Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones Set to Coach “The Ultimate Fighter 17,” Pair Will Fight in April 2013
By Chris Leslie on October 16, 2012
Only days after posting the worst ratings in ”The Ultimate Fighter” history the UFC has announced that light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen will coach the upcoming seventeenth season of the “The Ultimate Fighter.” UFC president Dana White revealed the news to the LA Times earlier today.
The pairing allows the UFC to attempt to give the struggling reality show relevance again while providing hype for a bout between the two coaches. The bout is scheduled for April 27th but the venue is unnamed as of this posting.
The UFC tried to arrange a bout between the two fighters on short notice to save the failed UFC 151 fight card when Dan Henderson went down with injury but Jones declined the bout.
Jones began warming to the bout recently citing fan requests trumping whether or not Sonnen deserved the title bout. Jones tweeted:
The more I realize how bad the fans want to see me fight Sonnen the more I am beginning to disregard whether he deserves it or not
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) October 12, 2012
A part of me wants to do it for the fans the other part of me feels as if it delegitimizes the importance of championship
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) October 12, 2012
Sonnen wasted little time in responding to the champ’s thoughts on twitter.
You don’t GIVE.I TAKE.Remembah that, Bonesie-Boy @jonnybones
— chael sonnen (@sonnench) October 12, 2012
Filming for the upcoming season is set to begin soon. The show was originally set for light heavyweights and middleweights but was rumored to have been whittled down to just middleweights after the tryouts.
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This makes me so happy I cant wait to see Chael talk a bunch of smack to Jon Jones even though he will likely get dominated when they fight.
I really think if Chael and he were the same size(and i dont mean weight) that Chael would beat him. Jones has many flaws that are hidden by his overwhelming size and more importantly reach advantage.
Hope jones doesn’t bring his bible scripture for the guys to read. Sonnen will be entertaining. I was hoping for silva coaching against bones, cause silva is the only guy I see that has a legit chance at beating jones.
thats a decision made for the ratings for the show all about the money chael is a comedian should be a good season
People want entertainment….people just might be disappointed.
I see now where things are moving in the direction of big-time boxing, where belts and championships become more and more meaningless (read Overeem fighting JDS-Carwin winner)…
Does anyone speak for integrity anymore?
Ok…and when Chael gets injured and has to pull out of the fight, put Anderson in his place, and if anybody balks at the idea or refuses, accuse them of bailing out on another card…..since Jones jumped ship on the last one, and Silva has been “cooperative” here lately, they should both comply out of principal…
This is absolutely ATROCIOUS!!!!
And thats coming from a huge Sonnen fan. How does Sonnen deserve this fight one bit? Hm maybe this year we can just automatically have the Cowboys or Packers face the Giants in the Super Bowl, since those are the teams everyone wants to see play the most??
The fact that I’m the only one who seems to be appalled by the UFC’s supreme lack of integrity shows me that there is not much use in fighting, since the opinions of the fans (i.e. ratings) is the only law they have to follow. Apparently and obviously.
But this just smacks of a desperation and an attempt for attention. And an even more desperate attempt to salvage TUF (likely in an attempt to get it eventually onto FOX). I will enjoy this fight, and will hope for a shocking upset (partially just to make Dana feel like a shmuck for messing with fate), but this fight has no business in happening. Even boxing doesn’t go this far overboard.
As for actual MMA take: I rationalize that the UFC is keeping Bones busy (and cashing a MASSIVE payday), while GSP beats Condit and then takes on Spider (at least that’s what UFC hopes). I think the UFC believes Spider can beat GSP, and then take on the apparently harder fight for him to win – against Bones. And they want it in that order, hence the “busy” fight for Bones against Sonnen in the meantime.
But not sure how Spider/Gustaffson is a title eliminator when the champ wont even be available to fight for at least three months after April.
*Shogun/Gustaffson
I agree with you, this is just stupid! How a guy deserves a title shot in a weight class (UFC) he has never fought in is beyond me.
And as you mentioned, Shogun/Gustaffson has been announced as a title eliminator and the Sonnen/Bones fight isn’t scheduled until April…So according to this development the winner of this fight in December will need to wait until at least July-August to cash in their title opportunity. BS! Maybe Sonnen is injured sometime between now and April and the winner of the Fox5 fight can move into his spot.
Or…if ‘Bones’ has to pull out of the fight Sonnen can try and earn his title shot by taking on the winner of Shogun/Gustaffson.
I agree that Sonnen fighting for any title sickeningly diminishes said title.
I wonder how Shogun/Machida/Hendo feel about the missed opportunity at the title.
We all understand the need to revive the show, just sucks to see someone talk their way into opportunities rather than perform their way into opportunities.
Hopefully all will go as planned and Jon will show why Chael doesn’t belong in title contention.
Well, since Shogun and Machida turned down rematches with Jones after Hendo got injured and took 3 weeks to tell the UFC….who gives a flying F-ck what any of them think?
Chael is entertaining and so funny and people will get to see the real jon jones which nobody really knows. i will be watching this one! i just hope it airs on UK tv.
Whether you feel he deserves it or not, if something happens and Chael beats him, doesn’t that prove that he DID deserve it? Lets not forget that Jones wasn’t the number 1 contender either. He replaced an injured Rashad, which is what Chael was trying to do for an injured Henderson.
This is gonna be a loooooong season of TUF. But at the same time probably the best season, I don’t really think Sonnen deserves the title fight but Jones has defeated almost all real contenders and from a promoters point of view it is ratings and paper view gold, plus you can count on it being intense so I’m pretty excited, however I can’t help but laugh at the slight chance that Forrest will beat Chael in the upcoming bout and make this whole thing look completely undeserved.
What if Chael loses to Forrest??? Or am I missing something?
That fight is off
I think the Forrest and Chael fight is cancelled. It’s probably going to be Bonnar and Forrest now.
Chael should have at least be 1-0 at light heavy before getting a shot at Jones. Spider is 3-0 at light heavy. Just saying.
I agree with what you’re saying, Sonnen in NO WAY deserves a shot at a title in a weight class he has never even fought at in the UFC, but Spider being 3-0 at lhw doesn’t mean squat when he say’s he doesn’t want the fight with Jones.
Just find another day other than Friday and they will get ratings again.
Not that simple since DVR numbers are factored in to the ratings now.
@Newfie thanks man.
Ya the whole thing is bogus. There its no rhyme or reason and that’s why nothing else makes sense compared to it. Its the UFC saying F U to its hard core fans in favor of perceived future ratings. What’s funny is the ratings for this fight will be good, but no telling how this kills future ratings. Sorry Dana this isn’t the WWE!!
No if Sonnen wins it in no way proves that he deserves the fight. It doesn’t go back in time and change the fact he didn’t win one fight to get there. This is a combat sport, anything can happen in a fight. That’s why you have eliminator fights to weed out who truly deserves it. Its unfair and a slap in the effin face to guys like Gustafson, etc who have been grinding to get that shot. And to put it simply, its a whole lot of bad charma waiting for Dana and the UFC.
We need a rating system, but that will never happen.
Tenatively, it’s set for 27 April 2013 (day after my birthday). Hard to believe we have to wait six months to see Jones fight again. All for program positioning.
he’ll be rehabbing his elbow during the course of filming the show, so it’s not all for the TV schedule
@factman so far only your facts have made any sense man.