10/25/2012
Titan Fighting Championship 23: Fight For the Troops Preview - Titan 23
Titan Fighting Championship 23: Fight for the Troops LIVE from legendary Marshall Army Airfield on Fort Riley, Kansas. Former UFC standout Jorge "The Sandman" Santiago faces Justin Guthrie in the main event.Josh Thomson Din Thomas Gleison Tibau Anthony Torres Miguel Torres
Junior dos Santos thinks UFC's matchmaking "kind of out of order" with Chael Sonnen's title fight against Jon Jones
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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC's booking of Chael Sonnen against Jon Jones has brought up many questions throughout the MMA world, and one of the issues that many have is the balance between sport and spectacle. The booking has no merit from a sporting perspective, as Sonnen is nowhere near the most qualified fighter for a title fight. From a spectacle standpoint, Sonnen makes for a brash, outspoken foil for Jones, and the UFC hopes that leads to more viewers on The Ultimate Fighter and a high-selling pay-per-view event.
But straying further away from sport than is typical for the organization doesn't sit well with everyone. One of those is UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos, who expressed his feelings on the issue in a recent interview with a Brazilian radio station.
"It's kind of out of order," he said on Brazilian station Beat 98 (transcribed by Fighter's Only). "Nowadays, the UFC is prioritizing those fights which will sell well. A prime example of this was Chael Sonnen, who sold his fight very well. [Alistair] Overeem has followed the same path."
Of course, dos Santos will fight Cain Velasquez a second time instead of Overeem, who attempted to talk his way into dos Santos' next fight despite being ineligible for licensure until two days prior to the Champ's next scheduled fight. Now, his attention is on Velasquez, who will attempt to recapture the belt that dos Santos took from him last year.
"This time, as Cain himself said he wants the fight to be longer, at least the fight will happen," dos Santos said. "He is an excellent wrestler and I believe he will want to take it to the floor. He will try to do to me what he did with Silva.
"But I'm not afraid, I am 100% ready to defend the belt. A fight is a fight, you never know how it will be, maybe it will go faster than last time."
Penick's Analysis: The UFC has always had fights on their broadcasts that they believed would sell well over what was the most sporting choice. Of course, when it comes to title fights it hasn't always had the disparity between champion and challenger as Sonnen-Jones presents. It's been lopsided in the past, just not to this extent, so the negative reaction from many hasn't been surprising at all. It's interesting to hear dos Santos comment on Overeem here, though, because he's essentially giving in to that with his desire to fight Overeem due to his comments. At least that fight has more merit as a competitive title fight.
[Junior dos Santos art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14763.shtml
Marzagui Ayoub Paul McVeigh Frank Mir Daniel Moraes Scott Morris
Jon Jones reconsidering fight with Chael Sonnen
After Dan Henderson pulled out of UFC 151, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones turned down a fight with Chael Sonnen. Though the fight would have kept the eventually canceled UFC 151 alive, it also wasn't a good fight for Jones on short notice.
But now? He tweeted on Thursday night that maybe this could be a fight that the fans want to see.
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 already has a fight planned for UFC 155 against Forrest Griffin, and Jones is rehabbing an elbow injury. But perhaps it makes sense for him in the future.
A fight with Sonnen may not be the biggest challenge on the horizon for Jones, but it is good business. Sonnen is an incredibly polarizing figure, as MMA fans love or hate the outspoken fighter whose actions sometimes border on those of pro wrestling. Fans will buy a pay-per-view with Sonnen on it to either cheer him on or cheer for his comeuppance. More pay-per-view buys means more money for Jones, regardless of whether it's a good fight for him or not.
Zhang Tiequan Igor Zinoviev Mark Coleman Maurice Smith Randy Couture
?Rampage? Jackson rips Chael Sonnen, raises money for girls? basketball
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson appeared on "Inside MMA" on Monday, and aired out his feelings on Chael Sonnen. While talking about Jackson's plans to fight Glover Teixeira in the last bout on his UFC contract, he also mentioned how he didn't like Sonnen being "disrespectful" and talking smack but not backing it up.
"What's his name? Chael? Chael's mouth gets his [expletive] in trouble," Jackson said. "The dude is exciting for, like, two minutes, and then you just want to turn down the volume. It's like he practices his stuff in the mirror that he goes out and says. He's a great wrestler. That's all I'm going to say, because everything else sucks.
Jackson has never faced Sonnen, but you could see why he would take offense to Sonnen getting a title shot in his first light heavyweight bout. Though he came to the UFC as a highly decorated fighter in Pride, he still had to fight Marvin Eastman in the UFC before getting a shot at Chuck Liddell and his belt.
But, ripping Sonnen isn't the only thing Jackson did on Monday. He also tweeted a link to raise money for a girls' basketball program in California.
Doing good things. Want to help me? trying to raise $ for Capo Valley High school girls B-Ball team here capogirlsbasketball.com CLICK DONATE
? Quinton Jackson (@Rampage4real) October 23, 2012
So there you go -- a little trash talk and a little fundraising. Jackson had a pretty full Monday.
Chael Sonnen Krzysztof Soszynski George Sotiropoulos Haik Soukiasian Ronaldo de Souza
