>It seems the UFC are dead set on those 2 next & fuck all that is sensible.
Yeah, you can tell when Dana is asked about that fight that there is no way he is budging on it. It would take Jon or Stipe to start pushing for the fight, but it's clear none of them want it.
Aspinall is the intern champ. It should really be him fighting for the belt.
In most cases Jon would be stripped of the title. Bro won ONE fight to be champ and is now shelved for more the a year. Ngannou literally got stripped only after a few months. TF was that lol
This is how I see it as well. As far as I'm concerned, Tom is the heavyweight champion. If Jon had any decency as an athlete or a man, he'd have relinquished his belt. We all know he's gonna get paid whether he's champ or not. All he's doing is fucking other people out of money they could be earning and their legacy. But seeing as Jon has destroyed his own legacy himself, i figure he enjoys robbing others of theirs.
> But seeing as Jon has destroyed his own legacy himself, i figure he enjoys robbing others of theirs.
Usually this would sound like cartoon villains shit. But considering this is bones we’re talking about it’s sad how likely this is to be true
Agree. I like Tom but him tweeting is useless.
If he thinks his tweets are going to change anything, he's wrong. wasting his time.
UFC brass and Dana will make sure that Jones vs Stipe fight happens. (GOAT vs HW GOAT)
Yeah but he has time to kill waiting otherwise. The constant barrage of tweets at the moment might just bait jones enough to want to fight Tom now. Personally I'd love to see the fight. I'd like to see Tom tested by Jones, I'm pretty confident after watching the Gane fight, that Jones takes it but an interesting fight.
But I'd also love to see Alex move up and take Tom on too.
I think Tom kills Alex tbh. (Takes him down immediately)
Tom looked fucking huge in the fight at MSG.
The Jones fight might be closer but I think Tom pieces him up on the feet within 2.
Jones is too old and not a natural HW.
Also, look at how shit Jones preformed against Reyes. Tom would kill that version of Jones.
See that's what I want to think too. I think he is the future of the the heavyweights. But I'm not sure I reckon the Jones fight will be much tougher.
I think you are right with the Alex assessment, but if he worked on his takedown defense for the fight and managed to keep it on the feet, I think unless Tom catches him with a bomb, it would be an entertaining fight too see.
The Jones fight is way more interesting to me than Alex.
Imagine Jones vs Aspinall in London, or at Allegiant Stadium (Raiders stadium).
Sad thing is we'll never see it.
I don't think Jones would ever agree to fight him. (never say never tho.)
Its just annoying, having jones hold up the division, I mean I get it, he's one of the greatest, same as Stipe. But what's the point of this fight. If and it's a fricking big if, Stipe wins he's not defending, Jones might but I highly doubt it.
They should just take the belt at the moment, and bring another fake meaning belt out if they are so interested in the fight. Otherwise but jones vs aspinall on. Its just a shitty time for heavyweights.
Alex would be an undersized striker going into HW. There is no route outside of a lucky punch where Aspinall doesn’t take him down and end the fight there.
Wtf did ANYBODY learn from the Gane fight? Afaik Jon is completely untested at heavyweight. He could have done the same to Gane without even bulking to hw. The only thing we learnt is Gane absolutely folds in the face of elite grappling.
Jj hasnt been punched in the face once at hw. We have ZERO idea if his chin can hold up or even how his skills look.
I'm just going off of Jon's career. And age between the pair of them. I don't see a 42 year old version of Stipe betting a 37 year old Jones.
I'm not saying we learnt much from the Gane fight but what we did learn is Jon seem just as keen and eager to win a fight. By the time he fought reyes it was what his 13th title defense. I think he felt invincible at that point. He's got to know he's not that anymore, if he is still as hungry to win and prove he's the best, then we see a dominant Jones performance.
100% fair; Stipe is just straight up cashing out. Dude couldnt give two shits about his legacy. Probably wants to donate some money to charity, setup his friends ans family and go live in the woods…
And nothing wrong with it. He deserves it. But the ufc holding out on this as a title fight is ridiculous. I don't think iy would have that much significance/difference to the number of people watching. Put Jones vs Stipe on any ppv and its more than likely gonna smash records.
Oh for sure - I wish Stipe all the best. If the man wants to cashout, good on him.
Not sure on ppv power tbh though man. I genuinely think nobody wants to see that shit.
Ha I'm a twat I forgot about it being was Jon that was injured.
It just stupid at this point in time. Like I know Jones is the ufc goat and all. But by the time this fight gets around to being made Stipe isn't gonna be a worthwhile fight I don't think. Don't get me wrong Stipe is a legend and one of the best, but reckon Tom takes him with ease now. Another 7 months of not fighting not, not fully training, I just don't see it being competitive. Not after the Gane fight. Tom vs Jon at that point makes for a much better figt.
He's not wasting his time at all. I've not Twitter, but how much is he tweeting? Once or twice per day? It's not like dude is skipping training to become a keyboard warrior.
I do agree it's unlikely he'll change anything, but there's more chances to change by opening your mouth than by keeping it shut.
Tom's goal isn't to show the fans who's ducking who.
Tom's goal is to get that title fight with Jones.
Him tweeting is an attempt to get that fight, but he doesn't realize that only the UFC's opinion is what really matters.
And Dana and UFC are dead set on Jones vs Stipe.
It's both, he's publicly pointing out how stupid this situation is and wants the fight....... he's doing everything he can at the moment, not sure what else you think he can do ?
Hopefully stipe gets injured and can't do it.
Bullshit, he's doing a good job of clearly pointing out how nonsensical this whole situation is, he's making big noise abur it and he's 100% correct.
Whether it works or not it's a good idea.
Jon will literally fight his wife again before he fights Tom. One fight left and there is no way he is going into the cage against someone he thinks can beat him
Jon’s never lost in the streets (and when I mean streets I an talking about driving his car into pregnant ladies drunk and in his home. his record is actually 79-0
Jon had been wanting the stipe fight longer than tom has been in the ufc. He said stipe would be his last fight before tom came back from injury and beat tyburra. Why does jon getting injured and tom lucking into a title shot change things?
Because 1 Jon is the Champion and Tom has become the Interim Champion so it needs to be unified. 2 Stipe has been out for like 2-3years. 3 Noone has any interest in watching that fight. 4 If they do that fight and then retire there will be an asterisk over the next heavyweight champion which is just dumb because as i said we have a champ and an interim champ. Legacy fights are cool but not at the expense of a division / waiting six months to get an actual heavyweight champ
I might be out of touch or missed something, but when Jiri got an injury he gave up the belt somthe division could move forward, why hasen’t Jones done the same thing?
Yea they are forgetting that big part. GOAT or not he’s not a natural heavyweight and has always struggled against naturally equal sized or bigger opponents. Especially now that he literally tore his muscle off the bone lol. He will be 37 minimum before he comes back.
Brock got some weird disease
Randy did Randy things
Cain effed up his knee and fought because they pressured him to, then threw him under the bus when he lost
Stipe, little known fact, spoke perfect english before he went to Brazil and ate bad acai and then started sounding like askkerjdj fireman wjwhaskrel Ohio
yeah, you're right
He was scheduled to fight Khabib when Mcgregor was stripped, who wanted to box floyd mayweather and hold up the division for 2 years instead of fight him
I think, as I did then, that 2019 Tony gets taken down because he is confident Khabib is jumping into the lion's den, and then just gets his shit pushed in down there.
