Tag: UFC 151

Jon Jones Fallout: 8 Fighters Who Took Fights on Very Short Notice and Lost

In the aftermath of UFC 151’s cancellation, there is a lot of debate regarding the decision of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to refuse a bout with Chael Sonnen. Ultimately, the refusal was a death sentence for the PPV, and UFC 151 now holds …

In the aftermath of UFC 151‘s cancellation, there is a lot of debate regarding the decision of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to refuse a bout with Chael Sonnen. Ultimately, the refusal was a death sentence for the PPV, and UFC 151 now holds the distinction of being the only canceled event in UFC history.

Why didn’t Jones take the fight? It appears that his camp believed that Sonnen had been training in secret for this fight, considering that injured challenger Dan Henderson is a friend and teammate.

With only eight days notice, Jones did not want to risk putting together a new game plan against an opponent who could have potentially been training for an extra week. Never mind the fact that Jones has been preparing for this fight since April and was light-years ahead of his opponent in terms of preparedness.

By now, many of you have read my article entitled 8 Fighters That Took Fights on Very Short Notice and Won. A big believer in balance, I think it’s only fair that I present to you the other side of this coin.

Here is a look at 8 fighters who took fights on very short notice and lost.

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Even While Apologizing for UFC 151 Fiasco, Jon Jones Can’t Help Comparing Himself to Jesus


(“My advice would be to find a nice cave somewhere and go into hiding for three days. When you come out, they’ll worship you.”)

According to our latest homepage poll, a full 49% of you believe that Jon Jones deserves most of the blame for UFC 151’s abrupt cancellation, compared to just 27% for UFC president Dana White, the guy who actually canceled the event. Public opinion of Jones has gone from bad to irredeemably awful in the last week, and the apology he posted on twitter this weekend probably won’t help much:

“Carrying the cross for my company’s decision. If someone has to take the blame, I will accept full responsibility for the way UFC 151 was canceled. I want to sincerely apologize to all the other athletes/fans who’s time and money was waisted. [sic] I feel terrible about the way that was handled.”

Okay, so we’re just assuming that Jones is comparing himself to Jesus in that first sentence; he could also be comparing himself to Kimo Leopoldo. But considering that there’s already a conception of Jones as a person whose holier-than-thou attitude doesn’t match his behavior, all Jesus-based self-references should probably be avoided for the time being. It’s the kind of thing a publicist would tell Jones, if he still had one.


(“My advice would be to find a nice cave somewhere and go into hiding for three days. When you come out, they’ll worship you.”)

According to our latest homepage poll, a full 49% of you believe that Jon Jones deserves most of the blame for UFC 151′s abrupt cancellation, compared to just 27% for UFC president Dana White, the guy who actually canceled the event. Public opinion of Jones has gone from bad to irredeemably awful in the last week, and the apology he posted on twitter this weekend probably won’t help much:

“Carrying the cross for my company’s decision. If someone has to take the blame, I will accept full responsibility for the way UFC 151 was canceled. I want to sincerely apologize to all the other athletes/fans who’s time and money was waisted. [sic] I feel terrible about the way that was handled.”

Okay, so we’re just assuming that Jones is comparing himself to Jesus in that first sentence; he could also be comparing himself to Kimo Leopoldo. But considering that there’s already a conception of Jones as a person whose holier-than-thou attitude doesn’t match his behavior, all Jesus-based self-references should probably be avoided for the time being. It’s the kind of thing a publicist would tell Jones, if he still had one.

As for the apology itself, Jones says he takes the blame for “the way UFC 151 was canceled,” and “the way that was handled,” but not, of course, for what he actually did, which was turn down a fight on short-notice. It’s a subtle shift of blame back to who Jones really thinks should be blamed — the UFC and Dana White.

To me, the most interesting part of this saga will come later, when we see just how profoundly Jones’s relationship with the UFC will change. Jones has always promoted himself as a humble company man, but now that he’s experienced the full wrath of the UFC — and how quickly Dana can switch from your benefactor to your worst enemy as soon as you make a decision that doesn’t follow his script — loyalty to his bosses probably won’t be high on the light-heavyweight champion’s priority list.

