Craig Jones is just not significantly proud of Gable Steveson.
This weekend Jones and Steveson had been presupposed to face one another within the remaining match of the Craig Jones Invitational 2, a two-night team-based grappling occasion held in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, earlier this week, Steveson withdrew from the occasion citing a turf toe damage, although the Olympic gold medalist is, in the intervening time, nonetheless scheduled to make his MMA debut at LFA 217 in two weeks. For Jones, it was a really unlucky flip of occasions he’s nonetheless processing.
“I had my doubts the entire time,” Jones informed The Mac Life. “I actually ought to have put extra thought into the backup plan. .. We needed to do the Gable match as a result of, just like the Gabby match transcends jiu-jitsu and lures individuals into watching the actual jiu-jitsu, and hopefully they keep and take note of extra of the actual jiu-jitsu stuff. Gable was the individual I assumed we may do this with, however Gable actually put no effort in. I feel he collaborated on three posts. …
“He put no effort in. We’ve to place in numerous effort to advertise. … On reflection, we must always’ve gone with Wyatt Hendrickson (who defeated Steveson within the 2025 NCAA nationwide championship wrestling match) . I feel that might have been extra humorous. However we did signal Gable Steveson to a contract previous to him shedding. Clearly, you must all the time wait for somebody to lose one thing earlier than you negotiate with them.”
After Steveson’s withdrawal, some advised the complete factor was an orchestrated assault from the UFC, who Jones is just not on one of the best phrases with. The concept was that the UFC persuaded Steveson to withdraw on the final minute, leaving Jones within the lurch, however Jones doesn’t suppose that’s actually what occurred.
“By no means attribute to malice that which might adequately be defined by stupidit,” Jones mentioned. “I feel therein lies the issue. I’ll say that his administration did attempt to e book him for a Soiled Boxing match two days earlier than the occasion, which actually began to concern me that they thought that was an excellent concept. It actually confirmed the worth that they had for our occasion.
“However once more, maintain out hope that he could be a very good human being and a person of his phrase, as a result of turf toe — clearly turf toe goes to suck, particularly in wrestling. It will be very tough to compete underneath these circumstances. However on the finish of the day it’s grappling. On the finish of the day, nobody anticipated Gable to win. All of us felt like we knew what was going to occur there. I may have leg-locked him at any second. Once we spoke concerning the match earlier, we spoke about getting in there with a pleasant, enjoyable, develop the game kind of vitality. There was no intent to submit this man in 15 seconds, nor was there any intent from him to interrupt my backbone. However do I feel he ever meant to do the match? Sure.”
However simply because he doesn’t consider Steveson deliberately screwed him doesn’t imply Jones was happy with how he dealt with the scenario.
“When he booked the LFA struggle two weeks after, that’s really once I was deeply involved,” Jones mentioned. “Then he simply stopped replying to me altogether. Often he’d be a bit gradual on the response, however then he stopped replying to me altogether. … Have some f*cking human decency and warn me, give me an concept.”
Sadly for Jones, last-minute replacements for headlining jiu-jitsu opponents don’t develop on bushes, particularly not ones with comparable resumes to Steveson. Fortuitously although, he was capable of make one thing occur, and now UFC Corridor of Famer Chael Sonnen is stepping in to roll in opposition to Jones in the primary occasion. And no alleged interference from the UFC will forestall him from doing so.
“Fortunately, Chael Sonnen does regardless of the f*ck he needs,” Jones mentioned. “… That’s what I respect about Chael. Chael will do regardless of the f*ck he needs to do. I firmly consider if anybody on the UFC, Dana White included, mentioned, ‘Hey, don’t do that,’ Chael could be like, ‘I’ll do regardless of the f*ck I need to do.’”
FIGHTS! Islam Makhachev vs. Jack Della Maddalena, Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili headline UFC 322 at Madison Sq. Backyard in November.
Altercation. Luke Rockhold, Darren Until and Dillon Danis almost come to blows throughout risky Misfits 22 press convention.
Struggle. Mike Perry: Potential BKFC superfight with Conor McGregor ‘may very well be very actual.’
Harm. Aljamain Sterling reveals particulars about damage suffered throughout Brian Ortega struggle at UFC Shanghai.
Out. Raul Rosas Jr. out of struggle in opposition to Rob Font at Noche UFC 3.
Weight. Bryan Battle makes weight for Soiled Boxing 3 simply days after UFC launch.
Mailbag. UFC Mailbag: What does the UFC’s future on Paramount appear like?
Misfits 22 Press Convention.
Daniel Cormier on Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Sure. Sure we had been. And largely bought what we anticipated. Although nice, nonetheless.
Dan Ige’s life classes.
Valter Walker (14-1) vs. Mohammed Usman (11-4); UFC Rio, Oct. 11.
Virna Jandiroba (22-3) vs. Mackenzie Dern (15-5); UFC 321, Oct. 25.
Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1) vs. Mario Bautista (16-2); UFC 321, Oct. 25.
Islam Makhachev (27-1) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (18-2); UFC 322, Nov. 15.
Valentina Shevchenko (25-4-1) vs. Zhang Weili (26-3); UFC 322, Nov. 15.
Leon Edwards (22-5, 1 NC) vs. Carlos Prates (22-7); UFC 322, Nov. 15.
Alright y’all. One other week within the books and this one has no UFC this weekend. As an alternative we’ve bought a smorgasbord of different stuff, together with Misfits, CJI, Soiled Boxing, and extra. Hold it locked right here for all of your updates and benefit from the weekend. Oh, and with Labor Day on Monday, no MR till Tuesday subsequent week.
For those who discover one thing you’d wish to see within the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and tell us about it. Additionally, observe MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Fb.
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