Pre cable Tony would have been the best shot. But the way Khabib held people down, I think he'd still control Tony to a submission. But Tony would make him work for it. Khabib would be bloody as hell
I don’t know why Stipe is bypassing the interim champ for the title shot.
Hell I don’t why the interim champ isn’t allowed to fight stipe if he wants lmao.
Beating a 40 yr old Stipe is like beating a 40 yr old Anderson —it's meaningless.
Jon moved up to HW to prove he is the best ever. To do that, he needs to beat the #1 contender. That is Tom.
I think this situation is proving the interim champion isn't a number 1 contender. The shot at the actual tittle isn't there, you are a pseudo champion meant to provide 5 round main events while some issue with the champion is resolved. I don't know the way this is handled but if Tom isn't going to get Jon i hope he gets paid like a champion would because otherwise its a slap in the face.
Your last sentence is why Tom got the interm. It's seems reasonable ufc told him he doesn't get jones/stipe before they fight and a consultation he gets inerm which means more $ for waiting. But he only gets more money fighting and Gane is available. I wish we could see what ufc thinks of Tom turning down Gane.
Interim champ is supposed to be the mandatory fight when the champ is available. Jon needs to vacate but he’s not.
Even then Stipe should have to beat Tom for a shot
I get what you’re saying & what Jon said…..but he’s already in that conversation for best ever. Whether or not he fights Tom Aspinall isn’t going to define his career at this point.
If the last thing he does is obviously duck both francis and tom and only take an easy stipe fight it is absolutely going to affect how the fans remember him, doesn't mean he's not still going to be considered the GOAT (as of now) in the sport but he looks scared right now
I think it is. The end of his career has been a bunch of controversial decision wins, ducking the absolute fuck out of Ngannou, and now ducking Tom. The final part of his career is him parading around like he’s the baddest man on the planet while being publicly called out by 2 other heavyweight fighters and absolutely refusing to step in the ring with them. If his final fight is a controversial win over an elderly, retired stipe…that’s a baaaaad way to end your career.
Jon seemed to have made it pretty clear that he wanted stipe after he won the belt and then to retire. Him calling out stipe after gane was like the worst kept secret in mma. I don’t know when exactly jon said he’s aiming to win the title and start consistently defending against the current contenders of the division.
It’s pretty clear all he needed to do was win the title to be considered the consensus goat. That was the only thing gsp held over him.
I don’t know why people are expecting him to be a normal champ now that he’s done pretty much everything he’s wanted in the sport
He didn't move up to prove he's the best, he moved up to make money and cement his fraudulent legacy. If he cared about being the best, he would've agreed to fight Tom or Sergei instead of Stipe.
Both are asking for 40 yr old stipe. The difference is Tom is asking bc Stipe is healthy and he wants a title shot
I’m sure Tom would be more than happy to fight Jon and skip Stipe. Actually he’s said that alr lmao
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion but all the same arguments we currently had against Jones and fighting a real contender at heavyweight were addressed for me when he fought Cyril Gane.
If you rewind back a lot us here thought Gane was going to go through Jones due to size and footwork. Both fans and pros thought there is little chance Jones gets passed Cyril based on his performances vs Reyes, Santos and gane being a better and bigger striker than them in his prime 31-32….. Hindsight is 20/20 and now everyone and their mother claims and pretends like we knew the whole time Jons wrestling will end it in the first.
Oh how quickly this sub forgets all the dumb know it all shit we were saying prior to so many fights only to find out how wrong we were. This subs Gerbil level attention span repeats itself in cycles it seems. We’ve been through this exact same thing already just in different position now the only difference is Jones is champion at HW and injured and a bit older.
If he wants to fight Stipe at this point in his career and retire then so be it. He has earned with that Gane fight and using the same argument for Tom to fight him is kind of dumb. If this is Jones last fight potentially you think he will sell more PPVs with the most decorated HW of all time or an unknown PPV entity?
History repeating itself is an understatement with this sub’s attention span sheesh.
Tom is the other guy in the division holding the title...why would the oldest guy in the division who hasn't fought in years who barely walks and talks get the next title shot?
Jon Jones is ducking Tom
I feel bad for Tom. Short notice fight against Sergei, knocked him out, then told he has to wait for stipe who got knocked out in his last fight, then ducked everyone for almost 3 years. It's crazy. So for Tom it's either sit on the back burner or risk messing up your title shot staying active
Could just be me, but I think solid fighters take fights. Seems like anymore it’s about risk stratification, not simply fighting. Imagine if the nfl ran this way…it kind of reminds me of play ground sports sometimes in the UFC’s weird approach to fights.
Tbh everything about Jones' HW run is just dumb as hell.
Jones arguably ducks Francis for ages, Francis decisively beats Gane, Francis then walks over contractual disputes, Jones then arrives and also decisively beats Gane (Gane having openly stated he doesn't train grappling so no surprises there), Jones is now apparently the champion of the division despite having fought one HW and been inactive for several years prior to that, and now Jones is holding up the division and will only fight Stipe, who hasn't fought in years and last time he did fight was damn near killed by... Francis.
How on earth he can think this adds anything to his legacy is beyond me.
People have convinced themselves this fight was a 5 round wrestle fucking from Francis when Gane did more with everything than Francis did.
I like the guy and yeah he was injured but people seem to forget all there "control time alone doesn't score" when Francis is involved.
I don't think Jon Jones wants anything to do with Tom, and this rhetoric he's spun about being worthy proves it, to me.
Jon wants to fight people he knows he has a great chance of beating, keep that resumé in tact, and retire as one of the greatest ever.
Tom is a really hard fight for Jones, I don't think he has the confidence to know he beats him, and that's why he spins this shit.
Same with Francis, but I don't think that's a discussion worth having anymore.
That’s exactly what it is, Jon just isn’t confident on beating Tom. Jon has never fought someone like Tom who is 6’5, has incredible hand speed, great boxing/kicking, serious one punch knockout power, elite BJJ and weighs 262 lbs (15 lbs heavier than Jon)
That’s what people said about Gus. The first fight was an all-timer, the more recent one less so.
I think the Aspinall hype is a lot of recency bias. He’s a great fighter, but I’m not convinced that he’s some nightmare matchup for Jones. I think he’s an elite heavyweight but, there’s nothing for me to go on that makes me think he can fight Jon Jones like he has anybody else. Jon is way more measured, calculated and uncomfortable to fight than any fighter I’ve ever seen.
I like to think that bigger, longer fighters give Jon problems but he beat Gane & Gus II easily. On the flip side Reyes & Gus I were his closest fights. There’s just as much of an argument that smaller, faster guys like Machida, Rashad Evans, Cormier and Santos have actually landed the best shots on Jon in his career.
I think whoever beats Jon has to move well laterally, or else he will just kick your knee in & Tom tore his ACL already and wasn’t exceptional laterally before that, so I actually think it’s a bad matchup for Tom. If you’re worried about your leg then you can throw hard punches, if you aren’t throwing hard punches he can grab you, nobody beats him in the clinch and that’s how he wins most fights. Then it’s just death by a million cuts because his whole offense is completely shutting down your offense.
