Tag: UFC 151

On This Day in MMA History: A Main Event Falls Apart, And the UFC Does the Unthinkable


(Don’t cry, son. This little guy is in MMA poster heaven now, just as happy as can be.)

“On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous news stories of MMA’s past. The following article was originally published on August 23rd, 2012, one year ago today. We’ve placed some related links at the end of this post, to give you a sense of the wide-ranging aftermath of this “sport-killing” moment.

BREAKING: UFC 151 *Canceled* After Dan Henderson Pulls Out With Knee Injury; Jones Turns Down Sonnen, Dana White Incredibly Pissed Off

The rumors were true — and even worse than we thought. Due to a knee injury suffered in training, Dan Henderson has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled light-heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones at UFC 151, and because the UFC couldn’t find a suitable main event replacement, the UFC is canceling an event for the first time in the Zuffa era. Dana White confirmed the news in a press conference held earlier today — describing the cancellation as “probably one of my all-time lows as being president of the UFC” — and he made no attempt to hide his heated emotions during the call. Here are the brass tacks…

– Henderson suffered a partial tear in his MCL during training, which was serious enough to keep him from competing.

– According to Dana White, Chael Sonnen immediately jumped up to take the fight (“I’ll fly to Vegas tonight and fight him,” White quoted Sonnen as saying), and the UFC immediately began preparing behind-the-scenes to promote Jones vs. Sonnen on eight days’ notice. But Jon Jones turned down the matchup, refusing to fight Sonnen on short notice.

– White is extremely upset that Jones, a UFC champion and pound-for-pound candidate, would turn down a fight that would save an event. Even Tito Ortiz never pulled this shit, he pointed out. White lambasted the idea that Jones would turn this fight down for business reasons. “If he was a businessman, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” he said. White agreed that his relationship with Jones would change “a lot” after this: “Me and Lorenzo are both disgusted.” Later in the call, White pointed out how Jones turning down the fight now screws all the supporting-card fighters out of paychecks.


(Don’t cry, son. This little guy is in MMA poster heaven now, just as happy as can be.)

“On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous news stories of MMA’s past. The following article was originally published on August 23rd, 2012, one year ago today. We’ve placed some related links at the end of this post, to give you a sense of the wide-ranging aftermath of this “sport-killing” moment.

BREAKING: UFC 151 *Canceled* After Dan Henderson Pulls Out With Knee Injury; Jones Turns Down Sonnen, Dana White Incredibly Pissed Off

The rumors were true — and even worse than we thought. Due to a knee injury suffered in training, Dan Henderson has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled light-heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones at UFC 151, and because the UFC couldn’t find a suitable main event replacement, the UFC is canceling an event for the first time in the Zuffa era. Dana White confirmed the news in a press conference held earlier today — describing the cancellation as “probably one of my all-time lows as being president of the UFC” — and he made no attempt to hide his heated emotions during the call. Here are the brass tacks…

– Henderson suffered a partial tear in his MCL during training, which was serious enough to keep him from competing.

– According to Dana White, Chael Sonnen immediately jumped up to take the fight (“I’ll fly to Vegas tonight and fight him,” White quoted Sonnen as saying), and the UFC immediately began preparing behind-the-scenes to promote Jones vs. Sonnen on eight days’ notice. But Jon Jones turned down the matchup, refusing to fight Sonnen on short notice.

– White is extremely upset that Jones, a UFC champion and pound-for-pound candidate, would turn down a fight that would save an event. Even Tito Ortiz never pulled this shit, he pointed out. White lambasted the idea that Jones would turn this fight down for business reasons. “If he was a businessman, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” he said. White agreed that his relationship with Jones would change “a lot” after this: “Me and Lorenzo are both disgusted.” Later in the call, White pointed out how Jones turning down the fight now screws all the supporting-card fighters out of paychecks.

– White saved additional venom for trainer Greg Jackson, who reportedly told Jones, “There’s no way you take this fight on eight days notice, it would be the biggest mistake of your entire career.” Said White: “How much faith do you have in your champion and your guy? [Jackson] is a fucking sport killer. This guy’s from another planet….Greg Jackson should never be interviewed by anybody ever again, except by a psychiatrist.”

