HYDEN BLOG: Chael Sonnen, Melvin Guillard, and Dan Henderson vs. Jon Jones

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

The lead-up to the Brian Stann vs. Chael Sonnen fight at UFC 136 in October will seem very odd without the usual pre-fight trash talk from Sonnen. It will be a welcome relief, though, as Sonnen's M.O. is to say as many ridiculous things that it has the opposite effect that he intends. The more dumb things Sonnen says, the less I want to watch him fight. The reason is because it's all garbage, it's all made up. I hate fabricated trash talk. People will say he's trying to sell the fight, but making up a bunch of junk trash talk to try to sell your fight isn't the way to do it.

People don't buy UFC pay-per-views based on some talk, they buy them because they want to see good fights. I'll admit that talking smack may gin up some interest, but it can't be your main focus. If all you are is talk, people will see right through that eventually. You may be able to fool people into buying a PPV or two, but unless you back it up with some great fighting, it's going to backfire on you.

Fans aren't blind either. When two guys who supposedly hate each other before the fight suddenly hug after the fight and all is forgiven, a little bit of the sport's credibility dies. This isn't pro wrestling, where the fans all know it's scripted. One of the appeals of MMA is that it's unscripted and anything can happen. When you have two MMA fighters fake trash talking each other and then essentially laughing about it later, that kills some of the interest in the sport because it makes fans question what's real and what's not.

Look at the NFL and NBA or other big sports. There's nobody in either of those sports that's on the level of Chael Sonnen when it comes to saying crazy things. Athletes in those sports who even begin to approach the level of BS Sonnen says are quickly smacked down by those who watch and are dismissed as irrelevant.

The point of all this is that not having to listen to Chael Sonnen make ridiculous statements will actually make me more interested in watching him fight Brian Stann. I only wish he would always be so quiet. If he wants to go after Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida because he legitimately doesn't like them, that's cool. I actually think that's good. The problem is, how do we know how he really feels? How do we separate the fake Chael Sonnen from the real one?

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Melvin Guillard has stated that he's the best lightweight in the world. I don't know if that's true or not, it's hard to say when they won't give him a fight against the best in the UFC's lightweight division. And that's exactly what they need to do. I want to know how good Guillard is, and many others do as well. I'm not saying he has to get an immediate title shot, although I wouldn't be against the idea. However, I do want to see Guillard fight an elite guy in the division.

Joe Lauzon's name has been thrown out there by Guiilard himself, and Lauzon said that was fine with him. The problem is that I don't think Lauzon is higher up on the totem pole than Guillard. Guillard is better than Lauzon and I would expect him to win if they fight. That's not the test I want. I think Guillard should fight the loser of the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard fight. I think the time has come for Guillard to sink or swim in the deep waters. I don't believe in bringing along guys slowly if they don't need it, and Guillard doesn't need it. They need to put him on the fast track and let's see what he can do.

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Dan Henderson has floated out the idea of having a Light Heavyweight Title unification bout between Jon Jones and himself. Henderson wants to defend the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title before doing so, but thinks the bout with Jones should happen. Honestly, the only reason I would be in favor of this fight would be because it would unify the Light Heavyweight Titles. I don't think there's a chance in the world that Henderson could beat Jones. I would imagine that Jones would destroy Henderson in the first round. Even with a granite chin Henderson wouldn't have much of a chance. Just look at what Jones did to Mauricio Rua.

This is all speculative, of course, as this fight would likely only take place down the road a while. There's no guarantee that Henderson or Jones would still be the titleholders at that point, but it's always fun to speculate. Jones vs. Henderson wouldn't be my least anticipated UFC/Strikeforce title unification bout, Ronaldo Souza vs. Anderson Silva is, but it's certainly not as interesting as Alistair Overeem vs. Cain Velasquez or Gilbert Melendez vs. Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard, and it's definitely nowhere near as exciting as Nick Diaz vs. Georges St. Pierre should be. I'm always in favor of title unification bouts. The more of them, the better.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com

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