TUF 17 Coaches revealed. Jon Jones vs Chael Sonnen.

SDTimeout

Oh sweet jesus.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-ufc-jon-jones-chael-sonnen-ultimate-fighter-20121016,0,1269872.story

Jon Jones didn't want to fight Chael Sonnen on a week's notice, but now the Ultimate Fighting Championship light-heavyweight champion will be subjected to perhaps a crueler fate:
Spending weeks on end around the quick-witted, in-your-face title contender.
UFC President Dana White told The Times on Tuesday that Jones and Sonnen have been assigned as opposing coaches in the third installment of "The Ultimate Fighter" on FX, creating some extensive pre-fight hype for their April 27 pay-per-view title match at a site to be determined.
"The Ultimate Fighter" with Jones and Sonnen is set to begin shooting on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas, with a debut in early January as young middleweights participate in a tournament that leads up to an April "TUF" finale at the Vegas Hard Rock Hotel, where the winner will receive a multi-fight UFC contract.
"This should be a good one," White said of matching arguably his organization’s best fighter against its top personality. "Jon has accepted the fight. He knows the fans want to see that fight."
The April fight date for the two was necessary, White said, because Jones was examined by a doctor in Los Angeles two weeks ago and it was discovered that his right arm, twisted badly in a Sept. 22 bout, had been injured and will require physical therapy and a layoff from mixed martial arts.
Jones, in consultation with trainer Greg Jackson, angered UFC leaders in August by resisting the organization's push to insert Sonnen as a replacement fighter for injured title challenger Dan Henderson of Temecula.
White was beside himself, asking why Jones couldn't take the bout despite having a full training camp while Sonnen was willing to challenge less than two months after a middleweight title loss and with extremely limited preparation time.
For the first time in the organization's history, the UFC took the dramatic step of scrapping its entire Sept. 1 card at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. White called the incident "an all-time low."
Jones, 25, ultimately accepted the Sept. 22 title defense against veteran Vitor Belfort in Toronto and, after surviving the first-round armbar episode, claimed victory by fourth-round submission.
In declining to face Sonnen in August, Jones (17-1) explained that he wasn't fully comfortable risking the belt against the 35-year-old skilled wrestler with a relentless, attacking style that nearly allowed him to upset middleweight champion Anderson Silva in 2010.
Sonnen (28-12-1) and Silva fought again July 7 in Las Vegas, and Sonnen dominated Silva in the first round, getting atop the champion but failing to deliver painful blows.
Silva quickly rallied in the second, retaining the belt he's owned since 2006 by dropping Sonnen with punches and finishing him by technical knockout with blows that included a knee to the chest.
Predictably, Sonnen has chastised Jones to reporters and on his Twitter account for ducking out of the Sept. 1 challenge.
In August, Sonnen tweeted to Jones: "I know you will never fight me. Don't be afraid. But I'll always be the monster in the closet of your mind, little JJ." After Jones' win over Belfort, Sonnen reminded him: "I’m not going anywhere Johnny!!"
Last week, Sonnen revealed the dialogue that was happening between camps by noting: "You don’t give. I TAKE. Remembah that, Bonesie-boy."
Sonnen's ability to penetrate his opponent's psyche emerged in the Silva rematch, with the normally peaceful champion vowing to break the challenger's teeth, arms and legs.

Niall0

Is sonnen still fighting forest?

SDTimeout

RT @latimespugmire: Dana White told me he does not plan to have Chael Sonnen fight between now and April 27. #UFC

DrPhilG

Nuts.

If the division was bare then I could see the sense in this. But we have Henderson, Machida, Gustaffson, Teixeira and Shogun (Dana recently said that Rua-Gustaffson would be in line for the title).

LHW is stacked, and there is a long line ahead of Sonnen. This is freakshow match making. Am I curious to see it? Of course.

But this is BS.

manga_10

and chael sonnen will get injured (most likely knee injury) and cormier will take his place. No thanks necessary :P

El Guapo!

Holy Shít!
Imagine the smack talk from Sonnen during that season!! :eek:
This is gonna be epic.

Mr. Manager

Agreed that this is a total joke but I'm still super excited to see it!

Would have rathered JJ and Machida.

Mr. Manager

Niall0 wrote: »

Is sonnen still fighting forest?

Due to his coaching duties, Sonnen no longer will fight Forrest Griffin (19-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) at UFC 155 in December.

