UFC 151: How Redirecting Blame Obscures Real Problems
By Chris Leslie on August 26, 2012
The fallout coming from Thursday’s cancelation of UFC 151 has been tremendous for one person in particular. UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been blamed, and now apologized, for the UFC canceling its first official (they canceled UFC 145 earlier this year and shifted its fights before it was official) event in the promotion’s history. The skewering of Jones (and his trainer Greg Jackson) by UFC President Dana White and former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has been taken to the extreme in terms of rhetoric. If the last part sounds familiar, it is because it should. The UFC redirecting anger away from what the real issue is nothing new, and it will likely make them rich in the end.
“It’s déjà vu all over again” – Yogi Berra
“If he ever acts like that again, I will cut him” Sound familiar? No, that’s not from Thursday’s teleconference where the UFC announced the canceling of UFC 151, but was a comment made by UFC President Dana White following Anderson Silva’s antics at UFC 112. The UFC’s PR machine released, in a fit of anger, a fighter whose vitriolic comments about champion Anderson Silva far outweighed his fighting accomplishments (which is an accomplishment on its own) by the name of Chael Sonnen. Sonnen launched into rants that were, at the least, trollish and often xenophobic in nature. The result was that the UFC had renewed interest in a champion that had become bored and frustrated by the lack of challenges, though most of it was negative interest. Sonnen proved he was a more than a legitimate threat at UFC 117, proving that his opportunistic nature on top of his ability to promote a fight were a winning combination. So even with his subsequent failed drug test and Federal legal troubles, the UFC stuck by him.
Sonnen never relented on Silva, and eventually got his second shot at UFC 148. Where the UFC enjoyed a fantastic weekend punctuated by Sonnen losing to Silva, and again it came by way of a mental lapse. So while the UFC made their money, they had a proven asset in Sonnen. That issue left the UFC looking for ways to use this asset rather than just having him sitting at a desk, and with Sonnen cutting from 230-240lbs. to make weight at middleweight, a move up made sense. This led to his move to light heavyweight against Forrest Griffin at UFC 155. Sonnen then had a new target in his scope, light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and all he needed was an opportunity to pounce.
“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity” – Seneca
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones probably enjoyed the greatest drop in popularity through little fault of his own. While his DWI did not help matters, his leapfrogging of former teammate Rashad Evans (when the UFC asked him to jump in on a months notice), subsequent annihilation of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and his mistake of surrendering the narrative to Evans after an injury did a ton of damage to the budding star’s reputation amongst hardcore fans. Despite becoming the first light heavyweight champion to defend the title more than once since Chuck Liddell and gaining big promotional deals with mainstream brands (including a massive investment by the UFC itself), Jones’ perceived arrogance saw himself made out to be the villain. In a sport where making brash and arrogant statements is often rewarded, it seemed odd to believe that Jones had stepped over the line when most of his talk is fairly generic.
Part of that can be explained by the UFC’s incessant marketing of Jones as the face of the promotion. This led to the UFC believing they were safe when they placed him on two precarious cards this year. First, was a UFC 145 (originally supposed to be UFC 146) card that was deemed not good enough for Montreal (but seemingly good enough for Atlanta, despite the lack of local talent). Second, after defeating nemesis Rashad Evans at UFC 145, was UFC 151 against MMA legend Dan Henderson. Neither event had an abundance of known stars or relevant fights, so both firmly rested on his shoulders. Then, an injury to Henderson announced only eight days away from fight night, left the event’s vulnerability on full display. Enter Chael Sonnen, a fighter who was answering the call on only eight days notice to be the UFC’s savior of the card. Only it turns out, that is not quite the case.
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@chris l
Great explanation! I agree.
@chrisl
Great write up Chris, Thanks for taking the time to make it.
It is interesting Jones was willing to Turn down Big money and not fight Sonnen. When he is older and has been beaten down a bit Jones may regret passing up a multimillion dollar payday.