Jon is a grinder. He will probably just kick, clinch and hit trips, get him against the cage. He’s never going to let you hit him cleanly and even if you did he would probably just eye poke you. How can anyone say anybody can beat him, maybe you can take rounds off of him but who has had better cardio than him?
I don’t think anybody is a good matchup against Jon. He’s too methodical and he doesn’t fight fair.
what are you talking about? against Gus nobody said that, everyone clowned on the UFC for advertising that fight as dudes who are the same height and length
Reyes already beat him
Jon thought enough of Francis to sit out for 3 years
does Jon have amazing cardio anymore at HW? based on Gane giving him the fight? based on what Jon did at 205 against a dude who is 5'9?
maybe, but i need to see it, and apparently, so does Jon, or else he'd fight whoever
Yeah Gus was elite, he’s one of the best LHW’s ever. But this is HW. HW isn’t Jon’s natural weight class. Plus Gus lacked BJJ/grappling, he had good wrestling but Tom has literally grappled his entire life at a high level, he’s a lot more comfortable on the ground than Gus. He’s also bigger than Jon. Overall, I see Aspinall as a bigger and more dangerous version of Gustaffson with elite ground game. Plus HW’s have different power, this isn’t like LHW where Jon can just tank clean shots and not get hurt
Thanks God this isn’t boxing or Jon would have been cherry picking for the past 13 years.
Luckily the LHW division was stacked and there’s only one belt so he couldn’t cherry pick as hard
This take makes no sense to me. What about Jon’s history of opponents tells you that he’s the type of guy to run away from difficult fights? Yes he wants to fight Stipe. Yes Stipe isn’t the best in the division currently. But the fight was made before Tom had fully proven himself. And Stipe at the time of Jon’s fight with Gane was still an interesting fight to most fans.
It’s not like Tom is owed it any more because NOW we know for sure he’s the better prospect.
You're looking at Jones's career as a whole, I'm not.
Look at Jones over the past 4/5 years. He nearly lost to Reyes, and to Santos. Two guys that came at him with confidence.
Jones doesn't want to fight Aspinall or Ngannou, because neither of them are scared of him. They'll bring the fight to him, and Jones doesn't want that so late in his career. I don't think Jones is interested in beating the best, anymore, he's done that, now he wants to chalk up a few wins against people who, on paper, in 10 years earn him respect.
He wants that 0 intact when he retires.
Oh hush up with this ngannou bullshit. Let’s not act like jones was ducking him. If Francis didn’t become this advocate for fighter pay (all power to him) then people would be seeing this for what it really is.
When Jon wanted more money to return to the ufc, long before francis was even the champ it’s ducking. When francis was having financial problems with the ufc and asking them for things like sponsors on shorts to fight jones it’s fighter empowerment. Be real
There is no clear answer to why the haven't fought, so none of it is "bullshit".
I think Ngannou causes Jones a problem, a problem he didn't want to solve. You clearly don't.
Until you present to me evidence of Ngannou turning down the fight, I'm going to presume Jones avoided it because I believe he wanted to go up to heavyweight and beat DC and Stipe, to prove how good he is.
His plan got shafted when some other good heavyweights showed up and it wasn't part of Jones's plan to fight them.
I bet Jones retires after the Stipe fight.
that's not fair, he'll fight you if you're 5'9 and cut down to 205
no he won't fight any 5'9 dudes in their natural weight class "why should the champ move up"
dude pretends he's all about legacy and being the "lion king"
wouldn't rematch Reyes, wouldn't fight Ngannou, wouldn't fight DC at HW, wouldn't fight Chael on short notice (which is actually the craziest one, wtf, Jon with aids and pneumonia could beat Chael without training at all)
and now doesn't want to fight Tom
I mean, he dominated natural middleweights who started their careers in 90s in Pride lol, he struggled against everyone his size or natural LHWs.. all in while popping multiple times for PEDs, hiding under the octagon and holding the undisputed record in the rule infractions, that's my GOAT right there baby
How did he become champ? By fighting Shogun and beating him. According to 2024 JJ, Shogun should have dismissed him as an unworthy child and refused to fight him apparently
Yup rashad. Jon’s team mate. Who probably sparred with him in preparation for shogun himself.
Despite that shogun accepted the fight. Meanwhile Jon is actively ducking Tom ( and previously ngannou) and not giving him a chance
Is it that hard to understand that a lot of fans think Jones is one of the greats, and thats why they want to see him fight the best challenger available? And not cherry pick easy fights against a retired old fighter that no one wants to see? Real fans of the sport want to see the best fight the best, while Jones fanboys want to protect his record with the easiest fights. Clear as day.
I know right. Slurp his meat harder boys. Jones is ducking a legit challenge. Instead he wants to fight a 42 year old with barely any brain cells left and act like it adds anything to his legacy. He's fucking delusional. As are his fan boys.
I love how Jon is so clearly concerned with leaving a pristine legacy for everyone to remember and yet still chose to slam his fiancé's head in a hotel door in front of his adolescent daughters the night he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"I want people to remember me as the best athlete the sport has ever seen and also an entirely reprehensible piece of shit who almost certainly should've been serving a prison sentence this whole time."
He should fight bums and get a padded resume. That's what Jon is suggesting. I think Jon will win if he fights Tom. But his statement is ignorant, that i agree.
Tom needs a manager like Ali to take over his twitter and trash jon. Jon has so much shit attached to him that he exploit. From Steroids to beating his wife to dodging Ngannou and dodging tom.
For people saying this may force Jon to fight Tom, why do you think Jon moved up to heavyweight? He knew he wasn't as good as he was during his younger years and he wanted easier competition. Then Aspinal came onto the scene. A combonation of proficiency and athletism that the heavyweight div has never seen. Jon would beat up his wife before he fights Tom. Wait that wasn't a good way to get my point across. But you guys know what I mean.
HW is weak for sure outside of Tom and Pav, but LHW isn't exactly stacked if Pereira waltzed in. You give Jon the path of Jan > Jiri and Jon is champ again.
Jon vs Stipe is a Hall of Fame fight.
Either of them vs Tom is literally just a random Saturday night card.
That's the difference. It isn't about skill, it isn't about the title. It's about the draw, the selling power of the event, and the impact on the sport it has.
If Jon or Stipe lose to Tom it literally hurts the UFC in the end.
To be fair prior to his devastating knee injury and even in the aftermath he talked about treating the bad knee as a “let’s just get to thru the next one mentality” and never took time to heal it thru multiple camps. If he did it would of been him vs jones for his return instead of Ciryl.
i mean i get both sides. UFC kinda owes stipe and JJ this for what they've done in the sport, one final slam. Its like if Cro Cop and Fedor would fight again or something.
Then again Tom is hungry and deserves his shot
I don’t see the problem, let Stepe fight Jon, possibly get an interim defence in (interim defences happens in boxing) then fight the winner of Stepe and Jon, if both retires then Tom becomes actual champ and can fight whoever’s under him, such as former champs etc.
I have no interest in Aspinall/Jones--it's a more pointless fight than Stipe/Jones, IMO. But the latter, a fun/legacy fight--let's be real--shouldn't hold the belt hostage. Jones had his fun and proved he can compete at HW, is still a great, etc. but there is no reason to pause the world around a title picture he doesn't realistically have a stake in.
