I don't know if any of you heard but Dan Henderson has backed out of the fight against Jon Jones due to a knee injury. Replacements from all over were stepping up & asked to fight Jones. After the Greg Jackson camp denied the proposed fights, they cancelled UFC 151 all together.
Fighters that stepped up supposedly -
Chael Sonnen
Anderson Silva
Chris Weidman
Fighters that declined to fight Jones -
Lyoto Machida
Shogun Rua - on medical suspension
I understand on why they cancelled UFC 151 knowing that a majority of these fighters haven't been training, and even if they were, then they would only have an 8 1/3 chance of winning.
@ one point Sonnen stepped up but Jones said "No" which caused keyboard warriors from all around the MMA Forums to let us know how they truly felt.
Keyboard Warriors from Sherdog:
Fighter Tweets:
michael @bisping
Jones said he's not fighting chael on 8 days notice. I did. .... Just sayin
Jones said he's not fighting chael on 8 days notice. I did. .... Just sayin
Danny Castillo @lastcall155
Who got $50 I can borrow till my next fight? ;)
Who got $50 I can borrow till my next fight? ;)
Vinny Magalhaes @VinnyMMA
How to ruin an entire event #BonesKnows
How to ruin an entire event #BonesKnows
Benson Henderson @BensonHenderson
So please quit disparaging my boy @jonnybones...it's EASY to say u'd put it all on the line but he actually has & does...#respect homie
So please quit disparaging my boy @jonnybones...it's EASY to say u'd put it all on the line but he actually has & does...#respect homie
Ulysses Gomez @uselessgomez
HUGE CONGRATS to @sonnench on being a 2 time @UFC Champ! 185 and 205! Congrats brother!”
HUGE CONGRATS to @sonnench on being a 2 time @UFC Champ! 185 and 205! Congrats brother!”
Joe Rogan @joerogan
I am completely bewildered that Jon Jones didn't accept the fight with Chael Sonnen. Never saw that coming in a million years.
I am completely bewildered that Jon Jones didn't accept the fight with Chael Sonnen. Never saw that coming in a million years.
chael sonnen @sonnench
30 min to cement your legacy. Champ or Coward? I make a lot more than you do... Show up in 8 days I'll give you my purse.
chael sonnen @sonnench
Times up
A WWE Wrestler even said:
CM Punk @CMPunk
Ok keyboard kids. Tell me what I do is fake, but at least I have heart. The irony is tangible. Who's phony now??
Ok keyboard kids. Tell me what I do is fake, but at least I have heart. The irony is tangible. Who's phony now??
From what I read, these are 4 topics that keep getting posted.
a. Anti-Jones: Jones should have accepted the fight
b. Pro Jones: Jones was put in the tough spot, he was reasonable
c. Pro Jones: UFC should not have had such a card heavily dependant on the main event
d. neutral - Jones should have accepted the fight, but the UFC (White) was unprofessional in how it handled the situation.
Honestly I'm going with C.
Pro Jones: UFC should not have had such a card heavily dependant on the main event.
This is the problem with the UFC nowadays. They expect you to pay $54.95 for every PPV there is. I purchased some really crappy PPV (the last 2 @ my place we ass) but I purchase them because I love MMA. This card other than the Main Event didn't really have any other star power. So instead of blaming Jones, blame the UFC for pumping out 4 events (2 you have to pay for) every month.
Yesterday Machida accepted the fight, but this morning dropped out of the fight. Now Vitor Belfort has stepped up. This should be an interesting fight now. As long as Vitor doesn't get front kicked again, then it should be an exciting fight.
I would like to say that Chael Sonnen vs Jon Jones would have been amazing. Jones is better @ almost everything Chael does. Would I loved to see Jones vs Sonnen next week? Of course I would have. But wait until these 2 meet up down the road. Sonnen would smash him during conference calls & interviews. Jones would probably decapitate him. But they would sell a massive amount of tickets and PPV buys.
Respond on how you feel, or post below more comments / pictures you find on the internet.
To start, Dana White does behave rather unprofessionally at times. It's why I love him.
ReplyDeleteI'm ok with UFC cancelling the fights. Without a main fight, they really can't deliver anything worth buying or going to. Although the undercards have really been exciting to see, you just can't get pumped up about paying for a maybe.
I think Jones should have taken the Sonnen fight. Hands down....Jones would beat him. Sonnen volunteered for an ass kicking with a slight chance of an amazing underdog victory. I know you need to train towards a particular opponents strengths and weaknesses and Hendo and Sonnen are very different. But unless they planned on making Jones lose like 10 more pounds, there just isn't a reason to man up and support your fans.