“most of his talk is fairly generic” See I don’t have a problem with someone stating what there skills are and how they are going to use them. It the more “Head up your AZZ comments that blows my mind” Like this one from his twitter.
“Youngest world Champion in UFC history, Fighting toward Greatness, Glorifying Christ, Breaking down walls, Living amazed, Will YOU be a witness?”
Youngest WC isn’t that Belfort or does Tournments not count?
Fighting towards Greatness ok good for you.
Glorifying Christ WTF does this mean lol.
Breaking down walls?? Yup I agree you were the first guy to get a card cancelled in 11years good for you.
Living amazed ok another good for you.
Will you be a witness? I mean if you keep this up there won’t be anything to witness if your cut.
HAHA, GREAT BREAKDOWN & INTERPRETATION OF HIS COMMENTS, PRETTY MUCH TRUE.
Jones didn’t get anything cancelled – UFC did – this is a multibillion dollar industry now- white and frito lay need to treat it as such and stop dogging their top draws.
Great article. I totally agree. I thought the way Dana White handled the situation was very unprofessional, completely blaming Jones for the entire cancellation. White doesn’t know what it’s like to be a UFC champion fighter, and neither do most of us, so he should be more understanding. I also refuse to believe that he couldn’t possibly find any other replacement besides Sonnen; there has to be plenty of hungry professional fighters out there that would love for a chance to fight Jones. In a way, I think White is also trying to make Sonnen look good with this situation in order to rebuild his fan base after losing to Silva, for a later big fight with Jones. It’s not all Jones’ fault.
Jones and his camp are scared of Sonnen and the legit threat to the title that he is. That’s all there is to it. UFC has had some great champions in years past who were always willing to do anything for the company. Unfortunately Jones isn’t one of those champions. It is what it is.
Since Chris is clearly into his conspiracy theories (Henderson/Sonnen on knowing of the injury and positioning Chael to fill in on a weeks notice) I think I will throw out one even more ridiculous. The whole cancellation of UFC 151 was to build hype around Jones/Sonnen for Year end 2013 card. That sounds just as far fetched as what I read in this article.
Anyways, if this whole ordeal doesn’t see Jon Jones lose whatever fans he had left, being coached by Greg Jackson sure as hell will. I remember when Jones use to be an exciting fighter/striker. One of the best in the world with more potential than I had ever seen. Did anyone catch the Rashad fight? Seems Jackson has done exactly what he did with GSP to Jon Jones. Make them incredibly boring to watch and a fighting style of not to lose rather than to win.
Greg Jackson and Jon Jones…. you are killing the sport! ;)
Finally a voice of sanity.
About time someone brought Henderson to ask on his part of it.
Perhaps the fact that he knew of his injury 4 weeks earlier and the only one he told was Chael Sonnen……..think about it.
3 weeks which was only “alluded to,” and you think he would tell only his training partner? Yea, ok.
You believe what you want your opinion dose not affect me. Just remember we are talking the fight game if you think everything is on the up and up you are very naive
*to task*
@Chris Leslie:
THANK YOU! After this article, only the Jones haters can continue to place blame on the champ. Dana White and company run a very successful business that I will continue to be a fan of, but UFC will never be taken seriously as a maintstream sport and will be discussed in the same conversations with WWE if they continue to put “entertainment” before “sport” and punish fighters who put their own best interests before what’s best for entertainment.
It is about time some one told it the way it is I thank you for putting in print what many of us already knew.I can’t remember how long it has been where the main event was not the entire card. I love the fact that some lesser known fighters get on the cards but not to the extent that the card suffers. I remain a fan of UFC at this time but it is hard. If Dana wants to continue his embarrassing action perhaps he should consider making a run at president of WWE before HE kills the sport of MMA.
@Goju Rya:
Thanks for having my back, man.
And you’re right about Dana White. He’s made a habit of making impulsive statements, just to 180 on a moment’s whim. Chris did an excellent job of articulating that.
I’ve said it on other posts, the promotion is simply spread too thin–and this is what can happen.
