Chael Sonnen is getting the next title shot at Jon Jones. They will be competing coaches on the Ultimate Fighter. Yup, the same Chael Sonnen who just got beaten like a wounded puppy by MIDDLEWEIGHT champion Anderson Silva. The same Chael Sonnen who has never been a champion in any organization. The same Chael Sonnen who has never ever won a single UFC match at light heavyweight and who has fought in the division only once, when he got choked out by Babalu Sobral in 2005.
Now I’m not saying that it won’t be an exciting matchup. It will be. And with Jones’s arm injury (which is going to be somewhat permanent) and Chael’s testosterone injections, I do think that Chael has a very good chance of sitting on top of Jones for five rounds and winning the decision. But to give him a title shot when there are top contenders like Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson standing in line is a complete joke. Guys like Gustafsson have been patiently working their way up. Sure, Chael’s a great trash-talker, but he has never even won in the light heavyweight division, and now he’s the #1 contender?
MMA will never be a serious sport. I’ll still enjoy watching it, but because of silly popularity contests like this one, it’ll never be viewed on the same level as…well, as any other major sport. It’ll always be a sideshow. In all fairness, fighters have very short careers, so it might be a sideshow no matter how they choose fights. But this doesn’t help the cause.
More here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/jon-jones-chael-sonnen-fight-horizon-fighters-wonder-120849058–mma.html
I think Henderson is right. Stop training and go to talking school. What’s the point if the boss ignores your hard work just to give favors to trash talkers?
More here (and yes, I know this isn’t Asian related):
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1375172-chael-sonnen-vs-jon-jones-the-winners-and-losers/page/5
It’s all about the bottom line. Which is a mistake. It should be about the sport and getting the best fighters out there. At least in boxing and judo there’s a ranking system where you can earn your way to a shot, PPV numbers be damned.
Even in boxing there’s a lot of ill will towards the promoters. Currently Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. got his ass handed to him by the Argentinian pound-for-pound Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez. The same CHavez Jr. who was fighting tomato cans in each of his defenses. They were trying to cash in on his father’s legendary status, and succeeded for a long time.
The same is being don by Golden Boy promotions with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Again, another “champion” being handed guys who either have to jump two divisions up to fight him, or are ranked pretty low.
Not exactly analogous, but clearly the same mentality.