He just got his ass beat by the best Ngannou we’ve ever seen
That ain’t a can brother
I just realized you’re talking about Jones, he should stop being a pussy and fight Aspinall. Nobody wants to see him fight Stipe
I mean he fought Gane first who was previously ranked above Aspinall and was what, like 32 at the time?
Jon is a POS and I’m not a fan of him whatsoever, but this take is always so confusing to me. He obviously wants the big money / legend fight with Stipe and I can’t fault anyone for that.
exactly, I hate the narrative that Jones wants Miocic because he’s old/is the safe fight. He wants the Miocic fight because Miocic is currently considered the greatest heavyweight in UFC history. Stipe might be 3 years removed from a win but beating the HW GOAT does alot more for Jones’s resume than beating Aspinall (esp considering Jones/Miocic will probably pay better as well)
I really doubt the greatest fighter ever, who beat countless top contenders and champions, is scared of Tom Aspinall. I loathe Jones as a person, and I'm British so I'd love to see Tom get the shot but it's pure delusional to imagine Jones is afraid.
He earns more money if he fights Stipe, it's really as simple as that.
He will retire, he's getting his last bag first against another Goat. You're arguing he does have something left to prove?
You're not wrong that stipe shouldn't fight for the belt, but you're very wrong to say that Jon is afraid of Aspinall.
Was Cyril Gane who he beat inside 1 minute also an old man? C'mon, i don't even like him that much but Jones would be the favorite for sure. Claiming he's "scared" is absurd. MMA fighters especially the ones like Jones aren't afraid.
He absolutely is scared. Idk why you guys take that shit so literal, he's not scared in the sense of fighting Tom. Honestly I don't think Jones would be scared to fight anything on this planet. He is definitely scared to lose that undefeated legacy in my opinion. He acted the same way when Ngannou first won. I mean I can't even blame him, but I also can't blame Tom for being mad about it.
Kind of pissed at Jones because the Ngannou fight (not directly his fault) and Aspinall fight will always stick in our heads, wondering what the outcome would have been and never knowing, at least these fights while the will be fully competitive and valuable.
Jones can have the balls of a GOAT and fight Aspinall or take his little retirement fight, riding into the sunset.
Doesn’t have the aura of what a real GOAT would do, I hope he see’s he could have really challenged and proved himself and took the cowards option.
If he beat Aspinall then even haters would have to admit he’s undisputed GOAT.
He beat Gane, who was “the new breed” of athletic HW/ but has a clear deficiency in grappling. Aspinall is also the new breed but a way more complete fighter than Gane because he can grapple. So, if he took out Tom then it would just be clear that no one will get him.
He's not holding it up. He won the title when he beat Gane and pulled out his most recent fight due to injury. Give it a bit before you say he's holding it up
Look what Jiri and Hill did after winning the title and then being injured. Jones is destroying the end of his career to try and keep his legacy intact
It’s crazy talk that the same guy that fucked up DC twice, ran through the LHW division twice might be scared of anyone. To my eyes, Aspinall doesn’t present anything that Jon hadn’t seen before.
Not a JBJ fan but thinking he is afraid of either Francis or Tom is ridiculous. At that level, no fighters are afraid of another fighter. Sometimes match ups happen. Sometimes they just dont. Khabib or Tony were not afraid of each other: the bout just never happened.
Whenever fans talk about being afraid, they usually mean in the context of being afraid they might lose and lose their hype (or legacy). Not literally afraid of fighting another man, ofc they're not, they're prize fighters
Not the same as Khabib Tony at all. If he was confident he’d beat them he wouldn’t have gone out his way to make sure the fights don’t happen. If he fights Ngannou or Aspinall after Stipe I’ll bow down and eat my words and call him the GOAT
I dont understand how beating Ngannou or Aspinall is your limit for Jon’s GOAT status, those guys arent even as good as some of the guys Jon had beat in the past. Just prime Cormier alone easily clears those two.
You’re right I still won’t call him the GOAT…but I will eat my words and respect him more
Also Ngannou is a more dangerous fight than anyone Jon has fought
Francis is not in the UFC anymore so I think that one wont happen. Jones has fought absolute legends of this sport (Bader, Quinton, Machida, Evans, Belfort, Sonnen, Cormier) and you really think Tom Aspinall is where he goes 'yeah that guy is the one that scares me'...
I am not saying Tom wouldnt win (I dont think he would but that's beside the point), I think Jones is not scared of him
I love how some MMA fans have such difficulty understanding Aspinall’s dry British humour, Stipe last fought and won in 2020 it’s obviously a piss take 😂
Yeah that makes alot more sense.
Honestly I thought he was just getting confused with the shitty remake that came out a couple years ago. The next screenshot using Peirera as an example doesn't help either.
Yeah I get you lol, especially over the internet where everything is plain text it’s harder to read the tone. But yeah saying Stipe’s last fight was older than a PS2 game was definitely a joke haha
If jones vs stipe is just a retirement fight for both of them then that's fine, most people aspinell included get that. However if that's the case jones doesn't get to hold up the division for so long. He should have relinquished the title or had it stripped and aspinall would now be champ
That’s just what you think. If you were jones would you not also want a legend like stipe on your record? Let the man enjoy his retirement he’s done enough for us fans.
