UFC champions should get absolutely ZERO say in who they fight

[SherdogJoe]

GSP retired with the most wins in UFC history, the most wins in UFC title fights, a better win % than both Andy & Fedor, almost as many top 5 wins as both of them combined & avenged all losses

Yeah but people will be watching Anderson and Fedor fights forever. Nobody is gonna be throwing on old GSP fights seeing as how he had about 0 entertaining fights during his title run.

There's probably thousands of Fedor and Anderson highlight reels out there. And there's only about 3 or 4 of GSP.

As for this thread, the fighters who are the biggest draws and who are valuable to the UFC (The champs usually) get a say in who the fight because the UFC depends on them. If the UFC depends on you then you get more power, obviously. That's how it works with most things.

 

[ovbious]

The champ should fight whoever he wants.

If he should remain the beltholder after avoiding a fight is another story.

 

[Bones245n4847]

Jon jones situation is a paradigm shift and we should be happy about that. Fighters having more say guys, maybe eventually more pay so guys don't have to fight for 4 figures in the big leagues

 

[yookfarb]

Every title defense shouldn't be a mandatory title defense. There should be middle ground here. Boxing model works fine.

How exactly does it "work fine"?

Boxing is a disgraceful and corrupt sport. "22 undefeated world champions", TR/GB cold war, no Mayweather/Pacman, Rigondeaux can't even get on HBO, fighters are willing to vacate titles to avoid challengers.

 

[Mr Boogaloo]

totally agree with the op, madness that a champion gets to pick and choose, ridiculous

 

[Jaden Korr**]

It's a blatant conflict of interest that will inevitably lead to corruption of the sport.

This inane practice is without a doubt the most significant factor leading to the decline of Boxing.

If you want to pick and choose who you fight, then give up your belt or at the very least, have the decency to choose a catchweight fight and not sacrifice the integrity of the belt.

Boxing has mandatories, you are aware of this right?

 

[Jaden Korr**]

How exactly does it "work fine"?

Boxing is a disgraceful and corrupt sport. "22 undefeated world champions", TR/GB cold war, no Mayweather/Pacman, Rigondeaux can't even get on HBO, fighters are willing to vacate titles to avoid challengers.

You should be required to fight a mandatory 1 time per year, if you don't, you should be stripped. But to say the fighter has no choice, this is irrational because it's the sanctioning bodies that are the most corrupt. Fighters tend to want to fight the best, it's the sanctioning bodies who have people ranked in the top 5 who shouldn't even be ranked.

 

[BlizzardVeers]

How exactly does it "work fine"?

Boxing is a disgraceful and corrupt sport. "22 undefeated world champions", TR/GB cold war, no Mayweather/Pacman, Rigondeaux can't even get on HBO, fighters are willing to vacate titles to avoid challengers.

Because Mayweather and Paquiao haven't fought each other, Boxing is disgraceful? lol. Looked at either of their records lately?

Pretty sure Rigondeaux was on HBO for his fight with Donaire, so. That was a huge fight, imo.

TR/GB is probably going to end today. Literally. But, two promotions fighters can't fight each other because both promotions are scared their big money fighter will lose? Huh. Sounds familiar.

Fighters owning multiple belts, and being ordered to defend a certain belt while being already scheduled to defend another belt happens all the time. If the schedules intersect, then the fighter has to make a choice about which belt to defend and which to vacate. I doubt it's a matter of cowardice. It's a matter of too many belts. Not really what you're making it out to be.

 

[TheonGreyJoy**]

That's exactly the point.

Thankfully, the UFC does a pretty great job at now allowing this to ever happen. So far, Jones attempts to leverage the matchmaking have actually only made thinks harder looking at how easily Gus got the rematch.

However, if this "attitude" is allowed to fester and grow, it will lead to a world in which there are 22 "undefeated world champions" and the #1 p4p fighter in the world refuses to the fight the #2 p4p fighter in the world at the same weight class ala boxing.

Well Anderson was the first champ to drag this type of thing into the UFC and I hope the UFC does not allow it. He did it first with Sonnen, which forced the Sonnen/Stann fight and he tried to do it with Weidman, threatening to sit out a year, etc.

I agree it would be toxic to this sport if it is allowed to grow.

