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The Champ Speaks: Jon Jones Apologizes for UFC 151 Cancellation, Says Fighting Sonnen Would’ve Been “The Dumbest Idea Ever”

(Who wants to take a wild guess at how Bones vs. Belfort will end? Anyone?)

There may only be a matter of hours separating us from the ~~UFC/Dana White/Jon Jones’~~ decision to cancel ~~Christmas~~ UFC 151, yet it somehow feels as if every conceivable angle has already been pondered, publicized, and pettifogged to an exhausting extent. Fingers have been pointed in every direction; some say Jon Jones is to blame, some Greg Jackson, while others, like Cory Braiterman of MMAMania, feel that Dana White is more or less scapegoating Bones in an attempt to disguise the fact that UFC 151’s supporting card, and in fact many of the UFC’s recent cards, are kind of garbage ass, as BG put it (by the way, garbage ass is phrase that needs to catch on).

Throw in a clusterfuck of bitchassness in the light heavyweight contender pool, and we’ve been left with a “pound-for-pound great” fighting a middleweight whose chance of victory is apparently worse than the chance that you would be attacked by a circus lion in a convenient store twice. On the same day. In two different convenience stores. Seriously, Jones was only listed at -475 in a rematch with Lyoto Machida, and is now listed as high as -1500 over Belfort.

That is some garbage ass, right there.

But the man who has been caught in the middle of all this hate, champion Jon Jones, had remained silent on the issue in the immediate aftermath, likely until Team Jackson could draft up an apology for him to make (ZING!). However, in an interview with MMAJunkie last night, Jones was both apologetic and steadfast regarding his decision.

His remarks, along with the latest in Chael Sonnen’s epic trolljob, are after the jump.

(Who wants to take a wild guess at how Bones vs. Belfort will end? Anyone?)

There may only be a matter of hours separating us from the ~~UFC/Dana White/Jon Jones’~~ decision to cancel ~~Christmas~~ UFC 151, yet it somehow feels as if every conceivable angle has already been pondered, publicized, and pettifogged to an exhausting extent. Fingers have been pointed in every direction; some say Jon Jones is to blame, some Greg Jackson, while others, like Cory Braiterman of MMAMania, feel that Dana White is more or less scapegoating Bones in an attempt to disguise the fact that UFC 151′s supporting card, and in fact many of the UFC’s recent cards, are kind of garbage ass, as BG put it (by the way, garbage ass is phrase that needs to catch on).

That is some garbage ass, right there.

According to Jones, the matter was as simple as the name that was on his contract when he signed the dotted line. And that name was not Chael Sonnen:

Dan Henderson got hurt, and the fight was canceled. I signed a contract a long time ago to fight Dan Henderson. That’s what I studied for, and that’s what I prepared myself for. To take a fight with a different opponent in which I would basically have three days of training before traveling and then starting to cut weight I just thought would be the dumbest idea ever. I wouldn’t have been properly prepared.

Jones also apologized to the cast of fighters on the garbage ass supporting card who were screwed out of a paycheck, but go figure, managed to come off sounding more than a little pretentious before all was said and done:

I definitely apologize to the other fighters on the card. I feel terrible, but it also wasn’t my decision to cancel the whole card. I don’t make those decisions.

I apologize to the people that lost money on tickets and travel and things like that. I don’t apologize for my decision, but I do apologize for the way it affected people. I hope people can understand I was just trying to do the best thing for my career.

I take a lot of pride in the way I perform, and I want to put on the best performance possible every time I fight. I don’t want to go out there just to win the fight. I want to go out there to dominate. I want to make it look effortless. I want it to be a beautiful thing.

Jesus Christ, Jon. Just say you’re sorry and end it. And know, I was not referring to you as Jesus Christ. Speaking of massive egos, Jones actually claims that if he were to have stepped into the cage with Sonnen next weekend, that would have been letting his ego get in the way:

If this was my first fight in the UFC and I really didn’t have a choice and they needed somebody to step in last minute, if it was that type of scenario, then I’d probably more open to it. But I’m a UFC champion, and I need to perform that way. If I would have taken this fight, that would have been letting my ego get in the way and not using my intellect. This is war, and you have to go in there prepared.