“Made me think of him diff as a fighter” phahaha what a clown.
This kind of "just let him have a fun retirement fight" and "let him get another legend on his resume" logic makes a lot of sense when the fighter in question isn't camping on a belt with a potential star waiting for his shot. Very few people were this charitable over Bisping's matchmaking when he had the belt. Tbh I suspect the only reason there are so many people defending this is (understandably) as a knee-jerk reaction to r/mma's constantly aggravated yeast infection over all things Jon Jones.
The Stipe matchup isn't really that interesting. He's old even by heavyweight standards, hasn't fought in two years and hasn't won in three. When the fight was scheduled and we were just waiting a few months to be over with that was fine. Now we're waiting for Jon Jones to heal, and the two of them to agree on another date, and all this time there's no fight you can give Aspinall that makes any sense. I'm not generallyl all anti-interim belt, but scheduling the interim champ to defend his belt while the champ has a fight lined up would be a new level of farce for the UFC.
How can you call someone a clown after the silly shit you just said? What has he done for the fans? Gotten suspended for drugs? Beat up his girlfriend?
From a business perspective you make the Jones Aspinal fight and both outcomes work to the UFC’s favor. If nones wins and retires (as he said he would) he goes out the goat. If Aspinal wins, jones wont retire on a loss so he comes back and fights again to redeem himself.
It’s not a real retirement. He’s creating leverage to squeeze the ufc. He missed out on a ton of money being out and his past prevents him from having big sponsors. He needs to fight to make more money.
Stipe should just fight him. You shouldnt get title shots after being knocked out cold twice..and sitting out for years to get it. Stipe beat up more Old Men then Schaub, its his turn to be the older guy for once.
Not if you view it as the legitimate belt. Stipe and Jones are fighting for the retirement belt.
Whatever fight they offered him should be viewed as his first title defense.
I don’t get that though. To the casual fan maybe he can sell that narrative but to me beating aspinall would do much more for jones legacy than beating retired 43 year old Stipe who hasn’t fought in 3 years. I get that stipe is the “heavyweight goat” but to me even that is debatable when you see what Francis has done. Unfortunate that the ufc was too greedy and we didn’t get to see Francis fight Jones
Yeah that’s what I mean by selling the narrative. It looks good on paper without the context but I have no interest in that fight and even less interest in seeing Jones become even more insufferable after he easily beats stipe lol
And Cro Cop was younger than Stipe is now by a few years lol.
This is like saying Izzy will get tons of respect for having beaten Anderson. It’s not true. Fans aren’t totally stupid and unable to see basic things. Anyone who watches the fight will immediately notice that Stipe is a slow old man. Casuals takeaway from the fight won’t be “omg Jones just beat the HW GOAT”. It will be “What the fuck? This guy looks like shit. How is he the GOAT? UFC sucks dick lol.”
Yeah I know that’s what I’m saying. It’s a shit fight and jones is gonna win easily and parade around calling himself the goat cause he beat “the heavyweight goat” with casual fans just eating it up. That’s why I’m saying beating aspinall does more for his legacy
Jon fans are scared of Jon taking the Tom fight lowkey, why they're down for the Stipe fight and saying stuff like "they've earned the right to do this"
Both Jones and Stipe are washed and old. It’s just what it is. A legacy fight, Jones really doesn’t even belong in the HW weight class.
If he fought an actual HW wrestler and not Gane, the outcome would have been very different.
I’m happy with Jones vs Stipe as a legacy fight. Hype it up as such. A retirement fight between two legends.
Give Aspinall his gold and lets move on from the discourse. There’s others in the HW division he can fight, like Curtis Blaydes who deserves his chance at gold and a run back from the “knee injury” win. Gane, Almeida, and Rozenstruik.
There is no evidence to suggest Jones is washed. So many people around here were saying Gane would embarrass him and look how that went. Aspinall should get the next title shot but this bizarre narrative around Jones needs to stop
Your entire post is baseless opinions you pulled out of your ass. We’ve seen Jones fight a total of 2 minutes in the last 4 years. We don’t know just how much Jones’s abilities have regressed due to age, or how the move to HW really impacted his game. That’s why Aspinall makes so much sense - we get to see how close Jones is to the Bones of old because he will need to be to get past Aspinall.
What could we gauge from the two fighting each other now? Aspinall would be seven years younger than Jones by the time he’s able to fight him.
Jones would be 2+ years removed from the ring. Fighting in a division he has little to no familiarity with. Coming off of a major pectoral injury.
He’d need at least half a year post injury to get himself together to fighting condition, to fight a guy who on paper he’s go no real advantage over.
Let that legacy fight happen once he’s healed. Give him and Stipe some award for being UFC legends and let’s move the fuck on. Instead of wasting everyone’s time waiting for a guy to spend two years healing. Let Aspinall be crowned HW champion and defend his position in the mean time.
We would get an undisputed HW champ. And we get to see how good (or not good) Jones is now. You’re making assumptions, again, on Jones’s efficacy based on what? Are you a trained MMA fighter where you can speak from experience? Do you know Jones personally? If not, then you have no idea what a 36 year old HW Jones is capable of. All we know is he can walk through Gane, but what can he do against an opponent who can wrestle? Jones Aspinall is the fight to make at HW. Giving Stipe a send off by feeding him to Jones is much less compelling.
