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TORONTO -- A smiling Jon (Bones) Jones walked on to a makeshift stage Thursday to confront underdog challenger Alexander (The Ma
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TORONTO -- A smiling Jon (Bones) Jones walked on to a makeshift stage Thursday to confront underdog challenger Alexander (The Ma
in NEUES AUS ÖSTERREICH - BERICHTE AUS ÖSTERREICH 21.08.2019 08:51von jokergreen0220 • | 1.402 Beiträge
TORONTO -- A smiling Jon (Bones) Jones walked on to a makeshift stage Thursday to confront underdog challenger Alexander (The Mauler) Gustafsson. Marvin Williams Hornets Jersey . Always thinking of a new angle, Jones was wielding a smartphone in front of him. His view of the square-off would soon be posted on Instagram, the UFC light-heavyweight champion told the media in front of him. Jones (18-1) took to social media soon after, managing to squeeze a biblical verse, Nike and Gatorade into the same tweet. "There is nothing special about me, I just work extremely hard," he wrote. "Anything can happen." A picture below showed a smiling Jones, a Nike swoosh prominent on his hoodie, pointing to a bottle of Gatorade -- his latest sponsor. To further make his point, he added Phillipians 4:13 and the hashtags for both companies. Fighter, man of faith and six-foot-four, 205-pound billboard, Jones is currently the brightest star in mixed martial arts. "His life doesnt suck, right," UFC president Dana White said dryly. "Hes got a lot to be happy about." A victory at UFC 165 Saturday and Jones will set the record for most consecutive title defences (six) in UFC light-heavyweight history. He already holds the record for most submissions (five) by a light-heavyweight and is tied for most finishes (nine). A former junior college wrestling champion with an 84.5-inch reach, Jones size and length make him hard to penetrate and tough to defend. At 6-5, Gustafsson (15-1) is one inch taller and has good striking skills. But while the 26-year-old Swede has won his last six fights, he hasnt faced the kind of opposition that Jones has. The bookies have made Jones anywhere from a 9-1 to 20-1 favourite to beat Gustafsson. White usually dismisses such odds. But he was slightly more circumspect Thursday. "I think that theyre making lines that they dont want a lot of money going on Jones because they think Jones is going to win. Thats the way the book works," said White, no stranger to the betting window. "Jones is good, really good." About the only people who believe Gustafsson can win are those in the challengers camp, although most pundits are quick to cover themselves by saying its a sport where anything can happen. Gustafsson, a lanky likable Swede with battered ears, doesnt think he is being disrespected. "Not at all. I dont takes anything personally. I dont read too much. I dont think too much. Im going to go in there and shock the world on Saturday," he said. "Im more than prepared," he added. "I cant wait to get in there. Im just living the dream right now. Ive got a one in a lifetime shot and Im going to do the best of it." Jones, 26, believes this defence will go the way of all the others. "I think I have a lot more tools in this fight to win the fight," he said. "Im going to do all kinds of unpredictable spinning elbows, flying knees, shots, fake shots, all types of stuff," he added. "He really needs to be on his game." Jones seemed less than impressed by Gustafssons striking, saying hes not fighting a world boxing champion. "Im fighting a guy who throws punches," he said. "Alexanders boxing defence, Ive said it a lot of times now, is not that good ... Hes a good puncher, he has pretty good footwork. Not a great boxer." When the Swede stood next to Jones in front of photographers, he couldnt resist putting his arm behind the champion so he could touch the shiny championship belt slung over his shoulder. A smiling Jones pulled away. "Thats as close as youre going to get," he said. Jones joins welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre under the Gatorade flag. The Montreal MMA star has blazed the way with blue-chip sponsorships including Under Armour. Its a long way from fighters advertising the local gun shop. Jones can be forgiven for Thursdays blatant plug in that his deal with Gatorade had only been announced hours before. Jones will wear the Gatorade logo on his shorts when he walks into the cage Saturday night against the Swede. Chances are he will wear a Nike T-shirt on his walk through the Air Canada Centre. Jones, who signed with Nike in August 2012, wore a "Bones Knows" Nike shirt at UFC 152 in Toronto last fall. As for Phillippians 4:13, Jones always wears that. It is tattooed on his chest. It references the verse "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Gustafssons ink is all about winning. He adds a sharks tooth tattoo on his arm for every win. Jones was the picture of calm Thursday as media swarmed around him. White says he has adjusted to life as champion, pulling back from going down the wrong path in the wake of a DUI charge after a May 2012 incident that saw him crash his Bentley in upstate New York. "Everything changes when youre the champion," White said. "Obviously the attention, the money, everybodys gunning after you. Theres a lot of pressure. "Jon Jones has really turned around and changed his life in the last year. Hes a young guy, he got that belt, you saw what happens when fame and money and all that stuff starts to come together. Im really happy with the way hes turned around." Jones, who meditates the day of his fight, does seems comfortable in his own skin as champion. "Its a great honour. To be the