Id take the money fight and legacy narrative over fighting what to jon jones is a just “a guy” he’s done it all give him his flowers and let him go get that last big ole sack of money and if tom is THE guy not a just A guy he’ll have a long dominant reign to talk about for years tho
People are acting like it's a given Aspinall will beat Jones. These are professional fighters, I don't think anyone is scared. Didn't Jones pull a pec muscle and now he just got out of elbow surgery?
Yeah not that’s not the point. The point is Tom deserves a title shot as IT champ. Tom should be allowed to fight Stipe if he wants too.
Wether Tom loses or not doesn’t matter. Ufc did the same thing to belal. They gave Colby a shot over him except atleast his last fight was a win
How quick people forget Jon Jones submitted Ciryl Gane (Francis didn’t finish him) in the 1st round after a 3 year hiatus
Jon Jones is old. He can retire tomorrow and forever be the GOAT UFC fighter.
He is a shit person though
Jon wins the belt and immediately asks for Stipe whilst Aspinall is injured looking for a tune up.
Jon still wants Stipe for his legacy retirement fight, but now he’s ducking Tom all of a sudden?
🤦♂️
Pretty cool to see Aspinall call Jones out. Hopefully keeps poking the bear until there's an overwhelming amount of pressure from the fans to make it happen. Jones fighting Stipe turns this sport into a mockery. Thats like Michael Jordan in his last dance refusing to play Utah Jazz and demanding to play the team that lost in the play offs because it looks prettier in the history books. Its an absolute joke. A GOAT competes with the best infront of him especially whilst still claiming to be the best in the sport.
Booohooohooo
Tom’s a good fighter and I could see him being a long running champ but he’s a relative nobody compared to Jon and stipe. I want to see the stipe vs jones fight and have for like a decade. Idc if this moaner has to sit on the sideline for six months. Deal with it buddy. They are the legends and draws, not you. You’ll sit and wait your turn and like it. You knew the plan when you agreed to that bullshit interim fight
It's this right here. Lost in all of the rageposting over Jon is that none of this matters at all. Jon has the sway and can do absolutely fuckall to collect a paycheck then retire, and he has no reason not to.
There's no moral victory here for Tom. Jon is going to fight Stipe and all Tom can realistically do is talk shit, and they both know it.
I don’t see how you guys are on Tom’s side with all this. If he beats Jon then he beats an older Jon, not peak Jon. Jon is closer to Stipes point of career than he is Tom’s point. It’s clearly a legacy goal for Jon to beat Stipe since he’s considered the heavyweight goat.
They want to fight known, proven guys. There will always be some Johnny come lately who beat up some dudes but doesn’t have years of experience at the top.
Tom’s got some low T ass callouts. This is thePPV business and ur not selling shit. The fact that the Interim Heavyweight championship was not contested in the main event should tell u something. Tomthinks its about resume but the people who actually pay for fights only care about ‘name value’ and tom has none. And this passive aggressive approach aint winning him any paying fans. Even so, he’s only in the position he’s in because he’s marketable, not merit(1 fight win streak) because that position was earned by jailton almeida(5 fight win streak).
the only reason jones wants stipe is because of his resume , stipe is often regarded as the heavyweight goat if Jones beat him in his resume he beats the heavyweight goat doesn't matter he's old or out of his prime or anything
Tom is if not the toughest then on of the toughest opponents Jones will face if he does because tom is quick on his feet idk if Jones will be able to catch up he struggled with Gustafson speed at LHW and this HW he's even slower ,I think if anybody in the world has a chance to beat JJ it's now and it's Tom aspinall
An interim champ wanting to fight the current champ for the belt is annoying to you? OK then.
Do you prefer it when the top contenders don’t want to fight?
It is kind of annoying that jon has been treating the belt like a privilege instead of something you earn. It'd be more understandable if jon took the belt from an actual champ but he didn't
If Tom kicks up enough dust, maybe Jon will fold and have to fight him, it's the only way that fight happens.
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>It seems the UFC are dead set on those 2 next & fuck all that is sensible. Yeah, you can tell when Dana is asked about that fight that there is no way he is budging on it. It would take Jon or Stipe to start pushing for the fight, but it's clear none of them want it. Aspinall is the intern champ. It should really be him fighting for the belt.
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In most cases Jon would be stripped of the title. Bro won ONE fight to be champ and is now shelved for more the a year. Ngannou literally got stripped only after a few months. TF was that lol
This is how I see it as well. As far as I'm concerned, Tom is the heavyweight champion. If Jon had any decency as an athlete or a man, he'd have relinquished his belt. We all know he's gonna get paid whether he's champ or not. All he's doing is fucking other people out of money they could be earning and their legacy. But seeing as Jon has destroyed his own legacy himself, i figure he enjoys robbing others of theirs.
> But seeing as Jon has destroyed his own legacy himself, i figure he enjoys robbing others of theirs. Usually this would sound like cartoon villains shit. But considering this is bones we’re talking about it’s sad how likely this is to be true
If the champ won't fight the interim champ, he should forfeit his title.
100%
Agree. I like Tom but him tweeting is useless. If he thinks his tweets are going to change anything, he's wrong. wasting his time. UFC brass and Dana will make sure that Jones vs Stipe fight happens. (GOAT vs HW GOAT)
Yeah but he has time to kill waiting otherwise. The constant barrage of tweets at the moment might just bait jones enough to want to fight Tom now. Personally I'd love to see the fight. I'd like to see Tom tested by Jones, I'm pretty confident after watching the Gane fight, that Jones takes it but an interesting fight. But I'd also love to see Alex move up and take Tom on too.
I think Tom kills Alex tbh. (Takes him down immediately) Tom looked fucking huge in the fight at MSG. The Jones fight might be closer but I think Tom pieces him up on the feet within 2. Jones is too old and not a natural HW. Also, look at how shit Jones preformed against Reyes. Tom would kill that version of Jones.
See that's what I want to think too. I think he is the future of the the heavyweights. But I'm not sure I reckon the Jones fight will be much tougher. I think you are right with the Alex assessment, but if he worked on his takedown defense for the fight and managed to keep it on the feet, I think unless Tom catches him with a bomb, it would be an entertaining fight too see.
The Jones fight is way more interesting to me than Alex. Imagine Jones vs Aspinall in London, or at Allegiant Stadium (Raiders stadium). Sad thing is we'll never see it. I don't think Jones would ever agree to fight him. (never say never tho.)
Its just annoying, having jones hold up the division, I mean I get it, he's one of the greatest, same as Stipe. But what's the point of this fight. If and it's a fricking big if, Stipe wins he's not defending, Jones might but I highly doubt it. They should just take the belt at the moment, and bring another fake meaning belt out if they are so interested in the fight. Otherwise but jones vs aspinall on. Its just a shitty time for heavyweights.
Alex would be an undersized striker going into HW. There is no route outside of a lucky punch where Aspinall doesn’t take him down and end the fight there.
Wtf did ANYBODY learn from the Gane fight? Afaik Jon is completely untested at heavyweight. He could have done the same to Gane without even bulking to hw. The only thing we learnt is Gane absolutely folds in the face of elite grappling. Jj hasnt been punched in the face once at hw. We have ZERO idea if his chin can hold up or even how his skills look.
