Rebutal Goetz and TY for you post. JBJ was prepared to fight. He only needed to accept a much easier fight. He could have collected Sonnen's part of the purse too, all per my original post. Other of your comments do not conflict with my original post as I understand them. Thanks again
RJJH -Warzone209 - Take Henderson vs Jones off UFC 151 and you have Strikeforce Challengers....Truly Joe Silva and Dana are not to blame for this watered down dogshit abomination of a card.
Chimonos Revenge -UGCTT_LnPninja - ^^^^ Great post CR, but this part seems to not be factual:
"The fact that he was willing to tank an event, risk being called a ducker, and earn so much bad publicity to avoid a middleweight coming off a loss, who did not have a training camp and would have a week to prepare is shocking. Really Shocking to me, actually."
I believe Jackson when he says they did not think that Zuffa would cancel the whole event or they would have rethought the decision. Seems like Dana kept them in the dark about that part until it ws announced.
Still VTFU for a quality post.
I say this because Jones knew before he refused to fight Chael, that the event would be cancelled if he did not take the fight.
Can you tell us all how you knew that as fact...
Is it because Dana White says so?
Dana says they knew, Greg says they did not. Ariel reports that Greg Jackson is firm that they had no idea the UFC would do it last night on UFC Tonight.
Just curious if you know something we all don't.
I dont understand this thinking at all. I feel real bad for the other 18 fighters who got cancelled on. But the blame should be spread many ways, MOST of all on the UFC. Simple, if they had a flyweight title caliber fight as the co-main, the event goes on. Hell, he could have switched the flyweight title fight to UFC 151 in Vegas, and moved Jones to Toronto (which he did).
Bottom line, the other fighters can't bash their employer, so they have to toe the company line and blame Jones for Dana White cancelling the event and publicly stating "you 18 fighters are not good enough to put on a card on your own".
"I don't know exactly what the solution should be."
Less PPV cards with more valued fights is an easy answer to this issue.
Have the same number of events in total (if they absolutely must) with more of them being on regular TV and reserving more high profile matches for PPVs.
wiggum -Chimonos Revenge - This is going to be a polarizing issue, as the number of threads on the UG demonstrate.
The anti-zuffa crowd is just going to put all the blame on Dana, and use the "he's the champ, he can do what he wants" arguement they always used with Fedor.
The Pro-Zuffa crowd is just going to trash Jones constantly, and defend Dana.
The truth is a lot of both.
I think there are two major precedents here with some blame on both sides.
1. Don't make the cards so anemic that there is no interest without the main event. This is also a disservice to the rest of the fighters on the undercard and the fans. Make people want to watch the entire card.
That being said, a big Fuck You goes out to all the fans that trash undercard fighters just because they don't recognize their names. Learn something. Look into the background of the up and coming fighters, learn about them, watch some of their previous fights on youtube...maybe you will find something you like instead of just spouting of "Blerrgg...b-level fighters....derpy derp...Should be on Fuel....blarrg..."
But I digress, back to the topic...
2. The champion is supposed to fight and defend his belt against all comers.
ALL COMERS.
Yes, the main event fell through. It's a shit situation. Chael is not someone JBJ or Greg Jackson were prepared to fight, or wanted to fight. Too bad. Your responsibility is to defend your title, and you do have an obligation to the fans. What Jones did is the exact opposite of that.
A true fighter would have said "Ok, cool...now i get to Knock out Chael Sonnen. Perfect."
Not, "I only have 8 days, I havent had time to Study my opponent and create a Gameplan. I have to make a business decision to protect my brand."
Sorry, but that outlook and line of thinking is going to lose you fans, not gain them, and hurt your "Brand".
Maybe this is a Jackson concept. When Rashad was still at Jacksons, he did a lot of talking about "his brand" as well.
Interesting.
When it all comes down to it, Jones is supposed to be one of the best fighters in the sport. He is one of the most visible Champions in all of MMA. His sponsor's motto is "Just Do It".
The fact that he was willing to tank an event, risk being called a ducker, and earn so much bad publicity to avoid a middleweight coming off a loss, who did not have a training camp and would have a week to prepare is shocking. Really Shocking to me, actually.
SO, Dana! Make more compelling cards! Jones! Be a fighter, not a businessman! I could care less about your brand.
Voted up, CR.
In the end I think it's pretty simple: in the long-term, Zuffa's strategy of putting on watered down cards is biting them in the ass. But, in this instance, we can say the card would not have been cancelled if Jones accepted the fight. Maybe he was in his personal rights to turn the fight down. But it's not what the great champions would have done.
Best post other than the original post which made the exact same points.
Grampa Hendo needs to take it easy. Look at all the chaos from tweeking his knee.
I blame Dana for not being able to convince Jones to do what is in actuality in Jons best interests.
MMALOGIC - I blame Dana for not being able to convince Jones to do what is in actuality in Jons best interests.
Curious how you know what is in Jon's best interest. :)
He's not deaf dumb and blind LnP
So, it's Jones' fault that the UFC booked an incredibly weak card. Then one fight falls through on the card and then Jon Jones also made the decision to cancel the entire event. This is just dumb. The UFC booked all these fights that nobody cares about. If an event loses one fight and has to cancel the entire card, it's because the best MMA organization in the world with the best fighters in the world failed to make a decent card. This isn't on Jon Jones. It's on Dana White, Joe Silva, the UFC, and Zuffa. That is the answer, but you don't want to hear it. If the Main Event of UFC 150 had to be scrapped, would they have cancelled the card? I don't think so. They change the main event and the show goes on. Before the changes, if UFC 152 loses its main event would they cancel the whole thing? No way in hell. This is the UFC's fault.