Chael is completely different fighter. This is war. This is strategy. [Ed note: THIS IS SPARTA!!] You have to go in there prepared and know that you did your homework. I wouldn’t be the same warrior if I just jumped in there blindly and was cutting weight while I was trying to prepare for the fight.

Right, because it’s not like Sonnen would have been in the exact same position or anything. Then again, they say that in the land of the blind, the man with one eye is king. What that phrase fails to mention is that all of those blind men lost their eyes in actual combat.

Of course, now that Jones has turned down a fight with Sonnen, the Chaelgates hath been opened, and dear God are the character attacks flooding in. In an interview with Bleacher Report, Sonnen referred to Jones as “a delusional brat” and took a shot as his businessman-like persona:

He talks of being a businessman?! What?! What risks did he take? What capital did he raise? Where exactly is his office located? How many people does me employ? Hey JJ, put me on the phone with your secretary… Oh wait, what?

But far and away the best insult Sonnen could muster came in the form of a Facebook message that we’ve placed below.

GAME: TROUSERS.

–J. Jones

Following Dramatic Victory Over Julie Kedzie, Miesha Tate Vows to “Take a Step Back” From MMA

(Well, at least she has looking hot in front of a camera as a fallback career.)

Although the main card of Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman card provided most of the evening’s highlights, you would be hard pressed to find an MMA site that didn’t declare Miesha Tate’s come-from-behind win (insert puns now) over Julie Kedzie to be the most exciting fight of the evening. Despite being rocked on various occasions and almost ending up as the first entry in the head-kick-nip-slip Hall of Fame, Tate was able to brave the storm and score an armbar victory of her own late in the third round.

But up until that point, it was plain to see that there was clearly something a little off about the former title holder. Her combinations came few and far between, and her takedown attempts seemed to be lacking a certain gusto that they had previously held. While part of this could be attributed to the toughness of Kedzie, who has been training at Greg Jackson’s gym for some time now (and is in fact his personal assistant), an equal amount could just as easily be blamed on Tate’s somewhat lackadaisical attitude in the cage on Saturday night.

The fact that she still managed to pull off an amazing, gritty win over a tough opponent despite this only shows what caliber of fighter Tate truly is, but according to the source herself, we might not be seeing “Cupcake” in action for a while. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani during The MMA Hour, Tate explained that she simply “didn’t feel the passion and fire that [she] had felt in her previous fights” when facing Kedzie:

I felt out of my element, I didn’t feel normal in there whatsoever. It was very strange, it was not a feeling I enjoyed and not something I want to experience again, I don’t really know what my next step is here. Even when I was when lined up with Julie, across the cage, I was like, ‘Is this really happening right now? Am I really here? Am I really in this fight?’ I felt like I was kind of just in this twilight zone. I did not like that. It’s not how I normally feel, not how emotions really run. Normally I’m excited to be there, I’m amped and pumped, and I felt little to nothing, and I mean, she literally elbowed me and got my lip really good and I was like ‘ehh, whatever.’ She kicked me in the face, ‘ehh, whatever,’ It was not, it wasn’t a normal circumstance for me I don’t know why that is but I’m asking myself a lot of questions. I think I need to take a step back, relax a minute, and evaluate it.

More from this interview is after the jump.

(Well, at least she has looking hot in front of a camera as a fallback career.)

I felt out of my element, I didn’t feel normal in there whatsoever. It was very strange, it was not a feeling I enjoyed and not something I want to experience again, I don’t really know what my next step is here. Even when I was when lined up with Julie, across the cage, I was like, ‘Is this really happening right now? Am I really here? Am I really in this fight?’ I felt like I was kind of just in this twilight zone. I did not like that. It’s not how I normally feel, not how emotions really run. Normally I’m excited to be there, I’m amped and pumped, and I felt little to nothing, and I mean, she literally elbowed me and got my lip really good and I was like ‘ehh, whatever.’ She kicked me in the face, ‘ehh, whatever,’ It was not, it wasn’t a normal circumstance for me I don’t know why that is but I’m asking myself a lot of questions. I think I need to take a step back, relax a minute, and evaluate it.

I may be alone in this, but does that tidbit remind anyone else of the “fishing in Privlaka” comments Mirko Cro Cop made after UFC 103?

