I see this a similar scenario as GSP-Kos where Kos just talked non-stop **** in the house and got trashed in the fight.
It's a terrible fight that shows how desperate the UFC has became after a year of mismanaging its programming on FX and FOX. That they have been reduced to this a year after their supposedly game changing tv deal shows just how badly things have gone. And to say there's no credible alternatives is BS. What about Henderson? I could have sworn White was busy hyping that as a much see match as recently as August. The same time he was saying that Sonnen needed several victories at 205Ibs to warrant a title shot. What about Cormier who repeatedly offered to move down in weight to face Jones. Gustafsson has plenty of victories at 205Ibs too. This is the actions of a blundering company backed into a corner. It's pathetic.
I wonder what is going on behind the scenes. Jon Jones (and a couple of other high-profile guys) has had a lot of the power suddenly shift to his side recently. He is now a multi-millionaire who is comfortable publicly stating that he won't fight this guy or that guy. Has the money now gotten big enough that the top fighters are rich enough that they can start picking and choosing their fights based on what they find to be acceptable risk/reward? I hope Jones isn't turning into Mayweather. :-( :hat
Hendos put up a tweet saying something like " I guess I'll give up training and just goto **** talking school to get fights " Champion
I guess I should just quit training to win fights and to be exciting for the fans and just go to **** talking school. @danawhite — Dan Henderson (@danhendo) October 17, 2012
Hendo is 40 something, injured, "pissed Dana off" (for what it's worth) and the casual fan is not going to get wet over him. JJ v Cormier, Gustafsson are not the fights to make right now and you would be a fool to say otherwise. Shogun and Gustafsson will put on a ****ing show in a few weeks, and Daniel Cormier went 5 rounds with Josh Barnett.. That is not how you sell PPV, and it's not how you make a star out of fighters in the world's largest MMA organization. I know it's a title fight, but you have to sell fights.