It’s a story MMA fans have grown distressingly used to hearing—news of a hotly anticipated fight canceled at the 11th hour, followed immediately by the obligatory news of a short-notice replacement.
This week it was the second installment of Jon Jones’ blood feud with Daniel Cormier falling by the wayside, after Cormier pulled out with a leg injury.
The shallow nature of the light heavyweight division didn’t exactly give matchmakers a plethora of choices as a replacement, and ultimately unsung contender Ovince Saint Preux got the nod. The ensuing matchup—Jones vs. Saint Preux, for an interim 205-pound title—is so random it raises a lot of questions about what exactly we’re doing here.
Why the insistence that the show must go on, at the risk of damaging the Jones-Cormier rivalry? Why is this the norm in MMA? And did the UFC put Jones in a no-win situation by matching him against Saint Preux?
Luckily, Bleacher Report lead writers Chad Dundas (that's me) and Jonathan Snowden are here to try to shed some light on the whole sordid subject.
Chad Dundas: I can’t escape the feeling that the cancelation of UFC 151 back in 2011 loomed large in Jones’ decision to fight Saint Preux on short notice.
Jones has been through so much since that incident that if feels as though it happened during another lifetime. Still, I’m sure he acutely remembers the way UFC brass threw him under the bus after Dan Henderson pulled out with an injury. I’m sure he also recalls the backlash from fans who followed UFC President Dana White’s rhetorical lead and failed to recognize the true fault lay with the fight company—which booked a pay-per-view so weak it couldn’t survive the loss of its main event.
This time, Jones is taking the opposite track. He’s opting to accept Saint Preux in what should be a cakewalk of a fight but nonetheless comes at a crucial time in Bones’ career. My opening question for you, Jonathan, is this: Does this interim title fight against OSP represent a lose-lose for Jones?
Or if he stomps through it in expected fashion and emerges with some version of the light heavyweight title he never lost once again around his waist, will you buy it as an important step to what Jones described as “redemption and getting back on my feet and getting my life back" to Yahoo's Kevin Iole on Monday?
Jonathan Snowden: Jones has nothing to gain from fighting Saint Preux. Everyone expects, even though he's been on the sidelines for more than a year, that Jones will dismantle his unlikely opponent with gusto and flair.
But what if he doesn't?
Say, for example, this fight goes to a close decision that Jones wins? How does that help him or the UFC sell a rematch with Daniel Cormier?
Jones isn't supposed to struggle with the likes of Saint Preux. OSP is a guy Cormier claims he'd fight on a single day's notice. How tough could he be?
Worse still, if you are Jones or the UFC, he could actually, unthinkably lose. These are big men wearing awfully small gloves, and Jones is out of practice and most likely out of sorts. An upset isn't out of the question.
If that happens, you spoil the big-money fight that fans, and both fighters, are craving. And for what? To save a pay-per-view for UFC? That's a good thing if you're a UFC investor, I suppose. But it seems like an awfully risky move if you're an athlete.
Chad: Each time we get into one of these short-notice replacement situations, I’m reminded of a troubling reality.
Basically, everything we know about modern MMA in America has been crafted by the UFC and the particular, peculiar dudes who own it. From the sport’s regrettable—and at this point inexorable—association with bro culture to the expectation that MMA’s top athletes will accept dangerous, late-notice fights they haven’t prepared for regardless of the personal stakes, it’s all set up to benefit the company, not the fighter.
In a world that made any sense, the focus here would be on preserving the Jones-Cormier rivalry. As the two top fighters in the 205-pound ranks, their feud has a chance to go down as one of the best ever, especially if it were to somehow become a trilogy.
Instead, the UFC—as you point out—is putting all that at risk in a mad scramble to book a main event that, in Iole’s words, might “save the show from a business standpoint.” It’s laughably shortsighted, and the only people it benefits are the ones who will keep almost all the money made at UFC 197. I hope at this point we don’t have to explain who those people are.
Even weirder, we as fans not only accept this reality without question by now, but we expect this to be the way it works.
Jonathan, you know a lot more about boxing than I do, there’s no expectation that any of this would happen on that side of the aisle. Is there?
Jonathan: This would almost certainly not happen in boxing. In boxing, fighters are the stars. No one shows up at the MGM Grand to watch the latest "Top Rank" or "Golden Boy" show. They come to see Manny Pacquiao or Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
The UFC brass have spent 15 years building the brand instead of investing time and energy into the individual fighters. With that goal in mind, it's easy to see why it would insist on "saving" one of its events.
The UFC isn't necessarily about Jones vs. Cormier. It will sell that to us, sure. But when the fight falls apart, for whatever reason, its true ethos emerges. The UFC is about two people fighting. Who those two people are is largely incidental.
That's why you see the UFC taking enormous risks, not just with Jones, but with Conor McGregor. Even with a fighter who has emerged as an enormous drawing card, the instinct remains to put the brand and the event first.
Last year McGregor dodged a bullet, surviving Chad Mendes on short notice. The Team Alpha wrestler tested the Irish striker, but McGregor emerged from a tough fight more credible than when he went in.
The UFC tried the same trick with Nate Diaz and paid an awful price. But it just can't help itself. As long as there is fire under the pot, it's going to toss two fighters in—even if one of them is the golden goose.
Chad: In light of this discussion, I think it's appropriate to reprint the introduction of our colleague Mike Chiappetta’s recent story, during which current Bellator heavyweight Matt Mitrione described an exchange he had with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta near the end of Mitrione’s tenure in the Octagon:
“The two sides had been engaged in a discussion regarding issues related to the Reebok sponsorship deal when [Mitrione] tried to punctuate his point by reminding [Fertitta] that the 500-plus fighters on the roster are the UFC's product. As he recounts it, the executive looked at him quizzically before responding that, no, the production and show are what the company is selling.”
That kind of says it all, right there.
Luckily, I don’t think there’s much danger of Saint Preux pulling a Diaz here. Even with those thin MMA gloves you referenced and with Jones coming in after a chaotic bit of inactivity, he should blow OSP’s doors off.
If an upset happens, however, perhaps it would finally be enough for fans to confront the idea that all of this short-notice fight stuff is kind of crazy and often counterproductive.
Let’s end on this note, Jonathan. You mentioned it up top, but do you really see a legitimate path to victory for Saint Preux here?
Jonathan: It's hard to imagine anyone beating Jon Jones. He lost once but in the most awesome way possible—by beating the other guy a little too violently.
We've seen Vitor Belfort nearly catch him in an armbar and seen Jones himself nearly rip his own toe off in the process of claiming poor Chael Sonnen's soul. But OSP is no one's idea of a jiu-jitsu wizard, and toe lightning is unlikely to strike twice.
Ultimately, the UFC is probably safe in making this match happen. Of course, it also felt safe with Holly Holm putting another notch on her belt against Miesha Tate before the inevitable Ronda Rousey rematch too.
Jones is almost surely going to breeze to victory at UFC 197. The rematch with Cormier is practically a given.
But "almost" and "practically" are dangerous words. Breath will be held and fingers crossed every second Jones and Saint Preux are in the cage together—even if Jones will walk away with his very own title belt by the time the night ends.