best in the world at something, and to travel to different countries and know that youre the champion of the world, its one of the coolest feelings that a man can ask for." Larry Johnson Jersey . -- Brendan Leipsic had two goals and an assist and Nicolas Petan extended his point streak to 11 games as the Portland Winterhawks slipped past the Red Deer Rebels 5-4 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. Muggsy Bogues Hornets Jersey .C. -- Steve Spurrier was much happier about South Carolinas improved performance than about his lastest career milestone. http://www.hornetsteamproshop.com/Cheap-Glen-Rice-Hornets-Jersey/ . Over the course of his career Glenn is 79-71-1 in 151 starts for a .526 career winning percentage. Since becoming a Stampeder, he has elevated his play and raised his stock around the league.PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns might be excused for their defensive lapses. They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. The Suns achieved season highs in total points, points in a half and assists, and tied their single-game best for made 3-pointers in a 129-120 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night. Their first-half point total of 79 was the most in the NBA before halftime this season and two shy of a US Airways Center record for points in a half. The only cloudy spot for the Suns was that they allowed more than 100 points for the fifth straight game. This after they sank 15 3-pointers and dished out 29 assists in a blink-and-you-missed it kind of game where neither team paid any mind to the shot clock. "Both of our teams are hard to guard in terms of how we play. Kicking it up and quick shots, and the way that both teams have guards that can really penetrate," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "That breaks down defences when teams are good at passing the ball and shooting the ball. Sometimes there might look like there was zero defence out there, but Im sure the guys were trying." Gerald Green certainly was trying on offence. He hit 5 of 6 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 33 points. The previous high for Phoenix in any half this season was 67 points, but 63 per cent shooting, including 12 of 18 on 3-pointers in the first half, shattered the team mark. "We were making 2s and some 3s. They were making all 3s," Hawks guard Jeff Teague said. Goran Dragic added 19 points for the Suns, hearing the chants of "MVP" from the home crowd, and Marcus Morris had 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Twin brother Markieff added 21 points and eight rebounds. "Its two fast-paced teams going against each other," Green said. "We knew it was going to be like that, but I didnt know they were going to be running like that." Phoenix led by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter, even though Atlanta scored 65 first-half points, including 37 in the first quarter, the highest against the Suns in any first quarter this season. Teague had 29 points and eight assists for the Hawks, and Mike Scott added 20 points. "Its nothing we need to be super overly cautious about," Green said of the Suns defence, "but we do need to take a step back and kind of look and see whaat were doing wrong, especially in the first quarter. Frank Kaminsky Jersey. " The second half saw slightly less scoring from both teams, but the Suns led 90-77 after Greens high-flying dunk over the Hawks Shelvin Mack with 7:21 left in the third quarter. The Suns lead was at 95-89 after Kyle Korver hit his fifth 3-pointer at the 3:54 mark, and down to 95-91 on a basket by Mack with 3:22 to play. Mack made it a one-point game with a layup to cap an 8-0 run, but the Suns scored seven of the last eight points of the third quarter to take a 102-95 lead into the fourth. Leandro Barbosa, playing his first game since missing the past five with a sprained toe, scored five key points in the fourth quarter to keep the Hawks at bay. The Suns never held less than a five-point lead in the quarter. A transition pass from Dragic to P.J. Tucker for a long jumper made the score 121-110 with 3:20 left in the game and essentially ended any chance for a Hawks comeback. "They shot the ball extremely well. They play with great pace, they put lot of pressure in your defence, make or miss," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "Our transition defence wasnt good enough." The Hawks have lost 11 of their last 12 games. The Suns havent lost two straight games to the Hawks since the 1991-92 season. It took Korver less than two minutes to continue his NBA-record streak of at least one made 3-pointer in a game. His long-range shot at 10:29 of the first quarter gave him 127 straight games with a made three-ball. Korver made six of seven 3-pointers to finish with 18 points. NOTES: Newly acquired power forward Shavlik Randolph made his Suns debut Sunday. He played 10 minutes and scored two points off the bench. ... Hornacek said guard Eric Bledsoe, who is coming back from knee surgery earlier this season, looked good in 5-on-5 action in practice recently. Bledsoe hasnt played since Dec. 30. The Suns want Bledsoes conditioning to return to game level before allowing him to play, which could keep him out for another two weeks. ... Budenholzer is a native of Holbrook, Ariz., in northeastern Arizona, and had family and friends at Sundays game. ... Hawks F Paul Millsap missed his fourth straight game with a right knee contusion. ... C Mike Muscala, signed late last week, made his Hawks debut and played 19 minutes. He had four points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. ' ' '
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