But putting aside the fact that Jon Jones is bigger, younger, and actually manages to show up for the majority ofhis fights uninjured, the UFC has steamrolled ahead with their promos for UFC 152, trying to convince us that this fight will be closely contested in any way, shape, or form (I really hope I eat crow for this statement), because what other options do they have at this point? Check out the first official promo for UFC 152 after the jump, and let us know if you have taken the bait.
(The hardest thing to believe about this poster is that the photos of Johnson and Benavidez have not been scaled down whatsoever. True story though.)
But putting aside the fact that Jon Jones is bigger, younger, and actually manages to show up for the majority ofhis fights uninjured, the UFC has steamrolled ahead with their promos for UFC 152, trying to convince us that this fight will be closely contested in any way, shape, or form (I really hope I eat crow for this statement), because what other options do they have at this point? Check out the first official promo for UFC 152 after the jump, and let us know if you have taken the bait.
Vitor Belfort has had a solid career, but the former light heavyweight champion would undoubtedly love to wear UFC gold around his waist one more time before he calls it quits. At UFC 152, he’ll have an unexpected chance to do that against current ligh…
Vitor Belfort has had a solid career, but the former light heavyweight champion would undoubtedly love to wear UFC gold around his waist one more time before he calls it quits. At UFC 152, he’ll have an unexpected chance to do that against current light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones.
Though his past three fights have been contested in the middleweight division, Belfort was offered a late-notice title shot against Jones after it was turned down by top contenders Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. Machida and Rua received their offers after Jones shook off a proposed title fight against Chael Sonnen, who would have stepped in as a late replacement for Dan Henderson at the since-cancelled UFC 151.
Needless to say, this fight against Jones provides a huge opportunity for Belfort, who was still a win or two away from another title shot in the middleweight division. An upset win over Jones would easily leap these 10 moments as the defining accomplishment in Belfort’s career.
On August 9, 2008, a young 21-year-old named Jon Jones made his UFC debut after just two weeks notice. Fighting on short notice was nothing new for Jones, as he fought three times in April that year. Jones was a perfect 6-0 before his first U…
On August 9, 2008, a young 21-year-old named Jon Jones made his UFC debut after just two weeks notice.
Fighting on short notice was nothing new for Jones, as he fought three times in April that year.
Jones was a perfect 6-0 before his first UFC fight and had never went the distance.
The same year he made his UFC debut was also the year he became an MMA pro.
Fast forward to 2012 and Jones is sitting at the top of the MMA world.
The current UFC light heavyweight champion is arguably the second best fighter in the world despite only being in the sport for four years.
And despite recent controversies such as a DUI and not accepting a fight against ChaelSonnen to save UFC 151, it is hard to argue that Jones is still not the poster boy for the UFC.
But focusing on his in-ring ability alone, Jones has already had one of the best careers in MMA history.
After beating veterans like Brandon Vera, Stephan Bonnar and Vladimir Matyushenko, Jones faced off against another rising star with a similar record in Ryan Bader.
Jones dominated Bader, defeating him by submission at UFC 126.
Just one short month later, Jones would step in for then-friend, Rashad Evans, and take on Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the UFC title.
Jones defeated Rua by TKO and would go on to defend the title against two other former champions in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and LyotoMachida.
It’s not uncommon for young fighters to dominate older ones if they are past their prime.
But Jones not only dominated older competition, he dominated fighters who were champions and at the peak of their careers.
Jones added Evans to the list at UFC 145 in April.
Jones has often been called the leader of the new school. Although he has been freakishly dominating, he is not the only young fighter who has easily taken out the competition.
UFC champions Junior dos Santos and Jose Aldo have both proven to be great threats without getting in much trouble during a fight.
Aldo is just a few days away from turning 26, while dos Santos is 28 and has only had 16 fights in his pro career.
Like Jones, Aldo and dos Santos have one loss a piece.
But despite other fighters being good and his own recent downfalls, Jones is still the face of the next generation of MMA fighter.
While he may not be the most popular among fans or Dana White at the moment, until there is somebody who can stop his reign, Jones will remain the leader of the new school.
It’s no secret that many UFC fans are straying. There are a number of reasons for that, not the least of which is the fact that the promotion is inundating the market with quantity over quality, in hopes of filling the ludicrous number of cards d…
There are a number of reasons for that, not the least of which is the fact that the promotion is inundating the market with quantity over quality, in hopes of filling the ludicrous number of cards demanded of them between pay-per-view and the still-fresh FOX partnership.
Many fans love the idea of more cards. Bully for them.
The fact is that more cards, given the limited number of fighters on the roster – much less fighters that people will actually go out of their way to watch, or pay to watch, for that matter – is not the ideal. Not yet.
So what is? What is the right number of cards for the UFC to put off in a calendar year?
Taking a look at the calendar in 2012, the UFC will have gone to pay-per-view 13 times (minus UFC 151, which would have made it 14). The main FOX network will have had four shows, FX had seven between “UFC on FX” and TUF finales, and FUEL TV had six shows (these numbers all exclude prelim specials, just for sake of ease).
That’s 31 shows. As people say on that stupid game on the new Price is Right starring the insufferable Drew Carey: “that’s too much!”
There simply isn’t enough talent, even with everyone fighting as much as they physically can and never getting injured, to make that schedule viable.
When you factor in that everyone doesn’t fight as much as they can, and guys do get injured, you end up being expected to pay $55 for Jay Hieron in a co-main event.