– Though Lyoto Machida was considered for a replacement opponent for Jones, Machida was flying back to Brazil when all this went down, and it simply wasn’t possible from a timing perspective. “I can accept why Machida didn’t take the fight,” White said.

– Now, Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida is scheduled for UFC 152 (September 22nd, Toronto). Or actually, UFC 151, since UFC 151 never happened. (Thanks to Ariel Helwani for that important clarification.) “I can tell you right now, [Jones] ain’t turning down the Machida fight. If he does, we’re gonna have another conference call this afternoon.” [*cue spooky music*] Update: Actually, Machida turned down the Jones fight. How delightfully ironic! Now, Jones will face Vitor Belfort, of all people, at UFC 152, which is still being called UFC 152.

– There wasn’t enough time to consider other options like putting the PPV on free TV. Dana White disagreed with the suggestion that the event would still go on if it had a stronger co-main event.

– Our suggestion of having Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg step in to headline the card with a 140-pound superfight was politely ignored.

Jesus, what a fiasco. We’ll update you when we get Jones’s reaction to this mess.

Related links:
– UFC 151 Aftermath (?): Jones Opens As -475 Favorite Over Machida While His Peers Tear Him a New One
– Lyoto Machida Turns Down Jon Jones Fight at UFC 152, Vitor Belfort Steps in After Shogun Declines as Well [JONESANITY]
– The Champ Speaks: Jon Jones Apologizes for UFC 151 Cancellation, Says Fighting Sonnen Would’ve Been “The Dumbest Idea Ever”
– Turns Out, Dan Henderson Injured His Knee Over a Fortnight Ago
– Chael Sonnen Debuts “The Jon Jones Special Pizza” at Mean Street Pizza
– Even While Apologizing for UFC 151 Fiasco, Jon Jones Can’t Help Comparing Himself to Jesus
– Jon Jones Publicity Nightmare of the Day: In Which Bones Asks Dana to Make Chael Stop Mocking Him
– UFC 151: Henderson vs. Jones — Live Results & Commentary. Wait, What?!

Quote of the Day: Cowboy Cerrone Puts Boot in Jon Jones’s Ass for Turning Down Sonnen Fight at UFC 151


(The best part about wearing a cowboy hat to a press conference? You can be dead asleep, and people will just think you’re carefully considering your answer. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

Donald Cerrone is the type of guy who will go for the kill at every moment of a fight, then blow his resulting bonus-check on a pontoon boat cooze-cruise. He’s not the kind of guy who will hold his tongue when he sees some bullshit go down, even when that bullshit is related to one of his Greg Jackson teammates.

During a recent fan Q&A session, Cowboy was asked about Jon Jones‘s refusal to fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 151 — which led to the unprecedented cancellation of that event — and what he would do if he were put in the same position. Cerrone racked his verbal shotgun and said the following:

“Yes, I’d have fought. They could call me tomorrow and ask me to fight. I think you need to fight. That’s our job. I don’t think you should curl up and find a way out. So yes, that’s my answer…He’s my teammate, and we have this discussion all the time. I said, ‘You should’ve done it.’ And he goes, ‘Well, you don’t make a million (dollars) to fight.’ And I said, ‘Well, you’re right, but I f—ing fight every time with all my heart.’“


(The best part about wearing a cowboy hat to a press conference? You can be dead asleep, and people will just think you’re carefully considering your answer. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

Donald Cerrone is the type of guy who will go for the kill at every moment of a fight, then blow his resulting bonus-check on a pontoon boat cooze-cruise. He’s not the kind of guy who will hold his tongue when he sees some bullshit go down, even when that bullshit is related to one of his Greg Jackson teammates.

During a recent fan Q&A session, Cowboy was asked about Jon Jones‘s refusal to fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 151 — which led to the unprecedented cancellation of that event — and what he would do if he were put in the same position. Cerrone racked his verbal shotgun and said the following:

“Yes, I’d have fought. They could call me tomorrow and ask me to fight. I think you need to fight. That’s our job. I don’t think you should curl up and find a way out. So yes, that’s my answer…He’s my teammate, and we have this discussion all the time. I said, ‘You should’ve done it.’ And he goes, ‘Well, you don’t make a million (dollars) to fight.’ And I said, ‘Well, you’re right, but I f—ing fight every time with all my heart.’”

