Jon Jones Tells Any Boxer Thinking About Stepping Inside Octagon: ‘Don’t Mess With An MMA Fighter’

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has some stern words for any boxer out there thinking they can step inside the Octagon and survive.

“Don’t mess with an MMA fighter,” said Jones, during a recent appearance on Power 105.1 radio. “You don’t want to do that. It’s a bad look.”

Jones, who was asked about a potential “dream” fight with Floyd Mayweather, referenced the failed UFC run of boxing heavyweight James Toney. Toney was defeated in the first round by Randy Couture.

To be honest with you, if it was all hands, it would probably be a pretty competitive match. But that’s not fighting, either. You can’t be at the bar and be like, alright, no kicking, no taking me down, don’t stretch my shirt out. It’s not like that. What I do, I consider it to be the true art of fighting. To do everything. Fighting Floyd Mayweather wouldn’t even be right. Nobody would want to see that. James Toney did it about two years ago. He lost in the first round.

Currently, Jones is on the sidelines recovering from a toe injury. He does not have a fight lined up to date, but you can bet some of his words were in regards to Tyson Fury’s recent call-outs of UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

 

Why Can’t The UFC Create A Star Like Floyd Mayweather?

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is participating in a sport that most say is ‘dead’, yet he is the highest paid athlete in all of sports. He has A-list celebrities like P. Diddy, Lil’ Wayne, 50 Cent attend his fights. He is able to generate over one million pay-per-view buys for 9 consecutive fights, averaging 1.06 million buys per fight. Yet, he is constantly accused of cherry-picking fights and refusing to participate in a superfight with Manny Pacquiao. Why is Mayweather so successful at marketing himself and why can’t the UFC create a similarly successful star?

You have to believe that Dana White would love to have an athlete with Mayweather’s drawing power working for Zuffa, LLC. However, because the UFC would rather spend time marketing itself instead of marketing specific fighters, they have struggled to maintain the same pay-per-view buy rates that they attained in 2010. Zuffa, LLC. believes that the UFC brand is enough to sell pay-per-views. And in some ways, they are right. The UFC name sells some pay-per-views. But not a lot. Brand name alone will not give them the record numbers they achieved at UFC 100. The UFC is still profitable but they have to hold more events to make similar profits that they made in 2010.

Mayweather will always take home a larger cut of profits than any UFC fighter does because he negotiates his own terms and doesn’t have to divide his purse.  But just comparing straight pay-per-view buys, it is clear that the UFC is clearly lagging behind a guy like Mayweather. Their biggest star, Georges St. Pierre, averages 750,000-800,000 buys per fight. Jon Jones, who is probably their most intriguing and exciting fighter, should be being marketed as the next big thing. Instead, the only promotion we saw for his bout with Chael Sonnen revolved around Sonnen’s bad schtick.

The UFC has a fighter in Jon Jones who can be just as dominant as Mayweather has been over the course of is career, yet the UFC would rather book their biggest rising star in a squash match with a middleweight. And on top of that, the undercard for UFC 159 was poor. The UFC needs to learn  name alone won’t create stars. And stars are what sells pay-per-views.

Photo Credit- Jayne Kamin-Oncea- USA Today Sports

 

World Series Of Fighting Holding Off Title Fights Until Late 2013

According to World Series of Fighting president Ray Sefo, the promotion will not be awarding any title belts in the coming months.

Instead, the WSOF has plans to crown champions later this year, Sefo confirmed on Twitter.

“There is a lot of talk about (WSOF) titles, to clear things up WSOF will not be doing any title fights till the end of 2013,” Sefo wrote.

The next World Series of Fighting card is scheduled for June 14, with Jon Fitch taking on Josh Burkman and John Gunderson battling Dan Lauzon. No location has been pinned down, but the event is set to air on NBC Sports Network.

 

Steven Seagal Wants To Train Daniel Cormier

While many people see him as a joke, Seagal thinks he can help Daniel Cormier enhance his career.

