We know the deal – Dana White tried to hold UFC 151 together by throwing in Chael against Jones. It didn’t work out, let’s move on from there. But when Jones refused to fight Chael, Dana acted like a spoilt child and tipped over his toy-box.
Dana cancelled the whole 151 card, went on a media rant blaming Jones and Jackson for everything and has since, that I’m aware of, said very little. But it showed everybody his hand. He needs his champions to fight, desperately.
In a year when the UFC has seen fight-cards decimated by injuries, championship fights few and far between (how many times has Silva, GSP and JDS fought this year?) and some very hyped fights turn out bad (Hector’s first fight in the UFC was just ugly), I think we saw Dana venting about a grudge he has with Jackson and his coaching style (fight to win, not to entertain).
I think Dana used Henderson’s injury (and why did it take Henderson three weeks to admit to an injury? Did I miss something there?) as an excuse to throw mud at Jackson. He shifted the focus on purpose because he hates Jackson.
What should have Dana done? Smiled politely at Jones and Jackson and said, fine, you don’t want to fight Chael, no worries and hung up the phone. Then he should have called up Machida and Shogun and explained an interim title fight was happening next weekend in Vegas and did they want in?
Once he had two good fighters (anybody that has won their last fight would do) to agree to terms, Dana could have thrown the UFC PR machine behind those two guys. New champion reins the LHW division within seven days.
Then when he got the call from Jones and Jackson a couple weeks later looking for Machida, he could have ignored them. No interviews about Jones and definitely do not book him for a fight. Yep, park Jones on the bench for nine to 12 months. Take the heat out of Jones completely and make him hungry to fight anybody. Again.
It’s a short term pain for long term gain. Jones just signed a major sponsor (Nike), so he doesn’t really need the fight purse that much anymore. But what Jones does need is to get his face on TV wearing Nike’s shirts and shoes. If he doesn’t get on TV for a year, Nike would eventually have to pull his contract and people would get sick of the inevitable, ‘Dana won’t let me fight’ interviews that would follow.
This would have put the power back into the hands of Dana and the UFC and would send a timely message to all UFC fighters and their coaches alike – you fight for the UFC. You fight when, against whom and for how much we say.
I know this isn’t seeing the whole chess-board, so I could have missed something and maybe they did try this on for size, but I doubt it. At worst, it would have put some life back into the LHW division which is slowly dying under Jones.
Joel Smith
Roar Rookie
Never said anything about that? Was as surprised and disappointed as anyone that Jones turned down the fight. Just didn't see the point of giving someone an interim title when the real title is going to be defended next month anyway.
Ronnie Liddle
Roar Rookie
so you think it's ok for a champion to turn down a fight? Come on. Real champions fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. if they want to pick their fights join the end of the queue.
Joel Smith
Roar Rookie
No point in having an interim champion if the real champ isn't injured and especially when both contenders have little hope of actually beating the champ. C'mon, Machida or Rua walking around with a belt, albeit an interim belt, would be a joke.
Evan
Guest
The whole UFC 151 saga has shown that the MMA world has to look at the way they train for fights, the injury toll has been massive this year and cards have been decimated because of it. UFC 149, with Cruz getting injured was a disaster, UFC 147 was the same. Both of these cards were supposed to be TUF coaches fighting each other and never happened. The last Fox show was meant to be Stann vs. Lombard but it was ruined through injury, luckily Shogun and Vera saved it. But UFC 151 showed the current state of the UFC cards, relying on one or two good fights to sell cards and it backfired this time, we would have had a great back-up fight in Ellenberger-Koscheck, but Koscheck hurt himself and they replaced him with Jay Hieron!
Ronnie Liddle
Roar Rookie
chael vs Shogun or machida for the interm belt wouldn't sell? it would sell a few more PPVs then cancelling the whole event? and he could put him on ice... they did it to tito and couture, they can do it again. i'm aware of how many times GSP hasn't fought this year and why. JDS has fough once this year against mir but two times in a year? and sliva doesn't want to defend his title till next year? come on, are they the champions or not?
JazzyJase
Roar Pro
Whatever his reasons were for his outburst, doesn't look good for the normally slick Dana White and consequently UFC as a whole. I read a previous related article by a fellow Roarer that the only bloke who comes out smelling roses is Chael Sonnen. He loves a stink that guyand shame he won't be in action. To be perfectly honest, i wouldn't have forked out money for a PPV UFC 151 in any case. Alot of the recent undercards have been poor in comparison and the product appears to have degenerated a little of late
John
Guest
Yeah, put the guy on hold that is the only thing that is selling ppvs. If you haven't noticed, GSP has been out for almost 2 years, Anderson Silva just fought, and Junior Dos Santos is fighting ta the very end of the year. Kill your company revenue to show who is boss? How about this? Quit selling crappy cards with one fight for $55 one to two times a month coupled with free cards that stretch your roster. Have an event once a month with a high quality card so that people will buy them even if a main event is cancelled. Sorry, but killing your profits and putting on boring cards till he is done punishing Jon Jones is not going to help the UFC at all. Oh and that interim title fight would 1) Not sell, that's why he killed the event, Jon Jones sells and Chael when he fights and talks smack to champions (not challenging contenders) and 2) won't even be legit when one guy was gifted a shot and another has no wins at LHW. Dana is powerless here, cancelling the event shows it. How about he just cut Jon Jones??? Ha, he wouldn't even think about it.