Something I have to say is that I personally love the fact that Dana White is the way he is. Many people call things he does unprofessional but it seems like thats another way of saying he should hold his tongue more and not say what he feels,and be more politically correct. I much rather him be honest and say what he feels and not be fake, I mean was he supposed to be happy that Jones turned down the fight would you rather him put on a fake smile and act like he’s fine with it all. Dana White and crew have brought this company up from nothing into a huge promotion I think we all need to appreciate more what he has done and have a little more faith that he knows what he is doing more than the people who have never been in the business ever. One fight gets cancelled an everybody has the answer to fix the UFC. HAHA
@Kobe:
The problem is not that Dana White says what he feels, it’s that he won’t feel the same way two days later. He completely overreacts, says some really crazy s*** and makes public threats then pretty much acts like it never happened a month later, so what was the point? No one is taking away from the success that Dana and company have brought to the UFC, but how encouraging is it as a fighter to have a boss who you know will one minute talk s*** about you to the media and drag your name through the mud over a disagreement, then the next minute call you the greatest of all time?
Sorry Chris, but this article falls very short. I’ll go through the list of problems in order as you bring them up.
1. The UFC somehow only backs up Chael P Sonnen…. in recent memory, they also backed up Jones and his DWI, Rampage and his “rampage,” and yes Sonnen’s attacks against Silva and also “forgiving” Silva for his completely unprofessional actions during the weigh ins. It’s not just Chael.
2. “In a sport where making brash and arrogant statements is often rewarded…”
I think you are confusing a couple of things here, Fan reaction, Fighter reaction, and UFC reaction. An example like Nick Diaz and GSP indicates that the UFC didn’t react to Nick’s comments and attacks, rather it was GSP. GSP’s desire to fight Nick took care of the rest, the UFC was more than willing to wait till Nick moved up the ladder and played by the rules (hence the downgraded BJ fight). Chael’s attacks on Silva didn’t help him get the second shot, taking out top 5 guys did (although I still thought his win over Bisping left much to be desired and he should have had another fight). The UFC does not reward brash and arrogant statements. Fans are the ones who hate arrogant and brash statements, the hatred towards Sonnen is a very good example.
So you might be wondering, what’s the difference between Sonnen’s antics and Jones’ comments? Easy, one man’s up to a loss even with questionable actions, and puts his money where is mouth is. The other acts like a little kid who takes responsibility by making a backhanded apology comparing himself to Christ.
3. Henderson Hurt 3 weeks before the announcement. Most cancellations occur due to required surgery from cuts and other internal injuries. Unfortunately an MCL tear doesn’t require surgery, depending on the degree of the injury, it may have been possible to work through the issue (you even allude as much in your article). Sonnen’s attack on Jones, should it have been truly a response to Henderson getting hurt, should have stopped when White guaranteed he wasn’t getting a title shot next. There could have been other motives at work, most notably distracting the Champ, which you may glean from his responses to Sonnen. Serious, just ignore the guy if you are really prepping for someone else, its not worth thwatting over.
4. Jones was never put in an unfair situation, Fighters (the non-injured one) have always be put in situations to take on a new replacement fighter on short notice. What most people seem to forget is that the uninjured fighter has NEVER turned down a challenger, that was the unprecedented act that threw White off and into a complete tail spin. As a champion, you take your fights, period. Quite frankly a champ who is unwilling to fight someone placed in front of them, may as well not make weight during the weigh ins so that its not a title fight.
5. It is a fair attack on Jones, if Jones knows he was the lynchpin keeping UFC 151 together. The man already agreed to fight, the opponent should just be in the fine details. As many have already alluded to, Chael may have been a much easier fight (I certainly think so).
