Is the UFC Finally Serious About Making a New Star in Jon Jones?

Unfortunately, the promotion can only push a guy so far – after that it’s up to him to make his own way in the cage.

This is the key. Trying to artificially push someone only to see him fail can be disastrous.

You think any of Jones Mojo will go Shogun’s way if he beats the kid? Rua is a tremendous fighter but is it too late in his career considering his history of injuries and his lack of command of the english language? Makes me wonder.

(provided that Faber beats Wineland)

They need to market their new champion, and both guys are charismatic and good looking, making them a perfect fit for TUF…

Timing is good too as Faber will need rest after his fight at 128 and Cruz still needs a bit more time to make sure his hand is 100% come fight time…

Now, not only is he competing for a world title, he and Evans are masterfully building to a big money grudge match of their own as a follow up act.

Are you implying this is being staged by the two? I could buy it, seeing how Evans probably got a first hand lesson with the Rampage fight how big grudge matches sell. Hell, with the UFC monopsony setting up their own big money matches in the UFC might be the only leverage fighters really have.

Rampage is a loose cannon. Shogun although p4p high up there is stuck with that language barrier, Machida needs to regroup, Randy too old, Mir too arrogant and unpredicatable, Brock is Brock, so Jones has that aura that Ali aura of personality and fight savy. If he is able to get through Rua, then the ascension to the top is assurd and so is his popularity. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.

I remember someone (Maybe Subo) telling me how the UFC is doing a horrible job building the new breed of fighters and trying to push them into the limelight to replace the veterans that will hang em up soon. I agree with all of this cause they haven’t done much to build Jon Jones. I see the reason for his progression even displaying his “risky style” (it’s called using more than leg kicks and jabs) was all due to his domination of his opponents. They didn’t really do much for machida outside of badass trailers

The UFC is in the business of building the UFC, and breakout stars like Jon Jones are just a nice little extra.

Actually Jones did try out for Ultimate Fighter but wasn’t old enough to drink yet so they signed him anyways. Probably so another promotion didn’t pick him up

and TKO’s him in the 3rd.

There is no denying his skill, presence, and potential and I think MMA fans caught on to that rather quickly (especially during the Hamill fight). I think the UFC noticed it around the Hamill fight and really siezed upon the opportunity.

Now, as I noted the other day, he’s got star-power like Lebron James and fans feel like they are riding the wave of the next big thing. It’ll be interesting to see how far he progresses and what he does when he has a setback (loss).

Jones, Davis, Edgar and Velasquez all needed time to build up a body of work. With the exception of Edgar, they call got relatively clear shots at the top. It’s the great fights that make the legendary fighters. Chuck Liddell is Chuck Liddell because he fought and beat Tito and Randy, or even because of the first fight he lost with Randy.

It’s always easier and less risky to pit established talent against each other in big exciting fights. It’s a guaranteed draw, and unless they go on a big losing streak, most are unlikely to be too badly tarnished by a loss. It’s less the case with prospects. Anderson Silva has set an impossible precedent. I mean, even GSP loses, he did so twice on his way to becoming the monster he is today. Give these guys time, I know we’re looking for the next dominant star to blow up overnight and become a young phenom, but the thing about young phenoms is they’re young and phenominally rare.

Just watch, if Frankie Edgar wins against Gray Maynard, his popularity is going to go up by leaps and bounds. That first title fight was incredible, and if he can win the second, it will help build his legend. Though the promotion does put on the fights that make the star, it is the stars that have to put on the career that makes them legendary.

Kos, leben, sanchez, mitrione, kingsbury, schaub, griffin, and rashad himself? Just because they aren’t a finished product doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable

But I don’t necessarily agree that TUF is the format to do it. For one, a true top prospect probably wouldn’t want to put himself through the hell hole of living in that house with 15 jackasses having his every move filmed with no music, books, or contact with the outside world. A blue chip prospect would probably make it into the UFC anyway so why go through the pain?

More importantly, TUF’s format doesn’t make stars as much as it does reality stars. If Forrest didn’t have the awesome fight with Bonnar he wouldn’t have made a name for himself, he was relatively low key on the show. A kid like Jon Jones is great in small doses in controlled settings but throw him in the TUF house and who knows what will happen? He might end up coming off as the aloof weirdo none of the other cast mates like or a Jesus freak that turns everybody off.

in Pro-Wrestling you build a star by molding his act around something and market him accordingly. the fight game doesn’t work that way [e.g., Kimbo Slice had some hype, but he ultimately could not back it up on the big stage. there’s only so much you can do].

besides, while featuring fighters on reality shows sounds great for exposure, some talent can’t wait. a guy like Jones, who has grown exponentially in his short MMA career would have mopped up some contenders on TUF for all we know.

all in all, it’s got to be tough to build up a future superstar.

or building him up for the title shot PPV ratings? Personally I thought he was about 3-4 fights away from a title shot, but after the Vera fight the UFC went into overdrive to push him as a star.

Great for him though, regardless of whether he wins or not he gets some rec. I just hope that if he loses, his confidence isn’t crushed.

I noticed this problem as well in that there aren’t many new stars being built into PPV draws that can replace the old. However, how does this come about? The Ultimate Fighter is a great vehicle for this, but what else? They put fighters who may be contenders in co-main event slots and even main event slots on Fight Nights, UFC on Versus, or Ultimate Finale cards. It is also up to the fighters as well in that many MMA fans have a difficult time supporting a fighter with a boring personality. Then, a fighter has to keep winning in order to stay in the minds of many MMA fans, but there are exceptions like Bisping, Sonnen and Koscheck. With Jones, I feel that the UFC has done the right thing with him.

Jones is def a star in the making. Young, black, athletic, exciting, new breed, intelligent, likable, has a good personality, is a good kid, easy to market him, good at interviews, they def have someone they can sell in the mainstream. He is from NY, dont think that doenst help, could be a good face for mma to get legalized in NY.

Now all he has to do is win the title come Sat.

Man I’m so amped for this fight/card, I’m pumped for every UFC event, every mma event, but I havent been this pumped for a fight in a while.

This, Silva/Vitor, Rashad/Page were the recent fights I was really amped to see.

Cant wait for Sat night. Jones wins he will have the world in his hands

it’ll be like the ballad of john and yoko exceptm bitter sweet