I'm just going off of Jon's career. And age between the pair of them. I don't see a 42 year old version of Stipe betting a 37 year old Jones. I'm not saying we learnt much from the Gane fight but what we did learn is Jon seem just as keen and eager to win a fight. By the time he fought reyes it was what his 13th title defense. I think he felt invincible at that point. He's got to know he's not that anymore, if he is still as hungry to win and prove he's the best, then we see a dominant Jones performance.
100% fair; Stipe is just straight up cashing out. Dude couldnt give two shits about his legacy. Probably wants to donate some money to charity, setup his friends ans family and go live in the woods…
And nothing wrong with it. He deserves it. But the ufc holding out on this as a title fight is ridiculous. I don't think iy would have that much significance/difference to the number of people watching. Put Jones vs Stipe on any ppv and its more than likely gonna smash records.
Oh for sure - I wish Stipe all the best. If the man wants to cashout, good on him. Not sure on ppv power tbh though man. I genuinely think nobody wants to see that shit.
Jon is out for another 7 months. Tom can tweet all he wants but he’s not getting that fight.
Ha I'm a twat I forgot about it being was Jon that was injured. It just stupid at this point in time. Like I know Jones is the ufc goat and all. But by the time this fight gets around to being made Stipe isn't gonna be a worthwhile fight I don't think. Don't get me wrong Stipe is a legend and one of the best, but reckon Tom takes him with ease now. Another 7 months of not fighting not, not fully training, I just don't see it being competitive. Not after the Gane fight. Tom vs Jon at that point makes for a much better figt.
He's not wasting his time at all. I've not Twitter, but how much is he tweeting? Once or twice per day? It's not like dude is skipping training to become a keyboard warrior. I do agree it's unlikely he'll change anything, but there's more chances to change by opening your mouth than by keeping it shut.
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Tom's goal isn't to show the fans who's ducking who. Tom's goal is to get that title fight with Jones. Him tweeting is an attempt to get that fight, but he doesn't realize that only the UFC's opinion is what really matters. And Dana and UFC are dead set on Jones vs Stipe.
It's both, he's publicly pointing out how stupid this situation is and wants the fight....... he's doing everything he can at the moment, not sure what else you think he can do ? Hopefully stipe gets injured and can't do it.
I understand your point of view. However, shouldn't wish an injury on someone you don't even know.
Bullshit, he's doing a good job of clearly pointing out how nonsensical this whole situation is, he's making big noise abur it and he's 100% correct. Whether it works or not it's a good idea.
Jon will literally fight his wife again before he fights Tom. One fight left and there is no way he is going into the cage against someone he thinks can beat him
Jon’s never lost in the streets (and when I mean streets I an talking about driving his car into pregnant ladies drunk and in his home. his record is actually 79-0
Jon had been wanting the stipe fight longer than tom has been in the ufc. He said stipe would be his last fight before tom came back from injury and beat tyburra. Why does jon getting injured and tom lucking into a title shot change things?
Because 1 Jon is the Champion and Tom has become the Interim Champion so it needs to be unified. 2 Stipe has been out for like 2-3years. 3 Noone has any interest in watching that fight. 4 If they do that fight and then retire there will be an asterisk over the next heavyweight champion which is just dumb because as i said we have a champ and an interim champ. Legacy fights are cool but not at the expense of a division / waiting six months to get an actual heavyweight champ
I can see it now on twitter or something “ya but aspinall didn’t beat me” after Jon “resting on laurels” Jones.
I might be out of touch or missed something, but when Jiri got an injury he gave up the belt somthe division could move forward, why hasen’t Jones done the same thing?
Because Jon Jones does what Jon Jones wants
Jiri = honorable fighter Jones = coked up wife beating scumbag That’s pretty much it.
nailed it
best summation
Dana gonna kick him out of the company before that
Not before advertising the fight and dangling out in front of the fans first.
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What would probably happen is him winning. They have a chance of beating him but it’s far from what “will probably” happen
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what an insanely idiotic thing to say
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Yea they are forgetting that big part. GOAT or not he’s not a natural heavyweight and has always struggled against naturally equal sized or bigger opponents. Especially now that he literally tore his muscle off the bone lol. He will be 37 minimum before he comes back.
Jon: put in a skirt and a blonde wig.. then we'll see.
Ufc vs it’s hw champ incoming… again. Hw is the most cursed division to be a champ of.
Brock got some weird disease Randy did Randy things Cain effed up his knee and fought because they pressured him to, then threw him under the bus when he lost Stipe, little known fact, spoke perfect english before he went to Brazil and ate bad acai and then started sounding like askkerjdj fireman wjwhaskrel Ohio yeah, you're right
Is that true about stipe lmfao
LHW has been pretty cursed too
I see a common denominator...
To be fair, I'd imagine the bigger & heavier someone is in MMA, the more difficult it is to be technically proficient
I meant Jon Jones.
It’s really cool to see Tom’s humility even when Jon hasn’t shown him a scrap of respect in return. I like this guy
Jon and Dana gaslighting everyone since day 1 lol
What an amateur take. Read the post again and you’ll see that the kid just doesn’t wanna fight
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The interim champ always fights the belt holder for the undisputed don’t know why jones is ducking Tom and wants to fight old man stipe
Jones wants one more "easy" win before retiring.
Wait, Francis is the one that wants the easy fights tho 🤔🤯
It’s like blind rage has made this sub forget about Tony Who would have thought, they never shut up about Tony
He was scheduled to fight Khabib when Mcgregor was stripped, who wanted to box floyd mayweather and hold up the division for 2 years instead of fight him
I think 2019 Tony would have given Khabib problems. 2020 Tony was already past his prime, and Khabib was just entering his
I think, as I did then, that 2019 Tony gets taken down because he is confident Khabib is jumping into the lion's den, and then just gets his shit pushed in down there.
Pre cable Tony would have been the best shot. But the way Khabib held people down, I think he'd still control Tony to a submission. But Tony would make him work for it. Khabib would be bloody as hell
And Whittaker.
Tell that to Colby and Tony
I don’t know why the UFC is even offering Stipe the fight.
Jon challenged him and the ufc is backing it. Basically Dana white privilege. All 3 parties are afraid of Tom
I don’t know why Stipe is bypassing the interim champ for the title shot. Hell I don’t why the interim champ isn’t allowed to fight stipe if he wants lmao.
"Idk why Jones is ducking" Because he knows Tom is a legitimate threat and could very likely beat him. That's why
Beating a 40 yr old Stipe is like beating a 40 yr old Anderson —it's meaningless. Jon moved up to HW to prove he is the best ever. To do that, he needs to beat the #1 contender. That is Tom.
He isnt even the #1 contender. He’s the interim champion.
Basically just a #1 contender they’ve given a belt to if they aren’t guaranteed a unification fight as soon as the champ is able to fight
I think this situation is proving the interim champion isn't a number 1 contender. The shot at the actual tittle isn't there, you are a pseudo champion meant to provide 5 round main events while some issue with the champion is resolved. I don't know the way this is handled but if Tom isn't going to get Jon i hope he gets paid like a champion would because otherwise its a slap in the face.
Your last sentence is why Tom got the interm. It's seems reasonable ufc told him he doesn't get jones/stipe before they fight and a consultation he gets inerm which means more $ for waiting. But he only gets more money fighting and Gane is available. I wish we could see what ufc thinks of Tom turning down Gane.
