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return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_5009" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 610px"><img class="size-full wp-image-5009 " alt="UFC president Dana White lifted Matt Mitrione's suspension despite Mitrione never apologizing for his comments. (AP)" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/dana-white-t2.jpg?w=600&h=400" width="600" height="400"/><p class="wp-caption-text">UFC president Dana White lifted Matt Mitrione’s suspension despite Mitrione never apologizing for his comments. (AP)</p></div> <p>NEW YORK — Dana White was sitting on a brightly lit makeshift stage in the lobby of The Theater at Madison Square Garden, well aware of the irony of him being on this stage on a Thursday afternoon while, two nights later, his fighters would not be allowed to put on a show under the bright lights in the arena behind him. UFC 159 will play out on Saturday night not in New York’s eminent sports cathedral but across the river in New Jersey. It’s as if White’s mixed martial arts organization were the Giants or Jets, except for one tiny detail: The NFL is welcome in the Empire State.</p> <p>“It is what it is,” the UFC president told a gathering of reporters, pulling out a well-worn phrase of his, but this time with what seemed more resignation than usual behind it. White has seen MMA sanctioning legislation have its moments up in Albany, like a fighter getting in a few crisp jabs and leg kicks early in the first round, self-assuredly sticking and moving, looking like it’s his night. Until he runs into an overhand right. The leadership of the New York State Assembly, which again and again has KO’d an MMA bill before it even could come up for a vote, packs a mean punch.</p> <p>“I’m so over it,” said White, sounding like he’s anything but. Unless by “over it” he means keeping his nose out of a lobbying effort that can only suffer from his crudely tactless manner. That’s why the company’s visits to Albany are being made by CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, whom White characterized as “the kinder, gentler side of the UFC.”</p> <p>But as the UFC pushes for the sanctioning it needs to celebrate its 20th anniversary come November with a gala fight card in the Garden, which the organization has expressed keen interest in doing, White continues to play a significant role. How could he not? More than any fighter, the boss is the public face of the company. What he says and does matters.</p> <p>That is why the irony White missed on Thursday was more telling than the irony he acknowledged. Sure, he noticed the row of sports photographs that line one of the walls of the Garden lobby, prominent among them a shot of a kickboxing match. That sport is sanctioned in New York, along with boxing and other combative disciplines that are elements of MMA, while MMA itself is not? Right there from a frame on the wall, irony was getting up in White’s face.</p> <p>At the same time, the UFC poobah chose not to look squarely in the eye of the situation’s other source of irony. That would be the shameful saga of Matt Mitrione. You know, the heavyweight who back on April 8 had his UFC contract suspended after <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mma/news/20130409/mitrione-suspension/">he’d spewed a venomous tirade</a> against transgender fighter Fallon Fox. Back then, the UFC had rose petals thrown at its feet for swiftly bringing the hammer down.</p> <p>As it turns out, though, the hammer was only a Nerf hammer, the suspension no more than a kid’s timeout. Fox Sports reported on Wednesday that Mitrione will fight on the network’s UFC card in Seattle on July 27. So that’s it? A suspension lasting 16 days, which since “Meathead” wouldn’t have been fighting anyway amounts to nothing at all? White wouldn’t address the upcoming fight, reportedly to be against fellow Season 10 alum of <i>The Ultimate Fighter</i> (and fellow ex-NFL player) Brendan Schaub, but said Mitrione was fined “enough to make him call me 40 times and ask me not to fine him that much.”</p> <p>The takeaway: Open your wallet, Matt, but no need to publicly acknowledge that calling Fox a “lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” was vile and unbecoming of a professional athlete employed by the UFC.</p> <p>Of course, White doesn’t see it that way. “If a guy comes out and says something stupid, I don’t go to him and say, ‘Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to apologize,’ and you’re gonna do this and that,” he said. “You can’t make somebody apologize. If I make him do it, it’s not real. Then he’s not really apologizing.”</p> <p>There’s truth in that. All too often, athletes and others in the public eye issue faux mea culpas crafted by their PR teams. Those apologies aren’t worth the breath wasted on them. But the UFC is not the NFL or Major League Baseball, sports organizations that are already well established in the public perception, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. White’s fight league is on the fringes, vying for attention.</p> <p>Positive attention, that is, as opposed to having its notorious history of misogyny, homophobia and other antisocial behavior continually spotlit by groups like the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226. The Las Vegas-based outfit has long waged a battle with UFC majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta in an effort to unionize the brothers’ other business, Station Casinos. Recently the local has dragged the UFC into the fight, using the union’s political muscle in New York to lobby against MMA legislation. White calls this “dirty.”</p> <p>No, what’s dirty is masking Mitrione’s depraved hatred under the guise of having an opinion but just expressing it wrongly. Here’s what White said on the Mitrione matter on Thursday: “I don’t think that somebody who used to be a man but became a woman should be able to fight women. I don’t. But the way he said it? If he was standing in front of a courtroom because he was so passionate about this, in front of a judge or a committee or something like that, he wouldn’t have said it the way he said it. Maybe he thought he was trying to be funny? It wasn’t funny. My guys aren’t comedians, and they really need to figure that out and learn it. You wanna be funny, do it in with your friends, around your crew and everything else. Don’t do it on any public forum.”