Jon Jones: "This is about putting Chael Sonnen into irrelevancy"
Posted on October 18, 2012, 03:57 AM by Andreas HaleIt's no secret that Jon Jones felt that Chael Sonnen did not deserve a shot at his light heavyweight title. Hell, UFC 151 was cancelled because of his reluctance to face Sonnen (although he blames the timing more than the opponent). Nevertheless, something changed over the past month that made Jones warm up to the idea that facing Sonnen isn't such a bad idea.
"It wasn't the money, it really just had to do with getting over this chapter of my career," Jones said on a conference call discussing the upcoming season of TUF and the subsequent showdown between he and Sonnen. "I wanted to move on and do great things. UFC 151 was a tough moment for me. Beating Sonnen would give closure to the Chael Sonnen invasion of my career."
Sonnen has become a pesky thorn in Jones' side. However, the fact that Sonnen has had the balls to call out Jones when fighters like Lyoto Machida opted to back down resonated with Jones. "He's an interesting guy," Jones said in regards to his TUF counterpart. "I respect some things about him. He goes to get what he wants...except world championships. He's good for the sport in some ways."
Some of those ways have to do with Chael's ability to promote a fight. If it weren't for his gift of gab, there likely wouldn't have been as much public interest in a Jon Jones fight to begin with. Despite the fact that he hasn't fought a top contender at 205, Sonnen has been steadfast in calling out Jones on social media to the point where fans began to ask for the fight. But Jones still doesn't believe that Sonnen deserves a shot at his title. Instead, this is about silencing the naysayers that believed that "Bones" actually feared Sonnen.
“This has nothing to do with the belt in my mind. He’s not even getting close to the belt," Jones explains. "This is about me taking care of Chael Sonnen. I respect some of the things he does for the sport, but he’s not a championship level athlete. I’m doing the sport a favor – and I’m doing Chael a favor – beating him and sending him to his true calling as a commentator doing TV shows. His ground and pound is very weak, he’s got no submission and he gets submitted all the time. When it comes to his wrestling, if he gets me down I don’t see any way for him to beat me. But I will train like a madman because losing to Chael Sonnen is not an option.
"This is more about putting Chael into irrelevancy."
Comments
Gentlemen, release your frustrations below...
ajichiban, it was funny the first few times dude, you need a new thing buddy
i dont understand the matchmaking in modern MMA
I guess the old days of Pride when people would get title shots off 3 fight winning streaks made more sense?
Let's be fair, 90% of the UFC matchmaking is great but every now and again they might make a match that is a bit weird or just for good business but I think that's fair enough
Do you understand the fact that a commercial company is always looking for ways to gain more profit?
it would be great with a fair ranking system or more tournaments!!! i would say 70% of the UFC matchmaking is ok!!!
haha i wish. Not really just MMA is my biggest passion and I'm super in to all the news and drama that comes with the competition itself. Also I use my phone for a lot of the comments so makes it easy when waiting for a bus or during college break.
I'm actually off college this week aswell, hence me commenting non stop lol
Bones is just caving to pressure. He has folded and now is trying to legitimize his actions.
ohhhhh now you want to fight chael. what happened at 151 bitch? i dont understand jons logic, he said chael didnt deserve fight him. i guess he is doing it for the big bucks and publicity eventhough he said he only wants to fight the best. he could of just beat him at 151 instead of making a stupid fight 6 months in advance. i bet jon actually asked for the fight.
idiot
well...its not really that hard to understand. jon is the champion for many reasons. one of them is the way he approaches fights in training and PREPARATION. this is not a schoolyard brawl dude. you don't risk your title because a guy who's got nothing to lose calls you out on 8 days notice.
first of all lets get this straight the fight does not make sense 6 months in advance. on 8 days notice it made some sense because the card could of been saved, and jones could be preparing for someone worthy now. hypothetically jones could of made chael irrelevant at 151 and enable other fights to happen. take joness nut out ur mouth because he is a hypocrite. risking his title LOL! jones has an exponential advantage over chael whether he prepares 8 days or 8 years. he said chael does not deserve to fight him, but he changed his mind. hes to blame as much for this fight as the ufc, he should of turned it down
the fact that the upcoming fight doesnt make sense has nothing to do with jon's decision to refuse the fight in the first place. why would he take it now if his reason to turn down first wasn't what he said it was?
now he has enough time to do everything in his power to win this.
What has to be true for Chael Sonnen to want a fight at 205 with JJ, I ask myself.
My conclusion; this is a massive final pay day prior to him becoming a full time commentator/ pt coach??
- Sonnen will have the authority of a commentator at having fought the best in two weight divisions.
- The reputation as an enteratining commentator etc...
This is the perfect step into his new career.