 

[TheonGreyJoy**]

If, in an interview, when asked, a fighter states who they would prefer to fight next, they are "choosing" their next fight...

Who a fighter would prefer to fight doesn't matter, they have to fight who the UFC puts in front of them, or leave.

"Oh, Jon say's he'd prefer to fight up and coming Strikeforce HW champ DC than the guy he just beat? DUCK! COWARD! CHICKEN BONES JONES!"

If the UFC say's "nah" and offers him Gus anyway, his only other option is to quit.

The UFC chooses the fights. But the fighters are allowed to have an opinion on who they personaly think should be next. They can only take one challenger at a time.

yup.

The idea that fighters should have no opinion and simply saying who they would prefer is retarded. of course fighters and all human beings are allowed opinions.

That said it is up to the UFC to DECIDE and only the UFC to decide.

So when a Champion says I would prefer fighter X and the UFC actually wants fighter X that is not the champ picking his opponent no matter how many dumb shertards say it is. it is the UFC picking a guy who the Champ just happens to want to fight too.

There should never be an issue with that. What we want to avoid is Champs using tactics to make it difficult to book the #1 contender they want, such as saying the Champ will sit and just not fight unless he gets someone he wants. That crosses lines.

 

[HaterSlayer]

I agree with you in spirit, but you're trying to apply it to Jones here and it's not completely accurate.

If there are two(or more) reasonable contenders then I don't mind the Champ picking(as Jon did between Gus/Glover). However a champ shouldn't skip over the clear #1 guy for "easier" fights.

With that said it seems like Jon and the UFC are currently going through a negotiation. So who knows how accurate all this stuff coming out is. Hell, the UFC announced the fight before Jon signed the contract. Dana saying he's scared also seems like a negotiating tactic. It hasn't really worked on Jon in the past(remember when Dana implied Jon was afraid of Chael).

 

[ironfist05]

no, that's not true

look at Aldo, he's been consistently picking the top fighters and saying who he feels is the #1 contender and chasing a fight after him

But if it were up to Dana (and ultimately it is), an underserving contender like Pettis or (god-forbid) McGregor could cut in line against Aldo just on the premise of being marketable. Hell KZ (who love) was given the title shot over the far more deserving Lamas.

The champ SHOULD have a say, and we SHOULD trust their integrity, or else it simply becomes promoters cherry picking marketable opponents for their champs.

 

[ironfist05]

also, do remember that Jones (and champs like Cruz, MM, Barao, Ronda etc...) are (or at least were) highly active champs. You can't fault them for fighting so regularly that sometimes the UFC needs to pull in a fringe top 5 contender for them to fight

 

[Sally Davis]

You call it "diva attitude", others would call it knowing ones worth.

Mayweather and Pacquiao know their worth but Mayweather still won't accept the fight and he won't ever have to knowing he can still make a shit ton of money fighting a bunch of people who aren't even worthy of a shot at him. He'll just continue to pick easy fights and make a ridiculous amount of money while doing it.

 

[BlizzardVeers]

Mayweather and Pacquiao know their worth but Mayweather still won't accept the fight and he won't ever have to knowing he can still make a shit ton of money fighting a bunch of people who aren't even worthy of a shot at him. He'll just continue to pick easy fights and make a ridiculous amount of money while doing it.

Eh. Don't know how much I believe that it's Floyd, when he's fighting people very similar to Pac. His last two fights have not been against "easy" competition. He just dropped Goldenboy today, and there are some rumors he may sign with Top Rank. Guarantee that's the first fight Top Rank makes if he does.

 

[reigning terroe]

Number 1 and number 2 should fight that's the problem.

The ranking mean nothing and people are awarded title shots off bullshit ( Chael poster child )

Chael beats Brian stann and gets a rematch, Gus beat Jimi and gets a rematch offer. That's pretty wack. Are those tune up fights or real number 1 contender deciding matches.

Jones has been champ for a long time now and crushed a lot of people. Of course he is going to have some say just like boxing. Its the fight game. I have no problem with rematches but when the top guys are not fighting each other the path to the belt is certainly easy and that is not competitive.

Fans are too caught up with wanting to see Jones loss just as they wanted to see Anderson lose. It like a disease. There are some good fights out there that must be made since there is no tournament.

Glover, Gus and DC have not fought WTF?

Chael beat Stann and Bisping