Chael Sonnen Debuts “The Jon Jones Special Pizza” at Mean Street Pizza


“This new driver we hired came THIS close to hitting a pole on his first delivery. Where’d we find this guy, anyways?”

Looks like Chael Sonnen isn’t done with Jon Jones just yet.

Still upset over Jones’ decision to turn down a fight against him in order to save UFC 151, Chael Sonnen decided that he’d at least make some money off of the situation. See, because unlike Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen is a businessman. His pizza parlor, Mean Street Pizza, now offers “The Jon Jones Special Pizza,” presumably for a limited time only. It isn’t exactly subtle, but it may be the best case of death by chicken since Henri M’Bongo.

Behold:


“This new driver we hired came THIS close to hitting a pole on his first delivery. Where’d we find this guy, anyways?”

Looks like Chael Sonnen isn’t done with Jon Jones just yet.

Still upset over Jones’ decision to turn down a fight against him in order to save UFC 151, Chael Sonnen decided that he’d at least make some money off of the situation. See, because unlike Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen is a businessman. His pizza parlor, Mean Street Pizza, now offers ”The Jon Jones Special Pizza,” for a limited time only. It isn’t exactly subtle, but it may be the best case of death by chicken since Henri M’Bongo.

Behold:

It’s no coincidence that chicken is the only topping that Chael Sonnen reserves for The Jon Jones Special Pizza, but the Bones-Bashing doesn’t end there. In case you didn’t notice how it’s just loaded with chicken, Mean Street Pizza offers a six-pack of beer (may we assume it’s Bud Light?) with your pizza. If you somehow don’t get where he’s going with the free six-pack, Chael Sonnen encourages delivery so you can avoid a DUI.

Oh, and if anyone wants to order one and tell us how it tastes, you better hurry up: The chicken may run out (before September 1, we assume) and then Mean Street Pizza will have to cancel the special.

Subtle? No. Effective? Extremely.

Your move, Nike.

@SethFalvo

UFC 151 Fallout: Dan Henderson and Weak Card to Blame, Not Jon Jones

The MMA world needed someone to blame for the UFC 151 fallout, and Jon Jones became the perfect scapegoat in a situation he was not responsible for.A few days ago, people questioned whether or not Jones would one day be considered the most hated man in…

The MMA world needed someone to blame for the UFC 151 fallout, and Jon Jones became the perfect scapegoat in a situation he was not responsible for.

A few days ago, people questioned whether or not Jones would one day be considered the most hated man in MMA history. The questions have ceased, and reality is starting to sink in: Jones is the most hated man in MMA history.

It wasn’t the DUI or “fake personality” that did him in. It was simply his refusal to put on a cape and save a drowning UFC pay-per-view card from its utter demise.

Jones was slated to fight MMA legend Dan Henderson in the main event of UFC 151, but it was announced nine days out from the event that Henderson was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a partially torn MCL suffered in training.

UFC President Dana White said in a media conference call that Chael Sonnen had agreed to step in as a late replacement, but Jones turned down the fight. White, who was reportedly disgusted by Jones’ decision, cancelled the entire fight card, which marked the first event cancelled in UFC history.

“This is one of the selfish disgusting decisions. It doesn’t just affect Jon Jones. I don’t think this is going to be a decision that makes people like Jon Jones,” said White, according to live updates from Bleacher Report’s Matthew Roth.

White continues:

Being a fight promoter, you can’t make someone fight. I can’t say “you have to fight this Saturday.” You’re either a fighter or you’re not. This is what we all do for a living. I have a building where 250 people have been busting their ass to promote this card. Good for you Jon Jones that you don’t need this fight. There’s a bunch of guys on the undercard who need this fight to feed their families. I can’t make him take the fight but he should.

Does the cancellation of an entire event truly fall on Jones’ shoulders? It’s easy to point fingers, but in all honesty, this entire situation is just unfortunate.

One interesting piece is Henderson’s ability to appear blameless when his last-minute injury was the incident that initiated the domino effect.

The details surrounding Henderson’s injury are a bit murky, but it’s hard not to ponder how a fighter gets injured a little over a week out from a bout. In the last week or so leading up to a fight, most fighters are taking it easy in camp and using the extra time to refine technique. And at 41 years of age, the idea of toning it down towards the end makes even more sense for Henderson.

