"Jon Jones did what's good for him and that's what's wrong; it's him fighting, not any of the fans, no other fighter, not Dana White or anybody else from the UFC who works behind the scenes. It's Jon Jones and they wanted him to fight a totally different fighter in Chael Sonnen. Chael is skilled. People can talk all the trash they want about Chael, but Chael is the real deal. People be bashing him and saying he got beat by Anderson, but he is Anderson's toughest fight to date. I think Jon Jones made the right decision for himself because it is a totally different style he is fighting...Everybody just talking down on this kid and I don't see what he did wrong...They chose to cancel it and they had to find a scapegoat and Jon Jones is the one. That's what he is right now...I feel like more people should be doing this. If GSP gets offered Nick Diaz because Carlos Condit gets hurt, would he accept it? I'm not saying he would, I'm not saying he wouldn't, but would he get this treatment? I don't know. And I couldn't fault GSP if he doesn't because he is a champion; it's almost disrespectful to ask a champion to take a fight on 8 days' notice," stated former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion King Mo Lawal, who shared his thoughts on the decision of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones to turn down late replacement Chael Sonnen, forcing the UFC President Dana White to cancel the entire UFC 151 event. Check it out!
PC: You know I had to get your opinion on this Jon Jones situation. I don't feel as though he did anything wrong. what's your thoughts on it?
KM: I don't think he did anything wrong. I feel like Jon Jones did what's good for him and that's what's wrong; it's him fighting, not any of the fans, no other fighter, not Dana White or anybody else from the UFC who works behind the scenes. It's Jon Jones and they wanted him to fight a totally different fighter in Chael Sonnen. Chael is skilled. People can talk all the trash they want about Chael, but Chael is the real deal. People be bashing him and saying he got beat by Anderson, but he is Anderson's toughest fight to date. I think Jon Jones made the right decision for himself because it is a totally different style he is fighting. He was probably training for one thing and would have got another thing.
PC: And that's the thing. I see a lot of fans saying that he was just swapping out one wrestler for another, but you totally disagree with that, right?
KM: You know, here is the thing, right, when it comes down to it, that would be like somebody saying, "I was gonna fight Mo, but now I'm fighting Mark Munoz." I'm a power wrestler and Mark Munoz is a finesse wrestler. If you train for me, you train for a double leg, knee pass, and power pull, but with Mark Munoz, if you train the same way for him, it's going to work against you because Mark is finesse. Mark Munoz is a finesse wrestler, so now you got Chael who is good at freestyle, good at collegiate style, and he can scramble. Then you got Dan, who is mainly good in the clinch, but not really known for takedowns. He can take you down, but more upper body stuff. With Dan, he is more limited than Chael. He is skilled and Dan be doing his thang, but Chael has a wider variety of offense and defense. When you look at Chael's body type, Chael is taller, Chael is longer and quicker. Chael can fight in two stances, orthodox and southpaw.
PC: What do you say to the people that say, "Well, Jon has been training for a fight and Chael has been at home chilling"?
KM: Those people are idiots because obviously Chael is not stupid and Chael probably sees some weaknesses and that's why he wants to take it. For instance, look at Shogun vs. Rashad. Shogun was probably training for Rashad looking for the sweep, that helicopter sweep he's known for, looking for certain knees and trained for a certain body type and certain style. All of sudden, he gets a dude that is 6'3" with the longest reach in sports combat history and he can fight southpaw or orthodox and has good knees. And he has a good top game with good elbows, so Shogun pretty much trained for something and got the exact opposite 6 weeks later. How much props and credit did Shogun get from fans for taking that fight on short notice? None, because you don't get credit for losing fights; you get credit for winning.
PC: Jones went from being the future and unbeatable and this and that to basically being ridiculed, and I think that's unfair given he has bailed the UFC out on a few occasions in which Dana said may be the best run in UFC history when he beat Bader, Rua, Rampage and Machida within a 10-month span in 2011.
KM: Let me tell you something, Chael is not an idiot. He is one of the smartest dudes in the game. Fans think just because they just hearing about the injury that it's new. Chael may have heard about Dan possibly being out weeks ago and started training. Chael, Roy Nelson, Matt Hume, Bob Cool, Jav Mendez and Mike KoganÂ…the list goes on and I could name a lot of people who are some of the smartest people in MMA, but they get no credit for how smart they are.
PC: You would be in that mix too.
KM: I just feel like some people don't watch any other sports. They just watch MMA and they don't come up with their own perspective on things. They have to let someone else, a person who is a figurehead, tell them what they need to think, and to me, that's an idiot.
PC: The thing is this, when they are watching the Machida/Jones 2 countdown, they are not gonna say, Jon Jones, who recently turned down a fight with Chael Sonnen; they are gonna be re-selling you this unbeatable guy who is the closest thing to Anderson Silva we've seen and blah, blah, blah.
KM: Ah mayne, and that's the thing; some people don't see the big picture. I feel the UFC is making a big mistake by bashing Jon Jones. They should have been like, hey, we gonna move everybody else up and try to find a replacement fight or just put the card on tape delay and bring it to FX or Fuel. Everybody still gets paid; they can still get their sponsorship checks and whatever. But now, because one person says, "I don't think that's the fight that I should take at the moment because I need more time to train for this opponent," they scrap the entire card. He may have just said, "I need more time to train." I don't know what was said because I wasn't there. Everybody just talking down on this kid and I don't see what he did wrong.
PC: I didn't even care for Dana saying it would affect their relationship because I tell you what, if Jones has a close fight and it goes the other way, I can see some people pointing the finger at Dana now.
KM: Let's see if Jon Jones loses his UFC sponsorship, because if he is not still sponsored by them, that's messed up. That's like the NFL telling Peyton Manning we're gonna sponsor you for 2 seasons and Manning saying, "My neck hurts. I'm not gonna play this season," and they be like, "What? Well we revoke your sponsorship and we're gonna sponsor somebody else." If the fans don't see that, then something is wrong.
PC: If you were speaking to Jon Jones, what do you tell him right now?
KM: Do what's best for you, fuck what everybody else talking bout, because those people don't see the big picture. Instead of the guys on the card being mad at Jones, they should be like, "I'm ready to fight and just because one person on the card is off, one man don't stop a show." They should have kept the fight card going and fought on Fuel or FX or put that bitch on Facebook; the entire card. All of the fights should be on Facebook; it doesn't matter, people would still tune in if it's still going on. They chose to cancel it and they had to find a scapegoat and Jon Jones is the one. That's what he is right now. I'm not that cool with Jon Jones. I talked to him a few times awhile back. I ain't no diehard Jon Jones fan. I really don't know him, but when I see something wrong, I'm gonna say something. People like, "You on Jon Jones' dick," and I'm not riding his dick. I really don't know him. I would love to fight him. I think I can beat him, but at the same time, if I see something wrong, I'm gonna speak on it. I feel like more people should be doing this. If GSP gets offered Nick Diaz because Carlos Condit gets hurt, would he accept it? I'm not saying he would, I'm not saying he wouldn't, but would he get this treatment? I don't know. And I couldn't fault GSP if he doesn't because he is a champion; it's almost disrespectful to ask a champion to take a fight on 8 days notice. Same goes for Anderson Silva. Would he had taken a fight on 8 days notice against a top guy? Again, I'm not saying he would or wouldn't have, but it doesn't make him wrong if he wouldn't have.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]