Jon Jones plea deal, Werdum / Browne 2, Pro Fighters Association forms
For his alleged drag racing incident on
March 24th,
Jon Jones made a deal pleading guilty to unlawful use of modification of exhaust systems and improper display of registration plate, and he was ordered 60 hours of community service and completion of an aggressive driving course.
The drag racing story made many headlines in March after a video of the heated conversation between
Jones and the police officer who pulled him over was released.
Jones and
Brock Lesnar have been pulled from
UFC fighter rankings following anti-doping violations.
Lesnar's case begins at the next
Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on
August 23rd, but Jones' meeting has not yet been scheduled
Jones could be facing a 2 year suspension by
USADA. But if him and his team go the route of proving it was a tainted supplement, he could potentially get 6 months. That was the case of
Tim Means, who got a 6 month suspension and is now fighting on
August 20th at
UFC 202.
Joe Rogan was recently asked about Jon Jones.
Nate Diaz has stuck to the same position as his brother
Nick and states that everyone in the UFC is using PEDs, and now
Conor McGregor is starting to take a similar stance.
Anthony Johnson, who's also fighting at UFC 202 against
Glover Teixeira, has come to terms that he'll never likely fight Jon Jones. He says: "
It's just not gonna happen -- at this
point, I know it's not gonna happen,
It is what it is. I'm moving forward.
Everybody is moving forward. I'm still shooting high and trying to do what I can in this sport. I'm not focused on Jon anymore.
And I can tell you
Daniel Cormier,
Glover -- they're not focused on Jon, either.
Nobody in this division is focused on Jon anymore."
32 year old
Johnson isn't sure he'll still be around if Jones gets a 2 year suspension. He said: "I ain't trying to fight until I'm 35. I'm trying to make my money and go on to something different -- do bigger and better things with my life.
Hell, I don't want to get punched in the head that damn much.
I've got other things I want to do."
Two fighters who are rumored to be making a comeback some time in the near future and who are now under the watchful eye of USADA are
Georges St-Pierre and
Chael Sonnen. They actually both fought their last fight on the same night:
November 16,
2013 at
UFC 167.
GSP earned a split decision over
Johny Hendricks in the main event and in the co-main event Chael was
TKO'd by
Rashad Evans 4 minutes and 5 seconds into the first round.
A knee injury forces
Ben Rothwell out of his fight with
Fabricio Werdum at
UFC 203. Replacing him is
Travis Browne
Werdum won a decision over
Travis in
April 2014, which earned him a title shot.
Werdum is ranked as the #1 contender after losing the belt to
Stipe Miocic, Browne has dropped to #7 after his loss to
Cain Velasquez.
The Professional Fighters Association (
PFA for short) has been formed. It's goal is to organize
UFC fighters so they may collectively bargain their terms and conditions of employment to the
National Labor Relations Act. The PFA will not only be a union of fighters, but it will be governed solely by fighters.
One of their biggest aims is to split the revenue between ownership and athletes to reflect what other major sports leagues are doing. They calculate athletes in the UFC only get about 15% of the revenue that the UFC earns. While in the
NBA it's a
50-50 split between owners and players.
They're also focused on pensions, minimum pay guarantees, health care, grievance procedures, disability benefits, physical therapy and training, agent supervising, share in licensing merchandising and media revenue, as well as federal law protection against retaliation from management.
Sports agent and attorney
Jeff Borris is involved, he's well known for representing hundreds of
Major League Baseball players.
Lucas Middlebrook, who gained fame in the
MMA community as
Nick Diaz's lawyer for his
NAC settlement, is also involved.
Middlebrook serves as counsel for the
NBA referees association and the
Pro Soccer Referees Association.
Joe Rogan:
http://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-unfiltered-episode-16-joe-rogan-larry-king?id=u