| UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 22, 2012 | |||
| Venue | Air Canada Centre | |||
| City | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | |||
| Attendance | 16,800[1] | |||
| Total gate | $1,921,000[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort was amixed martial artspay-per-view event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on September 22, 2012, at theAir Canada Centre inToronto, Ontario, Canada.[2]
Rory MacDonald was expected to face former dual-division championB.J. Penn at the event, but MacDonald pulled out of the bout after sustaining a cut to the forehead while training.[3] The bout was rescheduled forUFC on Fox 5 on December 8, 2012.
UFC newcomerRoger Hollett was expected to faceMatt Hamill, who returned from retirement, at the event. However, Hollett was forced out of the bout due to a contract dispute and replaced byVladimir Matyushenko.[4] Then, on September 11, 2012, Matyushenko pulled out of the fight after suffering a torn Achilles tendon while training, and Hamill vs. Hollett was rebooked byUFC officials.[5]
A bout betweenEvan Dunham andT. J. Grant was originally supposed to be contested on the main card but was instead fought on theFX prelims, for unknown reasons.
As a result of the cancellation ofUFC 151, a bout betweenKyle Noke andCharlie Brenneman was rescheduled for this event.[6]
Dan Miller was expected to faceSean Pierson at the event. However, Miller pulled out of the bout after getting news about his son's kidney transplant operation.[7] He was replaced byLance Benoist.[8]
At the weigh-ins,Charles Oliveira failed to make weight by four tenths of pound on his first try.[9]In the second, he was able to make 146.2 lb. However, his opponent signed to fight at a catchweight, and Oliveira was not fined.[10]
The main event wasUFC Light Heavyweight ChampionJon Jones facing former championVitor Belfort. Originally, Jones was set to defend his title againstDan Henderson atUFC 151 on September 1, 2012, inLas Vegas, Nevada, butUFC PresidentDana White announced on August 23, 2012, that Henderson had a tear in hisMCL and would not be able to compete. It was then revealed that Jones declined a fight againstChael Sonnen, who offered to take the fight on eight days notice. As a result, the event was cancelled. This marked the first time theUFC had cancelled an event, with the official fight card having been announced, in the organization's history.
"Here I am with 35 years old, 17 years into my career, fighting the best fighter of all-time, in the history of the UFC, a guy who's [considered] the best athlete in MMA."
Following the cancellation of the event, White said thatUFC 151 simply will not exist. Jones was set to faceLyoto Machida in a rematch at this event after the cancellation of that event, but Machida declined the fight. Subsequently, Belfort was chosen to take Machida's place.[12] Jones was a massive favorite coming into the bout.[13] It was later reported that Belfort fought Jones with a broken hand.[14] He also had elevated free testosterone levels found on a pre-fight test[15]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Jon Jones (c) | def. | Vitor Belfort | Submission (americana) | 4 | 0:54 | [a] |
| Flyweight | Demetrious Johnson | def. | Joseph Benavidez | Decision (split) (48–47, 47–48, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Middleweight | Michael Bisping | def. | Brian Stann | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Matt Hamill | def. | Roger Hollett | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (146.2 lb) | Cub Swanson | def. | Charles Oliveira | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:40 | |
| Preliminary Card (FX and Sportsnet) | |||||||
| Light Heavyweight | Vinny Magalhães | def. | Igor Pokrajac | Submission (armbar) | 2 | 1:14 | |
| Lightweight | T. J. Grant | def. | Evan Dunham | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Sean Pierson | def. | Lance Benoist | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Marcus Brimage | def. | Jimy Hettes | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (Facebook) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Seth Baczynski | def. | Simeon Thoresen | KO (punch) | 1 | 4:10 | |
| Bantamweight | Mitch Gagnon | def. | Walel Watson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 1:09 | |
| Welterweight | Kyle Noke | def. | Charlie Brenneman | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:45 | [c] |
| Semifinals UFC on FX 2 /UFC on FX 3 | Finals UFC 152 | ||||||||
 | Joseph Benavidez | TKO | |||||||
 | Yasuhiro Urushitani | 2 | |||||||
| Joseph Benavidez | 5 | |||||||
| Demetrious Johnson | SD | |||||||
| Demetrious Johnson1 | UD | |||||||
| Ian McCall | 3 | |||||||
1 The initial semifinal bout between Johnson and McCall atUFC on FX 2 ended in a draw. Johnson defeated McCall in a rematch atUFC on FX 3.
The following fighters received $65,000 bonuses.[17]