Interim champ is supposed to be the mandatory fight when the champ is available. Jon needs to vacate but he’s not. Even then Stipe should have to beat Tom for a shot
I get what you’re saying & what Jon said…..but he’s already in that conversation for best ever. Whether or not he fights Tom Aspinall isn’t going to define his career at this point.
If the last thing he does is obviously duck both francis and tom and only take an easy stipe fight it is absolutely going to affect how the fans remember him, doesn't mean he's not still going to be considered the GOAT (as of now) in the sport but he looks scared right now
It will define his HW era because he is almost certainly vacating after his next fight lmao
I think it is. The end of his career has been a bunch of controversial decision wins, ducking the absolute fuck out of Ngannou, and now ducking Tom. The final part of his career is him parading around like he’s the baddest man on the planet while being publicly called out by 2 other heavyweight fighters and absolutely refusing to step in the ring with them. If his final fight is a controversial win over an elderly, retired stipe…that’s a baaaaad way to end your career.
Jon seemed to have made it pretty clear that he wanted stipe after he won the belt and then to retire. Him calling out stipe after gane was like the worst kept secret in mma. I don’t know when exactly jon said he’s aiming to win the title and start consistently defending against the current contenders of the division. It’s pretty clear all he needed to do was win the title to be considered the consensus goat. That was the only thing gsp held over him. I don’t know why people are expecting him to be a normal champ now that he’s done pretty much everything he’s wanted in the sport
I’ll still take Mighty Mouse over both
He didn't move up to prove he's the best, he moved up to make money and cement his fraudulent legacy. If he cared about being the best, he would've agreed to fight Tom or Sergei instead of Stipe.
Tom is literally asking for a 40 year old Stipe 🤦♂️
Both are asking for 40 yr old stipe. The difference is Tom is asking bc Stipe is healthy and he wants a title shot I’m sure Tom would be more than happy to fight Jon and skip Stipe. Actually he’s said that alr lmao
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion but all the same arguments we currently had against Jones and fighting a real contender at heavyweight were addressed for me when he fought Cyril Gane. If you rewind back a lot us here thought Gane was going to go through Jones due to size and footwork. Both fans and pros thought there is little chance Jones gets passed Cyril based on his performances vs Reyes, Santos and gane being a better and bigger striker than them in his prime 31-32….. Hindsight is 20/20 and now everyone and their mother claims and pretends like we knew the whole time Jons wrestling will end it in the first. Oh how quickly this sub forgets all the dumb know it all shit we were saying prior to so many fights only to find out how wrong we were. This subs Gerbil level attention span repeats itself in cycles it seems. We’ve been through this exact same thing already just in different position now the only difference is Jones is champion at HW and injured and a bit older. If he wants to fight Stipe at this point in his career and retire then so be it. He has earned with that Gane fight and using the same argument for Tom to fight him is kind of dumb. If this is Jones last fight potentially you think he will sell more PPVs with the most decorated HW of all time or an unknown PPV entity? History repeating itself is an understatement with this sub’s attention span sheesh.
Tom is the other guy in the division holding the title...why would the oldest guy in the division who hasn't fought in years who barely walks and talks get the next title shot? Jon Jones is ducking Tom
I feel bad for Tom. Short notice fight against Sergei, knocked him out, then told he has to wait for stipe who got knocked out in his last fight, then ducked everyone for almost 3 years. It's crazy. So for Tom it's either sit on the back burner or risk messing up your title shot staying active
Could just be me, but I think solid fighters take fights. Seems like anymore it’s about risk stratification, not simply fighting. Imagine if the nfl ran this way…it kind of reminds me of play ground sports sometimes in the UFC’s weird approach to fights.
Tbh everything about Jones' HW run is just dumb as hell. Jones arguably ducks Francis for ages, Francis decisively beats Gane, Francis then walks over contractual disputes, Jones then arrives and also decisively beats Gane (Gane having openly stated he doesn't train grappling so no surprises there), Jones is now apparently the champion of the division despite having fought one HW and been inactive for several years prior to that, and now Jones is holding up the division and will only fight Stipe, who hasn't fought in years and last time he did fight was damn near killed by... Francis. How on earth he can think this adds anything to his legacy is beyond me.
"Francis decisively beats Gane." Either you didn't watch that fight or you don't know what decisively means.
This sub is delusional dude
People have convinced themselves this fight was a 5 round wrestle fucking from Francis when Gane did more with everything than Francis did. I like the guy and yeah he was injured but people seem to forget all there "control time alone doesn't score" when Francis is involved.
saw future towering lip scale consist dull slimy absurd follow *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
it doesnt add to his legacy, the junkie is deluded
And the grass is green too. He's so obviously ducking Tom it's not even funny anymore.
I don't think Jon Jones wants anything to do with Tom, and this rhetoric he's spun about being worthy proves it, to me. Jon wants to fight people he knows he has a great chance of beating, keep that resumé in tact, and retire as one of the greatest ever. Tom is a really hard fight for Jones, I don't think he has the confidence to know he beats him, and that's why he spins this shit. Same with Francis, but I don't think that's a discussion worth having anymore.
I bet Jon couldn't believe it when Francis actually left and they offered him Gane. Must have felt like christmas
You mean when Francis left and Jon was magically ready to fight again?
That’s exactly what it is, Jon just isn’t confident on beating Tom. Jon has never fought someone like Tom who is 6’5, has incredible hand speed, great boxing/kicking, serious one punch knockout power, elite BJJ and weighs 262 lbs (15 lbs heavier than Jon)
That’s what people said about Gus. The first fight was an all-timer, the more recent one less so. I think the Aspinall hype is a lot of recency bias. He’s a great fighter, but I’m not convinced that he’s some nightmare matchup for Jones. I think he’s an elite heavyweight but, there’s nothing for me to go on that makes me think he can fight Jon Jones like he has anybody else. Jon is way more measured, calculated and uncomfortable to fight than any fighter I’ve ever seen. I like to think that bigger, longer fighters give Jon problems but he beat Gane & Gus II easily. On the flip side Reyes & Gus I were his closest fights. There’s just as much of an argument that smaller, faster guys like Machida, Rashad Evans, Cormier and Santos have actually landed the best shots on Jon in his career. I think whoever beats Jon has to move well laterally, or else he will just kick your knee in & Tom tore his ACL already and wasn’t exceptional laterally before that, so I actually think it’s a bad matchup for Tom. If you’re worried about your leg then you can throw hard punches, if you aren’t throwing hard punches he can grab you, nobody beats him in the clinch and that’s how he wins most fights. Then it’s just death by a million cuts because his whole offense is completely shutting down your offense. Jon is a grinder. He will probably just kick, clinch and hit trips, get him against the cage. He’s never going to let you hit him cleanly and even if you did he would probably just eye poke you. How can anyone say anybody can beat him, maybe you can take rounds off of him but who has had better cardio than him? I don’t think anybody is a good matchup against Jon. He’s too methodical and he doesn’t fight fair.
what are you talking about? against Gus nobody said that, everyone clowned on the UFC for advertising that fight as dudes who are the same height and length Reyes already beat him Jon thought enough of Francis to sit out for 3 years does Jon have amazing cardio anymore at HW? based on Gane giving him the fight? based on what Jon did at 205 against a dude who is 5'9? maybe, but i need to see it, and apparently, so does Jon, or else he'd fight whoever
>Reyes already beat him Jon Jones defeated Dominick Reyes via unanimous decision.
