Jon Jones Hasn't Signed to Fight Alexander Gustafsson; Should Fans Be Worried?
Very few people seem to know for sure where things stand between the UFC and Jon Jones at the moment.
Those who do? They arenโt talking.
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"You got to ask Jon Jones that," said UFC President Dana White during a media scrum over the weekend, when asked why the fight companyโs most dominant champion still hadnโt signed for a rematch against Alexander Gustafsson. "I don't know. I don't like it, I don't like it at all."
In a sport where sometimes it seems like every bit of minutia commands its own story, and everybody whoโs anybody has a video blog, this murkiness is notable. With White firing off nebulous quotes and Jones addressing the situation only withย cheeky replies on his Twitter page, you know the rumor mill is going to jump at the chance to fire up its engines.
Are the worldโs best fighter and the worldโs best fight company at odds? Is Jones still upset that the company seems to be throwing more promotional weightย behind Ronda Rousey? Is he miffed at the UFCโs insistence on propping up champions in nearly every other weight class as No. 1 pound-for-pound? Is he plotting a shocking defection?
Sadly for the gossip-mongers, smart money says, nah, probably not. At least at this point, we donโt really have cause to believe itโs time to push the panic button on all our big plans for the rest of the year.
Chances are, what weโre witnessing here is a fairly run-of-the-mill round of contract negotiations. It may be a bit more rancorous and public than most in MMA, but rancor and overexposure are essentially our sportโs default settings when it comes to All Things Bones.
Itโs standard operating procedure for the UFC to try to re-sign fighters (especially its champions) before their existing contracts lapse, and thatโs exactly what CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said he wanted to do with Jones during a recent episode of UFC: Embedded.
โWeโre going to walk him through why it makes sense to fight Alexander Gustafsson,โ Fertitta said at the 18-second mark, making it sound like talks were very much in their infancy, โand weโre going to make an offer to extend his contract.โ
Itโs that last part thatโs likely the sticking point right now. If the UFC wants Jones to sign a new multifight deal as part of agreeing to take on Gustafsson, it stands to reason the two sides would have a lot to talk about. After all, this not only represents the companyโs chance to re-up with Jones, but his best/only chance to renegotiate before he locks in again.
In other words, expect delays, but eventually, business as usual.
Donโt let Whiteโs terse reply spur you into alarm. Heโs the president of the company. Heโs supposed to act put out when one of his laborers asks for more money.
Donโt let Gustafssonโs Facebook posts fool you either. Heโs about to get his second crack at a UFC title. Think heโll pass up a chance to try to get in the championโs head?
And as for Daniel Cormierโs recent outburst to SportsWorldNews.com's Franklin McNeil that heโll gladly fight โthe kidโ (meaning the 16-2 Gustafsson) for an interim title if Jones doesnโt want to do it? Cormier seems to have gone from 0-60 in the self-promotion lane since defeating Dan Henderson at UFC 173. This is an easy way for him to keep his name in the headlines and remind everyone that heโs the guy we really want to see fight for the title, eventually. Fair play to him for that.
On all sides, the timing of these moves is likely no accident. Four days after Fertitta and White met with Jonesโ manager, as captured on Embedded, the company confirmed to ESPNโs Brett Okamoto that it was targeting Jones-Gustafsson II for UFC 177 on Aug. 30. That means the executives are either confident the fight will be signed and delivered, or theyโre trying to squeeze Jones a bit.
On the fighterโs side? Same thing. If the UFC is going to go ahead and advertise a fight before Jones agrees to do it, well, that seems like a great time to try to hold the companyโs feet to the fire for those few extra perks the champion has been dreaming about.
Jones and his handlers have been mum on his fighting future since his late-April victory over Glover Teixeira at UFC 172, but given that heโs back on social media now goosing the haters, it seems most likely he still has his 2014 pretty well all planned out.
Is it possible a bigger rift emerges here? Absolutely. Any time a sportโs biggest star and his employers sit down to talk mathematics, disaster looms. But a lengthy holdout? A standoff? The possibility Jones has his next fight anywhere besides the Octagon? Doubt it. Common sense and the championโs clause in the UFCโs standard fighter contract say those things are unlikely.
I suspect all parties will go on not liking each other very much for a few more days (or weeks) and eventually come to a workable agreement to proceed with the moneymaking.
Thatโs one thing they all can agree on.
-(1).png?w=2560 "Early Week 4 Winners & Losers ๐")
