Following a feverish night of tweets igniting the rumor that UFC light-heavyweight Dan Henderson was injured and would be forced to withdraw from his upcoming title bout, UFC president Dana White assured fans this morning that this is in fact true. Set to face light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones on September 1st at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Henderson was forced to withdraw following a knee injury.
With Henderson out, former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen was offered the bout and agreed to step in. Bones, however, refused.
Upon Jones' refusal to fight Sonnen, White announced that UFC 151 would be cancelled. Yes, that's right cancelled. This marks the first event cancellation in UFC history.
So, what's my take on this UFC 151 chaos ?
Let me start by saying I don't pay much attention to any fighter's persona. I make every effort to base my judgement of a fighter primarily on their performances. I say this because both Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen seem to possess a persona one can only love or hate. Jones often projecting too much of an ego, and Sonnen parallel to a WWE superstar.
With that said, do I think Sonnen "deserves" a title shot ? No. Moving to the 205 division following a second loss against middleweight champion Anderson Silva in no way warrants a title shot.
Do I give a shit that Sonnen doesn't deserve a title shot? No.
Sonnen stepping in would've salvaged an otherwise destroyed card, allowing other fighters featured in the event to earn their paychecks and bring reward to their months spent training. It would've allowed the fans who eagerly sat at their computers to purchase tickets, arrange flights, and book hotel rooms to still attend a damn event. Above all it would've reiterated the fact that although injuries are an inevitable
aspect of MMA, the UFC is an organization which will consistently make
every effort to repair injury-altered cards.
Upon refusing to fight, Jones stated he would not fight Sonnen on 8 days notice. For lack of better phrasing: Why the fuck not ?!
Perhaps I'd be more empathetic towards Jones' reasoning if he was training for a total different fighter stylistically. However, common to both Henderson and Sonnen is a strong wrestling-based skill-set. Furthermore, Dan Henderson has more recently stopped a fight via his hands than Sonnen, so in the striking department Sonnen appears to be an even easier opponent. What skill is it of Sonnen's that Bones would be ill-prepared for ? His Brazilian jiu-jitsu... ?
Well, I think you get my point.
I listened to Greg Jackson tell his side of the story on the MMAHour today, and I can see his point.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fight, and there is still that small chance Sonnen could win. Put yourself in Jackson's position, or Jon's, what if they he had lost to Sonnen?
That would mean he lost to someone that lost twice to the MW Champ, who didn't deserve a title shot, and who would have zero days training. Whereas Jon would have been in shape training for at least 8 weeks; although it would be for a different opponent he was still in shape for a 5 round fight regardless. If Sonnen won, they would have regretted that decision sorely, and he would have lost all sponsorships and his stock would have tanked like after Enron.
But as a fan, he should have taken that fight. I still say he should have taken it. The UFC built him up, and now all of a sudden he has the option to refuse looks bad. I dislike Jon Jones -- he is fake as they come.
First just want to say thank you for checking out my blog and taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it!
DeleteI do see Greg Jacksons' point, just makes you question how much faith he has in Bones, if he thinks it is too risky to fight an out of shape former MW who had no training camp. If Sonnen pulled off a win against a guy who has consistently destroyed top contenders in his division, on 8 days notice, then hell I think he deserves to be champ haha. In my opinion, however, I don't think there's any way Sonnen would have won, and while I agree he doesn't deserve a title shot he was the only one willing to step up, so I don't feel that argument holds under this circumstance. If Sonnen was stylistically way different from Henderson I think I'd have more empathy for his preparation reasoning. I just think Bones taking the fight would've salvaged a lot, the UFC's reputation wouldn't be at stake, other fighters who are in need of the money would've earned it, consequent cancellations of other shows could've been prevented... list goes on really.
While Bones has lost some credibility/fans I don't think he's fully to blame. I think this issue shed some light on flaws in the organization including management and the way the fight card itself was structured. I think I failed to mention my thoughts on this in the rant because my initial thoughts mostly revolved around Jones. I'm not a fan of Jones' persona and sometimes I think his faith in Christianity comes off as superficial. I am however a fan of him in terms of his fighting skills. I think he's one of the most consistently dominant fighters the UFC has, who utilizes his physical attributes in a consistently exciting way. Key word being consistent and to me that is worth a lot.
I guess it is time to let this chaos pass, and hope something like this never happens again !
Firstly both of you bring up valid points but the UFC Dana White putting all the emphasis on a main event should take most of the blame. The UFC brass are just cashing in on having some pretty weak cards relying on a big fight and nothing but filler for the rest. Look at UFC 149 and now cancelling UFC 151 here's an idea for the BaldFather one event a month at most and put something good together maybe a tournament also get the ladies in there. They need to make a lot of changes in they way they conduct business lets hope 2013 goes down better. Now Jon Jones Fake arrogant and I hope Vitor knocks his head off this guy must be the most hated guy in MMA at the moment. Chael Sonnen I give credit to for stepping up for his friend and BTW he woulda been easy to deal with for Jones not as Dangerous as Dan that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteThnx
Simon
Hi Simon... I know this is an overdue response but you mention some interesting points/ideas. Just wanted to thank you for checking my blog out ! Appreciated.
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