Tate’s fleeting desire to compete, at least in my opinion, could easily be attributed to the lack of depth that currently exists in WMMA. It’s bad enough that these ladies are barely making enough to cover their medical expenses, but the fact that Tate can only knock off so many “contenders” before being thrown into an inevitable rematch with Ronda Rousey must be kind of depressing considering how their first fight ended.

Tate mirrored these concerns:

I need to find a way to fire myself up again and get that passion, because I know there’s so much I still want to accomplish in MMA. I absolutely want to fight Ronda Rousey twice, but at this point, you know, mentally and emotionally, I’m not right. I shouldn’t be getting into the cage if I’m not going into it wholeheartedly for this fight. It’s hard for me to admit that, but that’s the honest truth. I didn’t feel like it for this fight like I did for other fights. I don’t know how to explain that, I guess it’s something I just have to figure out at this point.

And why would Tate have issues getting excited for her fight with Kedzie, you ask? Well, considering that she was coming off arguably the biggest fight in WMMA history, only to be placed on the undercard for her very next fight could be a factor. It could also be that Tate and Rousey were lobbing incredible amounts of shit back and forth at one another, only to have Rousey do exactly what she said she would come fight night, that has Tate discouraged. Or it could be the simple fact that Kedzie appears to be one of the nicest, kindest figures in the sport, to the point that it would be hard for even a Diaz to hate her.

It’s pure speculation at this point, but at least Tate is willing to admit that her heart is really not in the game, instead of trying to convince herself otherwise and fight on. The latter normally ends in more violent fashion.

We’ve added a brief highlight of the Tate/Kedzie fight below. Let us know what you thought of Tate’s performance in the comments section.

–J. Jones

And the MMA Hero of the Day Is…James McSweeney?!

Despite the way he was portrayed during his run on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, which is to say, typical British asshole, it turns out that James McSweeney is actually a pretty cool dude in reality. But seriously, if you were to categorize McSweeney scientifically based solely on TUF 10, his name would’ve been Bispingus Douchebaggus. However, I first caught a glimpse of how well-spoken and down to earth McSweeney truly is during a recent interview he had with MiddleEasy, which I’ve posted above. In the video, he and Kit Cope break down everything from Jon Jones’ DUI to Nick Diaz’s suspension for weed, and he comes off sounding like a relatively enlightened individual in the process.

The reason I mention this is not only to try and prove that there are British MMA fighters out there who aren’t complete dicks, but to provide a little backstory that will prevent this news from catching you completely off guard. Because in the long list of MMA fighters who moonlight as vigilante, Bronson-esque heroes, McSweeney has just added his name.

Yesterday night, McSweeney was giving his family, who was visiting from England, a friendly tour of Las Vegas. As things are destined to do in Vegas, the night would inevitably end in them witnessing at least one person trying to stab another.

McSweeney recounted the story to MMAWeekly:

My family’s in town right now in Las Vegas, and they wanted to go down to old town Las Vegas last night, down on Fremont street, just check out the big TV screens and stuff down there. So they wanted to get some souvenirs so they went into one of the stores there, and as they walked I saw these two guys that looked like they were drunk, but they wasn’t really, they were just arguing. So the cashier went over to stop them from arguing cause the store was packed full of women and children, people there shopping.

As they started to break it up one of the guys made a dash for the cash, the box behind the counter, and grabbed a handful of cash out and then pulled a knife out on the lady in front of everybody.

I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, so I just went over and grabbed from the side by his shoulder and his lapel and took the knife from him and swept him to the floor and pinned him to the ground until security came and handcuffed him and took him off. No one got hurt, that was the main thing.

McSweeney credits the confidence that comes with knowing you can whoop most anyone’s ass for his act of bravery.

I knew I had the capabilities to stop it, so I tried to stop it. I mean if they pull a knife, you have to assume they have intentions to use it so that was my reaction, I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

We train everyday so we can stop these sort of things and I’m always happy to help if I can.

It just goes to show that even the nicest guy can look like an asshole when he’s edited the right way. And no, I can’t believe I just wrote “nicest guy” and “James McSweeney” in the same sentence.

