UFC 140 just went to the next level!

Verbally agreed to fight in the main event - light heavyweight champion John 'Bones' Jones v Lyoto 'the Dragon' Machida!!!

If Jones wants to prove himself as one of the greatest champions in the UFC and the future of MMA then he has to fight top guys and Machida definitely ranks being a former champion himself with only two professional losses inside the Octagon. Machida is also a Shotokan Karate and BJJ black belt so is an extremely talented and skilful martial artist. If Jones were to beat Machida come December then he can boast beating three of the best light heavyweights in the UFC. However I think Machida's movement will be better than Rampage's and I think this will be a tougher test for Jones. I'm looking forward to this fight.

Also on the card (presumably the co-main event) is Mir v Nog II - I'm a big Mir fan so hope he can make it 2 for 2 over Nog and move into title contention.

styles make fights and i think that machida has a style to trouble jones. not saying that he will beat him but agree his movement will ask different questions rampage is slow and was there top be hit. shogun couldnt realy risk any clinches. still expect jones to win this one but will be intresting to see how he deals with machidas style

im more of a big nog fan so will be hoping for a bit of revenge. may be mistaken but think big nog had a bad problem with staff (the disease not his camp) coming into the first fight and was very poor. after his vitory over schaub will be expecting much better

whats going on with evans? he running scared?

isn't evans out injured? He had a cast on his wrist at UFC 135.

I have a feeling Jones will win too but expect a much closer fight than the Rampage one.

Big Nog was impressive against Schaub but I think Mir has bounced back since his defeat to Carwin - I don't think Nog would take the knee shots Nelson ate and Mir has already knocked him out before. Saying that it would be interesting to see who would win in a BJJ contest between them if the fight went to the ground!

Evans had pins inserted in his hand after the Tito fight, which is why he can't fight.

Agree with the above in that I expect Jones to win but Machida will pose a bigger threat than Rampage due to his style and would give him a much bigger chance of an upset than all of Jones' previous opponents.

As for Mir and Big Nog, i'm a big fan of both but I heavily favour Mir and think it'll be the same result as their first fight.

Mir is looking really good lately and I can see another KO win and with it he should be very close to a title contention.

Dana has already stated that if Overeem beats Lesnar in December he will automatically become the No 1 contender against either JDS or Valesquez! That means Mir will probably have to have another fight if he beats Nog before fighting for the title again. If that happens I'm not sure who he'd fight - would Carwin be cleared to fight by then? If so a rematch would be quite good, I think Mir would be far more game in a rematch and Carwin, although dangerous, like Brock has lost his aura.

Sounds like the HW division is going to be extremely busy!

So many genuine contenders in this division that you can the belt changing hands much like the LHW belt.

Cain
JDS
Overeem
Lesnar
Mir
Barnett - I think he is a contender anyway!

I don't consider Carwin or Big Nog as contenders and I think Mir would beat them both if he rematched them.

big nog is clearly past his prime, so i agree he's not a title contender. it was nice to see him turning back the clock against schaub. as such i would put mir as favourite just hopingnog isnt as poor as the first. prime for prime would go big nog all day. mir for me is no more than a upper top ten fighter. he's had enough shots at the title/interim and been found wanting. the only good wins he's got is big nog (who if reports are true had a staff infection) and a very green brock who later avenged it.

does anyone know if cain v jds will be on over here. its on fox over there and there only really showing the main event (something hopefully wont catch on). the last verses wasnt on espn but hoping this will be

Naturally there are going to be question marks over Mir as he was beaten so emphatically by Brock in their second fight. You never know if Brock loses to Overeem maybe we'll eventually see a third and final fight between them? If Mir v Brock III was to happen I hope Mir will have realised that if you take the fight to Lesnar, he panics. Mir would need to bring the aggression - he's still a more talented fighter than Brock imo.

Going back to Bones Jones though - everyone loves an underdog but how crazy is it that guys like Rampage, Evans and now Machida are classed as underdogs!? Just goes to show how good Jones is that everyone makes him the favourite in his fights since winning the title. However, he still does have something to prove - we've not seen him in the trenches yet and I hope Machida can really test him. As much as Sonnen loves to remind people he came the closest to beating Silva, the fact that Silva endured everything Sonnen threw at him in that fight just goes to prove that Silva is tough as well as talented. I hope Machida can cause Jones a few problems and see how he handles them.

I think Machida has a style that can cause Jones trouble, but I still have Jones winning this fight and finishing Machida also. Shogun KTFO Machida in there 2nd fight and Jones kicked Shogun's arse when they fought, I know MMA maths isn’t exactly a science but I can’t see anyone (including Evans) taking the belt from Jones anytime soon.

You also have to give props to Jones for how active a champ he is. He's certainly not shy about taking on opponents and fighting regularly.