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[Sakara=Excitement]

Walking the thin line between tough and dumb in mixed martial arts | MMAjunkie.com

After he accepted a fight in a division that he hasn't competed in for years, and against a champion who he'll have less than a month to prepare for, Vitor Belfort took to Twitter to mention that he thought a lot of other fighters were acting like "divas."

Whether he meant Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who had turned down the same opportunity he embraced, or whether he meant Jon Jones, who had already declined one fight with far-reaching implications, seemed unclear. What remained perfectly clear was that Belfort, the 35-year-old "Phenom," was anything but a diva, since he had stepped up to take what oddsmakers regard as an almost unwinnable fight.

But that's not what seems important right now. What's important is that he answered the call and took the fight. He said yes when others said no, thus proving to fans and to UFC President Dana White that he really does want to be a [expletive] fighter. Even the people who don't like his chances of staying conscious against Jones can't wait to tell you how much they respect that, as if Belfort is throwing himself into a volcano as a human sacrifice intended to save the village. It all makes me wonder if we aren't idolizing some of the wrong things in MMA, or at least celebrating the right ideas in a pretty weird way.

For instance, when Chael Sonnen was on his impromptu media tour last week, he told me that he'd been brought up to believe that a fighter was someone who'd throw down with "anyone, anywhere, anytime."

And yeah, I have to admit it sounds pretty cool. It makes you think of Jack Dempsey walking into old-timey mining town saloons and issuing the early 20th century boxer's version of the Gracie challenge. But is that really what we expect of modern-day professionals, to be willing to scrap on a moment's notice with absolutely anybody? More importantly, is it a good idea for them?

The answer to the first question, judging by the backlash against Jones, seems to be a firm yes. We do expect fighters – especially champions who have had a full training camp – to take just about any fight on any notice. And while I'm not sure how the cause and effect works on this one, they seem to expect the same of themselves and each other.

At an open workout in Seattle in 2011, I remember DaMarques Johnson explaining his decision to take a fight against Amir Sadollah on two weeks' notice. When he got the offer, Johnson said, he asked himself what he'd do if he were out at a bar and Sadollah dropped a beer in his lap. What then? Well, Johnson decided, the two of them would probably end up stepping outside in that situation, so why wouldn't he take the fight in this situation, with money on the line?

Johnson did take that fight, as you may recall, and he lost in the second round when Sadollah held him down and elbowed him until he submitted. That brings us back to the second part of the question, the part about whether it's a good idea.

To get some perspective on the issue, I asked a couple fighters with experience in the matter. What I found, not surprisingly, is that the answer depends not only on the circumstances of the short-notice fight in question, but also on what your goals are.

For instance, take Jamie Varner, whose past two fights have come as a result of agreeing to replace someone else on short notice. The first one, when he stepped in against Edson Barboza on less than a month's notice, was, according to Varner, "my way into the UFC." It also wasn't too taxing, since he was already in training for a fight on a smaller show scheduled for around the same time, and needed to ramp up his effort in the gym only slightly in order to be ready.

But the second time, when he agreed to replace an injured Terry Etim and face Joe Lauzon at the UFC on FOX 4, it was slightly different.

Still, he had a little over a month to get ready for the fight, and he never allows himself to get too far from fighting shape, Varner said, so he figured he could be ready in time. He had other motivations as well.

The problem is, even a company man will find himself unemployed if he loses too many in a row. Stepping up on short notice earns you some slack, but it can be hard to tell how much.

Just ask Leonard Garcia, who stepped up on eight days' notice to fight Nam Phan in December 2010. He got a call from his manager on Thanksgiving, he said. He'd just finished socking away as much food as his stomach would hold, and there was his manager on the phone, asking him what he weighed at the moment.

When he took off his clothes and stepped on the bathroom scale, it read 172. The fight was at 145 pounds. He felt like he'd just eaten six pounds worth of dinner, Garcia said, but he knew if he took the fight he'd have to focus what little time he had exclusively on making weight. No time to study Phan or have a teammate simulate him in sparring. He'd be spending the next few days packed into a sweatsuit, running on a treadmill, suffering through the kind of emotional lows that a fighter doesn't want to have to deal with in the days before a fight. Still, he said yes.

But now that Garcia is riding a three-fight losing streak, he feels like he can't afford to say yes to any offer, he said. Whatever brownie points he earns by stepping up when the UFC needs a favor could be wiped out by a fourth consecutive loss, so suddenly his own belief that fighters should always answer the call didn't make as much sense.

You have to admit that it's a reasonable position, given the circumstances. But then, if the "anyone, anywhere, anytime" philosophy is conditional – if it really boils down to "anyone, anywhere, anytime … as long as I have some measure of job security" – it starts to seem less like an unimpeachable warrior code and more like a privilege that only some can afford.

It's not just the fear of being fired, according to Varner, who said he was surprised Jones didn't accept the fight with Sonnen, but was more understanding when it came to Machida and Rua turning down Jones.

