Stipe Miocic looking at December UFC return, ‘had no idea’ about Jon Jones bout

If Reem had just thrown a final blow instead of going for the guillotine....
 
HW is in a shit spot imo.

Cain is out, and the only real new challenge for Stipe is Francis who I don't think is ready. I think they should make Reem vs. Ngannou for the #1 contender, but that leaves nothing for Stipe except maybe Volkov.
Not only is Francis not ready but he is not famous he has barely any fans compared to other fighters in the Elite HW so thats a reason why they won't give it to him. I think they go for Overeem 2, he is known in the sport, and becasue it was entertaining the first time. The UFC can also trust in Overeem showing up fight day, which is something we can't say about Cain.
 
I can understand how Stipe could be upset, as the champ in his hometown, being paid less than the challenger. But a fighter having his 17th fight getting paid less than a guy making his 55th professional appearance isn't that upsetting.
 
HW is in a shit spot imo.

Cain is out, and the only real new challenge for Stipe is Francis who I don't think is ready. I think they should make Reem vs. Ngannou for the #1 contender, but that leaves nothing for Stipe except maybe Volkov.
It's unbelievable that the Premier organisation in the world of MMA has such piss poor divisions, even HW boxing is rather shallow though are less people in general turning to combat sports these days, suppose it's a long shot high risk career.
 
It's unbelievable that the Premier organisation in the world of MMA has such piss poor divisions, even HW boxing is rather shallow though are less people in general turning to combat sports these days, suppose it's a long shot high risk career.

Sports pay better money and have more intrigue. All the big guys want to be football or basketball players.
 
Not only is Francis not ready but he is not famous he has barely any fans compared to other fighters in the Elite HW so thats a reason why they won't give it to him. I think they go for Overeem 2, he is known in the sport, and becasue it was entertaining the first time. The UFC can also trust in Overeem showing up fight day, which is something we can't say about Cain.

Overeem was knocked stiff less than a year ago. There's not really any intrigue there other than there's literally nobody else. I think Volkov would be a better option, but the division is pretty fucked either way. At this point I say fuck it and just make Joshua v Miocic for the HW title. Can't be any worse than having Lewis in the top 5, and at least there would be some excitement and buzz around the division for the first time in years.
 
Stipe is 8:1 is his last 9 with a tight loss to JDS and 5 knockouts in a row. His problem is he's not Mr.Hollywood, he can't blow smoke up peoples ass like McGregor so even with a record like that people see him as a passenger. Not to mention the famous "HW division is weak" mantra. A division where everyone can knock anyone out is weak, compared to other division where you have 1-2 guys shit on everyone else, that's stacked. I never understood that notion. That's why i wished Jones would stay clean and go up. But he knew what would happen if he faced Stipe, he even said so on the Rogan podcast.
 
Overeem was knocked stiff less than a year ago. There's not really any intrigue there other than there's literally nobody else. I think Volkov would be a better option, but the division is pretty fucked either way. At this point I say fuck it and just make Joshua v Miocic for the HW title. Can't be any worse than having Lewis in the top 5, and at least there would be some excitement and buzz around the division for the first time in years.
Yes, the aging problem of HW has been a problem for several years, and still they don't fix it? Ok, probably it is extremly difficult to fix it, considering the competition, and the fact that outside of the UFC there are not really many of them that would be able to compete with the elite, atleast not with name recognition in the USA.

Despite this they should have signed Vitaly Minakov.

In my opinion they should not have dropped Matt Mitrione.

Bellators Bobby Lashley probably gets paid good over there and would have some serious problems (to say the least) passing USADA so he probably won't have an intresest going to the UFC, sad for me because it would be fun to watch him against some of the UFC HW elite, especially because the UFC would know how to promote him in a much better way!

But if the UFC wanna take better care of the HW division they should invest much more money in it, even if it very costly short term.
 
