You know a card is stacked when Jon Fitch is on the undercard.

Really?

Stephan Bonner vs Jon Jones above Fitch vs Ghono? Really?

by Drewplata on Dec 22, 2008 2:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That’s what I thought too. Not good to get on Dana’s bad side.

by pud333 on Dec 22, 2008 2:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah but it hurts the fans as much as Fitch. He’s still getting paid after all. If that’s really the reason why he’s on the undercard, it’s pretty lame. I think Fitch/Gono is a really good fight.

Hopefully it makes it on the broadcast.

by Popetastic on Dec 22, 2008 3:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Horrible call if so. I’d rather see Tavares-Gamburyan than that fight also.

by SplitBreast on Dec 22, 2008 2:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Bonnar/Jones is a hugely interesting fight which very well could get fotn.

Eliot Marshall: Bader won. Like I said in the episode, I'm not going to make any excuses. It's my job to be able to deal with when somebody's doing that. It's not his job to change up his tactics.

http://eliotmarshall.com/

by BJJDenver on Dec 22, 2008 4:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fitch is in the dog house!

by Kid Nate on Dec 22, 2008 2:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nate,

can you use your inside UFC contacts & find out if this is correct? lol

by dnevil001 on Dec 22, 2008 2:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lol, what about him being

under Diaz/Guida?

by dnevil001 on Dec 22, 2008 2:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Sign away your likeness or become a roadie!

by Drewplata on Dec 22, 2008 2:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not to get into this again,

but maybe Fitch should have listened to his mgmt team.

by dnevil001 on Dec 22, 2008 2:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

or maybe he shouldn’t and should have just signed the deal right away.

So what did Fitch get out of this fiasco? He had some shit about it being about principle blah blah blah…

but in the end, he signed the deal, and now I bet he will lose sponsorship since he is on the under card.

Zuffa 1500, Fitch -38

by dbcb on Dec 22, 2008 2:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

His mgmt team told him to sign

by dnevil001 on Dec 22, 2008 2:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

oh

me = fail

by dbcb on Dec 22, 2008 2:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thats what you get for punking out

He should have just gone to Sengoku and fought King Mo

by skwirrl on Dec 22, 2008 3:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There’s a remote possibility of this being an error. I remember when the UFC originally posted the UFC 93 fight card, the Lytle/Davis and Palhares/Hhorn fights were on the prelim card, but the card was fixed the next day.

I’m going to hold my breath (and hope that this is a mistake) for another day or two.

by Scott Haber on Dec 22, 2008 2:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

From Main Event to Undercard...

That’s fucked up!

by xFenixKnightx on Dec 22, 2008 2:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

GONO gets no love. I figured he’d be on the main card for this fight and we’d finally get to see his great entrance in the UFC.

I think it’s time to petition moving this up to the main card and moving Jones/Bonnar down.

by Discman2 on Dec 22, 2008 2:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Fitch was a stepchild to Zuffa before all the likeness stuff happened. Mike F"N" Swick got a better initial offer than Fitch did to sign the likeness agreement. That was as much part of the problem as anything else.

Fitch is a top 5 WW and he gets treated with less respect than a mid tier TUF guy that fights out of Fitch’s gym? You almost had to understand how Fitch felt.

" Tell me something Steve, How does a guy from Puerto Rico loose a ball in the Sun? "

by aaronb on Dec 22, 2008 2:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I thought we were done whining about this guy? I refuse to say anyone

making six figures for a fight is being treated like a stepchild.

by dnevil001 on Dec 22, 2008 2:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fitch is Boring

He’s a wrestler…and a boring one. Sorry all you Jon Fitch hopeless romantics – loving the underdog, loving the understated and underrated. He’s boring…end of story. Bonnar/Jones is going to be a stand up war, Diaz/Guida is going to have a ridiculous pace with awesome submissions, and the others…well people would just rather see them. I mean come on, there’s a reason the guy went on an 18win tear and no one knew he was til he fought GSP.

by Gogoplatapus on Dec 22, 2008 3:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Bonnar Jones

Sloppy kickboxing at its best to keep the Ultimate Fighting fans happy!

by skwirrl on Dec 22, 2008 4:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ok and thats better than watching Jon Fitch ride the safe train to a decision.

by Gogoplatapus on Dec 22, 2008 4:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fuck that noise. Fitch has never had a boring fight. Gono very rarely has.

The reason no one knew who he was was because he went 5-0 before the UFC got around to televising his fights.

by George Lucas on Dec 22, 2008 5:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

U proved my point, Thanks!

And they didnt televise his fights because…..

Face it, the guy just isnt a draw. He’s got no charisma. Guys like that need their fighting to be there calling card or showmanship. And his fighting definitely doesnt do that for him either. However, i do think his performance vs GSP was admirable.

by Gogoplatapus on Dec 23, 2008 10:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The whole AKA management thing probably has a lot to do with this.

by Carl P on Dec 22, 2008 3:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Its just too bad Gono has to suffer because of it.

by Carl P on Dec 22, 2008 3:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

gono just lost ot dan hardy. both fighters are coming off of losses. i’ll bet we will still end up seeing this fight anyway. thats if it’s not boring.

by bdw on Dec 22, 2008 4:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The whole both fighters coming off losses probably has more to do with it.

Bolts from the Blue // "It is what it is." - A.J. Smith
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on Dec 22, 2008 5:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Personally I think the smart move it to put Karo v. Dong Hyun Kim on the undercard and put Fitch v. Gono in their spot, but I guess the idea is that they want to position Karo as a guy who can reasonably get a title shot in the not-too-distant future.

But in terms of exciting fights over the past year and a half, you have to give the nod to Fitch over Parisyan.

