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UFC 232 is now in the news for all the wrong reasons. And unsurprisingly, it was Jon Jones that kick-started the chaotic situation.
Jones, who was scheduled to make his return to the octagon after a gap of more than one year, tested positive earlier this week for traces of turinabol. Interestingly, this was the same substance that he tested positive for in 2017.
Since the Nevada State Athletic Commission did not have proper time to investigate the matter, they decided not to clear Jones for the pay-per-view.
To avoid losing their main event, UFC decided to pull off a shocking plan and moved the entire fight card from Las Vegas to California as the California State Athletic Commission was ready to clear Jones.
While Jones' innocence is something worth debating about, it is UFC’s decision that will be under the spotlight for this list. The promotion’s idea of moving an entire fight card in one week’s notice for a fighter that tested positive raises many questions. In this list, we will be looking to address those questions and detail why UFC should have stayed in Las Vegas.
#5 The Money
At the end of the day, UFC is all about money. This is perhaps the reasons why they decided to move the card to California. But moving a pay-per-view from one city to another in one week’s notice will only result in unwanted expenses.
They made all the arrangements for the show in Las Vegas. Cancelling all these and rebooking the same for California is going to burn a hole in the pocket of the UFC.
Arena booking, flights for fighters, hotels for fighters, expenses of officials and fee for the commission are just some of the areas in which UFC will have to spend huge money.
It might not be a big deal when compared to the loss that UFC will suffer for cancelling the show, however, this is indeed a controversial issue in terms of money as UFC has always been under the scanner for not paying their fighters properly.
#4 Credibility of UFC and Light Heavyweight championship gets questioned
UFC just moved an entire fight card for a fighter that tested positive, that too, on a week’s notice. No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t leave a good impression about the company.
And to make matters worse, UFC is the biggest representative of the sport in the world. Most of the casual fans don’t even know that there are other promotions out there. This outrageous move from the UFC also puts a big question mark on the legitimacy of the UFC Light Heavyweight championship.
The Light Heavyweight title has an impressive legacy to show off and imagine what happens if Jon Jones goes on to win the belt at UFC 232. Now, all these will be irrelevant if Jones comes out clean. But then again, UFC has a history of pulling fighters from shows without even investigating the matter.
The refusal to do the same exposes UFC’s priorities.
#3 The credibility of USADA under the scanner
The purpose of USADA is simple: keep the sport clean.
And while they have been under the scanner on many other occasions as well, what happened with UFC 232 and Jon Jones was a paramount screw-up. One big name to point this out was Frank Mir.
The former UFC Heavyweight star accused USADA of giving Jones ‘Special dispensation’ as Mir himself was suspended some time back for testing positive for turinabol. According to Mir, USADA notified him that the test will give positive results only if the turinabol is ingested within a window of the past several months.
If what Mir said is true, then USADA is contradicting their own statement in the case of Jones as they are claiming that what they found in his body was the residue of what he ingested more than a year back. This raises many questions.
#2 Lack of respect for other fighters and officials
Apart from Jon Jones, there are a total of 25 fighters on the UFC 232 card. And this list includes names like BJ Penn, Cris Cyborg, Amanda Nunes, Carlos Condit, and Cat Zingano among others. When UFC moved the entire fight card just for Jon Jones, they gave a message that Jones is bigger than all these 25 fighters combined.
Any last minute change to the plans will have a huge impact on how a fighter performs inside the Octagon and for the fighters on UFC 232, it won’t be any different.
Dana White said that the decision to move the card was made because both Jones and Alexander Gustafsson trained for the fight and that Jones had done nothing wrong.
If that is the case, then what about the other 24 fighters? Why are they suffering for something that they have no relation with?
And not to forget the UFC officials who will be working through Christmas holidays for the event. The move to California is disrespectful towards them as well.
#1 Abandoning the fans
UFC is a promotion that claims to put the fans first. But what they did with UFC 232 exposes their double-standards. Many fans would’ve made plans to travel to Vegas for the fight card and since it’s the Christmas season, it would’ve cost them a huge chunk of money as well.
UFC did not take this into consideration when they shifted the card to another city on one week’s notice. While the Arena tickets will probably be refunded, the airline and hotel bookings that fans made will be wasted.
It not only burns a hole in their pocket, but it also wastes their precious time and robs them of a holiday season that they might’ve kept aside for the love of MMA.
The fans are not happy, the fighters are not happy, the people working for UFC might not be happy.
However, the new owners of the UFC will probably be happy since they have one more big fight to close 2018 even though it will go down in history as one of the biggest screw-ups by UFC.