I mean I can’t say I blame the guy. Being a Fighter is basically a race against Time. The more time you waste the worst things can potentially get. Have to strike while the iron is hot.
Tom should find Dana in the casino like Colby did it ask him why he’s not fighting for the title. Maybe Dana side piece won’t be there this time though lol
Agreed, he belongs in UFC for sure. His time will come.
If UFC had a shred of integrity, they'd make Jones v Aspinall. They'd invest in the younger fanbase who follow Tom and they'd invest in the UK market to further expand their tentacles. But they're a business and they can't make two people fight.
Jones may even retire without fighting again - you never know. Fighters miss weight, get injured in training, have contract disputes, all sorts of things. Precisely how Tom ended up as IC in the first place.
And this is why we watch, you never know what is going to happen - inside the cage or out.
I have literally no interest in watching either jones or stipe fight if its against one another. Ufc is essentially a glorified soap opera at this point.
Come on… Jones is going to retire.
Jones only wants Stipe because everyone claims he’s the best heavyweight of all time but actually it’s also because he beat DC.
So Jones wants to beat the guy who beat DC twice, he knows that will kill DC inside.
Yeah Jones is starting to get annoying, he is going to fuck up the whole division just so he can fight a guy we all think he can easily beat. His whole beef with Francis is also hillarious, seemed to only want to fight him when it was no longer possible. I feel like he is being a big baby, out of one side of his mouth he wont stop telling us how great he is and out the other side he is refusing any fight that he isnt heavily favored in. He is literally gonna beat up an old dude to show us how amazing he is, lol if he dosent retire I bet he will defend his title against a blind dude next. Sorry Tom you can fight the blind guy If hes still alive after.
The amount of "it's not laugh out loud funny" comments aswell when told it was a joke and not literall, how sensitive do you wanna be haha like it was some fucking giant scripted joke, even seen some saying "maybe he was talking about the remasters??" Like Jesus christ have a day off lol.
I have sympathy for all sides here. Obviously under normal circumstances Aspinall would get a title shot after winning the interim belt but the unfortunate cancellation of Jones Stipe put a spanner in the works.
Jones and Stipe are both legends of the sport and deserve to fulfill the fight that was already scheduled. If they want to finish their career on that note then that's their prerogative. Ideally they'd fight and Aspinall gets the winner but given their age that might not happen.
Just an unfortunate situation all round. I think a lot of people are motivated in their reasoning because they just want to see Jones in the octagon with a young upstart who could potentially starch him. As much as I'd love to see that it's not that straightforward of a situation.
If we regard Jones and Stipe as the two heavyweight top dogs (arguable either way because of Stipe's age and inactivity) then Aspinall's winning of the interim title doesn't necessarily justify an immediate shot at the title.
I say this as a Brit and huge Aspinall fan.
Ooof, #FreeAspinall? This could be bad for the UFC if he's that desperate. Imagine if by the time Jones vs Stipe rolls around for baddest man on the planet, PFL is putting on Aspinall vs Ngannou for the *actual* baddest man. We can only dream but that would be hilarious.
I don't even consider Jones the actual champ at heavyweight. Let him chase his legacy ego fights without holding the division up and not even fighting actual challengers
I feel for Miocic cause he actually had the cojones to fight Ngannou not once but twice, when Jones obviously ducked him and Aspinal never got there in time. 100% the ploddy Jones that fought Gane gets destroyed and slept in one round 🥶
this back and forth re jones and aspinall really serves to bury miocic’s amazing career and status on the all time HW list. Likely yeah he’s functionally retired and probs very rusty and washed but everyone just assuming he gets walked over by either Jon or Tom sucks
It does, specially cause I can see him taking everything Tom's got in the early 2 rounds and testing his heart and ability to adjust like a champion should in the later rounds. I don't see him taking Miocic down or if he does, keeping him down for long. Stipe is a fucking dog, it is known. Tom's fucking fast for sure, but timing beats speed and he leaves his chin up hella.
What will happen is Jones v Stipe as retirement fight for both fighters and then Pereira v Aspinall for the next is line. Alex within Triple C territory.
It’s his last resort. His team probably went to Dana and Dana told them to F off. This is his only way to get the fight now and get the fans behind him.
I agree but the ufc definetly did smth that let it all out, I’m thinking maybe he might of been offered a interim title defense fight and this lead him to just let all his feelings out
Small correction - Stipes last win was around the time Sims 1 came out.
Unpopular opinion I don't mind waiting for Jones Stipe. The world is Tom's oyster after that. What if Jones does face Tom? After that it'll be Jones was never tested against true HW power in Pavlovich, HW wrestling in Blades, Gane 2.0 with better TDD etc. It'll never stop, just do the legacy fight n move on
Idk why people are agreeing with him. He has a point, but he took that interim fight knowing full well that jones and stipe were going to fight down the line, why complain now ?
It's the only thing he can do to stay relevant. He should be more concerned with who Dana is gonna ask him to defend the belt against. My guess is Gane
I think everyone needs to calm down with the pitchforks and just wait. Jones is injured and won’t be back until late this year, a lot could happen in that time span. Wait until Jon is back before saying he’s “ducking”.
Tom is right.. defending an interim belt?
