UFC 128: Shogun vs Jones Photos

Last night was UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones for the light heavyweight belt.  Jon “Bones” Jones (23) became the youngest title holder in UFC history by defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua with a TKO in the third round, ending Shogun’s reign as the light heavyweight champion of the world.

Jones’ long limbs proved to be too great of a challenge for Shogun, who got pummeled through 3 rounds, only to hit the mat with a bruised and battered face, and no title.  These photos highlight the speed and strength of Jones’ hits, and make me wonder how Shogun even made it to the third round.

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And if you’re still not impressed with Jones, how do you like the fact that hours before the biggest fight of his life so far, he stopped a robbery.  He witnessed a man breaking into a car in Newark, NJ and stealing some objects.  The suspect ran from Jones and his trainers when Jones tripped the man to the ground and applied an arm bar to restrain him until cops arrived.  Click here for the full story.

Jon Jones: “Too Big. Too Fast. Too New School.

Want more UFC photos? Check out my highlights from UFC 127 here. And come back April 30th for highlights from UFC 129: St. Pierre vs. Shields.

UFC 127 Photo Highlights

UFC 127 was Saturday night.  There weren’t any title fights, but nonetheless, it was still a good event.  Dennis Siver v. George Sotiropoulos (in his home country of Australia too), Jorge Rivera v. Michael Bisping (after some serious trash talking on Rivera’s end) and Jon Fitch v. BJ Penn.

Every time a fighter’s pinned against the cage, my eyes drift to the photographers on the other side of it. As far as sports photography goes, I think MMA might be the most difficult to shoot.  With soccer, football, basketball, etc., you’re really just following a ball with your camera.  With fighting, no one knows what’s going to happen next, and everyone wants a contact shot.  You know, when a fist is introduced to someone’s face.  And if there’s blood splatter – even better.  But these fighters move so fast, you’ve got to be one second ahead of them as a photographer.

Not to mention, most photographers are shooting through a cage.  Usually this means using manual focus so the camera doesn’t auto-focus on the cage instead of the fighters behind it.  It can be tricky to get a clear shot when you’re shooting through a cage.  Luckily, SportsShooter.com has a discussion board where photographers can share tips on shooting UFC.

Here are some photos from UFC 127 by Josh Hedges (Zuffa LLC/Getty Images) courtesy of ufc.com.

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Come back after UFC 128 SHOGUN vs JONES, March 19th, for my photo highlights!