| UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 24, 2011 | |||
| Venue | Pepsi Center | |||
| City | Denver,Colorado | |||
| Attendance | 16,344[1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,089,575[1] | |||
| Buyrate | 520,000[2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on September 24, 2011, at thePepsi Center inDenver,Colorado.[3]
The Ultimate Fighting Championship had its first ever event[4] in Denver nearly 20 years prior to UFC 135, but the promotion has not operated a pay-per-view event in the Mile High City sinceThe Ultimate Ultimate in 1995. Zuffa, the UFC's parent company, was not the owner back then. UFC president Dana White, in an interview with MMAWeekly.com, says that the company has long been on a course to return to Denver, but they wanted to do it the right way. “We knew that we wanted to bring a big exciting card back to Denver, and we finally got it done.”[5]
Jon Jones was expected to make his first title defense on August 6, 2011, atUFC 133 againstRashad Evans, but Jones was sidelined with a hand injury.[6] It was initially announced that the hand injury would require surgery, but Jones opted for rest and rehabilitation without surgery after further consultations with doctors.[7] Jones' injury was originally thought to keep him out of action until late 2011, but instead, he made his first title defense againstQuinton Jackson at this event.[8]
UFC 135 featured two preliminary fights live onSpike TV.[9]
Manny Gamburyan was scheduled to faceDiego Nunes. However, on August 15, it was announced Gamburyan had to pull out of the bout due to a shoulder injury.[10] Then, on August 29, Nunes confirmed his own exit from the card, citing injury and a murder attempt on his father.[11] The fight was later rescheduled forUFC 141, where Nunes won via unanimous decision.
A bout betweenNorifumi Yamamoto andDamacio Page was expected for this event.[12] However, the bout was scrapped on September 1 after both fighters sustained injuries while training for the bout.[13]
Diego Sanchez was expected to faceMatt Hughes, but was forced out of the bout with a broken hand and replaced byJosh Koscheck.[14] After this fight Matt Hughes was offered a non competitive role in the UFC which resulted in his retirement from MMA.
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Jon Jones (c) | def. | Quinton Jackson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 4 | 1:14 | [a] |
| Welterweight | Josh Koscheck | def. | Matt Hughes | KO (punches) | 1 | 4:59 | |
| Heavyweight | Mark Hunt | def. | Ben Rothwell | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Travis Browne | def. | Rob Broughton | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Nate Diaz | def. | Takanori Gomi | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 4:27 | |
| Preliminary card (Spike TV) | |||||||
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Lightweight | Tony Ferguson | def. | Aaron Riley | TKO (corner stoppage) | 1 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Tim Boetsch | def. | Nick Ring | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (Facebook) | |||||||
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Featherweight | Junior Assunção | def. | Eddie Yagin | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–26, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Takeya Mizugaki | def. | Cole Escovedo | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:30 | [b] |
| Light Heavyweight | James Te Huna | def. | Ricardo Romero | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:47 | [c] |
The following fighters received $75,000 bonuses.[15]
