amazing I'd jump through the screen.

Everybody loves 205 the most and the next 3-5 years of Jones going through the motions is just depressing. Cmon the Phenom!

El Guapo!

I'd never count Belfort out of a fight. He has serious power and has the ability to knock anybody out. Plus he's now training with the Blackzilians. They're one of the best up-and-coming teams around and he'll be at a real advantage having Rashad as his head coach in the lead up to the fight.
Rashad went the distance with Jones, which is more than you can say for some of Jones' more recent victims, so he could really help Belfort prepare well for this.

I'd love Vitor to win this one and he definitely has a chance, but if I'm honest, as much as I dislike Jones I think he'll walk away with the win. I just can't see anybody beating him at the minute.
The only person I thought had a legitimate chance was Hendo. I think if Vitor is going to win this one he'll have to go out and try to finish Jones early with a big KO.
If he doesn't do this then I can just see Jones getting him up against the cage and letting rip with vicious knees and elbows and it'll be all over.