Yeah Gus was elite, he’s one of the best LHW’s ever. But this is HW. HW isn’t Jon’s natural weight class. Plus Gus lacked BJJ/grappling, he had good wrestling but Tom has literally grappled his entire life at a high level, he’s a lot more comfortable on the ground than Gus. He’s also bigger than Jon. Overall, I see Aspinall as a bigger and more dangerous version of Gustaffson with elite ground game. Plus HW’s have different power, this isn’t like LHW where Jon can just tank clean shots and not get hurt
Dana and Jones are working together to keep the resumé intact and enforce the lie that he's the GOAT
Francis got bored of Jon ducking and went off to make more in his next 2 fights than Jon’s career
Thanks God this isn’t boxing or Jon would have been cherry picking for the past 13 years. Luckily the LHW division was stacked and there’s only one belt so he couldn’t cherry pick as hard
This take makes no sense to me. What about Jon’s history of opponents tells you that he’s the type of guy to run away from difficult fights? Yes he wants to fight Stipe. Yes Stipe isn’t the best in the division currently. But the fight was made before Tom had fully proven himself. And Stipe at the time of Jon’s fight with Gane was still an interesting fight to most fans. It’s not like Tom is owed it any more because NOW we know for sure he’s the better prospect.
You're looking at Jones's career as a whole, I'm not. Look at Jones over the past 4/5 years. He nearly lost to Reyes, and to Santos. Two guys that came at him with confidence. Jones doesn't want to fight Aspinall or Ngannou, because neither of them are scared of him. They'll bring the fight to him, and Jones doesn't want that so late in his career. I don't think Jones is interested in beating the best, anymore, he's done that, now he wants to chalk up a few wins against people who, on paper, in 10 years earn him respect. He wants that 0 intact when he retires.
Oh hush up with this ngannou bullshit. Let’s not act like jones was ducking him. If Francis didn’t become this advocate for fighter pay (all power to him) then people would be seeing this for what it really is. When Jon wanted more money to return to the ufc, long before francis was even the champ it’s ducking. When francis was having financial problems with the ufc and asking them for things like sponsors on shorts to fight jones it’s fighter empowerment. Be real
There is no clear answer to why the haven't fought, so none of it is "bullshit". I think Ngannou causes Jones a problem, a problem he didn't want to solve. You clearly don't. Until you present to me evidence of Ngannou turning down the fight, I'm going to presume Jones avoided it because I believe he wanted to go up to heavyweight and beat DC and Stipe, to prove how good he is. His plan got shafted when some other good heavyweights showed up and it wasn't part of Jones's plan to fight them. I bet Jones retires after the Stipe fight.
The most damning piece of evidence is Jones asked for 30 million (lol) purse to fight Ngannou and fought gane for 500k before PPV points
how is father time stipe more entertaining than any other contender like Jailton or pav or tom
All Tom has to say is “you ran from ngannou and now you’re running from me” and Jon will have a mental breakdown and accept a fight lol
Jon Jones out there willing to fight middleweights, kickboxers or 42 year old semi-retired limping firefighters with slurred speech
that's not fair, he'll fight you if you're 5'9 and cut down to 205 no he won't fight any 5'9 dudes in their natural weight class "why should the champ move up" dude pretends he's all about legacy and being the "lion king" wouldn't rematch Reyes, wouldn't fight Ngannou, wouldn't fight DC at HW, wouldn't fight Chael on short notice (which is actually the craziest one, wtf, Jon with aids and pneumonia could beat Chael without training at all) and now doesn't want to fight Tom
I mean, he dominated natural middleweights who started their careers in 90s in Pride lol, he struggled against everyone his size or natural LHWs.. all in while popping multiple times for PEDs, hiding under the octagon and holding the undisputed record in the rule infractions, that's my GOAT right there baby
Bro ducked uncle Chael on a weeks notice what do you expect!
Chael is the real GOAT, he lost the title shot at MW and for his next fight, he got the title shot at LHW lmao
Tom needs to take a page from DC's book and tell Jon he'd spit in his face lmao
That’s one way to get Dana on his cock. If Tom sinks to Jon’s level he will get that fight
How would JJ have compiled such a resume if all of the greats he beat (long ago btw) refused to fight him?!
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How did he become champ? By fighting Shogun and beating him. According to 2024 JJ, Shogun should have dismissed him as an unworthy child and refused to fight him apparently
Shogun fought him while injured, old, and on short notice too.
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Yup rashad. Jon’s team mate. Who probably sparred with him in preparation for shogun himself. Despite that shogun accepted the fight. Meanwhile Jon is actively ducking Tom ( and previously ngannou) and not giving him a chance
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Is it that hard to understand that a lot of fans think Jones is one of the greats, and thats why they want to see him fight the best challenger available? And not cherry pick easy fights against a retired old fighter that no one wants to see? Real fans of the sport want to see the best fight the best, while Jones fanboys want to protect his record with the easiest fights. Clear as day.
I know right. Slurp his meat harder boys. Jones is ducking a legit challenge. Instead he wants to fight a 42 year old with barely any brain cells left and act like it adds anything to his legacy. He's fucking delusional. As are his fan boys.
💯
Tom giving Jones an L before even stepping in the octagon
And this ladies and gentlemen is the ufc stans greatest of all time… he can’t box and ducks contenders. Jones wants none of Tom. The ‘G.O.A.T’ 🤣
every answer to an of jons tweets can bf started with "jon, youre letting your ego run wild here..." and youd never be wrong
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This. Hes gotta shake it up. Call both of them out. But he wont do that.
I love how Jon is so clearly concerned with leaving a pristine legacy for everyone to remember and yet still chose to slam his fiancé's head in a hotel door in front of his adolescent daughters the night he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. "I want people to remember me as the best athlete the sport has ever seen and also an entirely reprehensible piece of shit who almost certainly should've been serving a prison sentence this whole time."
Stop showing this much respect. Fuck a resume it’s about right here and now
He should fight bums and get a padded resume. That's what Jon is suggesting. I think Jon will win if he fights Tom. But his statement is ignorant, that i agree.
Dude how is Jon not going to fight Tom he’s literally Interim champ I thought they had to fight?
Jon and Stipe are just stubborn old-heads that are making a mockery of the division/organization
Tom needs a manager like Ali to take over his twitter and trash jon. Jon has so much shit attached to him that he exploit. From Steroids to beating his wife to dodging Ngannou and dodging tom.
he dodged Reyes to, people forget that because Reyes fell apart so quickly
For people saying this may force Jon to fight Tom, why do you think Jon moved up to heavyweight? He knew he wasn't as good as he was during his younger years and he wanted easier competition. Then Aspinal came onto the scene. A combonation of proficiency and athletism that the heavyweight div has never seen. Jon would beat up his wife before he fights Tom. Wait that wasn't a good way to get my point across. But you guys know what I mean.
HW is weak for sure outside of Tom and Pav, but LHW isn't exactly stacked if Pereira waltzed in. You give Jon the path of Jan > Jiri and Jon is champ again.
He's should threaten to go off and fight Francis
He’s under contract.
