Dana White has backed down on the promise to give the winner of Rua vs. Vera a title shot after pretty much everyone, including Jon Jones himself on Twitter, was like “WHAAAAAAA”

From USA Today:

…co-headliners Ryan Bader (14-2, 7-2) and Lyoto Machida (17-3, 9-3) also will have that opportunity.

 

“Whoever wins the most impressively on Saturday night gets the shot at the title,” White said.

 

Yeah, good call. The idea of Brandon Vera headlining a UFC card is absurd enough, let alone also saying he has the opportunity to get a shot at a title.  He’s one of those guys that has always had the tools but could never quite put it together.

He’s going into this Saturday’s fight with Rua having only one win since 2009. He was originally released from the UFC after a brutal loss to Thiago Silva, but was retained after Silva was suspended for providing animal urine to the commission for his drug test and the bout was changed to a No Contest. He fought Jones in 2010 and was felled by punches in the first round.

Rua would be a better opponent for Jones than Vera, but that isn’t saying much. He’s coming off a loss to Dan Henderson in a fight of the year candidate, but two fights before dropped the Light Heavyweight title to Jones, the current champion, in very decisive fashion.

There’d be absolutely no money in either fight and neither man would be a convincing sell as a contender. I can’t say Bader or Machida would be, either. Just a perplexing call all-around.

For what it’s worth? I say give the title shot to Glover Teixeira if he’s able to beat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.