To beat an already-dead catchphrase, this business about Jones rubbing his paycheck in Cowboy’s face isn’t going to help him “get some fans.” Meanwhile, Cerrone comes off looking like the proverbial People’s Champion, who’s only a phone call away from being in the cage at any moment, fighting his balls off for your entertainment.

And while I believe Cerrone and respect his gamebred attitude — Donald would probably go up two weight classes and fight Chael Sonnen himself, if the UFC wanted it — I don’t think every fighter needs to view their job the same way Donald Cerrone does. There are MMA fighters like him and, say, the Diaz brothers, who seem to truly enjoy fighting, and are in the sport for the love of the scrap. Then there are guys like Jones and Georges St. Pierre, who approach MMA as a competition, and seem to be much more interested in achievement, greatness, and self-improvement. The pure joy of punching another human being in the face doesn’t rank high on their list of motivations.

And that’s fine; it helps to explain why Jones might turn down a short-notice fight against an unexpected opponent. But good luck convincing the fans of that. Plus, when your own teammates start to publicly accuse you of curling up and looking for a way out, it’s safe to say that you have an image problem.

UFC: The Issues of Fairness in Its Foundation

Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing sport in the world, and one that has been venturing more and more into the mainstream with each passing year. Through the years, promotions have come and gone, evolved and changed, merged and been bought out, b…

Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing sport in the world, and one that has been venturing more and more into the mainstream with each passing year. Through the years, promotions have come and gone, evolved and changed, merged and been bought out, but the one that has established itself as the pound-for-pound king is the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The UFC has taken the sport of MMA to new heights, and stands as the correlated product that goes along with MMA in the mainstream light. But being the premier organization and the most successful, the observation under the microscope augments. Just as with fighters who become champions, they become more scrutinized and their actions analyzed and followed more closely. The UFC being the juggernaut it has become; it is the promotion that is in the forefront of attention.

So far, Dana White, the Fertitta brothers, and other UFC brass have done a fantastic job of taking an almost-bankrupt entertainment idea and turning it into a huge financial sport phenomena. However, with anything in developing stages, mistakes are made along the way.

The UFC has had its share of bad ideas and bad publicity, but they manage to come out generally unscathed. However, there is a consistent issue that is in the underlying infrastructure of how the organization is set up.

That issue is title shots and rankings.

The UFC has prided itself on giving back to the fans, and giving the fans what they want. For the most part, this sentiment is fulfilled. However, it is when it conflicts with the competition aspect of a sport that a problem emerges.

There are all types of fans, each with their own desires of fights that should be made. It is ultimately up to White, the Fertittas, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, and others to make the calls as to who fights whom next.

The fans have their opinions recognized by the brass in many different avenues of media, but at the end of the day, the UFC is a business.

The bottom line matters to the matchmakers, but sometimes that business approach bleeds into the competitive portion of MMA. Throughout the years, the UFC has put on some fantastic cards, and some not as strong. Title shots have come and gone, but the way someone has earned the title shot has been especially controversial this past year.

The UFC has no official rankings list, and a plethora of media sites have varying ones for the different weight classes. This leaves fans to guess based off of history, or from the occasional verbal indication from people like Dana White.

But it has grown more and more apparent that there is something very inconsistent with the rankings in the UFC.

Before, it was brushed off when two fighters were matched up and it didn’t make the most sense on paper, but it has been more recent and more often that these situations are occurring with title shots. The grand mystery of the UFC is what makes you deserving of a title shot. Or what must you do in order to get a title shot?

In most other sports, it is clear that you have to beat the opposition to the point where there are only two teams/individuals left standing, and winner takes all. This is the underlying structure of tournaments, and something the UFC abandoned years ago in its infantile stages.

Bellator, arguably the world’s second largest MMA promotion, is setup in tournament fashion, and touts itself as the place where title shots are earned and not given. Because the UFC does not conduct its competitions in this style, there is a missing sense of fairness that slips out from time to time.

As fans, we can be distracted by exciting matchups, or justifying commercials and press conferences that make us feel better about the matchup, but sometimes it is beyond justification. The most recent example is Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones facing off as TUF coaches, ultimately leading to a title shot for Sonnen.