</p> <p>Now, there’s nothing wrong with White expressing an opinion of whether a trans woman should be allowed to compete with other women in combat sports, particularly in light of what he said next: “And you know, I’ll leave it up to the athletic commissions and the doctors and scientists, or whatever it is, to see if you have that surgery and you go through that stuff, if you actually become a … but bone structure is different. Hands are bigger. Jaw is bigger. Everything is bigger. I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe that someone who used to be a man and became a woman should be able to fight a woman. I don’t.”</p> <p>So White believes what he believes, but he’ll leave it to the experts to decide on how to proceed. Fine. The UFC president is not alone in that evenhanded stance. However, neither he nor anyone else who has commented on the matter — other than Mitrione — has darkened his or her opinion with a nasty personal attack. If the UFC wants to get past dirty politics, it needs to clean up its act by cleaning out the haters. Not by simply telling them to just whisper their malevolence to their buddies.</p> <p>Dana White might not get that, but his light heavyweight champion sure does. Jon Jones, who’ll defend his belt against Chael Sonnen in Saturday night’s main event at the Prudential Center in Newark (10 p.m. ET, PPV), offered up his own opinion of Mitrione during Thursday’s media gathering. “I think he’s terrible for that,” Jones said. “It’s ridiculous. I think Fallon Fox, that’s a strong person. Despite what the person has been through in their life, that’s a strong person. I’m a fan of that person because of what they’ve gone through and what they’re willing to go through. People like Matt Mitrione are scumbags. He’s a scumbag. I don’t care if he’s off suspension or doesn’t fight again. He’s a ridiculous person.”</p> <p>You might have noticed that Jones, even in defending Fox, did not once use a female personal pronoun. Taken within the context of what he said, he clearly meant no disrespect. Jones was just speaking outside his comfort zone. The emergence and gradual acceptance of transgenders and others who’ve long been shunned or ignored is a work-in-progress in sports as well as all of society. Comfort zones can only expand along with education and compassion. One wonders whether that’s a lesson the UFC is even remotely interested in teaching Matt Mitrione.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong>– Jeff Wagenheim</strong></em></p> <p>UPDATE: Mitrione issued an apology on Friday via a UFC press release: “I want to apologize for my hurtful comments about Fallon Fox and a group within our society which, in truth, I know nothing about. I know now there’s an important line between expressing an opinion on a subject and being hurtful and insensitive. I crossed that line by expressing my views in an ugly, rude and inappropriate manner.”</p> <p>So, is this one of those meaningless apologies White was talking about? The jury is out on that, as Mitrione himself went on to acknowledge: “Anyone can say ‘I’m sorry’ to get themselves out of trouble. That’s not the kind of person I want to be. I am embarrassed I chose to express myself in such a fashion and am looking forward to living up to this apology through my future actions, words and conduct.”</p> <p>A couple of word choices suggest that perhaps the fighter is learning something from this ordeal. Describing transgenders as a group “I know nothing about” is a simple yet difficult acknowledgement that he was speaking out of ignorance. It also was good to hear Mitrione talk about “living up to this apology” with not just words but actions, a commitment the UFC plans to hold him to. Lawrence Epstein, the promotion’s vice president and COO, said Mitrione will work with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender groups “to make amends to the community he hurt.”</p> <p>How many grains of salt with which you take all of this depends on your own degree of naivete, cynicism or pragmatism. But if Mitrione is sincere in his desire to move forward, he has an opportunity here. There’s no better way to develop respect for a group of people different from you than to spend time around those people learning ways in which you’re the same.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong>–J.W.</strong></em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Apr 26, 2013</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/04/26/dana-white-mitrione-suspension-over-fallon-fox/#comments" title="Comment on Dana White went soft on Matt Mitrione; updated with fighter’s apology"><span data-lf-article-id="5007" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 15 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-4996"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/04/26/ufc-159-predictions-jon-jones-vs-chael-sonnen/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Predictions for UFC 159: Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen">Predictions for UFC 159: Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/04/26/ufc-159-predictions-jon-jones-vs-chael-sonnen/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2013/04/26/ufc-159-predictions-jon-jones-vs-chael-sonnen/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_4999" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 610px"><img class="size-full wp-image-4999" alt="Chael Sonnen (right) is considered a heavy underdog against Jon Jones . (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/jon-jones-sonnen-ufc-159-t1b.jpg?w=600&h=430" width="600" height="430"/><p class="wp-caption-text">Chael Sonnen (right) is considered a heavy underdog against Jon Jones . (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)</p></div> <p><em>SI.com analysts Loretta Hunt, Jeff Wagenheim and Jon Wertheim provide their predictions for UFC 159, which takes place Saturday (10 p.m. ET) and will be blogged on SI.com.</em></p> <p><strong>Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen</strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM: </strong>When the time comes, Chael P.’s music will start to play, he’ll put on his short pants and go to work. And as soon as the guy in the snake suit moves out of the way, he’ll put his head down, walk across the cage and put Jon Jones on his prissy little … oh, wait, I’m describing the fight as it plays out in Sonnen’s melodramatic fantasy narrative, not the way it really will.</p> <p>A more realistic, if less infomercial-ish scenario: Sonnen comes out boxing and moving forward, and at the first glimpse of one of Jones’s skinny legs, moves in for a takedown try. If he gets it, the crowd will go crazy and we’ll get a rare look at the “Bones” bottom game. Does Jon have the jiu-jitsu chops to become the latest to submit a guy whose walkout music should be “Taps”? Chael is not known for inflicting much damage while smothering an opponent, so it’d be interesting to see if Jones would put those treacherous elbows of his to use and be the ground aggressor. Or would he just work his way back to his feet?