Media Tom Aspinall eyes Blaydes vs Almeida winner for summer title defense

[Hdfi]

He's forced to defend his belt because the champ is injured, the same as any interim champion should operate. Heck, that's the only reason he has the title in the first place.

yes but he doesn't need to do that against dangerous real contenders like Blaydes/Jailton winner. He can wait or cherry-pick Tuivasa or Lima, etc. to stay active.

 

[Vulve]

dreamy tom

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Where's that clown who made the thread Aspinall is just like Jones now?

 

[Gamer2k4]

yes but he doesn't need to do that against dangerous real contenders like Blaydes/Jailton winner. He can wait or cherry-pick Tuivasa or Lima, etc. to stay active.

He's supposed to be the champion. If he isn't going to defend like a champion, don't give him the belt.

 

[Gamer2k4]

This is dumb logic.

Interim titles are brought to create a buffer while the champ heals. If the champ is injured for too long, the solution has always been to strip him (ex: Hill, Jiri), not to make the interim champ defend.

Not always. Arlovski and Barao successfully defended their interim belts, while Big Nog attempted to defend his interim title but lost. It's rare for it to happen, because usually the real champion recovers quickly enough that it makes sense to unify the belts right away, but it has happened.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I agree 150%, it's even crazy to hear Jon try to rationalize it.

Every time he rationalizes why, it sounds insane.

If it’s all about legacy why not call out fedor? Because beating fedor in 2024 means nothing just like stipe god I don’t get this man I hope that stipe suffers a career ending toe stub, and never fights jones.


I really like stipe I don’t want him to get seriously injured, but the idea of jones beating him so he can lay further claim to goat is just asinine, jones is already an undeniable first ballot goat candidate, beating stipe will change nothing. I wish someone could explain that to him.

 

[Poirierfan]

Every time he rationalizes why, it sounds insane.

If it’s all about legacy why not call out fedor? Because beating fedor in 2024 means nothing just like stipe god I don’t get this man I hope that stipe suffers a career ending toe stub, and never fights jones.


I really like stipe I don’t want him to get seriously injured, but the idea of jones beating him so he can lay further claim to goat is just asinine, jones is already an undeniable first ballot goat candidate, beating stipe will change nothing. I wish someone could explain that to him.

Jones don't need any explaining, he knows what he's doing. He thinks everyone is stupid though.

 

[DjolexMTL]

But Hill and Jiri were not stripped. They volunteered to give up the belt—though to what degree it was actually voluntary and not secretly pushed by the UFC is of course debatable. But I can imagine Jiri spontaneously thinking it was the "honorable" thing to do, he's bushido-batty enough for that, and Hill feeling pressured to do the same since his title shot came as a result of that.

A more classic example of how it's supposed to work is when Frank Mir had his motorcycle accident. That happens in September, the interim championship is fought the next February and won by Arlovski, who defends the interim against Justin Eilers in June. When Mir doesn't come back in October as he said he would, he's stripped (after 14 months out) and Arlovski becomes absolute champ.

Hill and Jiri wouldve been stripped regardless.

Interesting for the Mir situation. However he still ended up being stripped, so he could say he shouldve been earlier had the severity of the injury been known.

 

[DjolexMTL]

Not always. Arlovski and Barao successfully defended their interim belts, while Big Nog attempted to defend his interim title but lost. It's rare for it to happen, because usually the real champion recovers quickly enough that it makes sense to unify the belts right away, but it has happened.

For Arlovski the severity of Mir's injury wasnt known at the time. If it is, and the champ is out for a long time, vacating is the move and not defending the interim title

 

[Fight Professor]

That's how Tom and other top contenders should be building their resume.

Everyone claims Jones is picking his fights, and he does. But he has fought everyone for so many years. And if he beats an opponent without a deep MMA resume, like Gane, that win is not going to age well.

 

[Hdfi]

He's supposed to be the champion. If he isn't going to defend like a champion, don't give him the belt.

Jones is supposed to be the champion and he's picking an easier opponent coming off a KO loss. So why can't Aspinall do the same? He doesn't even hold the real belt, remember?

 

[OldBoy91]

He's forced to defend his belt because the champ is injured, the same as any interim champion should operate. Heck, that's the only reason he has the title in the first place.

While this is technically correct, Tom is champion in the interim. It is his job to be acting champion and defend the belt WHILE the champion is out.

The issue is that Jon won't even unify WHEN he does return.

I don't want to hear any bullshit about Stipe already being booked before Jon got injured, circumstances change. In this case Stipe lost his right to be the #1 contender the moment he didn't fight Pavlovich for the interim belt. Of course, Stipe was never actually close to being a top contender, he's only fighting for the belt because Jones said he is, and Dana agreed to it.

He hasn't won a fight in almost 4 years. Aspinall has won 6 fights since Stipe's last win, including 4 top 10 ranked opponents that he destroyed in 8 minutes combined.

And before you give me the "legacy" bullshit and start talking about Miocic's resume, just know you can make the exact same argument for Mark Coleman deserving the fight more than Aspinall which makes the whole thing laughable.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

A champion in Jones' situation should be forced to automatically vacate but have first dibs at the belt when they are healthy.

 

[AmbassadorFright]

Where's that clown who made the thread Aspinall is just like Jones now?

What the fuck you just call me?

 

[g*r*b]

While this is technically correct, Tom is champion in the interim. It is his job to be acting champion and defend the belt WHILE the champion is out.

The issue is that Jon won't even unify WHEN he does return.

I don't want to hear any bullshit about Stipe already being booked before Jon got injured, circumstances change. In this case Stipe lost his right to be the #1 contender the moment he didn't fight Pavlovich for the interim belt. Of course, Stipe was never actually close to being a top contender, he's only fighting for the belt because Jones said he is, and Dana agreed to it.