The issue is that Dan Henderson was the next in line, but was sidelined due to injury. Now that Jones has vanquished Vitor Belfort (another confusing matchup), Hendo is skipped again and the shot has been given to Sonnen; a man who has been fighting a weight class down and is coming off of a TKO loss. 

While the idea of Jones and Sonnen going at it is exciting, and the potential of the TUF season trash talk is astronomical, the matchup is extremely hard to justify.

Jones vs. Sonnen was a possible replacement for the UFC 151 card that was cancelled, but Jones opted out, leaving fans upset that he didn’t take the fight. However, that was a different situation because Hendo has just been injured. Now with Jones taking time to heal using the TUF season, Hendo would be ready to go.

Hendo isn’t the only one who is statistically more deserving as well, and there are a handful of fighters that find this decision unfair too.

This situation drew a bold line when it comes to hurting the UFC’s image. This was clearly a decision made without rankings involved, and, if anything, a business ploy to put on a great TUF season and give fans an exciting fight. While the matchup is intriguing and the hyping of it will be amazing, even huge Sonnen fans are probably scratching their heads and thinking this is wrong.

The UFC is supposed to be the premier promotion for competition in MMA, but with such inconsistency in what an athlete has to do to get to the top, it is pulling the UFC into the entertainment arena and out of the sport arena.

The dust will settle, Jones and Sonnen will fight, and this will be idle until the next undeserving moment. But as the pioneer and ambassador for the sport of MMA to the world, the structure must continue to become more refined and consistent if it hopes to become as big as other established sports one day. 

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Dana White Strikes Deal With Jon Jones: No More Talking S#%t About Greg Jackson


(White pictured with his crossed fingers out of the frame)

UFC President Dana White does not like MMA trainer Greg Jackson. At all.

He’s also been vocal and degrading in expressing his distaste for the New Mexico coach over the years. From blaming Jackson for fighters’ performances that were less than titillating to White to, more recently, calling Jackson a “sport killer” after his charge Jon Jones turned down a last minute replacement fight with Chael Sonnen at UFC 151, Uncle Dana routinely blasts Jackson.

Those days are over, though, according to White. After yesterday’s UFC on FX event White told assembled media that during a meeting with Jones prior to his title defense before UFC 152, President and Champion struck a deal wherein White would stop insulting Jackson and his camp.

“I sat down with Jon Jones and we talked, I made a deal with Jon,” White said. “I’m not going to say anything about Greg Jackson [anymore].”


(White pictured with his crossed fingers out of the frame)

UFC President Dana White does not like MMA trainer Greg Jackson. At all.

He’s also been vocal and degrading in expressing his distaste for the New Mexico coach over the years. From blaming Jackson for fighters’ performances that were less than titillating to White to, more recently, calling Jackson a “sport killer” after his charge Jon Jones turned down a last minute replacement fight with Chael Sonnen at UFC 151, Uncle Dana routinely blasts Jackson.

Those days are over, though, according to White. After yesterday’s UFC on FX event White told assembled media that during a meeting with Jones prior to his title defense before UFC 152, President and Champion struck a deal wherein White would stop insulting Jackson and his camp.

“I sat down with Jon Jones and we talked, I made a deal with Jon,” White said. “I’m not going to say anything about Greg Jackson [anymore].”

“I think you guys know my opinion and how I feel. It hasn’t changed. I’m just not going to talk about Greg Jackson. It’s good news. I will keep my big mouth shut about Greg Jackson. That’s part of my deal with Jones,” he continued.

It took White a few seconds to break his deal with Jones, however. Jones admitted after his UFC 152 win over Vitor Belfort, a dominating win with the exception of when Belfort injured Jones with a tight arm bar in the opening seconds of the bout, that he had not been training Jiu Jitsu every day in training camp.

As much credit as Jones deserves for that honesty in admitting that he needed to train better and smarter in order to improve as a fighter, it was astounding to learn that his coach Jackson would create a camp for Jones that didn’t include at least once daily work in the base style of mixed martial arts, especially as he prepared to fight a BJJ black belt.

“I do think Jon Jones’ arm would be feeling a lot better right now if he didn’t listen to Greg Jackson and that’s all I’m going to say,” White said.

