Also, states he's changed his plans on moving up to 170.
http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/...boy-cerrone-011315?cmpid=tsmtw:fscom:ufconfox
How about asking the involved fighters before agreeing to anything? Because apparantly Bendo didn't agree to the bout.
Makes the UFC look stupid like the Little Nog vs Gustafsson thing.
I think it should look this way:
1: Cerrone wants to fight asap
2: Ask Benson Henderson if he wants to fight Cerrone in like 16 days notice.
3. Ask Cerrone if he wants to fight Benson
4. Announce the fight
Number 4 shouldn't happen before #2 or #3, that's just stupid, leads to confusion and maybe gets fighters/fans mad.
And yeah #3 should probably not happen before #2, because you see what happened.
The things the UFC does are sometimes so unnecessary and avoidable without breaking a sweat. It's stupid and they're missing common sense.
If Jon Jones was offered Cerrone on a two week notice, Jones (on the advice of Greg Jackson), would decline the fight saying not enough time to prepare for a lightweight contender, maybe a flyweight, but not a dangerous lightweight.
They probably suspected Bendo would agree, and used this technique for manipulation in case he had reservations. It would look really bad if the fight was announced and Bendo said no after the fact, so they manipulated while stroking his ego a bit and saying
"We knew you'd say yes so we went ahead and announced it".
Classic employer manipulation.
Bendo taking it very well. BUT, if Dana and company keep this up, a they're going to have some disgruntled employees. If it keeps going this way, Sherdog's dedicated UFC forum will get relegated to a tab in the "Worldwide MMA" forum.
UFC did it this way because if Benson refused after the fact they could shit on him publicly and say he pulled out of the fight, cover's their ass better than losing another big fight to injury
Bad acrostic. There is nothing fake in this story. A more apt one would be:
Unprofessional
Fighting
Championship
i am rooting for cowboy, but i must also applaud bendo for his attitude here. he is up 2-0 against one of the best lw fighters on earth. Cowboy has never looked better. I hope the ufc remembers this if bendo is the number one contender and they are feeling reluctant about giving him another shot. Bendo's losses to pettis are very similar to his wins over cowboy.