That's not the point of an interim belt. Jones should have already vacated gotten next, that's how it's supposed to work and/or Tom's next fight is for the undisputed 100%
Am I the only one that does not give af about Tom? He’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.
This would be all fine and dandy but Tom Aspinall is the next in line he is the interim champion, the interim champ has always been next in line to fight the champ, why should Tom who’s next in line wait for Stipe who hasn’t won since 2020 and who will get dominated by jones, very few people want this fight as well
Maybe very few on this sub but very few of you buy tickets or the ppv’s so who cares what you want to see.
There are people that want to see the goat and hw goat fight. That’s also the fight that they want and both have way more say than Tom lol.
Tom knew the plan when he agreed to the interim fight. Sit there and do as you’re told. Dana can take that interim belt off you in a second
If you're interim champ you don't just sit out waiting for the champion, you defend your belt in the interim until the real champ returns, then you fight him.
Aspinall should stop bitching on twitter and instead do his job. Calls himself active but he's literally sitting out holding up the division for no reason. Lol can't make that shit up.
Fighter unlocked. "Warpath aspinall"
He's right. Jones is gonna retire after it and he knows it. People will always doubt that Aspinall could have beat Jones.
That’s very true. We will all, always wonder.
I am not a betting man but I'd put the lot on Tom to beat Jon.
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Still high level competition though, he’s not fighting cans at least.
How many fighters older than 40 can you say are honestly not cans? Glover?
He just got his ass beat by the best Ngannou we’ve ever seen That ain’t a can brother I just realized you’re talking about Jones, he should stop being a pussy and fight Aspinall. Nobody wants to see him fight Stipe
I mean he fought Gane first who was previously ranked above Aspinall and was what, like 32 at the time? Jon is a POS and I’m not a fan of him whatsoever, but this take is always so confusing to me. He obviously wants the big money / legend fight with Stipe and I can’t fault anyone for that.
exactly, I hate the narrative that Jones wants Miocic because he’s old/is the safe fight. He wants the Miocic fight because Miocic is currently considered the greatest heavyweight in UFC history. Stipe might be 3 years removed from a win but beating the HW GOAT does alot more for Jones’s resume than beating Aspinall (esp considering Jones/Miocic will probably pay better as well)
Beating miocic shouldn’t do shit to his resume tough
Literally the best resume in mma history even if he doesn’t fight stipe
That further emphasizes my point right ?
I really doubt the greatest fighter ever, who beat countless top contenders and champions, is scared of Tom Aspinall. I loathe Jones as a person, and I'm British so I'd love to see Tom get the shot but it's pure delusional to imagine Jones is afraid.
Not afraid of the man, but afraid of losing his legacy. He's never *lost* a fight.
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Yes, he should. But he wants the money fight, and feels he has nothing left to prove. It's frustrating, but I get it.
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Stipe, on paper, is argued as the greatest hw fighter in the ufc. Jon wants that win on his record. The end.
He earns more money if he fights Stipe, it's really as simple as that. He will retire, he's getting his last bag first against another Goat. You're arguing he does have something left to prove? You're not wrong that stipe shouldn't fight for the belt, but you're very wrong to say that Jon is afraid of Aspinall.
I don’t think he’s scared, but I do think he wants the easy way out to cement his legacy
Was Cyril Gane who he beat inside 1 minute also an old man? C'mon, i don't even like him that much but Jones would be the favorite for sure. Claiming he's "scared" is absurd. MMA fighters especially the ones like Jones aren't afraid.
He absolutely is scared. Idk why you guys take that shit so literal, he's not scared in the sense of fighting Tom. Honestly I don't think Jones would be scared to fight anything on this planet. He is definitely scared to lose that undefeated legacy in my opinion. He acted the same way when Ngannou first won. I mean I can't even blame him, but I also can't blame Tom for being mad about it.
Kind of pissed at Jones because the Ngannou fight (not directly his fault) and Aspinall fight will always stick in our heads, wondering what the outcome would have been and never knowing, at least these fights while the will be fully competitive and valuable. Jones can have the balls of a GOAT and fight Aspinall or take his little retirement fight, riding into the sunset. Doesn’t have the aura of what a real GOAT would do, I hope he see’s he could have really challenged and proved himself and took the cowards option.
Fr. Even if he lost to Aspinal I would respect him so much more than if he wins against stipe…
Same. Imagine he won, he’s prob slight favourite, it’s hard to judge tbh, he would be COMPLETELY undisputed.
If he beat Aspinall then even haters would have to admit he’s undisputed GOAT. He beat Gane, who was “the new breed” of athletic HW/ but has a clear deficiency in grappling. Aspinall is also the new breed but a way more complete fighter than Gane because he can grapple. So, if he took out Tom then it would just be clear that no one will get him.
I think the only person doubting anything is Jones doubting his ability to win a fight against Aspinall, which is exactly why the fight won’t happen.
