i laughed sooo hard when Dana went off on Greg Jackson at the end of that call.
but greg has been responsible for some bad fights latly, not really bad fight but making fighters change their style… to be shitty
Guida vs maynerd should have been possibly the fight of the year.
[quote]DN90 wrote:
If Jones took the fight it would have been an honorable gesture on his part, but he didn’t have to, so no one should hold that against him.
The UFC thought that a Flyweight bout was good enough to headline a PPV. UFC 152 was a shitty card before Jones-Belfort was added.
We just had a PPV that was headlined by a bantamweight fight for an interim title.
What does it say about UFC 151 that they had to cancel after one fight was off? These was the rest of the card for 151:
Jake Ellenberger vs Jay Hieron
Dennis Siver vs Eddie Yagin
Dennis Hallman vs Thiago Tavares
John Lineker vs Yasuhiro Urushitani
They’re putting all of the blame on Jones, while they were going to put out a card like that? And Jones-Hendo wasn’t that good a match anyway–Jones was the heavy favourite. Jones vs. Rashad, Rampage, and Machida were more compelling.
But sure, let’s keep putting the blame on Jones. Not the bad luck surrounding injuries this year that kept the cards so thin, not the UFC for not responding with less cards to keep the quality good…
The UFC was more popular when it was putting out cards like UFC 92, UFC 94, UFC 98, UFC 100, etc. None of those cards would have gotten cancelled because of one fight.
It’s an unfortunate situation for the fans, the UFC, and especially the other fighters on the card. But it’s not Jon Jones’ fault. The UFC did a shitty thing to shift the blame on Jones, and apparently it’s working. [/quote]
Yeah, this.
[quote]Khaine wrote:
So, maybe I’m missing something, but is everybody buying this Dana spin job?
Why couldn’t the UFC just run the card sans title fight? It’d be weaker card, sure, but at least every fighter would get paid and the only people who’d take a financial risk would be Zuffa. Oh, wait, can’t have that.
Jones could take the fight, or not. But it’s not HIM who canceled the CARD. That’s not even remotely his decision.[/quote]
Good post, all-around.
lmao Chael Sonnen is the man, i think he should be a comedian that fights champs part time
It always seemed to me that champs fought whoever was given to them no matter the notice.
This seems like a first (at least in my memory).
I actually didn’t know champs could refuse under their contracts… I expect to see this more often though… since not one, but two fighters rejected a fight within a couple days.
[quote]Bangerangg18 wrote:
lmao Chael Sonnen is the man, i think he should be a comedian that fights champs part time
While I find Chael to be very entertaining… he actually made some good points too.
I love that guy more and more every time I hear him talk. Haha. He sold the fight to me… can’t wait for Sonnen Vs. Jones! hopes it happens soon
[quote]j70 wrote:
[quote]Ranzo wrote:
I don’t think he is a chump, he is the champ why is he obligated to fight somebody who isn’t even in his division who can’t beat the champ of his own division. Dana is just pissed because he lost his show. You would think that he would be pissed at Henderson for getting hurt. [/quote]
Sonnen moved up to 205 after his loss to Silva and is facing Forrest for his first fight, so Jones and Sonnen are in the same weight class.
Injuries happen, it sucks but you can’t get mad at someone for getting hurt because they were training for a title fight. What was Dana supposed to do? Sonnen was the ONLY guy to accept a fight with Jones on 8 days notice, and Sonnen would have been the only guy who could sell this fight to the fans on 8 days notice with loads of trash talk.
Jones is apparently the number 3 P4P after Silva and GSP. Sonnen hasn’t trained since his loss to Silva and is basically a smaller version of Henderson with no knock out power. I’ve never been a fan of Jones, but he takes this fight easily. He’s already training for takedowns and to avoid the overhand right, now all he has to worry about is take downs. Easy money.[/quote]
Some errors in your post.
Sonnen is bigger than Dan in between fights. On fight night he weighs around 205 (as per Dolce’s statements his last fight).
Sonnen uses his striking differently. Hendo is a head hunter and centers his striking game around the overhand right. Chael is a southpaw and uses his striking to setup up shots. It’s a different bag of tricks altogether.
Chael, conversely, has much better shots. Hendo works from the clinch and sets up trips, rarely shoots.
Chael has better takedown defense. Henderson tends to overextend himself while throwing.