.

El Guapo!

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

Agreed that this is a total joke but I'm still super excited to see it!

Would have rathered JJ and Machida.

Yeah it doesn't make a lot of sense alright, but it's gonna be comedy gold!

Mr. Manager

Dean09 wrote: »

Yeah it doesn't make a lot of sense alright, but it's gonna be comedy gold!

Oh of course! I can't enough of Chael, he's hilarious. He can't back up anything he says which makes it even better. Don't get me wrong, I was rooting for him against Silva and I'll be rooting for him again.

riffmongous

Dean09 wrote: »

Holy Shít!
Imagine the smack talk from Sonnen during that season!! :eek:
This is gonna be epic.

That is literally the first thing that came into my mind when I saw this.

manga_10

makes business sense as far as two of the biggest draws ppv wise leading a failing franchise product such as the ultimate fighter. Its all about the money

Professey Chin

Fcuk sense. This is gonna be fun :pac:

MrStuffins

This is gonna be quality!!!!

Plastikman_eire

Please tell me this is non-title, or catchweight or something?


Does the lhw title mean nothing? The last two challengers got a shot without even having a recent at 205..

Mr. CooL ICE

This will be the first season of TUF I will actually watch

SDTimeout

I don't care about Chael skipping the queue its going to be so entertaining on the season. What annoys me is Shogun and Gustafsson is number 1 contender. Those guys fight in December. Side lining them for 9 or 10 months. Assuming no injuries occur post title fight. Maybe the winner fights the winner of Hendo and Machida around the same time as Jones and Sonnen.

Mr. Manager

There's been no word on whether or not this is a title fight, yea? I presume it's not a title fight...?

JohnMc1

UFC is about as real as WWE now.

DrPhilG

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

There's been no word on whether or not this is a title fight, yea? I presume it's not a title fight...?

I can't imagine why it wouldn't be. Why would they have the champ face a fellow 205'er and not have the title on the line.

We all know he doesn't deserve it, but there's no way they'll have the fight and not have the belt on the line. Makes even less sense than the fight itself.

DrPhilG

JohnMc1 wrote: »

UFC is about as real as WWE now.

I'm sorry but that is a ridiculous comment.

This is a stupid (but intriguing) fight. But it is a fight. It is not scripted, pre-determined or fake

That's not a dig at pro wrestling by the way, just stating facts.

RainMaker

Just saw the news, wow!

First off, as much as I think JJ will win easily, I would love to see Chael finally getting a belt!

Second, this whole notion of the "queue" is nonsense, JJ himself pretty much bypassed the queue to get to the title - he beat Ryan Bader, then title shot due to Rashad injury... I know he had a few other wins, but really Bader was the biggest at that stage.

Third - next TUF season should be hilarious!!! AND at least it gives JJ a chance to show he's not as bad as most people think OR he could just make everybody hate him even more - either way interesting sub-plot to see how that plays out!

riffmongous

If people dont like it they can just not watch it, thats the only way to send a message to the UFC about what the viewers want.

And in fairness Chael's the only one doing it at the moment since its not as easy as it looks, just ask Jacob Volkmann.

Tubbs4

This will stop the silva Jones talks for awhile. As Jones now tied up with a fight.
It be fun as sonnen will get in Jones head but unsure if he can beat Jones as I thinkJones on another level then him.

stealinhorses

Absolutely can't wait for this. Has the potential to be as good as Season 10.

siochain

Epic!

TUF has my interest again.

SevereMMA

Chael running scared from Forrest Griffins triangle

cian68

I love chael but this is so dumb, this is really dumb, for real.

Ush1

Load of smack talk and then Chael getting destroyed when they fight.

I think this could be the bitter end for Chael as a serious competitor at the highest levels.

I don't like the idea of TUF seasons with the champion being tied up for so long. If JJ and Hendo ever get to fight now Hendo is gonna be around 70 years old.

Mr. Manager

UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has opened as a -600, or 6-to-1, favorite over upcoming opponent Chael Sonnen, who's a +400 underdog

Genuinely thought JJ would have opened as a bigger favourite.

El Guapo!

Hendo isn't too happy about it. Can't say I blame him. I'd be a bit pissed off too.

Mr. CooL ICE

This is the guy who got a MW title shot after losing the LHW title shot, along with his injury being a major factor in the UFC 151 debacle. Pride title unification or not, he shouldn't feel too put out by this.