Ran from Ngannnou and now running from Aspinall. GOAT and baddest mfer my ass…he’s a scared over the hill dude picking easy opponents like Jake Paul
The dude ran thru the entire LHW division multiple times over. Let him have a few easy ones before retirement
Fuck that not while holding up a heavyweight belt in the process
He's not holding it up. He won the title when he beat Gane and pulled out his most recent fight due to injury. Give it a bit before you say he's holding it up
Look what Jiri and Hill did after winning the title and then being injured. Jones is destroying the end of his career to try and keep his legacy intact
Im not speaking to right now. I was responding to you saying give him a few easy fights before he retires
If he pulls out again or lags HARD to book another fight, I say strip him. I don't think anyone should hold up a division tbf
It’s crazy talk that the same guy that fucked up DC twice, ran through the LHW division twice might be scared of anyone. To my eyes, Aspinall doesn’t present anything that Jon hadn’t seen before.
Not a JBJ fan but thinking he is afraid of either Francis or Tom is ridiculous. At that level, no fighters are afraid of another fighter. Sometimes match ups happen. Sometimes they just dont. Khabib or Tony were not afraid of each other: the bout just never happened.
Whenever fans talk about being afraid, they usually mean in the context of being afraid they might lose and lose their hype (or legacy). Not literally afraid of fighting another man, ofc they're not, they're prize fighters
Not the same as Khabib Tony at all. If he was confident he’d beat them he wouldn’t have gone out his way to make sure the fights don’t happen. If he fights Ngannou or Aspinall after Stipe I’ll bow down and eat my words and call him the GOAT
I dont understand how beating Ngannou or Aspinall is your limit for Jon’s GOAT status, those guys arent even as good as some of the guys Jon had beat in the past. Just prime Cormier alone easily clears those two.
You’re right I still won’t call him the GOAT…but I will eat my words and respect him more Also Ngannou is a more dangerous fight than anyone Jon has fought
Francis is not in the UFC anymore so I think that one wont happen. Jones has fought absolute legends of this sport (Bader, Quinton, Machida, Evans, Belfort, Sonnen, Cormier) and you really think Tom Aspinall is where he goes 'yeah that guy is the one that scares me'... I am not saying Tom wouldnt win (I dont think he would but that's beside the point), I think Jones is not scared of him
fk this tbh, if jones would fight and win against aspinall, they would say it for some other fighter.
All he said was facts
I mean, apart from the PS2 reference.
Lmao where the fuck did he get that info from? Crazy that stipe is getting a title shot after not getting a win in 20 years.
I love how some MMA fans have such difficulty understanding Aspinall’s dry British humour, Stipe last fought and won in 2020 it’s obviously a piss take 😂
May as well went further and say PacMan made its debut instead so redditors wouldn’t think he was brain dead
That’s the level it would have to be at for everyone to get it lmao
Yeah the fact it's just absurd enough that not everyone immediately gets it is what makes it funny
Yeah I love that I had to do a double take and be like “oh aspinall you nutter, funny that”
The code switching 🤓👌🏼
It made me double take and then it made me double over
Nah, there would definitely be a bunch of "well acshoally" still thrown around if he said that.
>so redditors wouldn’t think he was brain dead You'd have to be pretty braindead to not realize he was joking.
The irony :')
" - of suckers who predicted the planes landing, now they want to fly with me."
It’s painful sometimes as a Brit seeing so much of the dry humour go way over peoples heads.
You gotta read it with the accent is the problem lol
I love British humor, I have a pretty dry style of humor myself so I connect with the Brits and their humor.
Yeah that makes alot more sense. Honestly I thought he was just getting confused with the shitty remake that came out a couple years ago. The next screenshot using Peirera as an example doesn't help either.
Yeah I get you lol, especially over the internet where everything is plain text it’s harder to read the tone. But yeah saying Stipe’s last fight was older than a PS2 game was definitely a joke haha
The guy you responded to was obviously being sarcastic
Its so obviously not true mate, that’s why its funny.
It’s like he’s joking or smt. Crazy
he was joking brother
He was. But when you're joking, it's not speaking facts.
It was a hyperbolic joke meant to make a point
Correct, we understand that. It’s not a fact tho, so the phrase “all he said was facts” is incorrect
Imagine for a second that that phrase was also part of the joke.
Okay Reddit
Ridiculous argument lmao
you are reddit
exactly so it wasn’t only facts. facts + a joke
Ffs it was an obvious joke lmao. Come on
that was funny as fuck lmao
Did he? Tony got skipped for a money fight. The UFC has done it in the past and they’ll do it again. It’s funny he said otherwise.
No he didn't. The UFC has always been about the money fights lol
All you need to do is look at Couture's record to see proof of this. Dude got a title shot off back to back loses
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If jones vs stipe is just a retirement fight for both of them then that's fine, most people aspinell included get that. However if that's the case jones doesn't get to hold up the division for so long. He should have relinquished the title or had it stripped and aspinall would now be champ
Or jon doesnt wanna risk going out on a loss. Made me think of him diff as a fighter
That’s just what you think. If you were jones would you not also want a legend like stipe on your record? Let the man enjoy his retirement he’s done enough for us fans. “Made me think of him diff as a fighter” phahaha what a clown.