As we've seen, when the UFC decides it needs an opponent on a certain date, it isn't always so willing to negotiate. Sometimes it's easier to find someone who'll say yes on the UFC's timeframe than it is to field alternate suggestions.

That brings us back to Belfort, who upped his tough guy street cred points by stepping up when the UFC needed him. Is that a good idea for him? Maybe, depending on what you think he has to lose. Even if the fight is as one-sided as oddsmakers expect, it's not as if he'll get cut as a result. Then again, he also probably won't be offered the next crack at Anderson Silva just for doing the UFC a favor. He will make some money, win or lose, and there's always the chance that his punching power could turn out to be his winning lottery ticket, despite the long odds.

But once we get past our initial admiration for Belfort's willingness to step up and maybe take a beating for the sake of fighter's pride and company honor, where do fights like this one leave us? Ideally, fans would be buying tickets and ordering pay-per-views to see two well-prepared athletes in peak condition. That is, after all, kind of the whole point of a title fight. It's the two best fighters in the division, at least for the moment, squaring off to find out how much space there is between first and second place.

This feels more like we're showing up to a play and watching the understudy's understudy, all while applauding him for being willing to step on the stage even if he doesn't know his lines yet.

Is it weird that we do that, that we apply some vague street fighter's code to what's supposed to be a professional sport? A little, yeah. Maybe a lot. But as long as fighters keep answering those calls and fans keep expecting them to, it doesn't seem like it's going to change any time soon.

[The8thPlague]

I guarantee you that Jones is gonna throw the same kick Anderson did at Belfort to see if it actually connects again.

[rivethead]

Interesting perspectives. I'm surprised the author didn't try to work in something about Varner's first fight with Cerrone. He took a lot of heat for not being able to continue after the illegal knee which would tie right into the subject. I've seen a ton of fights where the fighter gets rocked by something illegal, makes the decision to tough it out and continue while they're still on rubber legs and goes on to lose...effectively making it a dumb decision.

The issue that I have with Jones is I honestly can't see any threat that sonnen poses for him, other than verbal. I don't see where it would be a "tough" decision to fight him. But I'm not a professional fighter, and my opinion isn't worth the ether its printed on.

Originally Posted by The8thPlague

I guarantee you that Jones is gonna throw the same kick Anderson did at Belfort to see if it actually connects again.

except, he'll throw it from considerably farther away.

rh

[TN94z]

I personally think the fighters are in a tough position now. It's not like the old Gracie days, fighting 2 or 3 times a night and anyone that is put in front of you. It's a business now. Each specific situation calls for different decisions.

For fighters like Varner and his situation or a fighter down the ladder getting an unexpected and untimely shot at the champ...I feel like they must take those chances.

For a champ in those situations, they end up with a lot more to lose. As we all know, anything can happen in MMA. So while Jones shouldn't have had anything to worry about with Sonnen (especially with Sonnen not having a training camp), Sonnen still has that chance of winning.

As far as Lyoto goes, I think he did the right thing. He most likely will only get one more shot at Jones after the first fight. So he needs to be prepared for that fight like no other and make it count! For him to have taken the Jones fight on short notice like that, would have been fairly stupid. But in this situation, he has more room to turn down a short notice fight than Jones. Jones has had a full training camp, and is in shape and ready to fight anyway.

I don't know. I just have mixed feelings about this whole situation. I can see both sides of the story, but with that particular fighter he was training for and the particular fighter that stepped up to fill in on short notice, I don't really see what the issue was.

[RearNakedStroke]

Originally Posted by The8thPlague

I guarantee you that Jones is gonna throw the same kick Anderson did at Belfort to see if it actually connects again.

That wouldn't surprise me at all. And it would be hilarious if it worked.

As far a taking fights on short notice I see it as going above and beyond what's expected. Props to the guys that step up and do it but I don't see how it can count against guys that don't.

[Thamob]

Originally Posted by The8thPlague

I guarantee you that Jones is gonna throw the same kick Anderson did at Belfort to see if it actually connects again.

I don't know. I find Jones' kicks are more awkward and a telegraphed compared to most. Along with that I haven't really seen any power with his kicks. Well not that I can recall.

I'm ok with guys taking fights on short notice to an extent. As a champ, I feel they have one opponent to prepare for then that should be the opponent they fight. They'll be at 100% and will have 0 excuses should they lose.

[Y2JUBAE]

Author may think it's dumb to take short notice fights, but those dumb fighters stay employed. I don't think they are dumb either, I think they are warriors!

[RearNakedStroke]

Originally Posted by Y2JUBAE

Author may think it's dumb to take short notice fights, but those dumb fighters stay employed. I don't think they are dumb either, I think they are warriors!

That wasn't what I got out of the article at all. I thought the author clearly explained both perspectives under different circumstances.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by Y2JUBAE

Author may think it's dumb to take short notice fights, but those dumb fighters stay employed. I don't think they are dumb either, I think they are warriors!

Ummm did you read the thing?