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UFC 172 live blog: Jon Jones shuts out Glover Teixeira to retain title

Anthony Johnson smokes Phil Davis in co-main event

UFC 126 Workouts

Justin M. Bowen

Jon Jones works out during UFC 126 open workouts Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Updated Saturday, April 26, 2014 | 9:54 p.m.

Note: Full results from the preliminary card available at the bottom of the page.

BALTIMORE — Glover Teixeira could only sigh.

The challenger to the light heavyweight title executed his game plan perfectly Saturday night in the main event of UFC 172, but Jon Jones proved too wily to hit.

The champion was too tough to fluster, too cunning to avoid at the Baltimore Arena. Jones shut out Teixeira in a unanimous-decision victory (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to defend his title a seventh time.

“It was a lot of what we thought it would be,” Jones said in his post-fight interview inside the octagon. “Glover doesn’t tend to be the most versatile, so we saw a lot of the things he was looking for and it played out that way.”

Jones’ biggest shots were his trademark elbows from close range. Teixeira tagged Jones with a couple of uppercuts and left hands throughout the 25-minute fight, but most of his punches never found the intended target.

Jones evolved his game plan by the second, always staying one step ahead.

“A lot of it was improv,” Jones said. “The game plan was takedowns and pick apart from distance, but I switched up the game plan to go extremely short range and it worked out great.”

Teixeira congratulated Jones and downplayed a potential shoulder injury. He felt he threw everything he could at the champion.

“He took my best shot,” Teixeira said.

UFC 172 also featured Anthony Johnson, not Phil Davis, taking a step toward a future meeting with Jones. Johnson out-struck Davis from the opening bell, winning every round on every judge's scorecard in a unanimous decision.

Johnson mocked Davis for counting him out throughout the week and thanked UFC President Dana White for exiling him from the UFC for the past two years. While outside the octagon, Johnson matured to where he could beat an elite fighter like Davis.

The pay-per-view began with three straight guillotine chokes for submission victories. Luke Rockhold beat Tim Boetsch in the first round of their middleweight affair, shortly after lightweight Jim Miller had unwrapped his arms from around Yancy Medeiros’ neck in the opening frame.

Max Holloway also rallied for an upset in the third-round by choking out Andre Fili in a featherweight bout.

But even an occurrence that rare and bizarre couldn’t steal the story on this night. UFC 172 will go down as another night in which Jones showcased his dominance.

“I tried to push him and hit him with the hooks,” Teixeira said. “But he kept the lights on and beat me.”

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for full coverage later, and check out the round-by-round blog of the main card below as well as preliminary results.

 

BALTIMORE — Jon Jones is three years into a light heavyweight championship reign that many tabbed to last significantly longer.

Glover Teixeira could provide a premature end in the main event of UFC 172 tonight at Baltimore Arena. The odds depict the Brazilian slugger, a 4-to-1 underdog, as Jones’ biggest challenge since he won the title by beating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128.

There are questions about whether Jones is as far ahead as the rest of the 205-pound division as previously thought. His last victory, a unanimous decision over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 that many consider the best fight in promotional history, was so close that it could have gone either way without outcry.

Jones said he learned from the experience and trained harder to enable him to come back stronger. Teixeira claimed he wouldn’t follow any of Gustafsson’s strategy.

He believes he can beat Jones with his own attack.

The long-awaited fight — Jones’ first in seven months that headlines the first pay-per-view in six fights — is a couple of hours away. Providing immediate support is perhaps an even more intriguing light heavyweight matchup.

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson returns after two years outside of the UFC to meet rising contender Phil Davis. He’s riding a string of knockouts that could put Davis, one of the best wrestlers in mixed martial arts, in danger.

Odds-wise — Davis is around a 2-to-1 favorite — it’s one of the two most competitive on the main card. In the opener, featherweights Andre Fili and Max Holloway face off in a battle between prospects that could go either way.

Mixed martial arts mainstays Jim Miller and Luke Rockhold are up next, against Yancy Medieros and Tim Boetsch respectively. Both Rockhold and Miller need victories to uphold their lofty profiles in the UFC.

Follow along with the Sun’s round-by-round blog of the main card and look below for full results from the preliminaries.

A four-minute grappling exchange ended with Joseph Benavidez getting the best of Timothy Elliott in a flyweight bout. Benavidez submitted Elliott at 4:08 of the first round with a guillotine choke, coming back from two takedowns and a crucifix at the beginning of the fight.

"The Fireball Kid" rose again. Takanori Gomi snagged his first victory since 2012 with a unanimous-decision nod (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Isaac Vallie-Flagg in which the former badly bloodied the latter's face.

A forgettable women's bantamweight fight fell for Bethe Correia, whom edged Jessamyn Duke by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

No UFC card in history started this violently. A second straight brutal knockout to begin the night occurred when Danny Castillo knocked Charlie Brenneman unconscious with one punch 21 seconds into the second round.

Chris Beal shoved his likeness into UFC highlight videos for years to come in the first bout of the night. Beal knocked out Patrick Williams with a flying knee at 1:51 of the second round in their bantamweight bout.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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