So, no more trash talking Jackson from Dana, starting…now?

– Elias Cepeda

 

 

UFC 2012 Injury Crisis: How to Prevent Big Fights from Falling Through

2012 has simply been a bad year for the UFC.The number of marquee fighters who’ve had to pull out of fights lately has been absurd. Every day, it seems like a new fight that fans were clamoring for has fallen through. Usually it’s replaced by something…

2012 has simply been a bad year for the UFC.

The number of marquee fighters who’ve had to pull out of fights lately has been absurd. Every day, it seems like a new fight that fans were clamoring for has fallen through. Usually it’s replaced by something that isn’t even half as interesting, or it’s just shelved until the fighter in question recovers.

It’s part of the sport that can’t be avoided. Every time it happens, Joe Silva has to scramble to find a fighter who is ready to step in on short notice. It seems like that’s never easy.

There is a potential solution, however.

In tournaments, there’s always reserve bouts, fights set aside in case any one of the fighters participating is incapable of going forward with the next fight.

The UFC should adopt the reserve fight.

It’s a simple idea that could make finding replacements that much easier. Simply schedule a reserve fight with the condition that one of the fighters can be pulled at any time to step in for an injured fighter.

Let’s take the recent UFC 151 debacle. Jon Jones fighting Dan Henderson would be the main event, obviously, but further down the card, perhaps the co-main event, would be another light heavyweight matchup. For the sake of the argument, let’s say that Chael Sonnen and Forrest Griffin were fighting at UFC 151 instead of in December.

When Dan Henderson was injured, Chael Sonnen, who was already training and in shape, could be pulled from his old fight and inserted to fight Jones.

Setting up the reserve fight would be easy as well. High-profile fights come with the following stipulation: “In case your opponent is injured, you will be fighting Fighter X.” The reserve bout would have the same condition, only stating that the fighter in question could be called up at any time.

And having a potential opponent as a reserve is helpful for everyone involved. Since they’d know who the replacement opponent would be in case of injury, they could set aside time to game-plan and train for them. Thus, we wouldn’t have the “well, he did poorly cause he didn’t plan for this guy” excuse. 

Is this system without flaw? Certainly not, but what alternative is there? Just waiting for the main event to fall through and find someone, anyone, who is willing to fight and put them opposite the champ?

This is a contingency plan, and it’s possibly the best way to make good of a commonly-occurring bad situation.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White Says Jon Jones Lied Regarding UFC 151 Cancellation

UFC president Dana White blasted UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, disputing a claim the title-holder recently made regarding UFC 151 when he told MMA Fighting:I’m actually glad that he did say that. I don’t think he would have said that if I w…

UFC president Dana White blasted UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, disputing a claim the title-holder recently made regarding UFC 151 when he told MMA Fighting:

I’m actually glad that he did say that. I don’t think he would have said that if I was there. So today we’re going to be face-to-face and we’ll see what he says and he doesn’t say. The fact that he said he didn’t know the show would be canceled is false. I did tell him the show would be canceled.

On Thursday, “Bones” said that White never indicated that rejecting a fight with Chael Sonnen would lead to the downfall of UFC 151. 

The UFC’s matchmaking problems weren’t over after that, as Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua declined rematches with Jones on short notice. 

Eventually, another former light heavyweight champion stepped up to the plate, but it was no one that anyone expected: Vitor Belfort. 

“The Phenom” has not competed at 205 pounds since 2007, but was recruited as a last-ditch effort to get Jones to defend his belt in September. Jones defends his belt at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto Saturday evening.

White criticized Jones for, in his opinion, not taking the company’s recent struggles seriously. 

I think he takes this thing, or is acting like he’s taking it, lightly, which he shouldn’t be. The fact that the fight was canceled isn’t a joke. It’s not funny and a lot of people were affected by it. There was a lot of collateral damage that happened with the cancelling of the show. We’ll see how this goes.

Jones and White were scheduled to have a one-on-one meeting Friday, but no details of that scheduled conversation have been revealed yet. 

Will a dominant win over Belfort allow the youngest champion in UFC history to put the UFC 151 saga behind him or will this fiasco haunt Jones for the rest of his career?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com