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[Cat--Smasher]

Pat Miletich Says It’s Organizational Suicide to Do That to Jon Jones

“I understand the pressure that Zuffa is under with the Fox deal, FX deal, and all that stuff. By putting on a massive number of cards, I think they’ve stretched themselves a bit thin. The quality of the cards has gone down, and I think everybody has noticed that, not just myself. When you have a card that is only carried by one match, given the attrition rate in MMA, the injuries in training, they kind of set themselves up for the fall.

They need to hold themselves accountable. It’s become a bit of a habit, of late, by the leaders, to blame others for their problems, instead of letting people hold them accountable. It’s across the board in a lot of different spectrums of life right now.

I think that Jon Jones not taking a fight with a guy who’s not five foot eleven, he’s six foot two, or six foot three, whatever he is, he’s much bigger than Henderson, is ok. He’s younger and probably moves a little better. Dan, obviously can kill a bull with his right hand, but he’s a little older now, and Sonnen is a lefty, so it’s really a different fight.

I think Jon Jones had nothing to gain in that fight. Sonnen, moving to a different weight division, having not fought there for quite a long time, and competing at 185, hasn’t earned the right in the first place. I think Jon Jones was well within his rights, and I back Jackson on the decision that he made and the advice that he gave Jones to pull out of the fight. It doesn’t do the UFC any good to chop the legs out from possibly their biggest star, because he doesn’t take a last minute replacement fight. There was nothing to gain for his career. I think it’s organizational suicide to do that to your biggest star.”

Pat Miletich Says It's Organizational Suicide to Do That to Jon Jones | UFC News | MMA News | Mixed Martial Arts | UFC News | BJPenn | MMA Fight | UFC Fights

[RearNakedStroke]

Right on Miletich. I agree with everything he said. It's good to see someone from the MMA community with seemingly no ties to either side have the balls to call it like it is.

[lwbrewer]

My problem wasn't exactly what Jones did, but how he did it. He could of did many different things. Jones didn't feel Sonnen deservered a shot and I agree, but he could of requested it be a non title match/ win than get a shot. Making excusses does nothing after the fact to help his case. Yes the UFC holds alot of the blame too, but it's pretty bad when DW's self PR is better than yours.

[nbm02ss]

I think a lot more people would share Pat's opinion, but Jones didn't really help his case with some of the things he's said in the past few days.

[iced]

finally someone with some common sense steps up. honestly, most of the things zuffa/ufc/dana thses days have had me shaking my head. very strange

[rivethead]

I've never seen sonnen listed as being taller than 6'1".


Maybe to Pat, anyone over 5'10" is a giant?

rh

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

I love Miletich to death, he's an excellent analyst and provides articulate, well-informed insights that elevates the fights he calls. That said, he has the tricky tendency to chime in on the opposite side of ZUFFA, no matter what the context, so I'm not surprised by what he said....

Again, guys turn down fights all the time for this or that reason and UFC definately should shoulder a good portion of the blame for how this all went down. However, as previous said, it is in THE WAY Jones approached this entire debacle that most people have taken issue with. He has really demonstrated horrendous judgement and has projected this poor image of himself as an immature, spoiled narcissist, which will only hurt his market value. Jones' issue IMO is with PR and how he's navigated his actions surrounding UFC 151, which has left him to appear as anything but "the good guy".

[the_dark_angel_4ever]

The biggest issue for me, is that Jones himself got the title shot when he did by filling in as an injury replacement. It wasn't on 8 days notice, but it was a similar situation.

I don't disagree with him declining the fight in principle, but considering Sonnen would probably as similar a replacement for Henderson as you can get, AND the fact that he's still sponsored by the UFC, he probably should have stepped up and taken the fight.

[RearNakedStroke]

Originally Posted by the_dark_angel_4ever

The biggest issue for me, is that Jones himself got the title shot when he did by filling in as an injury replacement. It wasn't on 8 days notice, but it was a similar situation.

I disagree with it being a similar situation. Jones was ripping through everyone they put in front of him in the lhw division (except one dq) when he got his shot at the title as a replacement. Sonnen has not fought at lhw in years and never in the UFC, and is coming off a loss at a lower weight class.

It could be argued that Jones deserved the title shot. It can't be argued that Sonnen deserves a title shot. As far as I know Zuffa has yet to publicly state that this fight was ever offered to Jones as a non title fight.

[end it with a left]

Yeah Jones got his title fight as an injury replacement but he atleast had been very dominate already at lhw. He crushed every opponent he had at lhw so other than not beating a top five contender first, most people would agree at the time that he was a legit contender for the belt. Chael is a middle weight who hasn't fought in lhw in years and couldnt even hold the wec lhw belt which was a fairly weak division for them. Talking shouldn't earn Chael an immediate shot. Thats the difference in getting the fight replacement between the two. Was Shogun even offered the fight is what I would like to know?

Imo it's Zuffa's fault that 151 got cancelled. They should have started shopping around for a legit contender when Dan hurt his knee and giving those options to Jon with more than 8 days notice. Chaels wreslting makes him a dangerous opponent to anyone and Chael wouldn't be interested in keeping the fight standing unlike Dan. Very different opponent and game plan.