6. Throwing fighters under the bus, see comment 1.
7. UFC 151 failed because of a poor card, No it was Jones. UFC 151 could have survived without Jones if Koschek was around, but having a poor headlining fight come up after what ensued in ufc 149 wasn’t possible. The reason blame falls squarely on Jones is because the UFC did what they were supposed to do. Fighter gets injured, the promotion finds another fighter. The UFC did EVERYTHING they possibly could, only one person didn’t and that was Jones. White didn’t have to put the blame on Jones the way that he did. All he had to do was say that Jones would not fight Sonnen and the fans would have taken care of the rest. Additionally, the UFC helped Jones save face by moving his fight to UFC 152. How so? Easy, how would it have looked if after declaring not to fight Sonnen, Jones agreed to fight another fighter for ufc 151? Putting the strength of a fight card on a champion is not new, and anyone who believes otherwise is delusional. People pay to watch champions, the heavier, the better.
8. Questioning the legitimacy of the LHW belt, this one I’d agree with, but looking at the list of top 10, I think most if not all of us can agree that Jones has either beat them all or it just wouldnt make sense for Jones to fight any of them. While Sonnen may not deserve the title shot, Jones still needs an opponent, anyone of the the guys who said no should take part of the blame. But as it turns out, it wouldnt matter because Jones refused to fight.
9. Jones has stepped up for the UFC and consequently became of the the few fighters truly sponsored and pushed by the UFC itself, leading to Jones no longer needing to fight. The UFC did their job, Jones didnt’. And yes the UFC needs to take responsibility, for clearly backing the wrong horse in Jones.
I believe you should check your info between the 1st Sonnen – Silva fight and the 2nd Sonnen only had 2 fights and neither was outstanding. As for your statement that Sonnen attack on Jones should have quit when White guaranteed he would not get the next title shot WELL SURPRISE GUESS WHAT HAPPENED……rather a moot statement is it not. I would also check there has been other fighters that have turned down fights. If you did more research you would also find that Jones did not refuse fight Sonnen just wanted time to adjust his training to the new fighter. He was agreeable to fight Sonnen on the 22nd but no reply from Dana or the UFC was received.
How can you say that Sonnen DOMINATING Stann wasn’t outstanding?
And Jones DID refuse to fight Sonnen on 151, which this whole thing is about, and even tweeted to Chael, “Earn a title shot instead of talking your way into one and I’ll be happy to hurt you.”
So don’t sit back and act like Jones didn’t refuse to fight him, cause he did. Saying that he would fight him at 152 does NOTHING to saving 151, which is what Chael was trying to do.
I was thinking the exact same thing as your 3rd point.
@Paul:
In answer to your #7 point, putting the entire weight of an event on one fighter’s shoulders may not be new for the UFC, but it’s exactly what’s wrong with the way they do business. So whether you as a fan respect or disrespect Jones for making his decision, it is the UFC’s job (not Jones) to keep an event going. If doing “EVERYTHING they possibly could” means that they had to cancel an entire event because one fighter said no, what does that say about how much control UFC has over the way their business runs? Or the value of every other fighter who was scheduled to fight on that card? “You’re not our biggest star, so you don’t get to work tonight because Jones doesn’t wanna fight… What a jerk!”
In short: Jon Jones is champion and should fight whoever the organisation puts in front of him, although he would have been fighting Chael at short notice he has been through a training camp and is at his peak, He may not have agreed with the UFC’s decision but as a fighter and champ he has made in my opinion a foolish mistake.
@Chrisl
I like your article, as always. I don’t agree with all of it, but I like it. But, your analogy of this compared to the Colts is completely different. You can’t even compare the two.
Reason being, Manning had a back-up QB to fill in if he can’t play, and in this case Sonnen was the back-up. But all the other football teams can’t refuse to play against the Colts just because they have a back-up in. They still have to play regardless.
In this case, even though Jones would have had all the advantages going in, he still refused to play against the back-up QB. A luxury that NFL players don’t have.
He was explained what was at stake and the ramifications if he didn’t fight, and he still chose to not fight an out of shape MW. If you’re the champion, you should be the number 1 company man and do anything in your power to help out. He didn’t.
Jackson can sugarcoat it all he wants by trying to say a “fighter of Chael’s caliber” and all that, but he’s still an older, out of fighting shap MW, who has a severe height, weight and overaall size disadvantange, as well as, a wrestling deficit. There was NO way that Chael would have won this fight, and this is coming from a guy that loves Sonnen and loathes Jones. Chael would have been rag-dolled.
