(You can skip through the first 2:45, unless you really can’t get enough of Dana White busting chops and complaining about incompetent employees.)
You have to love these Canadian MMA fans. Dana White goes to a Q&A session in a mall in Toronto (presumably the same one where he admitted that the UFC’s design team had caved to Chinese interests), and their questions are all so…good. Calm, measured, reasonable queries about the state of MMA in Ontario, and what DW has planned for the future.
Perhaps the most interesting answer White gives comes when he’s asked about Jon Jones, whose bandwagon has been filling up ever since his face-breaking win over Brandon Vera. The UFC knows they have a valuable asset with Jonny “Bones,” so they’re giving him a slow road to a title shot. Note, however, at the 3:35 mark, DW starts naming potential future opponents for Jones and the first name out of his mouth is Rashad Evans, who is Jones’s teammate, training partner, and surrogate big brother at Greg Jackson’s squad. I guess we’re still acting like we can just make those guys fight each other, no matter how many times they’ve said they won’t, huh?
My question is, if “Rampage” Jackson, Evans (theoretically, anyway), Lyoto Machida, and “Shogun” Rua are the guys Jones might face after he’s had three more fights over the next year, who’s he supposed to beat up in the meantime? You could make a case for Ryan Bader or maybe even our old friend K-Sos, but more than one or two of those fights and it’s going to start to feel like he’s treading water.








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commentsEven Canadian serial killers are probably relatively reasonable compared to our rowdy, booing, hat snatching culture.
it is a bit slower than they have built up cain or shane, but still faster than lashley is willing to go...
While I'm pretty damn impressed with Jones, I'm still not on that band wagon. He's athletic and fast as hell, but he needs to beat one of the bigger names. I don't know how long it would take for one of the top guys to figure him out...since he hasn't fought a top-tier guy, it's hard to say. I get the 'build-up' thing, but I still think I want to see him and Bader next.
That said, I would like to see Jones fight Alexander Gustafsson. No more size advantage for you Jonny. Or Thiago Silva would be ok too.
I'm sorry, but now i cannot get "Pour Some Sugar On Me" out of my head.
Deaflympics?
For real?
Right on the money. While Hammil is an oustanding wrestler, his gold is in the deaflympics not in the actual summer games. That is a huge difference. Like I said, he's still an exceptional wrestler, but not on Bader's level IMO.
@Rex13...that was my exact reaction the first time I 'heard' (no pun intended, but it's still funny) about the deaflympics. Check out Hammil's fighter profile.
the whatlympics is right. he was was a medalist in the deaf olympics called the deaflympics. i know it doesnt sound real but it is. i'm not saying its not a great accomplishment but it not the olympics.
You are right on Hamill's wrestling, but also remember that Hamill outwrestled two NCAA champion wrestlers in the UFC, and brutalized both of them. So his wrestling is top notch when compared to other top wrestlers in MMA. That makes Jones ability to toss him around that much more impressive. I actually think Jones wrestling in competition isn't anywhere near what some top wrestlers have in their resume when they transitioned to MMA, but Jones has been able to use his wrestling seamlessly along with the rest of his aggressive style. Actually, Vera has a more impressive wrestling resume than Jones, and Vera was also able to stop Randy's Greco attacks, but was tossed down pretty easily by Jones. Bones is just able to impose his game so well on everyone he has faced that he takes them out of their's with ease.
I know I'm just saying the match would more then likely be a stand up because of Jones' take down defense being so good but the more I like this fight the more it's not going to happen because Dana White has to "build up" both these guys . I'm sick of Dana White "building up" fighters.They're not a fucking LEGO set just let them fight.Same goes for Dos Santos let these guys fight top 10 guys who cares if they lose it's just a lesson learned.
I know I'm just saying the match would more then likely be a stand up because of Jones' take down defense being so good but the more I like this fight the more it's not going to happen because Dana White has to "build up" both these guys . I'm sick of Dana White "building up" fighters.They're not a fucking LEGO set just let them fight.Same goes for Dos Santos let these guys fight top 10 guys who cares if they lose it's just a lessoned learned.
Thats a gold medal in the deaflympics, little bit of a difference there don't you think. Ya thats pretty BIG!
The Bader machup is very interesting to me, i think that it would be a good fight, not really sure who would have that, Bader is an animal as is Jones but Bones is just so fast.
I don't know if wrestling even matters when you are fighting someone like Jones. Matt Hammill is an olympic wrestling gold medalist for gosh sakes. Jones just gets in there, judo throws/suplexes the shit out of you, and throws elbows to your grill before you get a chance to defend the takedown. Bader would get wrecked.
1. Luis Arthur Cane
2. Tito Ortiz
3. Thiago Silva or Rich Franklin
4. #1 Contender's bout vs Lil Nog, Bader, or Machida if he loses somewhere in there
Reasoning - all of those guys are hovering around the bottom of the Top 10, with the exception being Tito, who would be used to get Jon some additional mainstream/casual fan popularity. If they really want to build him up, there's no reason to throw him in with another guy they want to build up (Bader) until there's good $ involved. Dana isn't big on "tournaments" and a Jones-Bader match is basically a semi-final. Same reason I don't think we'll see Junior Dos Santos fight Cain Velasquez before Cain gets his title shot.
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