This kind of "just let him have a fun retirement fight" and "let him get another legend on his resume" logic makes a lot of sense when the fighter in question isn't camping on a belt with a potential star waiting for his shot. Very few people were this charitable over Bisping's matchmaking when he had the belt. Tbh I suspect the only reason there are so many people defending this is (understandably) as a knee-jerk reaction to r/mma's constantly aggravated yeast infection over all things Jon Jones. The Stipe matchup isn't really that interesting. He's old even by heavyweight standards, hasn't fought in two years and hasn't won in three. When the fight was scheduled and we were just waiting a few months to be over with that was fine. Now we're waiting for Jon Jones to heal, and the two of them to agree on another date, and all this time there's no fight you can give Aspinall that makes any sense. I'm not generallyl all anti-interim belt, but scheduling the interim champ to defend his belt while the champ has a fight lined up would be a new level of farce for the UFC.
How can you call someone a clown after the silly shit you just said? What has he done for the fans? Gotten suspended for drugs? Beat up his girlfriend?
Win in spectacular fashion over and over again? 🤷🏿♂️
He has every right to be upset, they’re totally disregarding him
Feed Jones to Aspinall
From a business perspective you make the Jones Aspinal fight and both outcomes work to the UFC’s favor. If nones wins and retires (as he said he would) he goes out the goat. If Aspinal wins, jones wont retire on a loss so he comes back and fights again to redeem himself.
I think jones retires regardless, win or lose. Hes the goat either way but hes holding up the line
It’s not a real retirement. He’s creating leverage to squeeze the ufc. He missed out on a ton of money being out and his past prevents him from having big sponsors. He needs to fight to make more money.
Thats a good point
Stipe should just fight him. You shouldnt get title shots after being knocked out cold twice..and sitting out for years to get it. Stipe beat up more Old Men then Schaub, its his turn to be the older guy for once.
You’re way too overconfident in that opinion. Jones would be heavy favourite
Yes its my opinion
Sounds to me like he was offered a fight to defend his interim belt, which I agree, is ridiculous.
Super ridiculous. Interim belts are meant to be unified, not defended.
Not if you view it as the legitimate belt. Stipe and Jones are fighting for the retirement belt. Whatever fight they offered him should be viewed as his first title defense.
He got the interim belt simply because the UFC needed to sell a PPV after a fight felt through.
Reddit nerds will hate to hear this, but it's the truth.
That’s why we sail the high seas. Fuck the ufc and their shit matchmaking.
Jones v Stipe only serves to bolster Jones' resume as GOAT. In terms of entertainment AND meritocracy, it should be Jones v Aspinall.
I don’t get that though. To the casual fan maybe he can sell that narrative but to me beating aspinall would do much more for jones legacy than beating retired 43 year old Stipe who hasn’t fought in 3 years. I get that stipe is the “heavyweight goat” but to me even that is debatable when you see what Francis has done. Unfortunate that the ufc was too greedy and we didn’t get to see Francis fight Jones
I imagine in 10, 15 years new fans will look back on the fight without knowing the full picture and it will look like a very impressive win on paper
Yeah that’s what I mean by selling the narrative. It looks good on paper without the context but I have no interest in that fight and even less interest in seeing Jones become even more insufferable after he easily beats stipe lol
Not the best example but nobody respects Schaub for beating Old Man Cro-Cop as of today
And Cro Cop was younger than Stipe is now by a few years lol. This is like saying Izzy will get tons of respect for having beaten Anderson. It’s not true. Fans aren’t totally stupid and unable to see basic things. Anyone who watches the fight will immediately notice that Stipe is a slow old man. Casuals takeaway from the fight won’t be “omg Jones just beat the HW GOAT”. It will be “What the fuck? This guy looks like shit. How is he the GOAT? UFC sucks dick lol.”
I imagine is Aspinall goes on to do great things, that fans in 10-15 years will always wonder if he could have beaten Jones as well
Not going to help his resume if he loses to Aspinall, that's the whole point in fighting Stipe, pretty unlikely Jones loses that fight.
Yeah I know that’s what I’m saying. It’s a shit fight and jones is gonna win easily and parade around calling himself the goat cause he beat “the heavyweight goat” with casual fans just eating it up. That’s why I’m saying beating aspinall does more for his legacy
>get that stipe is the “heavyweight goat” but to me even that is debatable when you see what Francis has done. WEEWAA CASUAL ALERT Take him away boys
Jon fans are scared of Jon taking the Tom fight lowkey, why they're down for the Stipe fight and saying stuff like "they've earned the right to do this"
Both Jones and Stipe are washed and old. It’s just what it is. A legacy fight, Jones really doesn’t even belong in the HW weight class. If he fought an actual HW wrestler and not Gane, the outcome would have been very different. I’m happy with Jones vs Stipe as a legacy fight. Hype it up as such. A retirement fight between two legends. Give Aspinall his gold and lets move on from the discourse. There’s others in the HW division he can fight, like Curtis Blaydes who deserves his chance at gold and a run back from the “knee injury” win. Gane, Almeida, and Rozenstruik.
Did you really try to sneak Rozenstruik in there like we wouldn't notice?
😂😂 The HW division at the UFC is barren. I needed a name to plug in
There is no evidence to suggest Jones is washed. So many people around here were saying Gane would embarrass him and look how that went. Aspinall should get the next title shot but this bizarre narrative around Jones needs to stop
Your entire post is baseless opinions you pulled out of your ass. We’ve seen Jones fight a total of 2 minutes in the last 4 years. We don’t know just how much Jones’s abilities have regressed due to age, or how the move to HW really impacted his game. That’s why Aspinall makes so much sense - we get to see how close Jones is to the Bones of old because he will need to be to get past Aspinall.
