MMA Junkie reports that Jon Jones’ next opponent will be Glover Texeira. The two will likely meet Super Bowl weekend in February.
The news is somewhat surprising considering the impressive performance put on by Alexander Gustaffson last week. However, Gustaffson will get a fight in Sweden instead of another shot at the title.
Notably, Dana White told ESPN that Jones requested the Texeira fight.
Payout Perspective:
Does the Jones-Texeira match-up make the most sense for UFC business? The Super Bowl weekend show will enhance Fox’s lineup during that weekend but what type of coverage will it get in the area? There is some thought that the UFC should have capitalized on the Jones-Gus fight in an immediate rematch. Gustaffson made a name for himself despite losing and would thus gain some notoriety in promoting their next fight. With Texeira, you get another unknown that the UFC will have to build hype from scratch. For Gus, he gets rewarded (in a way) by getting a fight before his adoring fans. Likely, he wins that fight he would get another shot at the Light Heavyweight title.
Good scenario? Should the UFC have gone with Jones-Gus, or should it have kept with Texeira? And, is planning Jones’ next title defense Super Bowl weekend the smart move especially with the concern that the fight might be overshadowed by the Super Bowl coverage.
This is what I have been asking for. This is the right choice. Why set up he rematch so soon? This is a fight this will be a barn burner every time. People will pay to see that. Just like Chuck vs Wandy. Didn’t matter if there wa sa belt on the line. It was still big. So the worst case scenario is Jones don’t have the belt or you have to wait for it. If Gus win another fight everyone is going to be demanding he get his rematch. The UFC get to use Glover before something happens and they lose that fight. The guy cant keep winning for ever and not get a shot. The Glover fight has a shelf life. The Gus fight doesn’t. Its not very often you get a credible contender for a champ who has defended as much as Jones. It would be foolish to screw around and waste Glover. Those are the only 2 meaningful fights he has right now and they need to make the best of it.
If Glover wins. Then Gus would be a great fight with Glover. With Jones getting the winner after an “warm up” fight. Just so he isn’t coming off a loss.
If they do the rematch and JOnes wins again and Glover loses during that time. What do they have left for Jones? Nothing!
“Why set up the rematch so soon?”
It’s risky not to in my opinion. If one guy loses it really does take a lot of shine out of the bout, plus there’s the possibility of injuries, Jones leaving the division, etc. There are just too many variables involved in booking MMA fights that could ruin a potential rematch. The buzz is there now. Despite a vocal minority who think that it’s too soon, the reality is that the demand is there now. When you have such an amazing fight, it seems unwise to risk the rematch falling through. Even if Glover beat Jones, a Glvoer vs Gustaffson fight would not be nearly as big as a Gustaffson/Jones rematch.
The lw division got bogged down in rematches so i think that was a lesson learned. just imagine if the rematch ended in a draw.
A Gus win would be just as bad. It would mean a rubber match either way. I agree, Machiel, that one of those things happening would put a damper on the fight. But it would still be a big fight. Not ruined at all. Regardless of the situation the fight happens under. It will be looked at like Forrest/Bonnar. Also what happens if Gus loses again? Now im not sure how good Gus really is among the 205 guys. But what if he is second best behind Jones and only by a hair. Is it really fair to relegate him into a Rich Franklin situation while he may still be improving? You rush him into an 0-2 record with Jones. He cant fight him again without going on some miracle run. That would really suck if he actually improved and could beat Jones but could never fight him. At least give him a year. What is supposed to change in 3 months of training for either guy? Its pointless imo. If these were veterans in their 30’s. I would understand. But not both guys early in their career.
Its important to realize this PPV wasn’t seen by a ton of people. Its going to take time to get the word out about Gus and his performance. No one knew who he was or how good he was before. The fight will only get bigger. Doing the match now would only do what Jones fight typically do anyway. 500-550K. The Glover fight will be decent in Brazil and by the time the rematch is set up. Maybe FS1 will be build up bigger and the UFC can reach more fans and hype Gus properly. Hard to promote the fight on a new network with low ratings. There is risk not doing either fight. But there is way more upsides and less risks doing the way the UFC has choosen imo.
About the fight.
It was great to see Jones tested physically in this fight. His chin held up and it was always a question mark. Now we get to see how tough he is mentally. Guys like Jones typically don’t react well to taking a beating. They tend to be gun shy in following fights. I wondered how Jones would react to getting back in the cage with Gus knowing what he has to look forward to. Its not a good sign he is asking for the Glover fight and down playing Gus performance verses him. It takes a special fighter to get in there knowing they are going to take a beating. I don’t think Jones is cut from that cloth. He will fight Gus because he feels obligated as the champ to do so when the time comes. But he seems to want to avoid it and it will be interesting to see if it effects his performance vs Glover or his rematch with Gus.
Lets go glover. he’s been the uncrowned one for years. back when sokodjou was ranked sixth or seventh after back to back ko’s of nog and arona he had that loss to glover. Even if he loses he is still top of the food chain.