Sonnen has played the system and made it work -smart guy, who managed to take the focus from an unremarkable professional fighting career and build his reputation on 24 minutes of brilliant steroid fuelled perfomance and an excellent performance against Brian Stann.
This may have been the most ignorant statement I have ever read on this site and that says alot.
@riptastic
Actually I agree I left quite a lot out. Keith made an excellent point.
I wouldnt go so far to say its the most ignorant point that has ever been made, actually I have made a loss worse points than this. So I suppose you were trying to make me feel better about all the other Baloney. Riptastic you're my greatest fan :)
I agree with most of what you said but before being destroyed by Silva the second time he was a beast. Amazing performances aganist Miller, Okami, Marquardt, ANDERSON SILVA, Briant Stann and a tough win over Bisping show how good the guy really is... much more than unremarkable.
@Keith
Politely put, great points - thanks.
You're pretty sharp for a Walmart greeter.
Blah, Blah, Blah!!! UFE!!!
chael is a con man and danas but buddy. this is big time bs. all the ranked fighter should be pissed.
@Sapo,
If it is true, and i hear it may be, that Dana and Chael are butt buddies, then surely you can understand. How would you feel if your butt buddy didn't give you a title shot? I bet there would be no north south positions for a week!
Am I right??
I like Jones but it would be awsome if Chael took it to him...than imagined that: We could see the Goat going for for Chael at 205...Crazy no?
that would be hilarious Brazil if Silva went back to 205 one more time just to beat the crap outta Sonnen in a 2nd weight class
irrelevancy? How is Sonnen relevant at 205 at all? Has he fought or won there recently? NO, Infact he lost his last 2 fights at 185 as far as I'm concerned. Being a character who talks shit and can't back it up does not make you relevant in any sense. No one remembers that this loser was on steroids which was the only reason he even came close to beating Silva. He is just trying to hold onto any bit of popularity he can and you retarded fans are the ones trying to make him relevant still.
Regardless of the reason, it just doesn't make sense. Sure, Jones could have fought Sonnen and saved 151, probably wouldn't have been hurt, and could now prepare to face Hendo in a real fight. Now we wait a year to see this fight, if we ever get it. Not good for the true fans.
Agreed.
I just don't understand why they didn't do Hendo-Jones on TUF. Hendo will be alright to fight by April. He's already healing. He's also not that much less of a draw then Chael (especially if you consider the amount of drop off from Sonnen fights with Anderson to everyone else).
Jones-Sonnen actually slows the division down significantly. April is way too long of a wait for this matchup.
Jones vs Hendo as coaches made more sense!
I really like what Jones said there and why he's fighting Chael, until he does he wont hear the end of it so why not embarrass him in the largest way possible, after TUF where way more people know who he is and how much he runs his mouth.
And in my opinion Chael will provide way more tv entertainment than any other top 5 LHW so what the hell I dont even care if he deserves it any more Im going to enjoy that season, the show has been really dull lately.
Here is the timeline, next 6 months, guaranteed.......
1. Sonnen annoys the living sh*t out of every fan on the planet with his WWE infused "trash talk".
2. Jones basically ignores him.
3. FINALLY, Jones and Sonnen fight after TUF, and more annoying trash talk.
4. Jones beats the living sh*t out of Sonnen.
5. Sonnen picks out his next victim, and starts trash talking all over again, and so on.
It's all about the $$ boys...
Yeah it is all about short term gain without a thought about what this kind of shit does to MMA in the long term, setting these kinds of precedents doesn't seem like a seriously ****ing bad idea?
RRRRHAHAHAHA Da Brock Lesnar is funy man but mster Jhnny Johnny Joneses will ruel da welterweights fer 10= mor yeerz
FEDORRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
Surely after Sonnen loses to Jones the only logical next step is to have him fight for the heavyweight title. After that fight the recently amputated below the waste Sonnen can challenge for the 125p belt.
I don't know which fight is worse...silva vs bonnar or chael vs Jones
The UFC have lost my respect lately....They continue to deny guys title shots and come up with the most bullshit excuses. We didn't know if Dan Hendo wanted to do the show, or we didn't know if he was healthy.. Complete bullshit
I don't know which fight is worse...silva vs bonnar or chael vs Jones
The UFC have lost my respect lately....They continue to deny guys title shots and come up with the most bullshit excuses. We didn't know if Dan Hendo wanted to do the show, or we didn't know if he was healthy.. Complete bullshit
can we not block this C*NT???
Jones=One badass douchebag
This is a Moneymaking business. Without a steady money flow, no UFC. So stop bitching and let them make a horrible mach up from time to time in order to preserve the sport.
To all up and coming fighters in the UFC....Trash Talk your way to be a number 1 contender..