I don’t know. I just think that Jones should have stepped up the way Sonnen did and the way even Silva tried (another guy I hate, yet respect his attempts to help).
But again, nice article. :)
No I don’t think Sonnen ….DOMINATED Stann as you put it and his fight with Bisping was not inspiring at all and rather controversial to be honest. And as far as Sonnen he has not earned the right to fight Jones.But yet Jones still offered to give him a fight on the 22nd. It is not Jones job to save 151 it is Whites job to make a card that will survive the cancelation of 1 fight which in his mind he did not do or he would not have to cancel the whole card….THINK ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE…
i agree with everything said dana and henderson killed 151 jake ellenberger has headlined 2 events in the last year so why not let him headline this one u tellin me jones was the only fight on the card no it wasn t so they should have just went ahead with it and sonnen will get destroyed by jones to he ran his mouth aboot anderson for 2 years then spun round and landed on his ass and got beat up he a all mouth no action fighter people should remember jon joes has never lost so if he toke that fight on 8 days notice i belive he would have still won remember they do aboot 3 days promotion so he would literally have no time to train dan and hendo ruined 151 not jon and not greg and sonnen should just shut hiis mouth cause forest is goin to beat him anyway fact
If you think that Chael Sonnen is an all talk no action fighter then you must have Chael confused with someone else, I can’t think of another fighter who brings it to their opponents more then Sonnen except maybe the diaz bros.
Completely ignorant comment.
Since CONTRACTUALLY Jones has the right to turn down an opponent that he did not sign a contract to fight, just like countless other fighters have done and will continue to do, I think the only people who have a right to voice their frustration over this situation are the fans who miss out an awesome ass-whooping from Jones to Sonnen. If the UFC doesn’t want to deal with this type of situation again, simply don’t give fighters a choice. Tell them, “You’re fighting this person cuz we said so” and fighters will have no choice but to say “Yes, thank you” regardless of whether they think it’s unfair or idiotic or whatever. But it makes NO SENSE for the president of an organization to be upset that his fighter exercised a right that was given to him… So when you see it from this common sense point of view, the fault lies with the UFC, because if they want to see a fight happen, whether it be Jones-Sonnen with just 8 days notice, or Koscheck-Fitch or Silva-Machida, then they should final say, not the fighter. If Jones knew that he was gonna get fired for not agreeing to something that doesn’t benefit him AT ALL professionally (maybe financially), then I’m sure we would have nothing to talk about.
This is NOT an argument stating that the UFC should do this, but I think they should shut up and be okay when a fighter says no to a fight that doesn’t make sense.
3 weeks is quite a while to sit on an injury for anyone, let alone when you’re in your 40s. Why wasn’t Hendo called selfish for trying to gut it out? If he pulled out 3 weeks ago I believe Jon would have fought. My perspective is you’re already 40+, you’re fighting a young, agile, dynamic stud, now your mobility is hampered – these are not keys to victory – it is a recipe for a** whoopery.
@vjpenn
I agree that the fault lies with UFC. However, I don’t think the contract language is the main issue. There may even be some regulatory influence against contract language you recommend. Also, the issue of fighters having choices has not risen to the level to force that type of change. The main drivers are the lack of contingency for a weaker card (better yet, do no weak cards) and timely injury reporting from where I’m sitting.
I completely agree that all the railings against their own – public canabilism – is ridiculous and swipes at the credibility of the sport – since zuffa is the face of mma. Jones acted within his contractural rights and does not need to cover for UFC and Dan’s decisions.
How is jones afraid of Sonnen he agreed to fight him on the next card just not on 3 days notice…real question is why dint dana give sonnen the shot on that one!????
If not necasary its not a smart move to switch opponents on 3days notice.. and I don’t agree that chael and dan are the “same type” fighter. But all in all I do wish he had taken the fight but I understand his CHOICE not too!