‘TUF 17′ Media Call Quote-a-Thon: Show Moving Off Fridays (!), Jones Tears Into Sonnen, Matchup ‘Makes Sense’ + More

(Full audio from the call, via MMAFightingonSBN) TUF 17 coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, along with UFC president Dana White and FX exec Chuck Saftler, hosted a media conference call yesterday in which they promoted the upcoming season and fielded questions from baffled reporters. It was a lively affair, marked by an unusually aggressive Jon Jones — Chael tends to bring that out of people — and some interesting revelations about the future of The Ultimate Fighter. Here are some highlights... FX is moving TUF off Friday nights, and preparing for a war with Spike: "The show is going to move off of Friday nights," Saftler said. "I can't confirm the day right now, but it's definitely moving off of Friday, it's definitely moving to a weekday. There will be an announcement on that somewhere in the next 30 to 45 days. But I will say that Spike should watch their ass. Spike clearly has been dogging us for most of this year...by trying to create viewer confusion and scheduling old episodes against 'The Ultimate Fighter' and trying to pass them off as new content. They'll be off of the UFC game effective in January. They're going to try to launch a new product, there's going to try to launch their own reality show that competes with 'The Ultimate Fighter' or does a very similar thing with their Bellator product. We watched how they behaved, and we're well aware of their behavior and how they've acted competitively...I'm not ready to commit to (scheduling TUF directly against the Bellator show on Spike), but we're certainly going to be watching how they schedule, what they schedule and where they schedule." Jones vs. Sonnen "made sense," according to Dana White: "Basically, we got the word when Jon went out and got his elbow checked, that he was out and couldn't come back until April," White explained. "So it made sense* for him to do The Ultimate Fighter. Why block up [the division]? Machida can fight. Dan Henderson can fight. Gustafsson and Shogun are going to fight in December. Everything will keep right on moving...These guys will both coach The Ultimate Fighter. They'll fight when the season's over, and then whoever's next in line at 205 pounds can fight Jon Jones** next for the title."

Source: http://www.cagepotato.com/tuf-17-media-call-quote-a-thon-show-moving-off-fridays-jones-tears-into-sonnen-matchup-makes-sense-more/

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