</p> <p>If, on the other hand, Sonnen fails on his takedown attempt, it will be an ingloriously short night for the unworthy challenger. <strong>Jones by KO.</strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT: Jones by TKO.</strong></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM: </strong>Put simply, it’s hard come up with a conceivable scenario in which Jones loses this fight. He’s superior on virtually every dimension — If he’s not Sonnen’s equal as a wrestler, he comes awfully close — he’s younger, more athletic and will be the crowd favorite. The best Sonnen can hope for: a respectable showing will suggest that he, in fact, earned this opportunity and didn’t simply talk/market himself into a title shot.<strong><b> Jones by TKO.</b></strong><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Michael Bisping vs. Alan Belcher</strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM: </strong>If you spend a few minutes around these men, as I did on Thursday, it’s hard to picture Belcher winning this fight. Bisping is so supremely confident that he speaks of his opponent as if he were a yokel from Double-A ball who will be unable to get a piece of the Brit’s major-league playoff heater. And Belcher is, well, low-key and thoughtful and a little bemused by the leadup to what he acknowledges as the biggest fight of his career. Is the man with the tattoo of “The Man in Black” on his arm really in over his head? Tough to say, but I’m going to go with no. I think he’s going to give “The Count” a fight he’ll remember. Belcher might even beat him. But I’ve got to go with Bisping. This is the type of fight he’s won for all of his career (only to lose when he’s another step or so closer to the pot of gold). <strong>Bisping by decision.</strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT: </strong>Belcher has the heavier hands (and kicks, for that matter), but Bisping can win this if he plays it smart, mixing up his punches with takedowns like he did against Brian Stann last September. <strong>Bisping by decision.</strong></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM: </strong>One hopes the fight lives up to the considerable advance trash talk. While it’s not all-out desperation time, Bisping is 34 now and has lost two of his last three fights. In Belcher, he gets a UFC veteran with a battery of skills and deceptive power. If both fighters are willing to stay on their feet, this has TKO potential. If it goes to the ground, we could have five rounds or stall-and-sprawl. Either way, I pick<b> Bisping by decision.</b></p> <p><strong>Roy Nelson vs. Chieck Kongo </strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM: </strong>Kongo has the power to test Nelson’s hard-as-a-mulleted-rocker chin. But Cheick is known to make mistakes, and Roy is known to capitalize on them. <strong>Nelson by KO.</strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT: </strong>Though Nelson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, could devour Kongo on the mat, he’ll likely stand with the chiseled Frenchman, who is yet to amount to the powerhouse fighter his appearance suggests he’d be. <b>Nelson by TKO (R2 or R3).</b></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM: </strong>You love Roy Nelson or you hate him, but have to admire both the durability and the unlikely skill set of Big Country. He won’t win any sculpted physique contests, but he can win fights — in a variety of ways. In Congo, he faces a veteran who seems to lose when he’s on the verge of a breakthrough; and win when he’s on the verge of being written off. Look for a TKO — and potential KO/fight of the Night — but I’ll say it’s Nelson who, like his belly, comes up big.<b> Nelson by TKO.</b></p> <p><strong>Phil Davis vs. Vinny Magalhaes</strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM: </strong>If Davis wants to make another go at the top of the light heavyweight division, he simply cannot slip up. Or tap out. <strong><strong>Davis by decision.</strong></strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT:</strong> This one will depend on the superior wrestler Davis, who can rack up points with takedown after takedown, as long as he doesn’t dawdle inside the Brazilian’s dangerous guard for too long. <b>Davis by decision. </b></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM: </strong>His nickname notwithstanding, Mr. Wonderful doesn’t often impress. A rangy wrestler and methodical fighter, Davis likes to do what’s necessary to win, seldom taking advantage of an inevitable reach advantage. Magalhaes looked good in his UFC return last year, but can he make inroads against a superior wrestler? The guess here: no.<b> Davis by a (boring) decision.</b></p> <p><strong>Jim Miller vs. Pat Healy</strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM: </strong>If you’re looking for aesthetics, change the channel. This ain’t going to be pretty. It isn’t, either. Miller and Healy both are grinders who close distance. When they meld into one, I expect the Jersey guy to grind just a little bit better. <strong>Miller by decision.</strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT: </strong>Miller will have a significant edge in speed <i>everywhere</i> and Healy’s strong suit, his boxing, isn’t dynamic enough to catch the hometown favorite. <b>Miller By submission.</b></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM: </strong>Not dissimilar fighters, UFC veteran tough guys with submission-based ground skills and some power. Fighting in front of a home crowd, Miller, a New Jersey native, should prevail.<b> Miller by decision.