Friday, August 24, 2012
From Champ to Chump
For years my go-to argument about why MMA is better than boxing is because one central body makes the fights, always pitting the champion against the best contender. Until now. Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen after his scheduled opponent, Dan Henderson hurt his knee and pulled out of their title fight at UFC 151. As a result, UFC had to cancel the entire event, the first time in 11 years that has happened.
Dana White and UFC fans are furious at Jon Jones over this. Jones, on the advice of his trainer Greg Jackson, declined to fight Sonnen with little more than a week’s notice. Even though Sonnen normally fights at 185 lbs instead of 205, and wasn’t even in training for a fight.
I understand why Jones wants to protect himself from a loss against an opponent he is not ready for. But this happens quite often, fighters get hurt weeks or days before the fight, and the code of honor in the UFC dictates that you just take on the next challenger, especially since he’s usually someone less threatening than the original opponent.
But I think this is an instance where the UFC has become a victim of its own success. Because there is so much more at stake financially with being a top fighter, and especially a champion, those fighters are less willing to take risks. This is one example, Jones not willing to risk his title. We have recently seen a big increase in the number of fighters pulling out of fights due to injury. Dan Henderson probably could have fought with this injury but wouldn’t be able to perform at his absolute best. And he didn’t want to take that chance in such a crucial fight. I believe other fighters who recently pulled out of fights for injuries, may have ignored those same injuries 5 or 10 years ago.
I also think this is manifesting itself in individual fights. I have detected a big increase in the number of decisions, and boring fights. Fighters seem a lot less willing to “stand and bang,” knowing a loss, especially one by knockout would hurt their careers.
But I don’t think Jon Bones Jones realizes the damage he has done to his reputation. Just a year ago he was a great young fighter, the rising star of the UFC with strong mainstream possibilities. First, he got drunk and wrapped his Bentley around a pole which hurt him with the mainstream audience. And now he did this which has totally turned off serious MMA fans.
I still think he will have a long and successful MMA career, he just has too much talent for it not to happen. But he will never again be a fan favorite. He will be the Floyd Mayweather of MMA.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think we both started having shifting opinions about JBJ around the same time. You've basically put it all into words very nicely, and I agree on all points.
The best examples (which come to mind on the spot) of TRUE MMA champions, are BJ Penn, and Randy Couture. From the outside looking in, their records may appear somewhat mediocre. They both have losses throughout their career. But the educated fan knows that they would not only take ANY challenger, but even move UP in weight classes to find them.
Randy at 205 and 225, and BJ at 155 and 170. They were both pretty small for the higher weight class, and yet made a specific move just to see what would happen. They didn't care about their records, just about knowing that they wanted to really go out there and prove that they were the best.
JBJ definitely sees the cash, and doesn't want losses. Too bad, Chael vs him actually woulda been a pretty damn interesting fight.
I see yours and Ton's points about taking on all challengers and the damage to his rep (in and out of the ring). But I think you're over reacting by 1) calling him Floyd and 2) criticizing him for not fighting Sonnen. It's smart business to not take risk with boht your title/career and your health. I don't know how much health would play into the decision to not fight Sonnen, but given all the concussion talk I'm fine with any player in any sport taking action to pro-longer their careers. By being cautious and not facing an opponent unprepared, he's making a business decision. Boxers would do the same thing a week before a fight, even if MMA culture or history dictates you fight.
TON, you bring up a great point about Penn and Couture. Penn fought Lyoto Machida in an open-weight match in K-1 between UFC stints. Probably didn't even get paid much money for it.
I understand why Bones Jones did it from a business standpoint. But I think he was being short-sighted. I think both you and him and underestimating how much dislike he engendered among UFC fans.
The Mayweather comparison is apt because he's arrogant, guilty of criminal activity and trying to cement his legacy by not losing, instead of by winning.
Post a Comment