Scotty and I were talking today about how Sonnen should do a press conference wearing two belts and challenge Machida like he was the champ.
In closing...I'm going with ACD
heres the thing, you want your champ to show up and looks his best. how do you expect him to do that on 8 days notice. mma is like any other sport, it requires preparation and studying your opponent. would a team jump in and play in the superbowl on 8 days notice. your damn right a team would if they didnt earn it (chael), but the team that is there deservedly would not accept another team without being able to properly prepare. in this situation chael has nothing to lose, sure he probably ends up getting beat badly, but he has 6 great excuses why he should have a rematch.
ReplyDeletethe problem is the ufc's method of picking fights. dana white will give any guy a fight that shoots their mouth off. chael shouldnt have even been offered this fight, he hasn't earned anything. what fighter do you know has lost his last 2 fights and then gets a title shot? because he does stupid stuff online he gets 3 title shots in a row? i'll admit, chael is creative and amusing, but dana white fell for all his tricks this time, dana gave him exactly what he wanted and now he gets to act like the hero when all he did was get choked and ko'ed in his last 2 fights.
if i was bones i would have done the same thing. he has to be a huge draw for UFC and dana is treating him like some jabroni. maybe they need to reword these fighters contracts or something if they expect to be able to change their opponent whenever they want.
i would pay $100 for the payperview if the only event was bones vs anderson silva... or if GSP ever fights again.
I'm not going to say that Sonnen has nothing to lose, just that he had everything to gain. It's brilliant for him if he got the fight or not. You could always get hurt and never fight again. It happens. Fighting a guy way bigger/better than you is a great way to do that.
ReplyDeleteJones really had nothing to gain from taking the fight. I get it. But come on. Where is the killer instinct? Where is the pride? This is like the only sport in the world where someone can step up to you and treat you like a bitch and you get the punch him. I want knuckle dragging fighters. Not military strategists.
I also don't feel like going from fighting a wrestler with a big right hand to a smaller wrestler with no right hand was that big of a jump for him. Jones has trained for months and should be at the top of his physical condition. The fact that he didn't spend less time dodging an overhand right in training seems kind of minor.....but I don't do this for a living.
I am a fan and I am disappoint.
I think it has less to do with Bones' killer instinct and more to do with his pride. He didn't want Chael to get his way. Dana said the day before he cancelled the fight that Chael wasn't going to talk himself into a title shot. But he very nearly did, cause Dana falls for it everytime. Also, hendo and sonnen are friends. He probably told Chael he was thinking of pulling out and that's why Chael began attacking Jones even though he had another fight scheduled. I think Hendo and Sonnen might've been in kahoots
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it would have even have been a title shot.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Jone's pride. Reason, maybe. It's most like spite when someone else gets their way and you decide to take your ball and go home. Pride would have said "kick this guys face in for thinking he can step up to the Duke of New York A#1."
I love Chael's antics because they always end in the same way. He wants to fight. He would prefer a fight that gets him something but he seems ready to step up and take whatever fight you give him. I like that. He was trying to get a headline fight.
I don't know anything about his and Hendo's relationship. That seems kind of dirty. But again I don't care much. He wanted the fight and went for it. He might have known that it was coming available earlier than Jones but I think that these guys should really expect that the nature of the sport lends itself to injuries and card changes.
I get that the evolution of the sport has made guys train differently to be better fighters. Maybe the do need to examine the contracts for the benefit of fighters and fans. I think that backing out of a fight when you are healthy is just bullshit though. I don't care if you wind up fighting a giant octopus or a bear or dogs that bark fucking bees at you. You have a fight on Saturday night.....show up ready to fight. They used to fight tournament style. You didn't know who you were fighting or how many to get the title. I just kind of miss that show up and fight attitude.
The more people I talk to about this the more it seems that I'm just wrong in expecting a guy that fights MMA to be ready to fight anyone at their scheduled fight. I'm not happy about it.....but I'm tapping out.
ReplyDeleteyou actually had me seeing your point of view on this. at first I was saying bones had every right to decline, which i still think he does, but he shouldnt have. here's the thing, would we all bitch about chael getting another title fight. yes. would we all buy and watch the ppv. hell yes. right there dana's job is done. I keep comparing these mma athletes to athletes in other sports, but they are different. sure football players can get severely hurt, but they aren't straight up fighting for a living. if you fight for a living you should be able to accept any challenger
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm going to write Bones a letter expressing my disappointment. I'll close with challenging him to a fight in 8 days. Because I know he'll never take it.
ReplyDelete