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I have this funny feeling they are gonna make Stipe vs Cormier, and I been saying that for a while!. lets see..
 
I think he should fight Cormier. Overeem fought him too recently, and Ngannou/Volkov are too unknown still.
 
I have this funny feeling they are gonna make Stipe vs Cormier, and I been saying that for a while!. lets see..

Why would they wanna see double-champ Cormier? that is a possibility


No they don't !

If Jones is gone for a long time there is a lack of high profile names in LHW too, they need to evolve LHW too, therefore they can't send Cormier away to HW. If Cain wanna come back, Cormier will also decline the offer.

The HW champ position is a good way to market other lesser known fighters, give for example: Ngannou or Lewis or Volkov, will get a shot within 12 months.
 
Had no idea about Jon Jones bout because....

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Pretty much, Jones and the UFC teased a move to HW so many times to build up hype but I don't think Jon had any intension of doing it vs a top guy like Stipe.

Jones fans can safely live in fantasy land now though pretending he would dominate HW knowing it won't ever be proven.
 
Yes, the aging problem of HW has been a problem for several years, and still they don't fix it? Ok, probably it is extremly difficult to fix it, considering the competition, and the fact that outside of the UFC there are not really many of them that would be able to compete with the elite, atleast not with name recognition in the USA.

Despite this they should have signed Vitaly Minakov.

In my opinion they should not have dropped Matt Mitrione.

Bellators Bobby Lashley probably gets paid good over there and would have some serious problems (to say the least) passing USADA so he probably won't have an intresest going to the UFC, sad for me because it would be fun to watch him against some of the UFC HW elite, especially because the UFC would know how to promote him in a much better way!

But if the UFC wanna take better care of the HW division they should invest much more money in it, even if it very costly short term.

You're right UFC needs to invest money in all of the company really, but especially the HW division. This is a company that has gotten lucky squeezing the MMA world for every penny it's worth, while still seeing growth. Now they've hit a major blockade, and only money can get through it. UFC needs to set up youth camps in minority neighborhoods, put on events much more frequently overseas, and start paying at least these top level fighters much more money to compete with other major sports.

That's what it's going to take for the HW division and the UFC to grow at this point. Not reinvesting money are going to lead them to stagnate and get usurped by a company that does make the right moves like bellator is doing.
 
You're right UFC needs to invest money in all of the company really, but especially the HW division. This is a company that has gotten lucky squeezing the MMA world for every penny it's worth, while still seeing growth. Now they've hit a major blockade, and only money can get through it. UFC needs to set up youth camps in minority neighborhoods, put on events much more frequently overseas, and start paying at least these top level fighters much more money to compete with other major sports.

That's what it's going to take for the HW division and the UFC to grow at this point. Not reinvesting money are going to lead them to stagnate and get usurped by a company that does make the right moves like bellator is doing.

The problem is I think theres a lot of self delusion in the UFC believing that they've been running this highly sustainable near monopoly for years on end. In reality though we still hadn't seen what a long term UFC monopoly would look like as much of the talent base they depend was brought though in the era of multiple orgs. The UFC's business model in the last decade has been one of takeovers and asset stripping NOT one of sustainability for me, now were are few rival orgs left to takeover and less talent in them anyway.

Much of the fanbase has been hopelessly brainwashed by "evolution" talk and successfully linking there ego to the brand meaning they will stedfastly refuse to see the problems coming for the sport in the future as this previous generation finally exits the sport.
 
Dana is and will always be full of shit.

Believe at your own risk.

Liars don't always lie. It makes sense for the ufc to approach Jones first cause he's the draw and he's the guy that would be moving up. If Jones was interested in principle then the ufc could've approached stipe with the fight which stipe would almost certainly agreed to.
 
Stipe vs Lesnar

Brock wanted one more big money fight before heading off to his farm for good. Since that fight is gone I believe he is as well. He will probably hang around WWE longer, so that is a plus.
 
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