 

Chael Sonnen Sounds Off On Juan Manuel Marquez’s Victory Over Manny Pacquiao

Chael Sonnen, as only he can, offered up his take on the recent boxing super-fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

Marquez, who was meeting Pacquiao for the fourth time, earned a knockout victory over him.

Sonnen’s remarks came during an appearance on Showtime’s Jim Rome: Live this past Wednesday evening.

The guy’s got a six-pack that he never had before. There are two tests that you have: You’ve got the pee test, but you’ve also got the visual test. Did he take something? Sure. Did he take something illegal? According to the test, no.

Sonnen recently finished filming for The Ultimate Fighter, where he competes as a coach opposite UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. He has previously tested positive for use of a prescribed testosterone prior to his loss to Anderson Silva in 2010, and was suspended for the incident.

 

Lorenzo Fertitta Takes Shot At Boxing’s Inability To Pair Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather

Lorenzo Fertitta, one of the owners of the UFC, took a slight shot at boxing Saturday night following Manny Pacquiao’s loss to Juan Manuel Marquez.

For the past few years now, promoters have tried to pair Pacquiao with Floyd Mayweather, but the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement.

With Pacquiao’s loss to Marquez on Saturday, the potential super-fight between the two has lost much of its luster.

The UFC, of course, is attempting to pair UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Both fighters recently earned wins, keeping the hope for a colossal showdown intact.

 

CM Punk Fires Off Twitter Shot At Jon Jones

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones does not live the lifestyle of WWE superstar CM Punk.

Punk, who refuses to use alcohol or any other kind of drugs, took to Twitter to express his frustration with Jones’ recent signed deal with Nike.

Jones will become the first MMA fighter to become a global advertising icon for Nike, with plans to launch a signature line in the near future. However, he was charged with DUI back in May after crashing his car into a light pole in the early morning hours.

 

Anderson Silva, Steven Seagal, Bruce Buffer, Dan Miragliotta, Master Machida in Budweiser Commercial

A new commercial for Budweiser in Brazil features UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, martial arts legend Steven Seagal, UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, referee Dan Miragliotta, and UFC fighter Lyoto Machida’s father. The commercial features parodies of many classic martial arts movies. Take a look at the humorous clip above.

 

Dana White and Ed O’Neill Talk the Evolution of the UFC, Floyd Mayweather and Alistair Overeem

Dana White sits down with actor Ed O’Neill and FoxSports.com columnist Mark Kriegel to talk about the evolution of the UFC, Floyd Mayweather and Alistair Overeem.

Videos via FoxSports.com

 

Wrestling Superstar CM Punk Discusses Being In Chael Sonnen’s Corner In Brazil

Back when Chael Sonnen was preparing to face Michael Bisping at an event earlier this year, reports of WWE superstar CM Punk being in the corner of Sonnen picked up steam. The card was held in Chicago – the hometown of Punk’s – but, according to reports, either his schedule, WWE chairman Vince McMahon or a combination of both kept Punk from cornering Sonnen.

Well, Sonnen went on to win the fight and secure the title of No. 1 contender in the UFC’s middleweight division. Now, he’s on schedule to face Anderson Silva for the belt later this year in Brazil at UFC 147: Silva vs. Sonnen 2. In a recent interview with ESPN’s James Walker, Punk talked about why he’s such good friends with Sonnen, and the slim chance of him going with the challenger to Brazil.

I think the reason Chael and I are good friends is because we are both extremely honest. He shocked the world last time when he took it to Anderson. His takedown is second-to-none, and that’s Anderson’s weakness. They match up on paper beautifully. Chael has to take him down and grind it out. Obviously, I’m in Chael’s corner. I would love to be down there in Brazil, literally, in Chael’s corner. Because that just seems like my kind of environment, you know. I’d love to start a riot with my homeboy.

Punk, who is set to compete this coming weekend at Wrestlemania 28 against Chris Jericho, added that his schedule forces him to work most Saturdays, so the odds of him being with Sonnen don’t appear good.

If there is ever an opportunity for pro wrestling and MMA to come together, Sonnen and Punk seem to be the perfect tag team.

Photo credit: Esther Lin/FanHouse