I didn’t? Whatever, I’m tapped out on this slow ass news day. Here’s a clip of some classic Bronson street justice from Death Wish 3. Good day to yous.

–J. Jones

Unforgettable: Matt Lindland Discusses His Greatest Opponents

By Matt Kaplan

Matt “The Law” Lindland has been clinching, smothering, and dirty boxing his way through the MMA world since the days of wrestling shoes in the Octagon. He’s fought alongside and against some of the very best in the world and was a fixture in the top-ten middleweight rankings for years.

A 2000 Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling silver medalist and Team Quest charter member, Lindland went 9-3 during his UFC middleweight tenure and earned a 2002 title shot against champion Murilo Bustamante. After leaving the UFC (Google his UFC 54 t-shirt controversy), he moved up in weight classes to fight Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Fedor Emelianenko (in Russia), he won his two IFL Super Fights as the coach of the Portland Wolfpack/Team Quest, and he was the hardcore fan’s dream opponent for Anderson Silva.

Although Lindland has been inactive for nearly a year-and-a-half, he has yet to hang up his fingerless gloves. “I’ve never won a world title, so it’s kind of hard to retire,” explained the 42-year-old Lindland, whose focus today is on leading wrestling and MMA seminars, overseeing his SportFight promotion, and coaching his Team Quest MMA fighters.

Inspired by Ring Magazine’s “The Best I’ve Faced” series, here’s the legendary Matt “The Law” Lindland looking back on a long, hard-fought career and remembering those opponents who stand out across the following categories:

Best boxing: Vitor Belfort. With boxing it all starts with your footwork, your movement, and he has explosive hands and hips. And not just the night I fought him. He’s got consistently good boxing.

By Matt Kaplan

Heaviest hands: Robbie Lawler. (laughing) I don’t really remember too much of that fight, but, yeah, he hits very hard, and he’s knocked out lots of really good fighters.

Toughest chin: Tony Fryklund. I hit that guy with some bombs, but he just wouldn’t stop. He was real tough.

Best wrestler: Mike Van Arsdale. Mike was a great wrestler, and I watched him wrestle for a long time. Remember, when he and Randy Couture fought, it was scramble after scramble; that was a great fight.

Most intelligent: In terms of ring strategy, I’m going to go with David Terrell, another southpaw, for the way he came out and approached that match-up. It was a quick fight; he knocked me out early. He came out with a good strategy.

Most powerful: Phil Baroni, for sure…for sure! Now, I did fight Fedor, but that was two weight classes above me, so if we’re talking middleweights, I’d exclude Fedor and say Phil Baroni. Quinton Jackson was also a pretty explosive athlete. I’ve fought some pretty strong guys. I’m more of a leverage fighter: I use my length and my leverage to my advantage, rather than go strength against strength.

Most punishing kicks or knees: I don’t know. The only guy who really kicked me and that I really felt it afterward was Ricardo Almeida, but every time he kicked me, he’d eat a left hand. It wasn’t a really good exchange for him. I had a few bruises on my leg, and he ate a bunch of left hands.

Most dangerous ground game: Jeremy Horn, for sure. He’s tapped out so many dudes. Jeremy Horn was one of the best guys. He’s fought for world titles and was an incredible ground fighter. Very dangerous.

Most surprising: Travis Lutter. When he swept me from the ground, I was completely shocked. I took him down, thought I was going to completely dominate the top position, and he swept me and got on top to a mount position. He definitely surprised me with that.

Most underrated: Joe Doerksen. He’s so tough. He was game and tough. He was trying to submit me and almost caught me in some stuff. I was thinking I’m going to choke him out or knock him out, but he was still there. Joe Doerksen is a really tough dude. Very underrated.

Most complete fighter: I fought a lot of really good fighters and most of them had strengths in more than one area. It would have to be Pat Miletich or Jeremy Horn. They’re good on their feet, good on the ground. It’s a toss-up between them. And they’re both on the same team.

Best overall fighter: Fedor. He was a legend. He was the best heavyweight, pound for pound, for a while, but we saw him age as well. I think Russians get old faster.

Sweetest victory: Probably my win against Pat Miletich. He was a world champion, someone who’d done it all in this sport, and I had an opportunity to fight him in one of my earlier fights. I was very excited about that. I went out there and finished him in the first round.

