I've gone on earlier to acknowledge that. Yes you are correct but..... This is an extremely abnormal situation.
Only if you want it to be. We can all dance around with magic hats that say "Jon Jones' Legacy" on them, but I don't subscribe to the idea that it should take precedence
over the belt, which you later call "the highest weightclass in the sport" as if to even further vault its status while continuing to minimize it below a single person. He could have the most and biggest legacy fights ever if he wanted... outside of the championship. It's not an accessory here.
Jones is on top of the game right now. REALLY on top of it, the most winningest fighter in UFC history
That's not true, he's in a 5 way tie for 5th place.
with the most title wins NOW at the highest weightclass in the sport.
But barely any of those wins in that actual weight class
We're talking about a 17 time ufc title winner who gains little from fighting aspinall,
No, you're talking about it. I'm talking about unifying belts.
he's considered the goat invariably in most circles, This is not just any fight.
By that logic, every Jon Jones fight is a special occasion. So they can put him into whatever momentous fight they want and the belt need not be attached. Then you can have him basically be holding the "GOAT belt" status where every fight is, "will he lose this time? (Hopefully not, because he's allowed to pick lesser challenges for it, because his legacy says so)"
This is the swan song of a fighter who has been champ since 23 years old and never toppled. His entire career has converged on this fight.
That's a bit grandiose. You're attaching an EXTREMELY biased amount of importance on this single fight by describing it like that. Jon has had an entire career. All careers start and end.
It's an exceedingly special circumstance when you have jones in the position he's in. the UFC would love NOTHING more than to transfer his star power to aspinall, Jones knows this.
Here's where things get really bullshit. I'm sorry, but Jones said his fight against Stipe was going to be his last and it was even bigger in terms of name value. So that would have been the fight where you'd expect this type of negotiation to happen, where he can really hold out for such a momentous clash of the GOAT vs HW GOAT.
So then can't Jon just keep saying every fight will be his last and continue to fight and you can just keep pulling this card out of your back pocket? Also, for the most part, pretty provably, "star power" does not transfer to any fighter for just beating a popular fighter. Definitely not with any staying power. To say that makes it sound like a conspiracy that they want him to lose to make Tom the star. I'd agree they are desperate for stars, but that doesn't mean this is an actual angle they can take.
UFC (and by proxy aspinall) need Jones more than he needs them. This is the exceptionally abnormal part. if you don't believe this is the truth, Look to Jones still holding the HW title as proof. If they didn't need him, they'd have stripped him by now.
So which is it? Before you said that the fact they haven't stripped him is evidence to the idea that the fight has loosely been worked out, but say now that it's evidence of their desperate need to get the fight signed. To me, the fact he hasn't been stripped only means that they think they
can make the fight. Nothing more, nothing less.
This is the first time someone is playing dirty negotiation tactics with the UFC, Someone who actually has the upper hand against dana and co. and for the first time we might see a guy in the UFC who doesn't draw -a crazy amount- like mcgregor, might make mcgregor(ish) money..... and as fans we hate it.
Again though, it's not, because all of this easily could have been the argument before for the Stipe fight, but conveniently wasn't.
Even though we've always acknowledged the hell and high water these fighters go through only to be chewed up and spit out by the promotion, without a nest egg to retire on. for ONCE we finally may not see that. I'm actually not the biggest fan of jon jones but if ANY mma fighter deserves to retire for all the work he's put it and never worry about money again it's jon jones.
I mean, true, Jon has put his body through so much for this sport. Just imagine all the type of training and hard work and illicit and sometimes experimental substances he put into this. Who knows what kind of radiation he'll be peeing at 80?
Is this really championing fighter's rights here in any way? If he succeeds, then it really is no different than a McGregor situation, where the attention is "Only me." This isn't a guy who has gotten
no favors by the brass for his entire fight history. It's not some guy who has been chewed up and spit out. It's a golden boy, regardless of his draw not being as high as other superstars, he is still one of their better draws, period. Especially in a time when they have so few. This isn't Joe Schmo getting the loving send off they deserve, it's the rich get richer. The favorite child who hasn't moved out yet is complaining that his Christmas gift isn't expensive enough.