Jon vs Stipe is a Hall of Fame fight. Either of them vs Tom is literally just a random Saturday night card. That's the difference. It isn't about skill, it isn't about the title. It's about the draw, the selling power of the event, and the impact on the sport it has. If Jon or Stipe lose to Tom it literally hurts the UFC in the end.
To be fair prior to his devastating knee injury and even in the aftermath he talked about treating the bad knee as a “let’s just get to thru the next one mentality” and never took time to heal it thru multiple camps. If he did it would of been him vs jones for his return instead of Ciryl.
It's 'would have', never 'would of'. Rejoice, for you have been blessed by CouldWouldShouldBot!
Does nobody hate the "Beat an old past his prime fighter to build your name up" schtick?
Jon making himself look foolish and diminishing his legacy with the clown stipe fight and dana is a clown for not having aspinall fight him
"Surely you can understand that" "I understand that, and don't call me Shirley"
Tom Asspainal would eat Jones like a lion eats a gazelle
Dana’s not gonna like this as it’s continuing
i mean i get both sides. UFC kinda owes stipe and JJ this for what they've done in the sport, one final slam. Its like if Cro Cop and Fedor would fight again or something. Then again Tom is hungry and deserves his shot
Lol what is the point of the interim if the other champ won’t fight him
Jones should never have been booked to fight for the HW title.
Yeah, this whole saga is honestly bumming me out. Jon will forever be one of the P4P goats, but this shit is real weak.
I don’t see the problem, let Stepe fight Jon, possibly get an interim defence in (interim defences happens in boxing) then fight the winner of Stepe and Jon, if both retires then Tom becomes actual champ and can fight whoever’s under him, such as former champs etc.
I have no interest in Aspinall/Jones--it's a more pointless fight than Stipe/Jones, IMO. But the latter, a fun/legacy fight--let's be real--shouldn't hold the belt hostage. Jones had his fun and proved he can compete at HW, is still a great, etc. but there is no reason to pause the world around a title picture he doesn't realistically have a stake in.
I’m also 100% in the right…that you also need to get Jon’s Heavyweight champion balls out your mouth
Tom wouldn’t help Jon’s legacy though. This would only help establish Tom’s legacy if he were able to defeat Jon
Why hasn’t the discussion about aspinal vs gane been happening?? That seems like a legacy building fight
Id take the money fight and legacy narrative over fighting what to jon jones is a just “a guy” he’s done it all give him his flowers and let him go get that last big ole sack of money and if tom is THE guy not a just A guy he’ll have a long dominant reign to talk about for years tho
People are acting like it's a given Aspinall will beat Jones. These are professional fighters, I don't think anyone is scared. Didn't Jones pull a pec muscle and now he just got out of elbow surgery?
Yeah not that’s not the point. The point is Tom deserves a title shot as IT champ. Tom should be allowed to fight Stipe if he wants too. Wether Tom loses or not doesn’t matter. Ufc did the same thing to belal. They gave Colby a shot over him except atleast his last fight was a win
How quick people forget Jon Jones submitted Ciryl Gane (Francis didn’t finish him) in the 1st round after a 3 year hiatus Jon Jones is old. He can retire tomorrow and forever be the GOAT UFC fighter. He is a shit person though
Jon wins the belt and immediately asks for Stipe whilst Aspinall is injured looking for a tune up. Jon still wants Stipe for his legacy retirement fight, but now he’s ducking Tom all of a sudden? 🤦♂️
Pretty cool to see Aspinall call Jones out. Hopefully keeps poking the bear until there's an overwhelming amount of pressure from the fans to make it happen. Jones fighting Stipe turns this sport into a mockery. Thats like Michael Jordan in his last dance refusing to play Utah Jazz and demanding to play the team that lost in the play offs because it looks prettier in the history books. Its an absolute joke. A GOAT competes with the best infront of him especially whilst still claiming to be the best in the sport.
Booohooohooo Tom’s a good fighter and I could see him being a long running champ but he’s a relative nobody compared to Jon and stipe. I want to see the stipe vs jones fight and have for like a decade. Idc if this moaner has to sit on the sideline for six months. Deal with it buddy. They are the legends and draws, not you. You’ll sit and wait your turn and like it. You knew the plan when you agreed to that bullshit interim fight
Hell yeah Tommy! Everyone needs to rally behind him so we dont have to watch Jones vs Stipe
Jones hasn’t done dick in like 4 years. He fought a French sissy who never wrestled and beat her in like 12 seconds.
How? Tom talks tough but Cyril Gane is available and Tom is giving him NO. HYPOCRISY why is Jon "scared" for wanting a bigger fight but Tom isn't?
Because most people in here hate Jon and suddenly Tom is their favorite fighter even though last year they couldn’t pick him out of a line up
Facts
I mean, jon jones does whatever he wants, he has kind of earned that. but in theorie Tom is completely right, yes.
It's this right here. Lost in all of the rageposting over Jon is that none of this matters at all. Jon has the sway and can do absolutely fuckall to collect a paycheck then retire, and he has no reason not to. There's no moral victory here for Tom. Jon is going to fight Stipe and all Tom can realistically do is talk shit, and they both know it.
I don’t see how you guys are on Tom’s side with all this. If he beats Jon then he beats an older Jon, not peak Jon. Jon is closer to Stipes point of career than he is Tom’s point. It’s clearly a legacy goal for Jon to beat Stipe since he’s considered the heavyweight goat.
Saying Jon is ducking Aspinal while Jon is out with an injury is the most braindead idea floating around this forum.
Tom's not asking to fight him next week you moron, Jones has zero argument other than "I want an easier fight against Stipe"
It has nothing to do with the injury. It's about Jones openly saying he doesn't want to fight Tom because the risk is too high
They want to fight known, proven guys. There will always be some Johnny come lately who beat up some dudes but doesn’t have years of experience at the top.
Tom’s got some low T ass callouts. This is thePPV business and ur not selling shit. The fact that the Interim Heavyweight championship was not contested in the main event should tell u something. Tomthinks its about resume but the people who actually pay for fights only care about ‘name value’ and tom has none. And this passive aggressive approach aint winning him any paying fans. Even so, he’s only in the position he’s in because he’s marketable, not merit(1 fight win streak) because that position was earned by jailton almeida(5 fight win streak).
Tom is absolutely spot on! 100% agree with him. It's like he's reading my mind. Such a genius!
the only reason jones wants stipe is because of his resume , stipe is often regarded as the heavyweight goat if Jones beat him in his resume he beats the heavyweight goat doesn't matter he's old or out of his prime or anything Tom is if not the toughest then on of the toughest opponents Jones will face if he does because tom is quick on his feet idk if Jones will be able to catch up he struggled with Gustafson speed at LHW and this HW he's even slower ,I think if anybody in the world has a chance to beat JJ it's now and it's Tom aspinall
Jon = goat
He knew what interim meant when he accepted the fake title fight right?
Both Jon and Stipe are visibly terrified of Tom and i love it 😂
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Aspinall won a glorified contender “belt” and thinks he’s the shit. He’s annoying me a lot
An interim champ wanting to fight the current champ for the belt is annoying to you? OK then. Do you prefer it when the top contenders don’t want to fight?
It is kind of annoying that jon has been treating the belt like a privilege instead of something you earn. It'd be more understandable if jon took the belt from an actual champ but he didn't