For this new era of the UFC to work and for the sport to grow at a reasonable pace, there needs to be some reining in of things.
A monthly pay-per-view is, at most, what the promotion should be offering. It wasn’t long ago that the idea of trying to sell Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin II for $55 would have been laughable. The first time they fought, when they were both younger and better, it was free. This year, the UFC tried to sell it and it didn’t have another worthwhile fight on the card.
They had to outright cancel an event when injury and matchup refusals stymied UFC 151, something they’d never done in the history of Zuffa. And that’s to say nothing of the semi-cancelled UFC 145, which was to take place in Montreal in March but was moved to Atlanta for a few different reasons, not the least of which was the fact that the promotion outright couldn’t produce a main event for the card.
Dana White and company postured it as a move and promised a card in Montreal by year’s end, but for those who already had flights and/or hotels booked, it was a cancellation in the same vein as 151 a few months later.
They should take that as a sign that they need to slow the pace. If you can’t even build cards to sell, or can only build cards to sell knowing that no one is going to buy them, you’re overreaching.
FOX shows are at the perfect number, one per quarter. The only issue is the quality of the matchups, and the lazy attempts to make pointless matchups meaningful by declaring them to be title eliminators.
Either give fans big fights, or market the fights you’re giving them for what they are. Doing things like claiming Brandon Vera is a real-life Rocky only a win away from a title shot when he was a hot Thiago Silva urine sample away from unemployment a year ago is lunacy, and it offends the fans who know better.
To their credit though, the UFC seems to have righted the ship with UFC on FOX 5, which stands to be an epic showcase of what makes the sport so great.
FX is also in a reasonable range for total events, as doing four shows plus the two TUF finales would be perfect. The issue in 2012 came from pacing, as there would be no event on FX for months, then multiple events within a few weeks of one another. Space them out, pad the TUF finales a little more instead of trying to make extra cards where there aren’t any, and things would be much smoother.
FUEL TV is an interesting piece of the puzzle, as some of the most entertaining shows have taken place there even if most people aren’t watching them. Six shows is about right for them, provided they can be filled with up-and-coming talent and a main event that could establish future contenders.
What the promotion has done by headlining the likes of Alex Gustafsson, Chan Sung Jung, and Stefan Struve there is perfect, and shows that they’re starting to lock in what they have on that particular network.
Realistically, as impatient and frustrated as many fans have become, finding the right pitch for events can’t be easy for the UFC. They’ve never had such a broad footprint, and they’re struggling to find the right fit.
Trimming a little fat here and there, probably down from 31 events to 27 or 28, would make a massive difference.
Just look at how the loss of UFC 151 reverberated throughout the fall schedule – a vanilla UFC 152 got better, UFC on FX 5 got better, and other guys are still unbooked and now available to take short notice fights if they’re needed. Three or four less events would probably make 2013 look a lot more like 2008-2011, when the UFC was doing Saturday night entertainment better than anyone since Lorne Michaels.
The UFC has shown many things in its existence, not the least of which is resilience. It’s a sound company run by smart people, and it will rebound from a forgettable 2012. If fans can sit around and proselytize on the state of the union and the future of the sport in this new era, rest assured the guys in the front office are doing it too.
Less is more, folks. That won’t be the case forever, but it’s the reality we live in today.
With two title fights, a middleweight bout with huge championship implications and one of the most stacked cards in recent memory, UFC 152 is set to be one of the biggest events of 2012. Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is set to headline the card …
With two title fights, a middleweight bout with huge championship implications and one of the most stacked cards in recent memory, UFC 152 is set to be one of the biggest events of 2012.
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is set to headline the card against long-time MMA veteran and dangerous striker Vitor Belfort, and in a rare treat, the co-main event features a second title fight between Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson for the UFC’s inaugural flyweight championship.
The entire fight card is full of exciting matchups, and anyone with even the slightest interest in MMA should go out of their way to check out this card.
As UFC 151 was cancelled at the last minute roughly two weeks ago, UFC President Dana White placed the blame almost entirely on UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his head trainer Greg Jackson. However, in an interview with Ariel Helwani…
As UFC 151 was cancelled at the last minute roughly two weeks ago, UFC President Dana White placed the blame almost entirely on UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his head trainer Greg Jackson.
However, in an interview with Ariel Helwani on this week’s additions of UFC Tonight, White suddenly decided that the originally scheduled title challenger, Dan Henderson, should be held accountable as well (transcription via MMA Mania).
“Dan Henderson knew, two weeks before the fight—two weeks before he told me that he was injured—he knew. And had he given me that two weeks, like he should have, this fight might have happened,” he told Helwani.
Days after the event was cancelled, various media outlets reported that the knee injury that forced Henderson out of his main event fight with Jones was suffered several weeks ago.
Jones, a victim of heavy criticism by fans and of fighters alike for refusing to fight Chael Sonnen as a last- minute replacement, also began to throw Henderson under the bus when more details regarding the former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion’s injury were revealed.
As of late Tuesday evening, “Hendo” had not responded to any of the criticism from his boss or from the 25-year-old UFC title holder.
After a last-minute scramble, “Bones” now fights Vitor Belfort, who has not fought at light heavyweight for nearly five years, in the main event of UFC 152 on Sept. 22.
Does Henderson deserve a lion’s share of the blame for not coming forward with his knee injury sooner, or was UFC 151 doomed simply because of Jones’ unwillingness to fight a late replacement in Sonnen?
On August 9, 2008, a young 21-year-old named Jon Jones made his