...And just like that the now titled UFC: 152 main event has changed, again. Lyota Machida, who had everything to lose, relevancy, interest in his fights by the populous, and no weight class to move to after the inevitable lose to Jon Jones. Machida, who was all but guaranteed the title shot after an odd Thursday that contained a canceled UFC 151, a Dana White tirade on Jones and Greg Jackson ruining MMA and a poster displaying the champion "Bones" Jones vs. Machida. One problem at roughly 8:00 PM PST, Machida turned down the fight.
Enter Vitor Belfort, the man who beat Anothny "Rumble" Johnson, who ironically fought this weekend, and helped this past winter with UFC's plan to expand further into the Brazilian market by serving as one of the coaches for the inaugural TUF: Brazil alongside fellow rival and soon to be cut fighter, Wanderlei Silva. This lead to a heavily anticipated match up pitting two rivals against one and another, but as fate would have it (and Belfort's history of being injury prone); he pulled out of the fight due to a hand injury. This lead to one of the most woeful UFC PPVs ever headlined by Silva vs. Franklin, in which official buy rates were never announced.
Minor details, Victor Belfort is a middleweight. He was also in a match at UFC 153 in Brazil against Alan Belcher, who now is rumored to face Chris Weidman. Let's not act as though Belfort has not competed at Heavyweight and Light Heavy before. In fact, his match against "Rumble" Johnson was essentially a light heavy match up since Rumble missed weight so badly that he came in near the 205 limit for light heavys , even though he is/ was competing at middleweight.
As far as compelling storylines, this one is growing thin. Belfort, is a challenger by circumstance, not by right. It is hard to get excited on any level about a fight that seemingly he does not deserve, but this is the sad state of affairs for Zuffa. The over saturation is not just having the diehard fans miss events due to the fact that they are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of events on the calendar this year - they are getting programmed to pick and choose which events to watch. It is hard to tell me that the three fights on UFC 152 main card will be an easy sell to the fan base. From the main event that lists Jones as a 10-1 favorite over Belfort, who only has one chance to win (a blitz of punches with in the first 2 1/2 minutes) and seems to cave historically whenever put in big fights. It is a flyweight title match in a division that a majority of fans do not respect, enjoy or buy in to and a match set up for Michael Bisping to get the next crack at the middleweight gold.
Another aspect of these odd events is the comparison of Jon Jones to LeBron James. I personally don't see it. For all the flaws of LeBron James, he made a decision (albeit in the worst possible manner) that impacted him in terms of finances and future events. What Jones did that bothered me was that the undercard fighters who would make 10k for this weekend’s fight are now out 3-4 grand with no capital gain due to the fact that they had to pay their trainers , airfare and accommodations. For someone working so hard on his image, Jones made a decision that was solely based on what was in his best interest; yes it is fair to say the UFC should have had a stronger co-main event. One that could of held the card together, but still he is the face of the UFC moving forward.
Now, I don't blame Jones for not fighting Sonnen on 8 days notice , but I respect Chael for stepping up to fight Jones. The same goes for Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman who both made it clear that they would fight Jon Jones to save the event. The flood gates are now open. I am nearly a hundred percent certain with the internet feeling is that Jones "ducked" Chael Sonnen and that Dana White will make this fight in July, in part as a favor to Chael, in part to a big payday, and in the hope that Jones will lose.
The UFC has something they haven't had since Tito Ortiz in the mid-2000, a champion who is more concerned with his own career than putting the UFC first. The problem is with Anderson Silva is getting older and GSP is on his last legs, literally, while Brock is gone. Jones was supposed to be the new PPV must see star. Jones had the cross over to the mainstream media with a brand new Nike deal (though it is rumored to be a trial in sense, since it was just a one year contract).
The one point that I have yet to touch on is that Jones stated in a recent ESPN.com interview that he found some of Chael Sonnen's comments to be deeply offensive. Did Jones not take the Sonnen fight not just because of the short notice? Simply put, did Jones fear or worry that Sonnen would be openly racist and that the UFC may try to portray Sonnen as the hero allowing these beliefs to be pushed as acceptable? The crummy part of the whole deal is that Jones and his team will not speak to any members of the media and I am almost sure he will refuse to answer this question. So until Jones does his watered down interview with one member of the media we will truly not know what his stance is , but one thing is for sure, this whole event could have been handled much better.