http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-ufc-jon-jones-chael-sonnen-ultimate-fighter-20121016,0,1269872.story


Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen to coach 'Ultimate Fighter,' fight April 27
By Lance Pugmire

October 16, 2012, 12:05 p.m.
Jon Jones didn't want to fight Chael Sonnen on a week's notice, but now the Ultimate Fighting Championship light-heavyweight champion will be subjected to perhaps a crueler fate:

Spending weeks on end around the quick-witted, in-your-face title contender.

UFC President Dana White told The Times on Tuesday that Jones and Sonnen have been assigned as opposing coaches in the third installment of "The Ultimate Fighter" on FX, creating some extensive pre-fight hype for their April 27 pay-per-view title match at a site to be determined.

"The Ultimate Fighter" with Jones and Sonnen is set to begin shooting on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas, with a debut in early January as young middleweights participate in a tournament that leads up to an April "TUF" finale at the Vegas Hard Rock Hotel, where the winner will receive a multi-fight UFC contract.

"This should be a good one," White said of matching arguably his organization’s best fighter against its top personality. "Jon has accepted the fight. He knows the fans want to see that fight."

The April fight date for the two was necessary, White said, because Jones was examined by a doctor in Los Angeles two weeks ago and it was discovered that his right arm, twisted badly in a Sept. 22 bout, had been injured and will require physical therapy and a layoff from mixed martial arts.

Jones, in consultation with trainer Greg Jackson, angered UFC leaders in August by resisting the organization's push to insert Sonnen as a replacement fighter for injured title challenger Dan Henderson of Temecula.

White was beside himself, asking why Jones couldn't take the bout despite having a full training camp while Sonnen was willing to challenge less than two months after a middleweight title loss and with extremely limited preparation time.

For the first time in the organization's history, the UFC took the dramatic step of scrapping its entire Sept. 1 card at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. White called the incident "an all-time low."

Jones, 25, ultimately accepted the Sept. 22 title defense against veteran Vitor Belfort in Toronto and, after surviving the first-round armbar episode, claimed victory by fourth-round submission.

In declining to face Sonnen in August, Jones (17-1) explained that he wasn't fully comfortable risking the belt against the 35-year-old skilled wrestler with a relentless, attacking style that nearly allowed him to upset middleweight champion Anderson Silva in 2010.

Sonnen (28-12-1) and Silva fought again July 7 in Las Vegas, and Sonnen dominated Silva in the first round, getting atop the champion but failing to deliver painful blows.

Silva quickly rallied in the second, retaining the belt he's owned since 2006 by dropping Sonnen with punches and finishing him by technical knockout with blows that included a knee to the chest.

Predictably, Sonnen has chastised Jones to reporters and on his Twitter account for ducking out of the Sept. 1 challenge.

In August, Sonnen tweeted to Jones: "I know you will never fight me. Don't be afraid. But I'll always be the monster in the closet of your mind, little JJ." After Jones' win over Belfort, Sonnen reminded him: "I’m not going anywhere Johnny!!"

Last week, Sonnen revealed the dialogue that was happening between camps by noting: "You don’t give. I TAKE. Remembah that, Bonesie-boy."

Sonnen's ability to penetrate his opponent's psyche emerged in the Silva rematch, with the normally peaceful champion vowing to break the challenger's teeth, arms and legs.

I am watching every week...

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Hopefully the show will actually produce decent fighters. Is Chael part of Team Quest at the moment? Just curious what other UFC fighters are apart of his training camp and will appear on the show.

I honestly wish they would just drop TUF already and replace it with a weekly fight show with some low level guys on the roster. They're no longer putting their best prospect talent on the show so we basically have house hijinks featuring guys who except for maybe one or two will be gone within 3 or 4 fights in the organization.

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Low ratings and pressure by Fox have obviously gotten him to change his tune and do all kinds of crazy shit.

This is great TV, but you've got your champ facing a guy that's 2-2 in his last 4 fights (maybe really 1-3 with the Bisping fight) and fresh off getting finished at a lower weight class.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Kevin James and Tom Hardy found their way on to the UFC roster in-character.

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Great ratings, Chael is gonna get beat, but what if he lasts three rounds with Jones???? Now you have the intrigue of who is the best P4P....and then the onus is on both Silva and Jones to fight at the end of the summer or september of next year.

And btw, what are Chael's two losses??? Need I say more? This was a really sound move by Dana. It also gives him a year to start sorting through who is going to be next in the Middleweight division post-Silva. If Silva wins vs GSP and JJ, he retires as the P4P, and JJ gets some new folks to challenge in a year or so.

>Great ratings, Chael is gonna get beat, but what if he lasts
>three rounds with Jones????

Hes trash.

Which means he could possibly outfox Jones....

as long as he passes his drug test.

theres no point to this fight other than ratings.

We're talking about someone who was -maybe- evenly matched in a fight with Forrest Griffin up until today. He's maybe even an underdog in that fight.

He gets yanked out of that and gets a title shot?

That's the best scenario to set up a Jones-Silva superfight? Because they both destroyed the same dude?

while Dana succeeds in making a few superfights every year.

This is a big deal, why poo poo it? Would you rather see him fight Lyoto Machida? Boring. Rampage? Rampage is a can at this point. Forrest Griffin? Get real.

Those two Ls? In title fights, one in which he looked amazing and the other in which he held his own for quite a while before falling to the Michael Jordan of MMA.

So save the cynicism. This is going to be a blast for the majority of us.

The first ep of this season that I watched, the fight was in the middle of the show. Seemed like they showed more training vs house nonsense, but still the shit is stale.

sitting in the audience during the latest PPV; if that isn't spoiling the series, I don't know what is.

TUF guys have always gone to UFC events even when they werent in the finals. I remember when I went to UFC 59 half of that seasons cast was there signing autographs and taking pics. The season was still airing.

just the way it is shot. FX is murdering Spike right now. I dont know if its the fact that this seasons batch of fighters is more mature. Or if FX is just choosing to ignore most of the house bullshit. But it seems the focus is the fights and each guys story. Also it looks like a Countdown to the UFC show the way it is shot. Damn good season.