Chimonos Revenge - This is going to be a polarizing issue, as the number of threads on the UG demonstrate.
The anti-zuffa crowd is just going to put all the blame on Dana, and use the "he's the champ, he can do what he wants" arguement they always used with Fedor.
The Pro-Zuffa crowd is just going to trash Jones constantly, and defend Dana.
The truth is a lot of both.
I think there are two major precedents here with some blame on both sides.
1. Don't make the cards so anemic that there is no interest without the main event. This is also a disservice to the rest of the fighters on the undercard and the fans. Make people want to watch the entire card.
That being said, a big Fuck You goes out to all the fans that trash undercard fighters just because they don't recognize their names. Learn something. Look into the background of the up and coming fighters, learn about them, watch some of their previous fights on youtube...maybe you will find something you like instead of just spouting of "Blerrgg...b-level fighters....derpy derp...Should be on Fuel....blarrg..."
But I digress, back to the topic...
2. The champion is supposed to fight and defend his belt against all comers.
ALL COMERS.
Yes, the main event fell through. It's a shit situation. Chael is not someone JBJ or Greg Jackson were prepared to fight, or wanted to fight. Too bad. Your responsibility is to defend your title, and you do have an obligation to the fans. What Jones did is the exact opposite of that.
A true fighter would have said "Ok, cool...now i get to Knock out Chael Sonnen. Perfect."
Not, "I only have 8 days, I havent had time to Study my opponent and create a Gameplan. I have to make a business decision to protect my brand."
Sorry, but that outlook and line of thinking is going to lose you fans, not gain them, and hurt your "Brand".
Maybe this is a Jackson concept. When Rashad was still at Jacksons, he did a lot of talking about "his brand" as well.
Interesting.
When it all comes down to it, Jones is supposed to be one of the best fighters in the sport. He is one of the most visible Champions in all of MMA. His sponsor's motto is "Just Do It".
The fact that he was willing to tank an event, risk being called a ducker, and earn so much bad publicity to avoid a middleweight coming off a loss, who did not have a training camp and would have a week to prepare is shocking. Really Shocking to me, actually.
SO, Dana! Make more compelling cards! Jones! Be a fighter, not a businessman! I could care less about your brand.
Great post CR.
And I completely commiserate with your thoughts on fan's views towards prelim fighters. I am sick to death of people either bashing the prelim fighters or avoiding the prelims altogether.
Do your freakin' homework. Today's prelim guy could be tomorrow's champion. There's plenty of places to find up and comers. Hell, I found Chris Weidman before he came to the UFC and it's not to say how cool I am, but I hope to encourage you guys to do the same.
If we want more events (I am one of those that is completely happy with the "over saturation") you can't have 10 big names on every card, it's not realistic.
Everyone using the argument that Jones should have fought on the 8 days and laying the blame of other fighters on him are a little misdirected.
If jones didn't want to fight, they could have still put Chael in their with another fighter for a contender fight-not the first time thats happened. Would Chael have fought? probably not. BUt that was an option. In the last 15 UFC's there ahve been more then 5 contender main events-not title fights. And they did well.
You telling me you wouldn't pay to see Chael vs. Wand?
But what really happened is they cancelled the whole card and tried to shame Jon Jones. Dana White is becoming more like Vince Mcmahon every day.
MMALOGIC - who would you have put on the card which would have saved it? let's say machida/bader was the co main event. Jones wasnt gonna fight anyone on 8 days notice so you would have machida vs bader as the main event.
even if the card was more stacked it would have tanked in ppv buys without the main event. Zuffa cannot afford another dismal ppv event. the past 2 months we have seen ppv buy rates and gate receipts tank. People would now be bitching about a machida/bader ppv.... ticket holders would be complaiging that they got screwed, etc...
the show had to be cancelled... they need to restructure a bunch of stuff because if zuffa doesnt bring back any type of consistentcy to the product people will stop buying tickets as we are seeing now.
ppv's need 2 title fights and lower end contenders on the undercard from those title fight divisions so they can step up incase there's an injury (ala mir/jds).
This is actually a good point as they have to "pay" to ppv. So a set minimum buys wouldn't be needed just to break even let alone gate and the rest of the fallout. 
For anyone questioning whether the UFC could have still put on the PPV without a Title fight:
UFC 37.5 - NO Title Fight, In Vegas
UFC 43- Interim Title Fight, In Vegas
UFC 47- NO Title Fight, In Vegas
UFC 48- NO Title Fight, In Vegas
UFC 51- NO Title Fight, In Vegas
UFC 67- NO Title Fight, In Vegas :)
UFC 79- Main Event NON-Title, Co-Main Interim In Vegas
UFC 81- Interrim Title, In Vegas
UFC 106- Ortiz vs Griffin 2 LMFAO, In Vegas
UFC 108- Evans vs Thiago Silva, In Vegas
UFC 109- NO Title Fights, In vegas
UFC 114- NO Title Fights, in Vegas
UFC 130- Rampage vs Hammill LMFAO, In Vegas
UFC 137- Penn/Diaz NO Title fights, In Vegas
UFC 141- NO Title Fights, In Vegas
UFC 143- NO Title Fights, In Vegas
It is clear that the REAL reason that this was cancelled was because the rest of the card did not have the power to make a profit.
UFC 130 was supposed to have a title fight, they both got injured on short notice, and we got Rampage vs Matt fucking Hammill as a numbered event Main Event.
Correct because JBJ refused to fight as he should have LnP.
TTT
TTT
TTT
diggity -Not according to OP. read the post.
No sir, you read it. I made both posts sir. They are identical in terms of the idea. TY
TTT
TTT
TTT
if they had a strong co main event this could have still gone through. They put all their eggs in one basket like boxing does.