Roundtables
ROUNDTABLE: Did the UFC make the right decision in canceling UFC 151? What could have been done without Jon Jones?
Aug 29, 2012 - 7:30:01 PM ROUNDTABLE: Did the UFC make the right decision in canceling UFC 151? What could have been done without Jon Jones?

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

Did the UFC make the right decision in canceling UFC 151? If not, what should (or could) they have done to keep the show on without a Jon Jones fight?


RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Depends who you ask. If you ask the 20 non-main event fighters who aren't getting paid until weeks or months later when they get rescheduled, then it was a horrible decision. I mean, babies won't be fed, wives won't be clothed, homes will be foreclosed upon, locusts and plagues will descend. If you ask UFC management, who was looking at a grand total of 42 PPV buys and not one more ticket sold from the moment Jones pulled out until the night of the fight, then yeah, good call Skippy. If you ask me, with no financial stake in the decision, I too am ambivalent. I mean, on one hand the UFC just sent a major slap in the face to Jake Ellenberger, Jay Hieron, Dennis Hallman, Yasuhiro Urushitani, et. al. by making it clear that the UFC cares more about their own bottom line than the bottom lines of the mid-card (and below). But on the other hand, the idea of a UFC PPV in an empty airport hangar, with a card devoid of even one drawing card would wind up being the source of even more ridicule than the cancellation of the event itself.

Of course, the three biggest sources of blame are getting off scott-free here. Dan Henderson, Lyoto Machida, and Dana White are far more responsible than their convenient scapegoat Jon Jones (although Jones really should have done them a solid, and isn't blameless). Henderson was injured for weeks before he told the UFC he was injured. Even if he thought he was going to be ready for September 1, he had a responsibility to keep the UFC in the loop so they could make backup plans. You know, as opposed to cancelling the card in a panic. Had the UFC known in time, they could have discreetly gotten another fighter (even Chael) to start training hard on a parallel course so that if Henderson pulled out, UFC management could have said, "Hendo is out. But in our infinite wisdom we strategerized a backup plan, and Jon Jones will now defend agaonst (fill in the blank)." If Chael was willing to take the fight on eight days notice, he clearly would have taken it on 24 days notice. And if Jones is willing to fight Chael on September 22, then he would have been willing to fight Chael on September 1 had he known immediately upon Henderson's injury.

While we're holding feet to the fire, Lyoto Machida also could have done the UFC a solid by accepting the September 1 fight with Jones. Seeing as how he already fought the man once, he's seen all the tape. He's with an elite camp who is more than well aware of what Jon Jones brings to the table. It's not perfect for Machida to take Jones on nine days notice, but it's not like Jones would have been training for Machida for three months either. Had Machida manned-up, we might still have a fight week to gear up for.

And of course, the UFC is to blame here. I understand that they are running approximately seven events per day this year so the cards are thin as a result. But this is a bed they made for themselves. They signed off on a model where they're booking a zillion fight cards, and a lot of those fights that are going to Fox, FX, and Fuel would have been solid PPV fights. But I don't remember anyone pointing a gun at Dana White's head forcing to run so many cards. What happened to UFC 151 was completely predictable. The last time Jon Jones fought, Che Mills was in the co-main event, okay? Numerous people were speculating about what would happen to UFC 145 if Jones or Rashad Evans got injured, and now we know the result.

It's fine for the UFC to book a thin undercard when they have a potentially massive main event, but there's a different between thin and non-existent. In a perfect world, injuries don't happen, every card that is booked stays fully in tact, I win the damn lottery, Brad Walker loses 75 pounds without blowing out both hamstrings, and Dan Moore gets his green card. But that aint the world we live in. So in conclusion, everyone is to blame, s*** happens, UFC 152 is less than four weeks away, and I'm glad to have more than three days between PPVs.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I don't think they made the right decision canceling. As soon as Anderson Silva tells me that he's willing to fight I run with that. I don't care if they already starting the process of canceling, you've got a chance to have the greatest fighter of all-time filling in on short notice. No one in their right mind would complain about that. Considering that Chael Sonnen and Chris Weidman were also willing to fight on short notice, there's no reason to cancel now. Match Sonnen and Weidman against each other, and then ask around to see if anyone is willing to fight Silva on short notice. I'm sure there would be at least a couple guys willing to do that.


ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

This is such an interesting question with so many variables. First, we should talk about who is at fault for this entire situation. It's Dan Henderson's fault. If he had told the UFC when his injury occurred, this whole thing could have been avoided. We have enough reasons to dislike Jon Jones, the cancellation of UFC 151 should not be one of them. Seriously, do you think Fedor would have taken on Randy Couture on one week's notice? HELL NO! It is not Jon Jones' fault, but we can still dislike him for the DUI, allegedly being in the company of two women who were not the mother of his children when he got the DUI, his super arrogance, and his disrespect of so many fighters in MMA. The UFC could have moved the card to free TV and made the fans happy. I agree the card would not have made a great PPV, but how many crappy PPV shows have we seen in recent memory? I think this is a case of Dana White being mad, because he lost control of one of his largest superstars. I think Jon Jones will become an even bigger thorn in the side of Zuffa after he starts to get some of the fame that will come along with his forty million dollar Nike sponsorship. Jon Jones did the right thing by waiting for his next opponent. Many fighters will do what the UFC and White ask, because they cannot make a living in any other organization. I think as long as fighters are doing exactly what White wants, things are fine. When fighters do not surrender to his whims, White makes these split- second, poor decisions like the cancellation of UFC 151 and everyone loses. Cancelling this UFC was a mistake and handling it any other way would have been better.


BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

From a business standpoint absolutely not. Jones vs. Sonnen would have still been an entertaining fight, with Jones coming out as the victor. If Dana White had not rushed to cancel the card we may have wound up with an equally as good fight with Anderson Silva fighting at light heavyweight against an unknown opponent. That would have made for every bit of pay per view sales as Jones vs Hendo or Jones vs Sonnen. The call to cancel was too quick and too erratic, and far too dramatic by Dana White, that was a huge mistake that hurt fans, fighters and publicity all at once.


DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK CONTRIBUTOR

The UFC were in a no win situation last week, a lot of it self inflicted, some of it just unfortunate circumstance. To start with, they left themselves wide open when putting the card together. Relying on Jones vs. Henderson, and to a lesser extent Koscheck vs. Ellenberger. When Koscheck was unfortunately injured they failed to find a marketable replacement, and went with Jay Hieron. Despite two solid outings in Bellator recently, Hieron isn't a name many people would pay over $50 to see in a PPV main event.

When you've got a (usually reliable) 42 year old in the main event, surely it would have been prudent of the UFC to have a Plan B, Plan C and Plan D, but they didn't. It was however extremely unfortunate that the withdrawal happened so late in the day, and no one should shoulder the blame for that. They were left with Ellenberger vs. Hieron and that wasn't going to entice but the most diehard fanatics. I do wonder if they ever considered bringing the Bisping vs. Stann fight forward 3 weeks. It's a very marketable match up, and I'm sure both fighters would have been game if the money was right. Maybe it was a week too late, but it would have saved the card, and a ton of negative press in the process.


JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

The only way to answer this question with absolute certainty is to open up the Zuffa books, look at their costs, and compare those numbers to projected figures for what they would take in for the show.

But since no one really has access to that kind of information outside of Zuffa, we have to assume that the loss they would have taken for continuing with the show would have been greater than the cancellation.

There isn't anything they could have done to save the show in the time they had to put things together.