Chael has a better top game (IMO), though he’s not hurting anyone with those arm punches.
Chael is a better mat scrambler. Unlike Henderson, he actually makes an honest effort to force a reversal.
Chael has a bigger gas tank… when he’s trained, lol. It’s possible he had a bit of a head start on all this, since Dan fights out of a Team Quest Temulca (sp?). Reports out there state that he’s rarely far from fighting fitness, though fighting shape is a different matter.
All this said, Chael is less dangerous. He has no KO power, as you stated, doesn’t appear to be submission savvy, despite the obvious improvements to his top game the last few fights. His bag of tricks to set up the single/double is limited and often relies on his opponent anticipating the rear straight (which won’t land on Jones).
Jones could have taken this fight, mauled Chael into retirement, and gotten HUGE praise. Instead he chose to play it safe and make the “right” choice for his career, knowing this would cause an event cancellation (according to Dana, FWIW). So yeah, he comes out of this looking bad, real bad. It was a gimme fight almost.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
I understand it’s a business, and Jones like to do the right thing, but his comments are starting to look too capitalistic. He could’ve just said I beat Machida in 10 sec, but by saying Machida was his lowest pay per view draw he’s making the public view him like a dishonorable spoiled brat. He needs to clean up his PR campaign a little the NBA knows about this very well. We all know it’s a money game but the public doesn’t want to face that reality. Sportsmanship[/quote]
I get what you’re saying, but it’s his ass he’s putting on the line and unlike the NBA serious injury is a very real possibility in this sport. Plus he’s the champ and has thus earned the right to make such calls IMO. I do agree that his PR agent should be a little more careful about letting him speak the unedited truth about the business aspect of the sport.
[quote]Bangerangg18 wrote:
Its just like sonnen said
I?ve never seen anything like this,? said Sonnen. ?I?ve never seen a champion turn down a fight. I?ve never seen a main event turn down a fight, and I?ve never seen a guy that?s healthy and went through a training camp turn down a fight. All three happened today with the same person. And it was so surprising.?
[/quote]
Of course Sonnen is going to say that, he had nothing to lose from fighting Jones and everything to gain. He’s just trying to get Jones mad enough to actually want to fight him, but I’m sure Jones knows that and is too mature to let the name calling get to him. Sonnen sure does have a gift for trash talking though, best in the business IMO.
I agree, pretty boring match-up.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
For the record, that picture you posted was just Chael trash-talking Jones a few days ago, Jones didn’t actually say those things, Chael fake-retweeted.[/quote]
Crap, I didn’t mean to be spreading gossip. I did try checking jones’ Twitter feed history yesterday, but it was having loading problems. My mistake. Still though, it says something that I wasn’t 100% certain he wouldn’t have said something along those lines.
I did listen to Dana White’s conference call announcement and he seems to be putting a majority of the blame on Greg Jackson, who it sounds like convinced Jones he wasn’t ready to fight anyone other than Hendo.
White flat-out called Jackson “a fucking sport killer.” Not sure that’s fair considering the number of champs he’s helped produce, but White is very pissed at him and very pissed at Jones. (But really, when isn’t he pissed at someone or something.)[/quote]
Again, White is just passing the blame (like he always does) because he’s looking out for #1.
Jackson is being a good manager/coach and looking out for his fighter’s best interests; that’s what a good manager/coach is supposed to do. He is also still unquestioningly the best coach in MMA currently and I’ve got a hell of a lot more respect for him than White.
If the UFC wanted these cards to continue, they need to have a contract clause like this (in capitals):
“IF YOUR OPPONENT IS INJURED AT OR LESS THAN 3 WEEKS BEFORE THE FIGHT TIME, YOU AGREE TO FIGHT A REPLACEMENT OPPONENT EITHER SELECTED BY THE UFC, OR AN OPPONENT WHO IS WITHIN ONE WEIGHT CLASS UP OR DOWN AND VOLUNTEERS TO TAKE THE FIGHT ON SHORT NOTICE. IF A REPLACEMENT OPPONENT IS NECESSARY, FIGHTER SHALL RECEIVE 25% ABOVE GUARANTEED CONTRACT PAYMENT…”
Remember, the UFC is a NEW sport. They have not yet had time to anticipate and contract against this type of situation. No one, and everyone, is to blame. Neither the UFC or JBJ really knows what to do, other than what they both did. Chalk this up as a learning experience for the business and the employees.
