Jon Jones was back to his dominant best tonight as he took a clean sweep on the scorecards against Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 172.
Round One:
We’re underway in the main event of the evening. Jones starts in his familiar crouched stance, but gets straight to his feet.
He starts with a body kick and Teixeira looking to land with punches. Jones gets into the clinch and lands a kene to the body.
Jones attempts a takedown, but it’s stuffed. He lands a stomp kick to the knee of his opponent.
Nice right hand from Teixeira. Jones tries another kick and Teixeira catches it, but can’t capitalize.
Jones thinking about another takedown, but nothing doing. Right hands landing for Teixeira aand a hard kick to the body.
Jones with the knee stomp and misses with an uppercut. He fakes low with a kick and goes up high – looks great, but doesn’t catch Teixeira out.
Teixeira with big right hands and Jones ducks out the way. Left hook lands for Jones. Inside leg kick from Jones too.
Teixeira tries for a body kick and Jones catches it and dumps him to the mat. Jones on top, but Teixeira works his way back to his feet.
Teixeira unleashes punches and Jones keeps just out of danger. Jones clinching, but Teixeira pushes him away.
Left hook from the Brazilian. Jones circles and lands a very nice spinning kick to the body.
Left hook misses from Jones, but he ducks afterwards which is just as well as a punch from Teixeira wings over the top.
Axe kick attempt from Jones and he has to hop on one foot with his leg still up on Teixeira’s shoulder as the round ends.
Round Two:
Teixeira with the jab pumping out to start. Jones gets in on a takedown attempt and lands it, but only for a brief second before Teixeira gets back up.
Inside kick from Jones. Nice left hand down the pipe from him too. He looks for that rangey left again.
He tries an axe kick attempt again, but misses. He stomps to the leg and then lands a good elbow while stepping in that may have hurt Teixeira.
Soon after Jones sticks his hand out and pokes Teixeira in the eye which forces a stoppage and the ref gives him a warning that if he does it again he’ll have a point deducted.
Back to it we go with Teixeira trying to press forward aggressively. He starts to land punches and closes the distance, getting Jones up against the cage. Teixeira trying to land hard shots, but Jones gets out of danger.
Jones firing back now with a head kick and elbow strike. Jones with two solid left elbow. A left hook lands nicely too.
Teixeira ducks in for a takedown attempt, but quickly gives up on it. Stomp kicks from Jones and then a spinning back kick attempt.
Up against the cage now he does a shoulder shrug attack. They break apart and Teixeira tries to land to the body, then lands a kick to the ribs.
Jones with a wheel kick in the final 10 seconds, but he comes up a little short.
Round Three:
Overhand right from Teixeira to start the round. Jones pumping out regular jabs now. Teixeira lands to the body.
Jones connects with a left hook. He scores with a kick and a knee to the body during a brief clinch.
Jones ducks under a punch and then backs away from more offense. Jones with a head kick attempt that’s blocked.
Uppercut lands for Jones and almost knocks out Teixiera’s mouthpiece, but he puts it back in and continues.
Jones in on a takedown attempt and doesn’t get it, but switches around to the back. Still can’t get him down though.
They are in close now and Teixeira uncorks a few uppercuts that connect and have Jones backing out.
Jones in close again and landing good elbows. Teixeira with solid uppercuts to the body.
Teixeira’s face is bleeding now from those choppy elbows from the champion. Jones with a right and then a solid left.
They get back to the center of the cage and Jones lands a side kick. He tries to step in with an elbow but misses.
Jones with a good body kick and then back into the clinch agains the cage. Good body shot from Jones and an uppercut to follow.
Another body shot and uppercut from Teixeira snaps his head back. 10 seconds in the round remaining and Teixeira starts to unleash with strikes of his own, but Jones takes it well and seems happy to be working at short range like this despite having a big reach advantage. It’s a risky strategy, but so far it’s working out for him.
Round Four
Teixeira sporting a big cut above his right eye, but the blood is stemmed for now. Jones thinks about a takedown, but can’t get it.
Jones looking for an elbow and then gets back into that clinch against the cage as Teixeira tries to get punches off.
Jones misses with a spinning elbow attack. He persists though and connects with another elbow.
They push away from the cage briefly, but then Jones gets back into that clinch again. Not for long though and Teixeira lands a nice uppercut.
Teixeira’s mouthpiece comes out after a jab from Jones, but he gets it in quickly and they get back to it.
Jones with a body kick. Teixeira working the jab. Jones with an inside leg kick. He tries for an elbow strike.
Jones looking for that axe kick, but it looks a little slow and doesn’t land. Nice uppercut from Jones.
Into the clinch again from Jones against the cage. Spinning elbow lands for Jones this time. Another elbow hits home and Teixeira’s face is smeared with blood again.
Left and right elbows coming in now and there’s less and less offense coming from Teixeira in return.
Teixeira wisely gets out of this position and back to the center of the cage only to find himself being taken down smoothly by Jones who ends the round on top trying to get off some ground and pound. Good round for Jones as he starts to really dominate the proceedings.
Round Five:
Both men looking to get off punches to start the round and then Jones moves in with a takedown. He only just lands it before Teixeira gets right back up again.
Back to that clinch position against the cage that Jones has been favoring. Sometimes these clinch battles can slow the pace of a fight, but so far in this fight there’s been a lot of exciting striking exchanges from this position.
Jones pacing himself here though and it’s Teixeira who starts to unleash punches. Jones happy to return fire and his nasty elbows make the biggest impact. They are in a firefight here for a minute and then separate as Teixiera’s mouthpiece falls out again.
In close again Jones lands more elbows. Nice uppercut lands for Teixeira. Jones presses him hard into the cage. He creates distance and lands another big elbow.
Teixeira stumbles a little as he gets back to the center of the cage. Jones leaps in with a flying knee attempt that misses.
Jones ducks under a punch and clinches up. Teixeira lands a nice uppercut. Jones puts his arms up around his face and absorbs a few strikes from the Brazilian.
Jones with a spinning attack that misses. Now Jones is on his bike a little and as Teixeira comes forward he tries for a takedown that’s stuffed.
He runs away from Teixeira a bit, then unleashes a wheel kick attempt that misses and that’s the end of the fight.
Decision
So, a very good performance from Jones here, with his elbow strikes in particular being very effective, and that takes him to a decisive unanimous decision victory on the scorecards (50-45 x3).