He hasn't won a fight in almost 4 years. Aspinall has won 6 fights since Stipe's last win, including 4 top 10 ranked opponents that he destroyed in 8 minutes combined.

And before you give me the "legacy" bullshit and start talking about Miocic's resume, just know you can make the exact same argument for Mark Coleman deserving the fight more than Aspinall which makes the whole thing laughable.

Stipe wasn't asked to fight in the interim. Dana gave some bullshit reason like he wouldn't insult Stipe by asking him to fight only an interim. But really, it's because he wanted to put Stipe safely back on the shelf to be ready for Jones when he heals. Never mind Stipe had been through fight camp and all, the UFC preferred plucking an injured Aspinall off his couch on short notice to face the guy who was the fighter designated to be the sub for the title fight.

And let's not overlook the interim itself was put on waaaay before the traditional schedule. If this were back in the day of, say, Frank Mir's injury, the UFC would just now be mulling over possible matchups for the interim. They wouldn't have belted someone only a couple of weeks after the champ gets hurt. And speaking of Mir...

Hill and Jiri wouldve been stripped regardless.

Interesting for the Mir situation. However he still ended up being stripped, so he could say he shouldve been earlier had the severity of the injury been known.

Look at that time table again. The UFC gave Frank until October. That's slightly over a year. The recovery projected for Jones' recovery from his injury was declared to be at worst a year. And Jones did all he could as soon as he could, so much so that they're now talking a return for him in summer.

{sigh}

The UFC is engaging in fuckery all around. It's stupid that an interim champ won't be fighting the champ next, but it's also stupid that there IS an interim champ now, and stupid that Stipe was just unceremoniously shoved aside. And even I agree it's stupid that Jones gets to rope in Stipe from the sidelines for the sake of his "résumé." There's so many levels of fuckery that it's impossible to untwine them without doing further wrong to somebody. So let's just get on with our lives and let the damn thing play out.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Aspinall should not have an Interim Belt -- he should have a very very small Interim Trophy presented to him by Rogan in the cage, so it looks bigger yet is still small, very very small.

Only the Champ should have a Belt.

 

[Poirierfan]

Where's that clown who made the thread Aspinall is just like Jones now?

That dude is more of a joke than Jones.

 

[Poirierfan]

While this is technically correct, Tom is champion in the interim. It is his job to be acting champion and defend the belt WHILE the champion is out.

The issue is that Jon won't even unify WHEN he does return.

I don't want to hear any bullshit about Stipe already being booked before Jon got injured, circumstances change. In this case Stipe lost his right to be the #1 contender the moment he didn't fight Pavlovich for the interim belt. Of course, Stipe was never actually close to being a top contender, he's only fighting for the belt because Jones said he is, and Dana agreed to it.

He hasn't won a fight in almost 4 years. Aspinall has won 6 fights since Stipe's last win, including 4 top 10 ranked opponents that he destroyed in 8 minutes combined.

And before you give me the "legacy" bullshit and start talking about Miocic's resume, just know you can make the exact same argument for Mark Coleman deserving the fight more than Aspinall which makes the whole thing laughable.

If I was Aspinall I'd be so damn frustrated with Jon, I can't even imagine. What a truly shitty person Jon Jones is, but we already knew that.

 

[Gamer2k4]

Jones is supposed to be the champion and he's picking an easier opponent coming off a KO loss. So why can't Aspinall do the same? He doesn't even hold the real belt, remember?

At the time the Stipe fight was scheduled, there was no other obvious contender. Jones had just beaten Gane, Ngannou was boxing, Aspinall was coming off an injury TKO loss and scheduled to fight Tybura, and Blaydes had just lost to Pavlovich. Pavlovich was definitely looking sharp and probably would have gotten the next shot, but even his record was mostly filled with lower ranked fighters at the time. Stipe, on the other hand, had only had one loss since 2018, and it was to someone who no longer fought in the UFC - not to mention he held the record for most UFC HW title defenses of all time. So, Stipe/Jones made a lot of sense at the time.

We can talk about how "cherry-picked" we think things are, but - and I know I've said this before, probably in this thread - if Jones had taken the Aspinall fight and beat him easily, everyone would be getting on his case for taking the "easy" fight against the "green" Aspinall, rather than the "challenge" against the "veteran" Stipe. At the end of the day, Jones is out, Aspinall is the champion in the meantime, so Aspinall should be fighting real contenders.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

At the time the Stipe fight was scheduled, there was no other obvious contender. Jones had just beaten Gane, Ngannou was boxing, Aspinall was coming off an injury TKO loss and scheduled to fight Tybura, and Blaydes had just lost to Pavlovich. Pavlovich was definitely looking sharp and probably would have gotten the next shot, but even his record was mostly filled with lower ranked fighters at the time. Stipe, on the other hand, had only had one loss since 2018, and it was to someone who no longer fought in the UFC - not to mention he held the record for most UFC HW title defenses of all time. So, Stipe/Jones made a lot of sense at the time.

We can talk about how "cherry-picked" we think things are, but - and I know I've said this before, probably in this thread - if Jones had taken the Aspinall fight and beat him easily, everyone would be getting on his case for taking the "easy" fight against the "green" Aspinall, rather than the "challenge" against the "veteran" Stipe. At the end of the day, Jones is out, Aspinall is the champion in the meantime, so Aspinall should be fighting real contenders.

What a load of shit. As someone said in this thread jones could be calling out and legacy fighting mark Coleman then he's had no losses since 2018.

Stipe has been refusing to fight for years and is old as it gets. Pavlovich beat blaydes THAT fight winner was the obvious contender. Stipe once again passed on the interim title and Tom saved the day. Jones should be happy to unify the belts when healthy instead of wanting the guy who again sat out.