</b></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Apr 26, 2013</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/04/26/ufc-159-predictions-jon-jones-vs-chael-sonnen/#comments" title="Comment on Predictions for UFC 159: Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen"><span data-lf-article-id="4996" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 4 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-4392"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/02/02/at-ufc-156-rashad-evans-is-looking-for-a-win-and-for-whats-been-lost/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to At UFC 156, Rashad Evans is looking for a win … and for what’s been lost">At UFC 156, Rashad Evans is looking for a win … and for what’s been lost</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/02/02/at-ufc-156-rashad-evans-is-looking-for-a-win-and-for-whats-been-lost/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2013/02/02/at-ufc-156-rashad-evans-is-looking-for-a-win-and-for-whats-been-lost/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_4399" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rashad-evans.jpg"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rashad-evans.jpg?w=298&h=390" alt="Rashad Evans" width="298" height="390" class="size-full wp-image-4399"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Former light-heavyweight champ Rashad Evans will fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the co-main event of UFC 156. [Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images]</p></div> <p>LAS VEGAS — Rashad Evans will be looking for a defining win on Saturday night. He’ll also be looking for something not so tangible, something that’s been lost.</p> <p>“The competitor has been brought back to life, the one who truly just loves to compete,” Evans told reporters on Thursday, two days before his UFC 156 co-main event fight against Antônio Rogério Nogueira at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. “So many times when you’re competing, you kind of fall out of love with it. It becomes like a song and dance, and you kind of get like, ‘Ah, yeah, gotta do this, gotta do that.’ To really love to compete, to really love every aspect of it, is a passion that a lot of people don’t have. I’ve found myself, within the last 11 months or so, just falling in love with competing again.”</p> <p>That period coincides with a time during which the 33-year-old “Suga Rashad” has settled in with a new team of training partners, the Blackzilians in south Florida, after an acrimonious and very public departure from his longtime home, the Jackson-Winkeljohn gym in Albuquerque. And the change of camps is related, of course, to the former light heavyweight champion’s most recent fight, last April’s loss to the division’s reigning king, teammate-turned-mortal enemy Jon Jones. While this weekend’s fight could have major implications for his career — there’s talk that Rashad could be next in line to face middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and a rematch with Jones is also a possibility — the aspect that most stirs up Evans (17-2-1) is that he and Nogueira (20-5) will simply be competing against each other. Nothing more.</p> <p>“I felt like last time with Jones I got too distracted by everything else that was going on, the whole back story,” said Evans, referring to the teammates’ split over one man grabbing the belt that the other wanted as well, and their departure from a shared pledge to put team first and never fight each other. “It kind of took away from the fight for me. I thought it did the same thing for him as well. I don’t think he was at his best that day, either.</p> <p>“It took away what competing is about. It kind of scarred me in a way that made me mot want to compete anymore. I was like, ‘This is not about fighting.’ It’s just about a bunch of b.s. It’s not what I love about fighting. What I love about fighting is the actual fight, the feeling that I get when I walk into the cage and I see the mat and I see all the blood and all the sweat and everything else that everybody laid out. And when they say go, that feeling, that’s what I like about fighting.”</p> <p align="right"><b><i>-Jeff Wagenheim</i></b></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Feb 02, 2013</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/02/02/at-ufc-156-rashad-evans-is-looking-for-a-win-and-for-whats-been-lost/#comments" title="Comment on At UFC 156, Rashad Evans is looking for a win … and for what’s been lost"><span data-lf-article-id="4392" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 1 Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-4328"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/01/25/chael-sonnen-and-jon-bones-jones-find-themselves-to-be-friends-sort-of/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Chael Sonnen and Jon ‘Bones’ Jones find themselves to be friends — sort of">Chael Sonnen and Jon ‘Bones’ Jones find themselves to be friends — sort of</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/01/25/chael-sonnen-and-jon-bones-jones-find-themselves-to-be-friends-sort-of/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2013/01/25/chael-sonnen-and-jon-bones-jones-find-themselves-to-be-friends-sort-of/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_4329" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 220px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/jon-jones.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4329" alt="Jon 'Bones' Jones" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/jon-jones.jpg?w=210&h=300" width="210" height="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones will defend his light heavyweight title in April. (Dustin Bradford/Icon SMI)</p></div> <p>The second the cameras stopped rolling, UFC fighter Chael Sonnen turned to Jon “Bones” Jones and slapped him on the knee.</p> <p>“I can’t believe you did that! How could you?!” Sonnen joked, acting not unlike a married couple. Or, at the very least, friends.</p> <p>Conducting an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/si-video/20130125/ufc-159-jon-jones-chael-sonnen-mma.sportsillustrated/" target="_blank">interview in the Sports Illustrated studio</a>, Jones had just given away one of the results of a yet-to-be-aired episode of FX’s <i>The Ultimate Fighter</i>, and there would have to be a re-take.</p> <p>Having spent so much time together in recent weeks taping <i>The Ultimate Fighter</i>, the days of Sonnen trash-talking Jones seem too long gone. Despite the fact that they are preparing to fight each other on April 27, they really do seem like friends.</p> <p>So are they actually?</p> <p>“Yeah we are [friends],” Sonnen said. “The single most disappointing part about going through this coaching process was finding out what a nice and genuine and passionate person that he is. [Spending so much time with someone] is really a recipe for disaster. Most of the time tensions fly… but for whatever reason Jon’s and my personality really hit it off.”</p> <p>Jones does not entirely agree with such a flowery characterization, though.</p> <p>“Oh no, me and Chael are not friends,” he quickly interjects. “We’re far from friends. We’re definitely more friendly than I would have expected, but that’s just my nature – I’m a friendly person.”</p> <p>Whatever the status of their relationship, the fact remains that they are three months away from meeting in the octagon.