Most bitter defeat: They’re all bitter, man. They all suck. It’s hard to get old in this sport, and you can’t do it forever. I guess my most bitter defeat would be the split decision loss to Rampage Jackson. I guarantee you the fix was in on that fight. I whooped his ass. I clearly won two rounds…When you compete against world-class athletes, someone’s going to win, someone’s going to lose. I understand. That’s what the sport is, but when the judges just completely rob you in a show that only promotes one athlete, like the way the WFA was only promoting Rampage Jackson, it was very clear that I won that fight and that they robbed me of that fight. I’m not bitter against Rampage; he went out there and fought the best he could. But I still whooped his ass. Do I sound bitter? I’m not really a bitter guy.

[VIDEO] If UFC Fighters Were in The Olympics, They Would Compete In…

Props to the UG for the find and MMAInterviews for this video, which asks several of the fighters from UFC on FOX 4, along with several other MMA stars, what Olympic event they would most likely compete in if they weren’t mixed martial artists. The responses ranged from funny (Joe Lauzon’s desire to try and make people give a shit about speed walking) to optimistic (5′ 8” Jamie Varner’s chances as a high-jumper) to spot-on for their personality (Ryan Bader would “throw rocks” and lift weights, go figure).

And speaking of Olympics, are we the only ones who think water polo is receiving far too much coverage this year? We’re sorry, but whatever asshole took a look at soccer and thought “You know what we should do with this sport? Slow it way, way down, limit the players mobility, and blow a whistle every three seconds” should be shot in the face, then dragged to a nearby park to make it look like a suicide. And yes, we know that person is probably dead already. Just go with it.

Anyway, it is with this inspiring little interview that we ask you taters to fill the blanks in for the following sentence:

If ______ were an Olympian instead of an MMA fighter, he/she would ______.

–J. Jones

Anyway, it is with this inspiring little interview that we ask you taters to fill the blanks in for the following sentence:

If ______ were an Olympian instead of an MMA fighter, he/she would ______.

–J. Jones

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic Still Wants to Fight MMA

(To prove he still has “it,” Cro Cop conducted the entire interview from this position)

Fighters have to fight, we suppose. Ultimately, that’s the reasoning kickboxing and MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic gave when he recently told USA Today that he wants to return to MMA despite retiring from the UFC after his most recent loss to Roy Nelson at UFC 137 in 2011.

“If you ask me, when I look deep into my soul, of course I would like to fight MMA again,” Filipovic revealed. “People don’t get it. Martial arts is my life.”

Cro Cop has lost his last three MMA bouts, all in the UFC, by either KO or TKO, and was 4-6 in his ten total UFC bouts. Cro Cop also fought two dozen times in the now defunct Pride promotion out of Japan, where he took part in one or two fights that you may remember. Filipovic is still fighting for the kickboxing organization where he first made his name, K-1, and most recently picked up a second round knockout victory over Loren Javier Jorge at K-1 Rising, which we’ve added after the jump for your enjoyment.

(To prove he still has “it,” Cro Cop conducted the entire interview from this position)

“If you ask me, when I look deep into my soul, of course I would like to fight MMA again,” Filipovic revealed. “People don’t get it. Martial arts is my life.”

Although he’s won two straight kickboxing fights since leaving the UFC and is scheduled to fight for K-1 in October, the Croatian fighter says that he still spends a lot of time grappling despite concentrating on kickboxing.

“K-1 was my first love, but even as recently as this week I was sparring kickboxing, and it was so difficult not to throw them on the ground and look to ground and pound,” he told USA Today. “Even while I’m preparing for the K-1 grand prix, I’m training on the ground with grappling several times each week.”

Filipovic says that though he’s done with the UFC, he would like to fight in other MMA promotions, just to get some action. What do you say, nation? We all love Cro Cop, but do you all still want to see him fight on in MMA at age 37, despite his struggles to get wins over the last five years or so?

Cro Cop’s motivation is clear, at least, and he doesn’t mind going out on his shield. “My motivation now is to prove to everyone that I’m still capable of being in the cage. I’m not old. I’m 37, but I can do things that fighters 10 years younger cannot,” he said.

“I will prove that, or I will die trying.”

– Elias Cepeda