Originally posted by Kolohe:
Originally posted by SF69ers:
Rashad Evans on Jon Jones ~
"You want to always keep it right for the fighters. It's great for the fighters to have the right to choose a fight. That is one of the liberties we do have, the option to say yes or no to a fight. But then on the other hand, you have a tremendous responsibility as the champion. You are the champion of the UFC. Not only that, you became champion of the UFC through circumstances like this. You had the opportunity to fight for someone that was injured. He stepped into a fight, after I got hurt, so he stepped in for me to fight Shogun. So, he was rewarded by the very process of somebody stepping in to take a fight. So, he owed it to the UFC to take the fight. Not only that, he owed it to all the other fighters on this card who are going to be missing paydays because of that. And lets not talk about how the UFC has done so much to make him the face of the UFC. They sponsored him. Everything he's gotten is because of the UFC, the whole Nike endorsement and everything else like that, has all been because of the UFC. When he got in trouble a few months back, it was the UFC who stood behind him and kind of made it go away relatively quickly. So, for him to turn his back on the UFC is very hard to believe, for one, but it's just disappointing. I'm sure one day, when he has the time to understand the ramifications of his decision, he's is gonna think, 'Wow. What did I really do?'"
True Jones, did step in when the opportunity presented itself. But, Jones stepped in on a months notice, Chael is stepping in on a one weeks notice. I thought it was totally smart for Jones to turn that down. Even if it was a high school geek I would've turned down the fight on a weeks notice. this isn't street fighting, these are peoples careers we're talking about.
I see what you're saying, but this also isn't boxing. It's called the ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP for a reason. These guys are paid to fight. The history of the sport had fighters fighting multiple fights in a night without time limits.
People can see it like you and Chaz. That Jones needed more time to prepare or that he didn't feel like Sonnen deserved to fight him.
I see it as a "fighter," known to be top 3 P4P in MMA, not stepping up for the organization that helped solidify your status as one of the best. Sonnen is good, but we're talking about Jones here. Jones dismantled Bonner, Bader, Shogun, Machida, Rampage, Vera, and Rashad. I feel like he was totally prepared for Sonnen.
[ Edited by SF69ers on Aug 30, 2012 at 7:31 AM ]
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