Quom Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 II would have just made a bizarre card and brought in Kimbo vs Roger Gracie vs BROCK LESNAR triple threat style. Point being it seems weird Dana couldn't find 4 fighters that are big enough names to cover one main event. Even if it meant doing business with guys out of contract with your organisation currently. The show has to go on. It's the one hard rule of wrestling and that's because it's true. A card fans didn't expect is better than no card at all. If UFC don't pay each fighter their appearance fee they're carny bush league bad and a big setback to the legitimisation of MMA as a proper mainstream sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Owned by Quickquid Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Yeah. There was still enough talent there to throw up a show on Fuel (and give the fans partial refunds to cover the decline in show quality). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 According to one of Hendo's coaches, the injury occurred three weeks ago and Hendo did not train for the last fortnight. A bit irresponsible on their part not to inform the UFC of a potential problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cymbols Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Yeah, blame is split between Hendo and Jones. Hendo and his team for not telling the UFC sooner, Jon Jones and Greg Jackson for not taking a replacement fight (didn't even have to be a title fight). Mostly on Jones' shoulders though. He hasn't won himself any fans and he's probably pissed a lot of people off (Dana, UFC, Nike, PPV people, fans, the events center etc.). UFC could've handled it way better though, downgrade the card, find someone to face Sonnen, anything. But, what's done is done. It's hurt the sport bad though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancuerda Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 This explains why Chael has been trolling Jones on twitter for so long. He knew this was coming, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatshortguy Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 It's hurt the sport bad though. That may be a bit presumptive. Yes, they lose out on one event, but this is by no means something that is impossible to overcome. If Zuffa & White are smart (and let's be honest, they are), they'll figure out a better way to handle situations such as this when it inevitably pops up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 I actually think the UFC will profit out of this. Jones runs through Belfort and Sonnen wins his LHW debut against whoever. Jones vs. Sonnen, Chael goes into hype mode about Jones ducking him. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cymbols Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 I actually think the UFC will profit out of this. Jones runs through Belfort and Sonnen wins his LHW debut against whoever. Jones vs. Sonnen, Chael goes into hype mode about Jones ducking him. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ I want to see Chael smash him. Physically and verbally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 You'd think with the current injury curse in the UFC that they'd make contingency plans in case of such a situation. Have one guy on standby just if one big name drops out or a couple to replace an entire fight. It is amazing how Dana White is coming out as if he is a victim when as far as I can tell he has done nothing to work around the situation and just gone into full smear-campaign mode. It is incredibly unprofessional and shows the UFC up as a bush league sport that most of us thought it was well above by now. Not sure how damaged they are in the long run, but it has definitely slowed the growth (though that was slowing anyway, it seems). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Owned by Quickquid Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 It's not an injury curse anymore. It's the new normal. With fighters having full health insurance coverage now, people won't fight hurt the way they did in the past (unless there's a title shot at stake or they really need the money). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Indeed, but the point still stands. Sooner or later a main event fighter was going to drop out due to injury, they should have had the foresight to have a contingency in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Owned by Quickquid Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Indeed, but the point still stands. Sooner or later a main event fighter was going to drop out due to injury, they should have had the foresight to have a contingency in place. Absolutely. Along the same lines, they should be running more B-shows (FX or Fuel or even cheaper PPVs) and fewer A-shows, because of exactly this reason. They don't have the top-level talent to headline as many A-shows as they want to run unless everybody stays healthy all the time. So replacing some of the A-shows with B-shows would solve two problems in that it would eliminate the crunch on A-show main events and it would let them get some fighters over to the point that UFC can go back to running this sort of A-show schedule in the future once they've used the B-shows to establish new stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-MIL Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Machida broke my heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drock007 Posted August 25, 2012 Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Am i the only one that wants to see Vitor Belfort walk in KO Jon Jones in like 30 seconds like he did to Wanderlei Silva and just walk out with his belt? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnar hendershow Posted August 25, 2012 Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Indeed, but the point still stands. Sooner or later a main event fighter was going to drop out due to injury, they should have had the foresight to have a contingency in place. They can't reasonably tell a guy "Hey, you, we're not booking you in a fight for the next few months because we need you to be understudy for the main event at this PPV". Things don't work that way. The contingency plan is to ask their other fighters to take the fight, see who agrees, and then inform the opponent currently on the card. That's the best contingency plan they can have based on the nature of the sport. I'd like to see one that really has an understudy of sorts, but there's no way that can happen. Guys can't prepare for understudy roles in a sport where one fight can change your entire career and income. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker Posted August 25, 2012 Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Yeah, you're right. I was thinking more having a fighter or fighters already preparing for fights agree to step up early if needed. Benavidez/Johnson for example have been preparing for each other for a while now, it wouldn't be out of the question to ask them if they would fight early if a major injury threatened a PPV match. You obviously couldn't force them but at least it gives you security. That said, don't think it would help here. They blatantly needed Jon Jones and no one else, they were riding the entire card on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quom Posted August 26, 2012 Report Share Posted August 26, 2012 Indeed, but the point still stands. Sooner or later a main event fighter was going to drop out due to injury, they should have had the foresight to have a contingency in place. They can't reasonably tell a guy "Hey, you, we're not booking you in a fight for the next few months because we need you to be understudy for the main event at this PPV". Things don't work that way. The contingency plan is to ask their other fighters to take the fight, see who agrees, and then inform the opponent currently on the card. That's the best contingency plan they can have based on the nature of the sport. I'd like to see one that really has an understudy of sorts, but there's no way that can happen. Guys can't prepare for understudy roles in a sport where one fight can change your entire career and income. There have been plenty of examples where Dana/Silva book a card around a weight class and you end up with 2/3 fights on a show (or all of them in the case of the heavyweight PPV not long ago) all coming from the same weight class. Dana cleared out a good chunk of his LHW contingent during the last Fox show, if only one of those fights took place he may have potentially had 2 of the 4 fighters ready to jump in at short notice, not that I think Jones would have fought any of them. The biggest issue with doing it this way is that the challenger would always need to be announced prior to the title fight. If Jones knew Machida was next in line after Henderson the potential could exist where it would be reasonable to assume he should be less concerned with taking the fight on super short notice (since he knew once he was done with Henderson Machida was next up). As a person I can't blame Jones. He did what was best for him. As a fan I think it was a really shit move though. I also think if Dana wants to show that it's about the promotion rather than the fighters he really needs to work out a system where there is always a top fight to replace another or where champions are expected to fight on short notice against someone outside the top 5 or vacate their belt. Sonnen really shouldn't have been seen as a test for Jones or a match up to avoid. At the end of the day it needs to be decided if these people are athletes or 'warriors' you can't really be a warrior if you are ducking fights to protect yourself from dropping a championship. I don't have an issue with it if you're an athlete though since it's just good business. I do think this was a particularly stupid business move on Dana's part though. Nothing screams bargaining power like knowing that the show truly does revolve around you and if you weren't on a card then the entire show could be cancelled. Either Dana needs to work out a really solid contingency plan for the future, or suddenly main event fighters are going to be much better paid and will be looking at 4x their normal fight fee to do something late notice. A decision which looks sort of meh on paper could really have a massive impact on how MMA develops from this point forward. I think it's a wake up call about who is truly in control of the show, especially when Dana was willing to cancel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apsham Posted August 26, 2012 Report Share Posted August 26, 2012 Jon Jones is a piece of shit, bottom line. Not only did he take money out of the pockets of every single fighter on that card, but he also took time, money and enjoyment away from fans who would've booked flights, hotels, time off work, etc. to go see a UFC card. It's reprehensible and I seriously can't believe that he'd do something like that. Regardless of the fact that it's short notice, it's been mentioned a million times over that he is a world champion - well prepared versus someone who got called in at the last second. He is supposed to be the best of the best, and regardless of winning, losing - he is paid to go in there and fight. There's no excuse for this bullshit. There's no defending this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieG Posted August 26, 2012 Report Share Posted August 26, 2012 It's not Jones' job to think of other people's paycheck or hotel/ticket/airfare fees, that's Dana's job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Owned by Quickquid Posted August 26, 2012 Report Share Posted August 26, 2012 Yep, Eddie and Quom have got it. I'm pretty sure Dana's said a few times that no one fighter is more important than the show, but he just proved Jon Jones to be more important than the show. So anyone who makes UFC even more money (GSP, Silva, perhaps some others) now has the go-ahead to do the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.