As for moving Bonnar v. Jones to the undercard, I think Bonnar is enough of a name to justify his inclusion in the main show, and if they think Jones is a guy who can beat him and thus move into contention, then it’s easy to justify that decision.

I’m sure the AKA situation has a lot to do with this, though. If not because there is a grudge against Fitch, then certainly because the issues prolonged the finalizing of the match and other arrangements were made. Perhaps, then, the arrangements can be changed.

by Brett Jones on Dec 22, 2008 3:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’d rather see FItch/Gono than Jones/Bonnar or even Kim/Parisiyan.

by Zack Gobie on Dec 22, 2008 3:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well this kinda makes sense if you think about it.

Jon Jones had a very good and dominating win his last fight. Stephan Bonnar is a very popular UFC star, but his problem is he cant stay healthy. This could be a huge star in the making for Jon Jones.

Also, look at Jon Fitch and Gono. Both of them lost their last fights. Gono is not a big enough name to the mainstream MMA fan for them to get interested.

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion had Josh Koscheck (who was 1 fight away from fighting for the title before his loss to GSP) Diego Sanchez (Season 1 Middleweight Winner. Lost 2 straight but big star) Luke Cummo (riding a 2 fight win streak in which both were knockouts, runner up to Joe Stevenson in Season 2) and Andrei Arvloski (1 win over Fabricio at UFC 70) all on the UN-Televised portion undercard of UFC 82, while Chris Leben/Alessio Sakara and Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson was on the main televised card.

The thing is, Jones/Bonnar is going to be a fast pace fight, and it should be a 3 round war, or it is going to be a 1st round Bonnar or Jones KO. That’s why this is the swing fight. Gono vs. Fitch more than likely (on paper) will be a “boring” decision. What I mean by boring, the normal fan does not want to watch Jon Fitch try to “out wrestle” his opponent.

by "Mr. NC-17" on Dec 22, 2008 3:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

True,

UFC 91 had all 9 fights televised. At this point I trust the UFC to show as much fighting as time will allow.

" Tell me something Steve, How does a guy from Puerto Rico loose a ball in the Sun? "

by aaronb on Dec 22, 2008 3:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

WTF Dana. Grudge much?

How does Stephan bonnar/Jones fight make it on before a top 3 Welterweight against one of the top Japanese MMA guys?

Dana is a douche.

by lbk on Dec 22, 2008 4:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Do you wanna know why one of the top Japanese MMA guys isnt scheduled to be on TV? BECAUSE HE’S A JAPANESE MMA GUY. Most UFC fans wont know who he is. Bonnar has more pull than most guys on this card.

Dana isnt a douche. He’s a smart businessman and knows familiar names equals more buys. If it were up to people like you, Wanderlei Silva would fight Sakuraba once a month because thats the only thing thats “MMA Sacred”.

by Gogoplatapus on Dec 22, 2008 4:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fitch is fresh off a title challenge fight. Bonnar has been out of spotlight for months.

by lbk on Dec 22, 2008 5:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

More people know who Bonnar is than know who Fitch is, I’d imagine.

Bolts from the Blue // "It is what it is." - A.J. Smith
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on Dec 22, 2008 5:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fitch just got handled by one of the most popular fighters in the sport. Bonnar is still riding the TUF popularity…

by Discman2 on Dec 23, 2008 2:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think partly is due to the TUF popularity wave. However it’s also the fact Bonnar is always there. Giving interviews, giving his take on fights, etc. And i’ve heard people say that hes one of the most knowledgable ppl in the sport. Not in terms of the actual martial art, but of the actual sport. For example, if there’s a fight in Bumble Eff, KS….he knows about it…and every fighter for that matter. Plus, he’s approachable. He likes talking about his craft. Fitch seems like he cant wait to finish the interview.

by Gogoplatapus on Dec 23, 2008 10:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

this is officially the best card in the history of mma hands down.

by Josh H. on Dec 22, 2008 4:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Meh.

I perfer the UFC 92 live card over there. I love the GSP/BJ II match-up, but I am not streaming with excitement over Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva or Karo vs. Stun Gun. I think in the Stun-Gun vs. Karo Match we should all take bets to see which one gasses first and what time in the first round either gasses.

by "Mr. NC-17" on Dec 22, 2008 4:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fitch is history

Gono is going to do a Masuki Bance all over him. The next day Fitch will be dropped officially from the UFC.

You don’t publicly try to screw the company that makes your career possible.

by dualdiagnosis on Dec 22, 2008 4:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

fitch?

from winning 8 fights in a row
losing one then being put on
the undercard..
yeah that’ll teach em!

by radamez85 on Dec 22, 2008 5:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You forgot the FU

Dana was stealing his soul and taking money out of the mouths of his grandchildren.

by dualdiagnosis on Dec 22, 2008 5:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

come on..

Look at Koscheck. He was on his huge hot streak by defeating the undefeated Deigo Sanchez then he lost to GSP in a 3 round decision. Koscheck then ended up as the 2nd fight on the Undercard of UFC 82.

Because Fitch and Gono both lost their last fights (respectfully) and with Gono not having the best name out there to a new UFC PPV buyer, they would much rather have somebody who has engraved their image into the person’s brain. Because New fan, old fan, or hardcore fan, everybody has seen the Bonnar/Griffin fight.

Like I say as well.. This could be a huge stepping into the spotlight superstar in the making for Jon Jones if he wins.

Fitch is getting the same treatment as former champion Andrei Arvloski, former TUF winner Diego Sanchez, former number 1 contender runner up Josh Koscheck… it just happens.

by "Mr. NC-17" on Dec 22, 2008 5:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs