| UFC 128: Shogun vs Jones | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 128: Shogun vs Jones | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | March 19, 2011 | |||
| Venue | Prudential Center | |||
| City | Newark, New Jersey | |||
| Attendance | 12,619 [1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,140,000 [1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 19, 2011, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. [2] [3]
This event was expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, the promotion's first return to the United Arab Emirates since UFC 112. [4] [5] However, the organization scrapped the idea after a suitable location for the event could not be finalized in time, since the temporary venue that hosted UFC 112 had been dismantled. [6]
A bout between Tito Ortiz and Antônio Rogério Nogueira, was linked to this event, but was moved to headline UFC Fight Night 24. [7]
A bout between Brendan Schaub and Frank Mir was expected for this event. [8] However, Schaub ended up fighting Mirko Cro Cop. [9]
A bout between Chael Sonnen and Yoshihiro Akiyama was briefly reported but Sonnen pleaded guilty to federal charges of money laundering [10] and had his contract placed on hold by the UFC. [11] Nate Marquardt was then signed to compete against Akiyama. [12] [13] However, on March 12, it was announced that Yoshihiro Akiyama had to pull out of his fight with Nate Marquardt due to the tragedy in Japan. Dana White then announced via Twitter that Dan Miller would be stepping up from the preliminary fights to replace Akiyama on the main card. [14] Miller's original opponent Nick Catone instead faced UFC newcomer Costas Philippou in a 195-pound catchweight bout.
During Jon Jones' post-fight interview following his victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Joe Rogan announced that Rashad Evans had injured his knee during training. Jones was then informed that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans in a fight against Maurício Rua in the main event for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones accepted, and the fight was set for this event. [15]
Quinton Jackson was originally offered the fight before Jon Jones. He declined the fight saying he would never take a fight with only a four-week notice. He also stated that he currently weighed 250 pounds and would have to lose 45 pounds in that four week time period and would not have time to actually train. [16]
Karlos Vemola was scheduled to face Luiz Cane on the card, but Vemola was forced out of the fight with an injury. [17] Eliot Marshall stepped in and replaced Vemola. [18]
Manvel Gamburyan was scheduled to take on Raphael Assunção, but withdrew due to a back injury on February 25. [19] [20] Erik Koch stepped in and faced Assunção, as Koch's original opponent for the UFC on Versus 3 event two weeks prior to UFC 128, Cub Swanson, pulled out due to injury around the same time as Gamburyan. [21]
UFC 128 featured two preliminary fights live on Spike TV, [22] and on March 7, it was announced that the Almeida vs Pyle and Pellegrino vs Tibau fights would stream live on the UFC's official Facebook page. [23]
Bruce Buffer announced that Mike Pyle defeated Ricardo Almeida by scores of 29–28, 30–27 and 30–27. However, the official scorecards showed that Pyle actually won the fight with scores of 29–28 across the board. [24]
On March 17, Dana White announced on an episode of MMA Live that Rashad Evans would be offered the next light heavyweight title shot against the winner of the main event. [25] Instead, Jones made his first title defense against Quinton Jackson on September 24, 2011, at UFC 135. [26]
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Jon Jones | def. | Maurício Rua (c) | TKO (knees and punches) | 3 | 2:37 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Bantamweight | Urijah Faber | def. | Eddie Wineland | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Jim Miller | def. | Kamal Shalorus | TKO (knee and punches) | 3 | 2:15 | |
| Middleweight | Nate Marquardt | def. | Dan Miller | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Brendan Schaub | def. | Mirko Cro Cop | KO (punch) | 3 | 3:44 | |
| Preliminary card (Spike) | |||||||
| Light Heavyweight | Luiz Cané | def. | Eliot Marshall | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:15 | |
| Lightweight | Edson Barboza | def. | Anthony Njokuani | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (Facebook) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Mike Pyle | def. | Ricardo Almeida | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Gleison Tibau | def. | Kurt Pellegrino | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Bantamweight | Joseph Benavidez | def. | Ian Loveland | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (195 lb) | Nick Catone | def. | Costas Philippou | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Erik Koch | def. | Raphael Assunção | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:32 | [lower-alpha 2] |
Fighters were awarded $70,000 bonuses. [27] [28]
Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division of Eagle Fighting Championship. Evans started his professional career in 2003, he was the Heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter 2 and is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and a 2019 inductee of the UFC Hall of Fame.
Maurício Milani Rua, also known as Shogun, is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. A professional competitor since 2002, Rua is also the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion.
Nathan Joel Marquardt is an American mixed martial artist who competed in the middleweight and welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 1999, he is a former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and a three-time Pancrase Middleweight Champion.
Yoshihiro Akiyama, also known as Choo Sung-hoon (추성훈) and by his nickname Sexyama, is a Japanese mixed martial artist and judoka of Korean descent who won the gold medal at the 2001 Asian Championships for South Korea and for Japan at the 2002 Asian Games. A fourth-generation Japanese of Korean descent, he acquired Japanese nationality in 2001. He is the former K-1 HERO's Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion.
Manvel Gamburyan is an Armenian mixed martial artist who has competed in the UFC's lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight divisions. A professional competitor since 1999, he was a cast member of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter 5, and also competed in World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and King of the Cage (KOTC).
Chael Sonnen is an American submission grappling promoter, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he became a top contender in both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions and challenged for both the UFC Light Heavyweight and UFC Middleweight Championships. Sonnen has also fought in World Extreme Cagefighting, Pancrase, and most recently for Bellator MMA. Sonnen is often considered one of the best mixed martial artists never to have won a major MMA world championship and one of the sport's greatest trash-talkers.
UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on May 23, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Raphael Assunção is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist, he competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
UFC 109: Relentless was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on February 6, 2010, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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UFC 112: Invincible was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 10, 2010, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Due to the time zone difference in Abu Dhabi, UFC 112 was shown live on pay-per-view in the United States at 1 pm ET, with a replay at the regular time of 10 pm ET.
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