April 26, 2013, UFC 159 preview for MMA-Insider.com
Denis Gorman posted on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 11:10 PM in UFC
NEW YORK—So, Chael Sonnen, why should the public at large purchase Saturday’s UFC 159 event?
“This is the biggest fight in
light-heavyweight division history,” Sonnen said Thursday morning at The
Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
“They’ve sold this venue out faster than
any other venue. We’ve already sold more commercial establishments—pay
per views—than any show. We’re trending 17 percent ahead of what Georges
St. Pierre and [Nick] Diaz did, which is the biggest fight so far of
the year. If you don’t want to see the fight, don’t see it. But you’re
going to be the only one.”
Sonnen and the stars of the UFC 159
pay-per-view were in New York to advertise Saturday’s card. The event
will emanate from The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
“They’re going to miss the biggest fight
in the history of the light-heavyweight division,” Sonnen said.
“Everybody’s tuning in for this fight. This is the biggest match of the
year.”
Sonnen will meet Jon Jones in the main
event for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones has been
champion since Mar. 19, 2011, when he defeated Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua for
the title at UFC 128.
Should Jones win on Saturday, he will
have defended the title five times. Jones said this week that he wants
to tie UFC Hall-of-Famer Tito Ortiz’s record for successful title
defenses in the division before moving onto super fights and jumping up
to heavyweight. Ortiz successfully defended the Light-Heavyweight title
six times between 2000 and 2002 before losing a unanimous decision to
Randy Couture at UFC 44 in 2003.
“The competition that Jon Jones has faced
in the last year-and-a-half in the light heavyweight division is far
tougher than what Tito faced at the time when he was the champ,” UFC
President Dana White said yesterday when he met with reporters. “Jon
Jones is undefeated. Tito has that record because he was here for so
long.”
Saturday’s fight is eight months in the
making. Sonnen accepted a short-notice fight with Jones for UFC 151 last
August after the champion’s scheduled opponent, Dan Henderson, suffered
a partially torn knee ligament.
Arguing that he had not prepared for
Sonnen, Jones passed on the fight and White subsequently canceled the
show. It was the first pay-per-view cancellation in UFC history. Had
Jones accepted the fight, it would have been Sonnen’s second fight in 56
days. He was knocked out by Anderson Silva in the second round of their
Middleweight Title fight at UFC 148.
Sonnen routinely ridiculed Jones
following the cancellation of UFC 151, leading the company to announce
in October that the rivals were named coaches on the now-completed
seventeenth season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Historically, The Ultimate Fighter has
been a platform for two rival coaches to create animosity and interest
for an upcoming fight. However, as the two spent time around each other,
something resembling respect developed between Sonnen and Jones.
“I had him wrong. He’s a good, nice,
decent person and that was refreshing. And good for him, [but] it
doesn’t make a bit of difference to what I’m going to do to him Saturday
night. There can be only one champion,” Sonnen said. “I think Jon’s the
best but I’m better; I think he’s great but I’m greater.”
“I have a better understanding of who he
is as person,” Jones said. “I just get it now. I get that he has Chael,
the fighter. There’s Chael, the promoter, and there’s Chael, the kind
gentleman. There [are] three different people. I just pay attention to
the kind gentleman when he wants to do that. I pay attention to the
fighter and when starts getting those veins popping out of his neck, I
just turn him off.”
Follow Denis on Twitter @denisgorman. He'll be tweeting live from UFC 159.
Image Credit: Graphic provided by UFC
Tagged: preview, UFC, Dana White, Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen, Denis Gorman, UFC 159, press conference, Newark, New Jersey, New York City
http://www.mma-insider.com/News/tabid/78/MMAi/881/Sonnen_Jones_Talk_Title_Fight_At_UFC_159_Presser.aspx
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 1:29 AM
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