</p> <p>Jones has a belt to hold on to — a belt that Sonnen covets dearly. Expect all niceties to be spared.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong><b>—</b>R.J. Rico</strong></em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Jan 25, 2013</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2013/01/25/chael-sonnen-and-jon-bones-jones-find-themselves-to-be-friends-sort-of/#comments" title="Comment on Chael Sonnen and Jon ‘Bones’ Jones find themselves to be friends — sort of"><span data-lf-article-id="4328" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 3 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-4020"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/12/06/source-ufc-talking-to-anderson-silva-about-more-than-one-superfight/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Source: UFC talking to Anderson Silva about more than one superfight">Source: UFC talking to Anderson Silva about more than one superfight</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/12/06/source-ufc-talking-to-anderson-silva-about-more-than-one-superfight/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/12/06/source-ufc-talking-to-anderson-silva-about-more-than-one-superfight/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <p><div id="attachment_3853" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><img class="size-full wp-image-3853" alt="Anderson Silva" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/anderson-silva.jpg?w=298&h=368" height="368" width="298"/><p class="wp-caption-text">UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has two bouts left on his existing UFC contract, and both could be superfights. [Tom Szczerbowski/US Presswire]</p></div>Three weeks ago, Georges St-Pierre returned from a 19-month absence and showed himself to be fully recovered from knee surgery with a gritty victory over Carlos Condit. Anderson Silva was cageside in Montreal that night to watch it all unfold … and to let it be known that he was interested in fighting the UFC welterweight champion.</p> <p>Prior to that, however, when there was talk of the middleweight king taking on another belt holder, the speculation usually centered on the possibility of Silva stepping into the cage with light heavyweight champ Jon Jones.</p> <p>So which superfight are we going to see?</p> <p>Well, how about both?</p> <p>A reliable source has told SI.com that Silva had a meeting scheduled with UFC president Dana White on Wednesday night to discuss superfights. Yes, that’s superfights, plural.</p> <p>Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, confirmed that a meeting took place but would not say what was discussed. He would only reveal that “Anderson got a beautiful Bentley.”</p> <p>That’s the same make of vehicle that was driven by Jones before the then-24-year-old wrecked it in a drunken crash in May.</p> <p>Jones and Silva have said they would not fight, citing their friendship as well as concerns that they would be putting their legacies and endorsement deals at risk. But White has talked of staging a superfight in 100,000-seat Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas, which would make the bout a huge moneymaker for the UFC, with appropriately hefty fighter purses.</p> <p>Might the gift of a Bentley be the first step in paving the way for the superfight of all superfights, with the UFC ensuring that Silva and family keep up with the Joneses?</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><strong><i>– Jeff Wagenheim</i></strong></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Dec 06, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/12/06/source-ufc-talking-to-anderson-silva-about-more-than-one-superfight/#comments" title="Comment on Source: UFC talking to Anderson Silva about more than one superfight"><span data-lf-article-id="4020" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 13 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3715"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/11/07/st-pierre-silva-showdown-closer-to-reality/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to UFC’s White: Cowboys Stadium could host superfight between GSP, Silva">UFC’s White: Cowboys Stadium could host superfight between GSP, Silva</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/11/07/st-pierre-silva-showdown-closer-to-reality/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/11/07/st-pierre-silva-showdown-closer-to-reality/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3739" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 650px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/georges-st-pierre.jpg"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/georges-st-pierre.jpg?w=640&h=340" alt="Georges St-Pierre" title="georges-st-pierre" width="640" height="340" class="size-full wp-image-3739"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Georges St-Pierre (left) is returning to the cage for the first time in 20 months. [Al Bello/ Zuffa LLC via Getty Images]</p></div> <p>“We missed him,” said Dana White, the words spoken with a hint of longing. “It’s good to have him back.”</p> <p>The UFC president was speaking of his company’s most lucrative pay-per-view draw, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who is indeed back after 20 months away from the octagon because of knee surgery and the rehab that followed. White was so thrilled that GSP is ready to fight again, in fact, that he assembled MMA reporters on Wednesday afternoon to hype the superfight between St-Pierre and middleweight champ Anderson Silva.</p> <p>No, wait, the media conference call was actually about Georges’ bout against interim champion Carlos Condit a week from Saturday in the main event of UFC 154 in Montreal. At least that’s what the press release said the call was going to be about.</p> <p>As things turned out, though, the session came as close to being an announcement of GSP vs. Silva as the fight promotion could muster without issuing an official poster.</p> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/11/07/st-pierre-silva-showdown-closer-to-reality/#more-3715" class="more-link">Read More…</a></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Nov 07, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/11/07/st-pierre-silva-showdown-closer-to-reality/#comments" title="Comment on UFC’s White: Cowboys Stadium could host superfight between GSP, Silva"><span data-lf-article-id="3715" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 4 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3562"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/17/jones-sonnen-for-the-light-heavyweight-belt-is-tuf-pill-to-swallow/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Jones vs. Sonnen for the UFC’s light heavyweight belt is TUF to swallow">Jones vs. Sonnen for the UFC’s light heavyweight belt is TUF to swallow</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/17/jones-sonnen-for-the-light-heavyweight-belt-is-tuf-pill-to-swallow/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/10/17/jones-sonnen-for-the-light-heavyweight-belt-is-tuf-pill-to-swallow/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3565" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/c-sonnen.