By Nate Lawson, Inside Fights
The belief that Jon “Bones” Jones is the future
of the UFC light heavyweight division may not have been entirely
confirmed, but his first-round TKO of Brandon Vera on Sunday was
certainly another step toward meeting the lofty expectations set
before him.
Vera was matched up against Jones in the evening’s main
event and was billed as the dynamic 205-pounder’s first big
test against a fighter with name recognition. However, the only
damage “The Truth” managed to put on his opponent was
an illegal upkick to a downed Jones when “Bones” was in
his guard.
A point was deducted, the fighters retook their respective
positions, and just moments later Jones landed a vicious elbow that
severely hurt Vera, who attempted to cover up and avoid any more
damage. Herb Dean stepped in when Vera’s defense could no
longer handle Jones, and the Greg Jackson student officially passed
his biggest test to date with the first round technical knockout.
Jones’ knockout was brutal to say the least, but Junior
dos Santos had a first-round knockout of his own that was downright
vicious. Countering a leg kick from jiujitsu ace Gabriel Gonzaga,
who is a good striker in his own right, dos Santos landed a vicious
left hand that floored his opponent.
Gonzaga went to cover up and defend, but punch after punch
got through during dos Santos’ display of hefty ground and
pound. And that’s when everything went dark for Gonzaga, as
“Cigano” picked up yet another knockout victory to add
to his already devastating campaign through the UFC heavyweight
division
In an earlier heavyweight affair, Paul “The
Headhunter” Buentello faced devastating kickboxer Cheick
Kongo. However, Kongo did not utilize his striking background,
taking the fight to the ground early and often.
After several stoppages, including a strange incident with
Buentello’s pinky and an illegal knee courtesy of Kongo, the
fight was over in the third round when “The Headhunter”
tapped due to elbows, ending Kongo’s two-fight losing streak.
In the first main-card bout, James “The Sandman”
Irvin returned to the octagon against Alessio Sakara. Irvin’s
first fight at 185-pounds ended poorly when he fell to the ground
after getting caught with a nice hook. He claimed to being poked in
the eye, and while his eye did take a hit, the punch thrown by
Sakara was completely legal. Instead of resuming the fight, referee
Josh Rosenthal called the fight due to technical knockout in the
very first round, giving Sakara another big victory.