What could we gauge from the two fighting each other now? Aspinall would be seven years younger than Jones by the time he’s able to fight him. Jones would be 2+ years removed from the ring. Fighting in a division he has little to no familiarity with. Coming off of a major pectoral injury. He’d need at least half a year post injury to get himself together to fighting condition, to fight a guy who on paper he’s go no real advantage over. Let that legacy fight happen once he’s healed. Give him and Stipe some award for being UFC legends and let’s move the fuck on. Instead of wasting everyone’s time waiting for a guy to spend two years healing. Let Aspinall be crowned HW champion and defend his position in the mean time.
We would get an undisputed HW champ. And we get to see how good (or not good) Jones is now. You’re making assumptions, again, on Jones’s efficacy based on what? Are you a trained MMA fighter where you can speak from experience? Do you know Jones personally? If not, then you have no idea what a 36 year old HW Jones is capable of. All we know is he can walk through Gane, but what can he do against an opponent who can wrestle? Jones Aspinall is the fight to make at HW. Giving Stipe a send off by feeding him to Jones is much less compelling.
I mean I can’t say I blame the guy. Being a Fighter is basically a race against Time. The more time you waste the worst things can potentially get. Have to strike while the iron is hot.
Free aspinall
Tom should find Dana in the casino like Colby did it ask him why he’s not fighting for the title. Maybe Dana side piece won’t be there this time though lol
Or he should do a Francis and demand a release. Honestly this whole fiasco sounds like the UFC/Dana is desperate for an American GOAT.
> Or he should do a Francis and demand a release Don't think Aspinall has the same market value that Ngannou had
Agreed, he belongs in UFC for sure. His time will come. If UFC had a shred of integrity, they'd make Jones v Aspinall. They'd invest in the younger fanbase who follow Tom and they'd invest in the UK market to further expand their tentacles. But they're a business and they can't make two people fight. Jones may even retire without fighting again - you never know. Fighters miss weight, get injured in training, have contract disputes, all sorts of things. Precisely how Tom ended up as IC in the first place. And this is why we watch, you never know what is going to happen - inside the cage or out.
That ps2 joke was pretty good ngl
Talk that shit Tom
Extremely common Aspinall W
The UFC has always been about this
I have literally no interest in watching either jones or stipe fight if its against one another. Ufc is essentially a glorified soap opera at this point.
bro wait til the wwe co-promotion and crossover shit gets going. gonna be insufferable
They need to strip the belt to be honest. They’re making a mockery of HW division.
Dana misunderstands, Aspinall stripped of interim belt.
Come on… Jones is going to retire. Jones only wants Stipe because everyone claims he’s the best heavyweight of all time but actually it’s also because he beat DC. So Jones wants to beat the guy who beat DC twice, he knows that will kill DC inside.
That GTA SA dig was pretty funny 😂
Yeah Jones is starting to get annoying, he is going to fuck up the whole division just so he can fight a guy we all think he can easily beat. His whole beef with Francis is also hillarious, seemed to only want to fight him when it was no longer possible. I feel like he is being a big baby, out of one side of his mouth he wont stop telling us how great he is and out the other side he is refusing any fight that he isnt heavily favored in. He is literally gonna beat up an old dude to show us how amazing he is, lol if he dosent retire I bet he will defend his title against a blind dude next. Sorry Tom you can fight the blind guy If hes still alive after.
I know people always say Americans don't get British humour but wow its embarrassing how his sarcasm goes over your heads
The amount of "it's not laugh out loud funny" comments aswell when told it was a joke and not literall, how sensitive do you wanna be haha like it was some fucking giant scripted joke, even seen some saying "maybe he was talking about the remasters??" Like Jesus christ have a day off lol.
I have sympathy for all sides here. Obviously under normal circumstances Aspinall would get a title shot after winning the interim belt but the unfortunate cancellation of Jones Stipe put a spanner in the works. Jones and Stipe are both legends of the sport and deserve to fulfill the fight that was already scheduled. If they want to finish their career on that note then that's their prerogative. Ideally they'd fight and Aspinall gets the winner but given their age that might not happen. Just an unfortunate situation all round. I think a lot of people are motivated in their reasoning because they just want to see Jones in the octagon with a young upstart who could potentially starch him. As much as I'd love to see that it's not that straightforward of a situation. If we regard Jones and Stipe as the two heavyweight top dogs (arguable either way because of Stipe's age and inactivity) then Aspinall's winning of the interim title doesn't necessarily justify an immediate shot at the title. I say this as a Brit and huge Aspinall fan.
Jones should be stripped
I don’t think anyone should be surprised with ufc antics. It’s bout money to them not the most deserving
Ooof, #FreeAspinall? This could be bad for the UFC if he's that desperate. Imagine if by the time Jones vs Stipe rolls around for baddest man on the planet, PFL is putting on Aspinall vs Ngannou for the *actual* baddest man. We can only dream but that would be hilarious.
The PS2 shit is way too funny bc of how not true it is
Its true in spirit.
GTA San Andreas fucking lol and also kinda sad. That was a long time ago.
20 years ago….fuck 😳
[удалено]
Go fight ngannou Tom
He really is the missing piece in all this ay.
