News Dana White: Stipe wasn't called & offered an interim title fight (no ducking)

[C0NCH3TO]

GSP is WW GOAT in his 40s and hasn't won a fight in 6 years. I'm not sure you understand the meaning of GOAT

Goat =/= Current #1.

He’s using the “goat” thing to hype the fight and convince us that it will be competitive. Fedor is the mma hw goat to me, but I wouldn’t be excited to see him fight in 2023. 2006-2009 would have been a different story. Same with Stipe, he’s so shot and old…will be even worse a year from now.

But hey, just my 2 cents. Good day, sherbros.

 

[Kenny Powerth]

So what does the IC mean? The winner just waits?

 

[XThe GreatestX]

I am sure the UFC is well aware of how shot Stipe is and dont want him to lose

 

[GrantB13]

Trust me, Dana knows a thing or two about disrespect.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

To ask Stipe to fight for an interim title is exactly what should have happened.

I posted in another thread but Stipe sat out for a full year to get a title rematch. Then sat out another year before defending it. Then sat out another year before defending and getting KO'ed by Ngannou. Now he's going to be sitting out 3 YEARS to get another title shot.

I've never seen someone so undeserving in my life get so many shots at a title without earning them. He's worse than Conor and what's funny is, he's not a draw, can't speak well and doesn't have this worldwide fame. It's baffling. Stipe should be earning his title shots like everyone else and getting fed to the young lions like every else in their advanced age. This bending over backwards for Stipe makes zero sense to me.

 

[laleggenda27]

May become increasingly hard to do that, whoever wins this match will have even more hype behind them and the criticism of Jones ducking them will likely become very strong.

Criticism from whom? The UFC controls mma media with strong-arm tactics, so the criticism certainly won't come from them. And the casuals don't know enough to care. So really, the only "very strong" criticism will come from hardcore fans. But the UFC doesn't actually care about the hardcores; they're a relatively small group and will watch anyway. The casuals are the people who drive the ppv numbers, which is why the UFC caters to them.

Criticism won't derail these shenanigans. If anything, the plan will get derailed by another injury (or legal discretion) to Jones or old man Stipe.

 

[Psychojoe86]

lmao it doesn't matter, stipe wouldn't take the interim fight if he has the official title shot reserved.

the problem now is that the INTERIM is actually invalid, because stipe is still ahead of the INTERIM winner in the line, meaning it's NOT a true INTERIM

Stipe and Jones just want their fake title dance no matter how much it screws over the top contenders

 

[wwkirk]

lmao it doesn't matter, stipe wouldn't take the interim fight if he has the official title shot reserved.

the problem now is that the INTERIM is actually invalid, because stipe is still ahead of the INTERIM winner in the line, meaning it's NOT a true INTERIM

Stipe and Jones just want their fake title dance no matter how much it screws over the top contenders

Yes, disgraceful what they're doing. Hopefully they'll realize it's a bad look and change it around somehow.

 

[ookii]

So what does the IC mean? The winner just waits?

Preposterous isn't it? The Interim champ may have to wait up to a year and half to fight for the actual title depending how long Jone actually heals up to fight Stipe. He already took forever to fight at HW and then the Stipe fight got delayed twice because of Jon

 

[wwkirk]

lmao it doesn't matter, stipe wouldn't take the interim fight if he has the official title shot reserved.

the problem now is that the INTERIM is actually invalid, because stipe is still ahead of the INTERIM winner in the line, meaning it's NOT a true INTERIM

Stipe and Jones just want their fake title dance no matter how much it screws over the top contenders

Yes, disgraceful what they're doing. Hopefully they'll realize it's a bad look and change it around somehow.

 

[Psychojoe86]

For what it's worth, it's no surprise Stipe isn't taking the Interim fight. He only wants 1 fight against Jones for the belt, and just because Jones is injured doesn't mean Stipe should logically risk losing his golden chance.

The person to blame is the UFC for going this route. It really is their agenda, although it clearly aligns with Jones's agenda.

 

[checktheknuckles]

So are they planning to book Jon - Stipe for the real belt, then expect the winner to fight the interim champion despite the fact both of them are almost certainly gonna retire?

Why not just make Sergei - Tom for the undisputed title and let Jon fight Stipe for bragging rights?

Jon and stipe can fight for the BMF belt and then do a slap off after it.

 

[Psychojoe86]

I doubt many fans would have a problem with this logic if they would just make the Sergei/Aspinall fight for the title

Just call Jones v Miocic a legacy or superfight & we're good

The thing is that Sergei vs Aspinall IS FOR THE UFC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

jones and stipe are retiring after they fight, so Sergei/Aspinall will be promoted to the true champ after.

So hardcore fans can just acknowledge that Sergei/Aspinall is the real champ and ignore jones vs stipe's inevitable result

 

[nonoob]

Preposterous isn't it? The Interim champ may have to wait up to a year and half to fight for the actual title depending how long Jone actually heals up to fight Stipe. He already took forever to fight at HW and then the Stipe fight got delayed twice because of Jon

With jbj & Dana's HW "title" drama, BTO says You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

 

[nonoob]

Preposterous isn't it? The Interim champ may have to wait up to a year and half to fight for the actual title depending how long Jone actually heals up to fight Stipe. He already took forever to fight at HW and then the Stipe fight got delayed twice because of Jon

With jbj & Dana's HW "title" drama, BTO says You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

 

[Pierced7681]

So are they planning to book Jon - Stipe for the real belt, then expect the winner to fight the interim champion despite the fact both of them are almost certainly gonna retire?

Why not just make Sergei - Tom for the undisputed title and let Jon fight Stipe for bragging rights?

need a title on the line in order for jones and Stipe to headline a ppv

 

[Siver!]

Media Member: "I think a lot of people want to know if Stipe was offered to fight one of them, or if he decided he wanted to wait for Jones..."

Dana: "Stipe's not fighting for an interim title. So Jones said 'I wanna fight Stipe" I said 'You're fighting Stipe'. You have the greatest heavyweight of all time, versus the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. This is a legacy fight for both of these guys. To even call Stipe, and to ask Stipe to fight for an interim title is, you know, complete disrespect. This is a fight for two legends, legacy, two of the greatest to ever do it. The fans wanna see it, I wanna see it, and they both wanna do it."

Hang on.

Question.

What is the point of having an interim title if they're still gonna line up another undisputed title fight?

You literally do not need the interim title.

It's pointless.

It serves no purpose whatsoever.

 

[svmr_db]

Hang on.

Question.

What is the point of having an interim title if they're still gonna line up another undisputed title fight?

You literally do not need the interim title.

It's pointless.

It serves no purpose whatsoever.

Like I've said before it's for 2 reasons

- Boost up the MSG card / keep two title fights on there
- Have a champion to promote to undisputed after Jones / Miocic likely retire

It is definitely not ideal but that's what were getting. The interim champ likely won't get the chance to challenge the undisputed champ the same way Whittaker never got his opportunity vs Bisping or GSP.

 

[blaseblase]

What was the point of the backup if Stipe isn't going to fight anyone but Jones?

 

[Siver!]

Like I've said before it's for 2 reasons

- Boost up the MSG card / keep two title fights on there
- Have a champion to promote to undisputed after Jones / Miocic likely retire

It is definitely not ideal but that's what were getting. The interim champ likely won't get the chance to challenge the undisputed champ the same way Whittaker never got his opportunity vs Bisping or GSP.

You're probably right.

Paper belts to boost cards is tacky, though, do not condone.

Good point about the potential double retirement though. That would be a reasonable excuse, but it still seems a bit weird. They should call it the UFC Extended Interim Heavyweight Championship lol