Can Jones and DC save UFC 200?

UFC 100 on July 11, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada is the biggest PPV in the sport’s history. It was anchored by the then two biggest stars in the sport, Georges St-Pierre and Brock Lesnar. The UFC hopes to top it with UFC 200, on July 11, 2016.

It is believed that the initial plan was to use Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. But Rousey lost, and is struggling with the defeat, and is taking a break from the sport. She cited the intense media duties as a factor in the loss, and the news about her is mostly about movies.

That left Conor McGregor. He was pulled from the card for refusing to go one a three city press tour. Ironically, in so doing, he got far, far more media coverage that he would have had he showed up. 

Case Keefer for the Las Vegas Sun, breaks down whether UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and champion Daniel Cormier will be enough to loft UFC 200 to the biggest PPV in the sport’s history.

Analysis: Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier face tall task in restoring UFC 200

The UFC presenting Jones and Cormier Wednesday was akin to reading McGregor the decision in his fight over promotional obligations: He lost unanimously.

The difference was, there was no winner in the bizarre battle. UFC created the McGregor monster by handling him differently than any other fighter who had come before, and combatted the predictable power-struggle bred out of his evolution clumsily.

It ended up proving McGregor’s argument on the futility of coming to Las Vegas for obligations including a commercial shoot and news conference last week. Neither Jones nor Cormier participated in those various UFC 200-related junkets, and that was no hurdle in thrusting them to the top of the card.

Stubbornness on the promotion’s part is the only thing keeping a now-mammoth rematch between McGregor and Nate Diaz off of UFC 200.

At the same time, advocating for McGregor based on his erratic social-media posts feels fallacious. Let’s not forget he used his influence to force through a second fight with Diaz that no one was particularly interested in until this latest saga.

To not fulfill duties he was well aware came with getting his way nearly three months before the fight is indefensible. After acquitting himself with grace and dignity in the short term when Diaz upset him in March, McGregor has managed to do the opposite in the long term.

Blaming the loss on too many distractions, as McGregor did in a facebook post explaining his position, is laughable. McGregor had months to prepare, while Diaz accepted the fight on 11 days notice.

The UFC must hope Jones has everything together, and that Cormier isn’t rushing back too quickly from a leg injury that kept him from fighting last week. It’s hitching everything to the backs of the two antagonistic light heavyweights.

Jones and Cormier are the only ones left that could deliver UFC 200 close to its originally intended vision.

Josh Gross covered the same topic, for the UK’s The Guardian. Gross is not afraid to voice criticism of the UFC – at all – but he argues that the loss of McGregor may not be as bad as it seems.

Will Conor McGregor’s absence hurt UFC 200? It’s debatable

UFC 200 and Zuffa are already steaming on without the Irishman, and much remains in doubt about his status after moves that seem as much a tantrum as an act of courage.

In place of Diaz-McGregor 2, which would have generated massive public interest, the card’s main event will feature Daniel Cormier defending the UFC light heavyweight title against the man it really belongs to, Jon Jones.

The Jones-Cormier rematch instantly loses some appeal, of course, because it’s impossible to forget how easily Jones outpointed his rival when they fought in 2015. Despite that, it continues to represent mixed martial arts with all the trappings of a major championship fight in a division that has long produced sellable stars. That is the kind of bout the UFC should want atop an event slated to earn huge media attention.

Jones’s fighting skills – and the animosity between him and Cormier – gives the fight some appeal, but there’s no overwhelming demand for the contest. In the aftermath of Jones’ win in January 2015, few people lobbied for an immediate rematch since the gap between Jones and Cormier looked so wide.

Any reason to believe Cormier has a better chance at beating Jones now centers on his improvement and success against Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson.

Jones faced unfair criticism about his performance against OSP. But that ignores the reality that he wasn’t hit, he was rusty, he broke his opponent’s arm, and he displayed his big smile on Good Morning America after being announced as part of the UFC 200 main event.

Not bad.

By repositioning the lineup after McGregor hit pause on a rematch he begged for, Zuffa, UFC’s parent company, countered with a showcase of its nimble roster’s vast quality and depth. The magnetic McGregor and Diaz appear unlikely to make the date now (even as a co-main), yet UFC 200 nonetheless presents itself among combat sports premiere events of the year.

Either way, it seems Zuffa wins. (This is presuming their cards remain intact, and that’s never a sure thing.)

Without the strong Diaz-McGregor hook, however, casual MMA watchers, who delivered 1.5m pay-per-view buys for the contest in March, are left sifting through the rubble of a blown-up spectacle. Zuffa could lose millions of dollars by keeping McGregor and his Irish horde from descending on Las Vegas. But then again, the promoter may have gotten away lucky.

UFC 200, a huge event, will do very well, and Zuffa is positioned to sell McGregor’s attempt at vengeance against Diaz at a later date. White said if he had his way UFC 201, 202 or 203 would host a McGregor fight, giving an automatic boost to an event that didn’t have a catchy round number on the poster.

What do you think UG? 

UFC 200

Daniel Cormier (c) vs. Jon Jones (ic)

José Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar

Miesha Tate (c) vs. Amanda Nunes

Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne

Johny Hendricks vs. Kelvin Gastelum

UFC 200

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Frank Mir (ic)

Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Thiago Alves

Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping

Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher 

Who wins?