[quote]MrMuzik wrote:
If the UFC wanted these cards to continue, they need to have a contract clause like this (in capitals):
“IF YOUR OPPONENT IS INJURED AT OR LESS THAN 3 WEEKS BEFORE THE FIGHT TIME, YOU AGREE TO FIGHT A REPLACEMENT OPPONENT EITHER SELECTED BY THE UFC, OR AN OPPONENT WHO IS WITHIN ONE WEIGHT CLASS UP OR DOWN AND VOLUNTEERS TO TAKE THE FIGHT ON SHORT NOTICE. IF A REPLACEMENT OPPONENT IS NECESSARY, FIGHTER SHALL RECEIVE 25% ABOVE GUARANTEED CONTRACT PAYMENT…”
Remember, the UFC is a NEW sport. They have not yet had time to anticipate and contract against this type of situation. No one, and everyone, is to blame. Neither the UFC or JBJ really knows what to do, other than what they both did. Chalk this up as a learning experience for the business and the employees.[/quote]
That’s really dumb for reasons I think you’ll realize if you think hard enough.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
For the record, that picture you posted was just Chael trash-talking Jones a few days ago, Jones didn’t actually say those things, Chael fake-retweeted.[/quote]
Crap, I didn’t mean to be spreading gossip. I did try checking jones’ Twitter feed history yesterday, but it was having loading problems. My mistake. Still though, it says something that I wasn’t 100% certain he wouldn’t have said something along those lines.
I did listen to Dana White’s conference call announcement and he seems to be putting a majority of the blame on Greg Jackson, who it sounds like convinced Jones he wasn’t ready to fight anyone other than Hendo.
White flat-out called Jackson “a fucking sport killer.” Not sure that’s fair considering the number of champs he’s helped produce, but White is very pissed at him and very pissed at Jones. (But really, when isn’t he pissed at someone or something.)[/quote]
Again, White is just passing the blame (like he always does) because he’s looking out for #1.
Jackson is being a good manager/coach and looking out for his fighter’s best interests; that’s what a good manager/coach is supposed to do. He is also still unquestioningly the best coach in MMA currently and I’ve got a hell of a lot more respect for him than White.[/quote]
WOW! you guys need to listen to the conference call. Dana White calls Greg Jackson: “A fucking Sport Killer.”
Dana White: “I don’t give a shit what Greg Jackson thinks. Guy is a fucking weirdo…-Greg Jackson should never ever be interviewed by anybody again, except a pyschiatrist.”
Yo, say what you will about Dana White, but it’s nice to have a dude as the head of a sport who speaks what he thinks and doesn’t apologize for shit.
It’s entertaining but it’s actually a shitty and unprofessional way of handling things.
And he’s not actually saying what’s on his mind, or he’d have mentioned how shitty the UFC 151 card was anyway.
Oh, and he’d have said that Fedor is the greatest HW of all time. Instead of what he normally says.
[quote]FrozenNinja wrote:
Dana White: “I don’t give a shit what Greg Jackson thinks. Guy is a fucking weirdo…-Greg Jackson should never ever be interviewed by anybody again, except a pyschiatrist.”[/quote]
Thats a pretty bold statement. Especially seems how many of the UFC fighters train with Jackson.
I am not a fan of the Greg Jackson keep it safe and lay on the guy plan either but one of these days Dana is finally gonna pay for the shit he says. A couple of his champs train out of there so I am sure they are less than thrilled right now with him.
[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:
Yo, say what you will about Dana White, but it’s nice to have a dude as the head of a sport who speaks what he thinks and doesn’t apologize for shit.[/quote]
No one can deny that he has been successful in terms of marketing the UFC to the general public, and we as MMA fans do owe him some thanks for the easy accessibility of MMA (free cards on cable, TUF, MMA becoming a sanctioned sporting event in quite a few states, the possible inclusion of MMA as an Olympic sport are all due at least in part to the UFC’s/White’s marketing efforts).
But, personally I don’t find bravado, tough guise, or trash talking your sports athletes or coaches behaviors that demand respect or admiration. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions though.
True, you wouldn’t see Gary Bettman, Rodger Godell or any other sport’s comissioners say such vehemenent commentary, but isn’t the fight game a bit different?