| UFC 128: Shogun vs Jones | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 128: Shogun vs Jones | ||||
| 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 amixed martial artspay-per-view event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on March 19, 2011, at thePrudential Center inNewark, New Jersey.[2][3]
This event was expected to take place inAbu Dhabi, the promotion's first return to theUnited Arab Emirates sinceUFC 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 hostedUFC 112 had been dismantled.[6]
A bout betweenTito Ortiz andAntônio Rogério Nogueira, was linked to this event, but was moved to headlineUFC Fight Night 24.[7]
A bout betweenBrendan Schaub andFrank Mir was expected for this event.[8] However, Schaub ended up fightingMirko Cro Cop.[9]
A bout betweenChael Sonnen andYoshihiro 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 thetragedy in Japan.Dana White then announced via Twitter thatDan Miller would be stepping up from the preliminary fights to replace Akiyama on the main card.[14] Miller's original opponentNick Catone instead faced UFC newcomerCostas Philippou in a 195-pound catchweight bout.
DuringJon Jones' post-fight interview following his victory overRyan Bader atUFC 126,Joe Rogan announced thatRashad Evans had injured his knee during training. Jones was then informed that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans in a fight againstMaurício Rua in the main event for theUFC 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 faceLuiz 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 onRaphael 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 theUFC 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 onSpike TV,[22] and on March 7, it was announced that theAlmeida vsPyle andPellegrino vsTibau fights would stream live on the UFC's officialFacebook 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 ofMMA 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, atUFC 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 | [a] |
| 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 | [b] |
The following fighters received $70,000 bonuses.[27][28]