PerrinV2

Sonnen getting tv time every week now you say well..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_B3dvFMyDE

PauloConn

Its official; Joe Silva and Dana have gone mad......
But fair play to Sonnen, didn't even take a fight at LHW and gets a shot at the gold.
Reckon its things like this that make good fighters like Frankie Edgar just seeth rage.
But i for one hope that JJ puts Sonnen in his place.
If they want sports entertainment, go to the WWE

riffmongous

PauloConn wrote: »

Its official; Joe Silva and Dana have gone mad......
But fair play to Sonnen, didn't even take a fight at LHW and gets a shot at the gold.
Reckon its things like this that make good fighters like Frankie Edgar just seeth rage.
But i for one hope that JJ puts Sonnen in his place.
If they want sports entertainment, go to the WWE

But didnt Frankie get the same thing? A title shot at a new weight while coming off a loss. But I get your point, Rashad Evans gave an interview today where he said he wanted to fight Silva at MW but they told him he needed one more fight first

PauloConn

Frankie should have won his last match with Henderson, that was the difference. And most of his matches of recent times (with the exception of the KO over Maynard) have all gone to decision. Sonnen on the other hand has been Beaten twice by Silva and got a close decision over Bisping, so not quiet the same competition.
I'd like to see the Evans V Silva match but its been a while since he's fought too. Not sure that kind of drop would help him so think 1 fight would be good in his case to see how the cut impacts him

SDTimeout

You can't say "should have won" as an excuse. That's like me saying Chael shouldn't have thrown the spinning back fist and he would have won.

Rampage has said he will fight Forrest and Glover on the same night to help Dana, 2 for the price of 1 in all seriousness the Forrest rematch does interest me.

unknown13

You can see from this thread alone, why it is a genius move by the UFC. The decision to award Chael the shot at Jones shouldn't be praised but it has people up arms for a variety of reasons and talking about the season already.

Whether people like or not, Chael was going to be on TUF very soon regardless. He draws numbers and people love to hear his trash talk. It wasn't the best timing but the UFC or Chael can't control Jones's body, so fair play to them for making this decision.

Also, I wouldn't right off Chael so soon in the fight. Chael showed people that Anderson isn't invincible. He will come in massive underdog and no one will expect him to last, like the first Silva fight.

PauloConn

SDTimeout wrote: »

You can't say "should have won" as an excuse. That's like me saying Chael shouldn't have thrown the spinning back fist and he would have won.

Not quiet the same, Frankies was in the hands of the judges, Chael made his mistake by using a move that he's never showcased before. So Frankie had a better case for getting a shot when he dropped down (although i would have liked to have seen him take on a potential contender for Aldo first). Same as Sonnen, he's fought at LHW once and got submitted by Babalou..... hardly inspiring stuff going up against someone who will hand him his a** in the first 2 minutes.
I 'd like to see Hendo v Sonnen after this all when the dust settles. He didn't seem overly chuffed

Ush1

unknown13 wrote: »

You can see from this thread alone, why it is a genius move by the UFC. The decision to award Chael the shot at Jones shouldn't be praised but it has people up arms for a variety of reasons and talking about the season already.

Whether people like or not, Chael was going to be on TUF very soon regardless. He draws numbers and people love to hear his trash talk. It wasn't the best timing but the UFC or Chael can't control Jones's body, so fair play to them for making this decision.

Also, I wouldn't right off Chael so soon in the fight. Chael showed people that Anderson isn't invincible. He will come in massive underdog and no one will expect him to last, like the first Silva fight.

I actually read the UFC wanted Cerrone and Pettis originally but due to Pettis' injury he couldn't do it.

riffmongous

PauloConn wrote: »

I 'd like to see Hendo v Sonnen after this all when the dust settles. He didn't seem overly chuffed

Sonnen versus Henderson would be pretty awesome.

What they really should have done was Sonnen versus Machida, America versus Brazil for TUF, if they could work out the language problems, which probably wouldnt be too hard if they wanted it.

Ush1

Lyoto Machida ‏@lyotomachidafw
With all respect,but for me Chael does not deserve The title shot,I would like To know What He had done in LHW for deserve!!

.

weemcd

Ok, so Sonnen has not right to be in there fighting for the belt, that is a given.

