After it was announced at a press conference that Jon Jones would face Lyoto Machida at UFC 152, Machida has declined the fight and Vitor Belfort will face Jon Jones. The surprising news occurred late Thursday night.
Belfort was scheduled to face Alan Belcher in Brazil. That fight is off although Belcher is likely to fight a replacement. We assume that the UFC will have that fighter sign first before its announced to the public.
(h/t MMA Junkie)
Payout Perspective:
Yesterday we posted the fact that Jones refused to fight late replacement Chael Sonnen. Now, we hear that Machida turned down the fight after it was announced. It begs the question on whether or not Machida was ever notified that he would fight Jones. The refusal looks bad for the UFC as it had announced it to the press and made up posters for the fight as the main event at 152.
The fighter refusal of Jones and Machida points to the fact that fighters are now pushing back against the UFC. No longer can White plug and play some of his fighters into matchups. A case of biting the hand that feeds you or are fighters finally gaining some leverage?
Perhaps Machida thought that he didn’t have sufficient time to train for Jon Jones. And, if he lost the second rematch, there would be no chance of another title shot unless someone beat Jones.
Of course, he knew he’d get the next title fight (assuming Jones beat Hendo), so we may ask why he wasn’t ready. It might be that he had planned the fight to occur sometime in 2013 and took time off from training. We may get a better sense today if his team releases a statement.
In the aftermath of the Jones refusal, it’s interesting to hear the comments of Chael Sonnen about Jones. Also, the news that Anderson Silva would have fought at UFC 151 to “save” the card. I think the Silva news may be public relations for Silva to make him appear the hero. The news is he would not have faced Jones (that would be foolish and if that fight would happen, the UFC would want ample hype time) but an unspecified opponent. Whether or not the UFC would have agreed and who that opponent would be are all questions that will go unanswered. But, it make Silva look like more of a company man.
It is hilarious watching Dana White cry
This is all Dan Henderson’s fault, he knew for 3 weeks that he was injured yet he didn’t say anything until this week. He’s 42 and on TRT and yet manages to avoid any blame.
“Of course, he knew he’d get the next title fight (assuming Jones beat Hendo), so we may ask why he wasn’t ready. It might be that he had planned the fight to occur sometime in 2013 and took time off from training. We may get a better sense today if his team releases a statement.”
You answered your own question. If the Jones/Hendo fight happened when do you think Jones would be fighting again? It sure wasnt going to be 2 weeks later. At best this would have been a December card or January.
Sampson reminds me of the Homeless guy standing on the street corner with a sign saying the world is going to end. There has been a guy doing it for the last 100 years. There has always been a tool like Somson on every site and forum in have been on since 1996. Back then “his kind” was saying the UFC was dying because their added new rules. Then in 2000’s the UFC was killing the sport and it was never going to take off as long as they used a cage and used “Ultimate Fighting” as their name as it was to barbaric. Yt 5 years later the sport blows up. There have been morons second guessign the UFC and every decision they have made ever since and the UFC always comes out as the winner and the Sampsons come out as the losers.
Dana? Is that you?
Here’s a Kleenex buddy. You need it more than me.
Yes John McCain. It’s me, Dana White!