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3565 " title="c-sonnen" alt="Chael Sonnen" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/c-sonnen.jpg?w=298&h=400" height="400" width="298"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Chael Sonnen (right) was last seen getting dominated by Anderson Silva at the main event of UFC 148. (Donald Miralle/Getty Images)</p></div> <p>Remember that fake UFC championship belt a mischievous Chael Sonnen used to sling over his shoulder for press conferences and television appearances in the contentious leadup to his July rematch with Anderson Silva? You know, the one that he impishly told an interviewer on ESPN was proof that he was the real middleweight champion?</p> <p>Well, let’s pull it out of the closet and dust it off. That plastic-and-pleather strap is the one that rightfully ought to be put up for grabs next April 27 when Sonnen challenges once again for the UFC championship. This time at light heavyweight, though.</p> <p>Seriously?</p> <p>Yep, this is not another Chael media ploy. The UFC actually announced on Tuesday that Sonnen, who has competed in the fight promotion’s 205-pound weight class exactly one time — and that was seven years ago <i>and </i>he lost — will challenge Jon Jones after the two serve as coaches on the 17<sup>th</sup> season of <i>The Ultimate Fighter</i>.</p> <p>Jones need not bother to bring along the shiny brass-and-leather belt that he’s been proudly wearing for the last 19 months, the one he acquired by knocking out a champion and in the time since has defended against four former titlists. That belt signifies something earned, something extraordinary, something real. So “Bones” should leave it home in the trophy case. When he steps into the octagon next spring to take on a middleweight fighter with a heavyweight mouth, the fake plastic belt will suffice for the fake title defense.</p> <p>That is not to deny that the next several months will be a lot of laughs. Chael is at this very moment locked in a windowless room with a team of joke writers brainstorming a Top 10 list for Letterman and five minutes of couch chatter for Leno.</p> <p>And there’s no doubt that Dana White and Co. will benefit from this arrangement, which first was reported by <i>The Los Angeles Times</i> and later was confirmed by the UFC. <i>The Ultimate Fighter </i>will get a much-needed boost in ratings, and that springtime pay-per-view, featuring two of the organization’s top draws, is sure to do big numbers.</p> <p>Maybe that’s good enough for the UFC: a financial boon generated by a dud of a fight.</p> <p>Yes, a dud.</p> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/17/jones-sonnen-for-the-light-heavyweight-belt-is-tuf-pill-to-swallow/#more-3562" class="more-link">Read More…</a></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Oct 17, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/17/jones-sonnen-for-the-light-heavyweight-belt-is-tuf-pill-to-swallow/#comments" title="Comment on Jones vs. Sonnen for the UFC’s light heavyweight belt is TUF to swallow"><span data-lf-article-id="3562" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 2 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3327"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to No X-ray yet, but Jones says his arm is ‘pretty messed up’ after UFC 152 win">No X-ray yet, but Jones says his arm is ‘pretty messed up’ after UFC 152 win</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3332" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonesjonesufc.gif"><img class="size-full wp-image-3332" title="jonesjonesufc" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonesjonesufc.gif?w=298&h=400" alt="" width="298" height="400"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones skipped the hospital after his UFC 152 win. (ZUMAPRESS.com)</p></div> <p>TORONTO — Jon Jones has landed in Baltimore by now. His injured right arm is still in a holding pattern.</p> <p>The UFC light heavyweight champion, fresh off Saturday night’s gritty title defense against Vitor Belfort, was en route to watch his brothers play in Sunday night’s Patriots-Ravens game, tired and sore but with his arm no longer in the sling he wore to the post-fight press conference 10 hours earlier.</p> <p>Does that mean the X-ray he was said to be heading for after leaving Air America Centre at around 2 a.m. had revealed no damage? Not at all.</p> <p>“I haven’t got it X-rayed yet,” Jones told me just before boarding his Baltimore-bound flight at Pearson International Airport. I’d spotted him in the waiting area, reclining his 6-feet-4-inch frame across a row of seats and catching up on lost sleep from his late night. In fact, if I hadn’t gone over and nudged him after hearing a boarding call for his flight, he might not have made it to see Arthur Jones and the Ravens take on rookie Chandler Jones and the Patriots.</p> <p>The first thing I noticed when Jones sat up was that the sling was missing. “I had to take it off so I could switch shirts,” he said, rubbing the arm as he spoke. “But the arm is pretty messed up. My hand is still swollen, and the whole arm is jacked up.”</p> <p>Why no X-ray, then? “I just didn’t want to go to the hospital last night,” said the 17-1 champion, whose victory was his eighth straight, the last four of them title defenses against past champions. “I was pretty excited about the win, and I just didn’t want to spend the night in a hospital.”</p> <p>When does he plan to get his arm examined? “I’m going to Baltimore to watch football, and maybe I’ll get the arm checked out while I’m there,” he said. “Or I might wait until I get home. I’m just trying to keep pressure off of it and deal with the pain until I can get to a doctor and see what’s going on with it. The pain is definitely bearable, though, so I’m not in any rush.”</p> <p>The injury occurred in the first round of Saturday night’s UFC 152 main event, when Belfort locked on an armbar and came closer to finishing the indomitable Jones than anyone he’s fought. “I’ve never had my arm pop like that before,” the 25-year-old said in the cage after the fight. He also let it be known that there was no way he was going to tap out, saying, “I worked too hard to give it up.”</p> <p>So he escaped the submission attempt and fought on. His arm was numb, we later learned, but as the fight was unfolding there was no visual evidence that he was any worse for wear. Jones didn’t favor his right arm or shy away from using it. In fact, the right elbow was a primary weapon as he cut up Belfort and dominated the resolute Brazilian before finishing the job with a submission of his own 54 seconds into the fourth round. It was only in the in-cage interview afterward that we learned of the damage that had been done.</p> <p>Then, nearly an hour later, after arriving late for the post-fight press conference with his arm in a sling, Jones said he’d been told by medical personnel at the arena that he might have sustained nerve damage to his biceps. “That’s what someone there had guessed,” he clarified on Sunday. “But it’s hard to say anything official by just looking at it.”</p> <p>Whatever the injury diagnosis ultimately might be, Jones is unlikely to feel sorry for himself. He’s had a lot of practice lately in dealing with adversity. Over the past several weeks, in the wake of his decision to not accept a replacement opponent and save a UFC event from cancellation, he’s been assailed by fight promotion president Dana White as well fans and other fighters. He persevered through that painful episode, as he did through an excruciating armlock applied Saturday night by a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.</p> <p>“Yeah, absolutely, man,” said Jones. “It’s good to know that you can overcome. It takes a lot of strength and power every time you run into a different situation, so I’m grateful for the situations.”</p> <p>Indeed, Jones was in good spirits as we spoke. He lit up when the arts critic in me gave his choice of walkout music — Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” — a rave review, not just for entertaining the fans and getting them clapping along instead of booing him, but also for subtly conveying the song’s message: the importance of remaining loving and true to oneself no matter how much others try to change or control you. “The music,” said Jones, “did exactly what we hoped it would.”</p> <p>And with that song in his head Jones was off to Baltimore, ready for some football, but not until he’d thanked me for waking him so he didn’t miss his flight. Before heading to the gate he reached out to shake hands … with his left.</p> <p align="right"><strong><em>–Jeff Wagenheim</em></strong></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 23, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/#comments" title="Comment on No X-ray yet, but Jones says his arm is ‘pretty messed up’ after UFC 152 win"><span data-lf-article-id="3327" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 3 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3306"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Jones, White spar over details surrounding UFC event cancellation">Jones, White spar over details surrounding UFC event cancellation</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3311" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonjonesufc.gif"><img class="size-full wp-image-3311" title="jonjonesufc" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonjonesufc.gif?w=298&h=400" alt="" width="298" height="400"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones denied responsibility for UFC 151′s cancellation. (ZUMPRESS.com)</p></div> <p>TORONTO — The dance begins with one fighter walking out onto the stage, stripping down to his skivvies and stepping onto the scale. When his weight is announced, he flexes for the crowd, then moves off to the side and dresses while his opponent walks out, strips, weighs in, flexes, dresses. The two meet at center stage, face to face, fists up, striking a combative pose for the cameras. And after a dozen shutter clicks they’re done, off to rehydrate. Next set of fighters, please?</p> <p>There may be no element of a mixed martial arts event more choreographed than the weigh-ins.</p> <p>So how did light heavyweight champion Jon Jones end up having an off-the-script moment Friday afternoon after stepping off the scale?</p> <p>It came about when Jones found himself staring into the eyes of not one but two people ready to go face to face with him. One was Vitor Belfort, who’ll be his opponent in the main event of UFC 152 on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre (10 p.m. ET, PPV). The other was Dana White.</p> <p>The UFC president and his 205-pound megastar had been sparring verbally for weeks, ever since Jones, upon being notified nine days prior to UFC 151 that challenger Dan Henderson was injured, turned down replacement opponent Chael Sonnen. The UFC ended up cancelling the Sept. 1 event — a first in the 11 years White has been running the show — and a fired-up White went on the offensive, calling Jones “selfish and disgusting” and his trainer/adviser/guru, Greg Jackson, “a [expletive] sport killer.”</p> <p>As this weekend’s event neared, with Jones having been added to the top of the bill, he and White indicated that they would meet face to face here in Toronto to clear the air. The meeting was to take place just prior to the weigh-ins. So all eyes were on Jones as he stepped off the scale. Would he and White shake hands or even embrace, an indication that the cold war was over? Or would an icy chill pervade the stage set up atop a hockey rink at the old Maple Leaf Gardens, telling us that Dana might not have renewed his membership in the Jonny Bones Fan Club?</p> <p>What we saw instead from Jones was an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty. This phenom fighter who never hesitates to attack inside the octagon seemed to waver when he spotted White. Then he smiled, White smiled, even Belfort smiled, and the choreography resumed.</p> <p>What did it all mean? It meant that Jones and White had not yet met. They apparently planned to do so a few minutes later. And say what? “None of your business,” White responded when asked that very question in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4A4qKNG7o&feature=plcp">a <em>Fuel TV</em> interview</a> following the weigh-ins.</p> <p>We can at least surmise that the discussion explored areas of disagreement. A case in point: At a Thursday press conference, Jones spoke respectfully of the boss — “Dana White is awesome, man” — but steered clear of accepting responsibility for the UFC 151 fiasco. “I have actually zero power to cancel an event,” he said. “When I was actually talking to Dana and [UFC chairman/CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta] about accepting the Chael Sonnen fight, they never told me if I didn’t accept the fight that they were going to cancel the event.”