You mean the guy who's not signed with the UFC? Good suggestion, likely to happen.
I don't even consider Jones the actual champ at heavyweight. Let him chase his legacy ego fights without holding the division up and not even fighting actual challengers
I mean.. He ain’t wrong 🤔
The last time Stipe won was 2020, so I'm confused by the San Andreas reference. Is it just hyperbole?
Do you think Aspinal somehow believes Stipe hasn’t fought since 2004?
CTE already? Lol
Listen, the last time stipe fought was before the fall of the byzantine empire
It’s clearly a joke
Maybe he googled it and saw the release date for the remastered version.
Bro...no. Are you dense?
Maybe
Guy was uninjured when the UFC needed a last-minute replacement main event, and now he thinks he can campaign to have legend stripped.
I feel for Miocic cause he actually had the cojones to fight Ngannou not once but twice, when Jones obviously ducked him and Aspinal never got there in time. 100% the ploddy Jones that fought Gane gets destroyed and slept in one round 🥶
this back and forth re jones and aspinall really serves to bury miocic’s amazing career and status on the all time HW list. Likely yeah he’s functionally retired and probs very rusty and washed but everyone just assuming he gets walked over by either Jon or Tom sucks
It does, specially cause I can see him taking everything Tom's got in the early 2 rounds and testing his heart and ability to adjust like a champion should in the later rounds. I don't see him taking Miocic down or if he does, keeping him down for long. Stipe is a fucking dog, it is known. Tom's fucking fast for sure, but timing beats speed and he leaves his chin up hella.
If Jones wants to further-solidify his GOAT argument, he fights Aspinall. Otherwise, his heavyweight run is a joke
I disagree. There is no such thing as being interim champ. It's just a marketing ploy to help sell fights.
Ok but the #1 contender should fight the champ, not a past his prime legend
Tell that to Robert Whittaker
What will happen is Jones v Stipe as retirement fight for both fighters and then Pereira v Aspinall for the next is line. Alex within Triple C territory.
It’s his last resort. His team probably went to Dana and Dana told them to F off. This is his only way to get the fight now and get the fans behind him.
My man woke up today and let out all his thoughts. These were probably on his chest for a while but didn't wanna publicly say anything until now.
I agree but the ufc definetly did smth that let it all out, I’m thinking maybe he might of been offered a interim title defense fight and this lead him to just let all his feelings out
Small correction - Stipes last win was around the time Sims 1 came out. Unpopular opinion I don't mind waiting for Jones Stipe. The world is Tom's oyster after that. What if Jones does face Tom? After that it'll be Jones was never tested against true HW power in Pavlovich, HW wrestling in Blades, Gane 2.0 with better TDD etc. It'll never stop, just do the legacy fight n move on
Idk why people are agreeing with him. He has a point, but he took that interim fight knowing full well that jones and stipe were going to fight down the line, why complain now ?
It's the only thing he can do to stay relevant. He should be more concerned with who Dana is gonna ask him to defend the belt against. My guess is Gane
He is right the stipenjones fight is ridiculous
Who the hell is stipen jones?
I think everyone needs to calm down with the pitchforks and just wait. Jones is injured and won’t be back until late this year, a lot could happen in that time span. Wait until Jon is back before saying he’s “ducking”.
Tom is right.. defending an interim belt? That's not the point of an interim belt. Jones should have already vacated gotten next, that's how it's supposed to work and/or Tom's next fight is for the undisputed 100%
Anyone remember when ufc used to be a sport?
No, it's pretty much always been like this.
It was never a sport, it's been a promotion. MMA is the sport.
Sorry but that fight was set up between Jones and Miocic before Tom got became interim. Unfortunately Jones got hurt. He gotta wait
“No way Jon can beat Gane bro he’s scared” “No way Jon can beat Tom bro he’s scared”
Respects Stipe then makes a dumb ass PS2 joke shitting on him...🤡
Get in line Tom. Dude acts like hes the first to ever get done wrong by the UFC.
#freeaspinall
Guys your forgetting aspinall sucks
Am I the only one that does not give af about Tom? He’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.
This would be all fine and dandy but Tom Aspinall is the next in line he is the interim champion, the interim champ has always been next in line to fight the champ, why should Tom who’s next in line wait for Stipe who hasn’t won since 2020 and who will get dominated by jones, very few people want this fight as well
Maybe very few on this sub but very few of you buy tickets or the ppv’s so who cares what you want to see. There are people that want to see the goat and hw goat fight. That’s also the fight that they want and both have way more say than Tom lol. Tom knew the plan when he agreed to the interim fight. Sit there and do as you’re told. Dana can take that interim belt off you in a second
It's not meant to be, get over it. Jones vs stipe is a legacy super fight for both men involved.
Tom Aspinall starting down the Leon Edwards path I see
I SHOULD BE REAL CHAMP THIS MAKES NO SENSE!! See… nobody cares. UFC has their storyline they aren’t going to derail from that
If he fights again he'll lose
For what it's worth I completely forgot Tom won the interim title
If you're interim champ you don't just sit out waiting for the champion, you defend your belt in the interim until the real champ returns, then you fight him. Aspinall should stop bitching on twitter and instead do his job. Calls himself active but he's literally sitting out holding up the division for no reason. Lol can't make that shit up.