With that said, it’s universally known that injuries occur often in MMA. The grueling training regimens and endless hours spent in the gym make them inevitable. Fighters are going to get hurt. It’s the promotion’s responsibility to be prepared to deal with the inevitable and move on.

Unfortunately, it seems like the UFC has stretched itself a bit thin lately. In past events, the co-main event was just as good, if not better than the main event. The UFC has seemingly moved in the direction of pumping out mediocre pay-per-view cards with a huge cherry for a main event on top.

With Jake Ellenberger and Jay Hieron scheduled for the co-main event for UFC 151, the promotion found itself backed into a corner. People weren’t going to shell out 50 bucks for Ellenberger vs. Hieron.

Some consideration has to go into the fact that Ellenberger was originally slated to face Josh Koscheck, but an injury changed the landscape of the co-main event.

Still, previous fight cards show similar issues. Recent co-main event pay-per-view bouts have featured the likes of Donald Cerrone vs. Melvin Guillard, Cezar Ferreira vs. Sergio Moraes and Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard.

The lack of overwhelming star power on pay-per-view cards makes it incredibly hard for the UFC to recover when fighters pull out with injuries.

Why not make one pay-per-view card a month and load it up with the best available talent? The amount of free cards could be slightly increased to feature more of the up-and-coming fighters.

With free cards in mind, was there no way possible to bump Ellenberger vs. Hieron to main-event status and feature the fight card on Fuel TV? Did UFC 151 have to be a pay-per-view event? This would’ve ensured the other fighters on the card got to compete and receive their well-deserved paydays.

As for Jones, he has every right to turn down a fight against an opponent he wasn’t prepared for. Sonnen isn’t a chump by any means, and most consider him the No. 2 middleweight in the world.

People love to talk up Sonnen and Henderson as having the exact same fighting styles, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Henderson is a much more volatile striker and clinch fighter. His wrestling is still world class, but at this point in his career, it could be argued that Sonnen is a better wrestler. People tend to forget the wrestling clinic Jake Shields put on Henderson a little over two years ago.

In MMA, you’re only as good as your last fight. Sponsorships represent a huge chunk of a fighter’s payday. Blue-collar sponsors like Nike only work with the best in a given sport. To stay on top, Jones has to keep winning.

It’s a major risk to take a fight on nine days notice against elite-level opposition. Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua wouldn’t even step up to fight Jones at UFC 152, despite being a few weeks out from the event.

As the old adage goes, “Haters are going to hate.”

Jones isn’t to blame for the UFC 151 fallout.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 151 Fallout: Catching Up on Where the Fights Will Now Take Place

In the fallout that was UFC 151’s cancellation, fights have been frantically rescheduled to take place on upcoming cards. Everything from the main event to the Facebook prelims have been looking for new homes since Dana White called off the card.So far…

In the fallout that was UFC 151’s cancellation, fights have been frantically rescheduled to take place on upcoming cards. Everything from the main event to the Facebook prelims have been looking for new homes since Dana White called off the card.

So far, eight of the 11 fights that were at UFC 151 have found another home. For the other three fights, the UFC continues to work to get those men in the Octagon sooner than later.

Here is a quick recap of where the fights will now take place.

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UFC 151: Recapping and Analyzing the Train Wreck of a Lost Fight Card

The past few days have been some of the strangest in all of mixed martial arts history. On Wednesday, UFC fans were looking forward to UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson.Today, UFC 151 has just become the most infamous event in the Zuffa era of the UFC. It i…

The past few days have been some of the strangest in all of mixed martial arts history. On Wednesday, UFC fans were looking forward to UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson.

Today, UFC 151 has just become the most infamous event in the Zuffa era of the UFC. It is the first and only card that was cancelled by the UFC.

The media whirlwind. The uproar, fury, the backlash among UFC fans and fighters alike. Blame, hate and anger flying every which way. It all comes as no surprise. Still, it has been an amazing thing to behold.

Who’s to blame for everything?

How badly has the UFC brand been damaged? 

What could have been done differently? 

Who emerged from the chaos in a better light than before?

There’s plenty of blame to go around, of course. Let’s take a deep breath, step back and take a look at what happened.

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