Sonnen no match for Jones

Jon Jones stopped Chael Sonnen in the first round at UFC 159 to defend the UFC light-heavyweight championship.

Jones dispatches Sonnen before realising broken toe

Jon Jones stopped Chael Sonnen in the first round at UFC 159 to defend the UFC light-heavyweight championship. Following months of bad blood between the two, which increased further during their coaching spells on The Ultimate Fighter 17, the friction finally spilled over at Newark's Prudential Centre. Jones, abandoning his regular striking style in favour of more wrestling-based attack, quickly established his will on Sonnen. Three takedowns were followed up with relentless ground and pound, which led referee Herb Dean to end the fight with less than 30 seconds left of round one. With "Bones" poised for his post-match interview, the champion then realised he had broken the big toe of his right foot. "I wasn't planning on breaking my big toe," Jones said following the fight. "I'm just happy to get past Sonnen. He's an awesome opponent. We went though a lot of drama." Meanwhile, Sonnen hinted that retirement may be option following the defeat, his third successive loss in UFC title bouts. "I believe this was probably my last opportunity," said the "American Gangster".

Technical decision

In the night's co-main event, British middleweight Michael Bisping dominated Alan Belcher en route to a technical decision victory. In round three, "The Count" caught his foe with a stray finger that cut the eyelid of Belcher, forcing the fight to be halted as blood streamed from his eye. Belcher underwent retinal surgery which kept him sidelined through much of 2010 and 2011, but fortunately it appears that surgery will not be required again. "I'm ok.. Just got back from e.r. 8 stitches in eyelid," Belcher tweeted in the early hours of Monday morning. Elsewhere, Roy Nelson knocked out Cheick Kongo in devastating fashion; Phil Davis took a unanimous decision win over Vinny Magalhaes, while Pat Healy submitted Jim Miller on his return to the Octagon.
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