</p> <p>It would have been interesting to hear White respond to that, but he was absent from the press conference, laid up at his hotel with an episode of Ménière’s disease. But in the <em>Fuel TV</em> interview, Dana had his say. “I don’t think he would have said that if I was there,” said White. “So today we’re going to be face to face and we’ll see what he says and what he doesn’t say. The fact that he says that he didn’t know that the show would get cancelled is false. I did tell him that the show would be cancelled.”</p> <p>And with that, White headed off to a windowless room with his light heavyweight champ. And then? Nothing. Nada. Not a word. (OK, chief, you can deactivate the Cone of Silence now.) My colleague from Yahoo! Sports, Kevin Iole, texted White to ask about the meeting and got this terse text back: “It went well.” Other than that, White, who posts his thoughts on Twitter about as often as he takes a breath, has gone quiet. So has Jones, unless we can read something into his only post-meeting tweet, a quote attributed to Michael Jordan: “Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”</p> <p>So stay tuned. Like any long-running soap opera, there’s always another episode to come.</p> <p align="right"><em><strong>—Jeff Wagenheim</strong></em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 22, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/#comments" title="Comment on Jones, White spar over details surrounding UFC event cancellation"><span data-lf-article-id="3306" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 4 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3272"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Ticket sales lagging ahead of UFC 152, more notes from pre-fight presser">Ticket sales lagging ahead of UFC 152, more notes from pre-fight presser</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3285" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jones-belfort.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3285 " title="jones-belfort" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jones-belfort.jpg?w=300&h=452" alt="" width="300" height="452"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones (left) defends his UFC light heavyweight championship on Saturday night in Toronto against Vitor Belfort. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)</p></div> <p>TORONTO – The two most telling moments during the UFC 152 press conference Thursday afternoon at a sports bar in the shadow of Air Canada Centre, where the Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort light heavyweight title bout and the rest of the fight card will go down Saturday night, came at the very beginning and right at the end.</p> <p>One of the first things emcee Tom Wright, the director of operations for UFC Canada, told us was that tickets are still available. So even with two championship bouts on the bill — we’ll also see Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson vie to become the UFC’s first flyweight belt holder — this fight organization that less than a year and a half ago sold 55,000 seats at the Rogers Centre in a matter of minutes is having trouble filling an 18,000-seat arena down the block. That’s especially troubling considering the coinciding lack of competition at a time of year when people in these parts typically would be huddled around ice rinks. As Wright said, alluding to the ongoing NHL lockout, “We may not have Hockey Night in Canada, but we can have UFC night in Canada and we’ll fill that void.”</p> <p>Just maybe not fill all of it.</p> <p>Wright also ended the media gathering with something telling, though not concretely so. Just before having the six fighters on the dais square off for the sea of cameras in the room, he told the assembled reporters and fans that there will be another press conference next Thursday in Montreal to announce that Georges St-Pierre will defend his welterweight championship against interim belt holder Carlos Condit at the Nov. 17 event in that city.</p> <p>Did it not occur to Tom that scheduling a press conference to announce news that he’s just revealed renders the forthcoming publicity event not so newsworthy? Of course he understood that. This was simply another demonstration of the UFC team’s grasp that news need not necessarily be the only information being dispensed at its press conferences. The most vital information we ingest when a group of fighters sits before us two days before the cage door closes on them is more amorphous. If we’re lucky, we get a feeling in our bones about what these fighters are feeling in their bones.</p> <p>We got some of that on Thursday:</p> <p><strong>You can count on him: </strong>The hour-long hypathon morphed into a lovefest at times. Jones likes and respects Belfort, who likes and respects him. Benavidez and Johnson enjoy each other’s company to the point that they’ve gone to a concert together (more on that later). And Michael Bisping and Brian Stann made nice, too.</p> <p>Until the very end, that is, when all the words had been said and all that was left was the photo op. Michael Bisping had to do something to spice things up, or he wouldn’t be Michael Bisping. So when he and Stann met at center stage for the cameras, Stann approached it as a ceremony while Bisping saw an opportunity. He put on his best mean mug and pushed his forehead into Stann’s, moving the Marine onto his heels a bit. Stann seemed a bit taken aback, and as he stepped aside, Bisping posed once more for the cameras and walked away, pointing at his opponent and telling anyone within listening range that Stann “has the look of a man who knows he’s beat.”</p> <p>I don’t know that Stann is a beaten man in the fight. But in the hype game he’s an amateur next to “The Count.”</p> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/#more-3272" class="more-link">Read More…</a></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-like-enabled sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 21, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130520064017/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/#comments" title="Comment on Ticket sales lagging ahead of UFC 152, more notes from pre-fight presser"><span data-lf-article-id="3272" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 7 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a 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