No point in Machida having a whinge about this when he was offered the fight with Jones, though. He turned it down and will have to wait like everyone else now. I can see why Henderson would be pissed off, and rightly so, I can't see him getting his shot ever and that is a real tragedy for an all time great.

Sonnen is an absolute genius at staying relevant, this is irrelevant to his fight performances, win lose or draw, his name will always come up. UFC will get viewers for this, I never watch TUF and never have, but I could be very interested in this one.

BTW, if I did want to take a look, what are the best TUF series?

Locomotion

weemcd wrote: »

Ok, so Sonnen has not right to be in there fighting for the belt, that is a given.

No point in Machida having a whinge about this when he was offered the fight with Jones, though. He turned it down and will have to wait like everyone else now. I can see why Henderson would be pissed off, and rightly so, I can't see him getting his shot ever and that is a real tragedy for an all time great.

Sonnen is an absolute genius at staying relevant, this is irrelevant to his fight performances, win lose or draw, his name will always come up. UFC will get viewers for this, I never watch TUF and never have, but I could be very interested in this one.

BTW, if I did want to take a look, what are the best TUF series?

Seasons 1,3 and 4 are good, you'll surely recognise quite a few faces from them.

Season 7 is good

Season 12 is good

Wouldn't bother with the rest to be honest

PauloConn

I reckon everyone in the top 5-10 LHW division is looking for a piece of Sonnen after this. And the thing is, he'll lose this fight then talk himself into a number 1 contender match-up with either Machida or Hendo while the winner of Rua v Gustaffson will face JJ next.
He's sneaky, its completely unwarranted but if Dana is going to listen to "the people" on setting up matches then this is a slippery slope in WWE country.....
So i'm thinking Hendo will come out from the crowd, hit JJ with the chair while he's grappling Sonnen and they set him up for the Doomsday Device. Sonnen takes the strap and a new stable is born....

scudzilla

SDTimeout wrote: »

You can't say "should have won" as an excuse. That's like me saying Chael shouldn't have thrown the spinning back fist and he would have won.

Rampage has said he will fight Forrest and Glover on the same night to help Dana, 2 for the price of 1 in all seriousness the Forrest rematch does interest me.

Dampage SAYS he'd do that, but if it came off (i know it wouldn't), he'd just pull out with an injury.

He sure does talk a good game, been years since Dampage was relevant in the MMA scene

unknown13

Locomotion wrote: »

Seasons 1,3 and 4 are good, you'll surely recognise quite a few faces from them.

Season 7 is good

Season 12 is good

Wouldn't bother with the rest to be honest

Season 12 with GSP / Koscheck, that season was bad. Sure the cast are irrelevant now even the winner. The season was terrible.

Season 5 was the best season because of the amount of relevant fighters it had today. No other season since then has produced that amount of good fighters.

SDTimeout

scudzilla wrote: »

Dampage SAYS he'd do that, but if it came off (i know it wouldn't), he'd just pull out with an injury.

He sure does talk a good game, been years since Dampage was relevant in the MMA scene

I love Rampage but I agree, he knows he is coming close to dropping out of "relevance" some say he already has but I'd say he is still a decent draw. He knows if he blows it he's gone, well his contract is up but apparently he wants to talk to the UFC about staying on.

I'd love to see the Forrest match anyway.

scudzilla

SDTimeout wrote: »

I love Rampage but I agree, he knows he is coming close to dropping out of "relevance" some say he already has but I'd say he is still a decent draw. He knows if he blows it he's gone, well his contract is up but apparently he wants to talk to the UFC about staying on.

I'd love to see the Forrest match anyway.

And there's another one who's no longer relevant, as much as i like Forrest he's just totally gone to shit

unknown13

scudzilla wrote: »

And there's another one who's no longer relevant, as much as i like Forrest he's just totally gone to shit

Rampage would completely dominate him. The first fight was very close. The second one won't be.

Rampage isn't that irrelevant but he has such an obvious blue print how to beat him.

MrStuffins

SDTimeout wrote: »

I love Rampage but I agree, he knows he is coming close to dropping out of "relevance" some say he already has but I'd say he is still a decent draw. He knows if he blows it he's gone, well his contract is up but apparently he wants to talk to the UFC about staying on.

I'd love to see the Forrest match anyway.

Rampage hasn't been relevant in the LHW division for a long time. The sport has passed him by. His next fight is his last UFC fight either way so it's all the same.