Media Aspinall: the issue is...

[Rio Ferdinand]

If stipe is really injured and Jon doesn't take the aspinal fight ill be disappointed.

Jon will always be the GOAT in my eyes. Been watching him for more than 10 years now.

But you can't duck this fight with Tom if Stipe is out. You just can't.

 

[Poirierfan]

This is turning out to be the worst screw job in MMA history. Dana trying to sell this fuckery is laughable, the fight means shit all.

 

[Spiderbite]

Given that Jones will likely retire following a Stipe fight, makes the whole thing a total waste of time.

With this whole situation, I don't know what's worse; Jones jamming up an entire division he's only fought in once, just so either he or Stipe can retire with it's belt. Or, Dana giving Aspinall a completely meaningless belt for no reason other than they can have another belt in play that quite literally means nothing.

In the end. Dana will likely hand Aspinall the "real" belt. But at that point, it will also mean nothing.

 

[TimeToTrain]

Tom continues to get more respect every time he talks the talk and walks the walk.

 

[spinitch]

Situation was explained. Tough luck. Complaining not going to change and just irks Dana. Instead Keep beating contenders showing who is best. Everyone knows UFC title management a sham. Fans pay to see fights. Pretty simple. Tom should ask for champ pay. That is really the sticking point.

 

[HHJ]

There is no universe where a Stipe Jones fight does bigger bucks than an Aspinall Jones fight.

Honestly, even if it did, it wouldnt be enough of a difference to do all this bullshit they are doing.

 

[HHJ]

Situation was explained. Tough luck. Complaining not going to change and just irks Dana. Instead Keep beating contenders showing who is best. Everyone knows UFC title management a sham. Fans pay to see fights. Pretty simple. Tom should ask for champ pay. That is really the sticking point.

No it isnt the sticking point. He done enough to be called the real champion. He wants the LOT. Which he earned.

He isnt gonna just bend over and say "tough luck"

He isnt a bitch like you all wish he would be. He's a fighter, and he's gonna fight for this too.

 

[Mittens]

It’s about Dana still being angry at GSP, he is petty enough to fuck up everything just to get Jones a defence in a higher division so he can then parade him around as having done something GSP never did.

And GSP likely is somewhere, with zéro fucks to give either way.

Bummer for Aspinall to have to be the one to take it up the rear with this ludicrous circus, but Dana gonna Dana. Glad he is making the stand and pidding Dana off, tho.

 

[jx820]

I'm as big a Jones fan as any, but Tom is totally justified in the way he feels.

Agreed. I think Tom is taking the wrong tactic here though. He paints himself as a hungry young contenter and the fans love that, but it plays into Jon's "You're just a contender I'm doing GOAT things" storyline. He should attack Jon's ego and vanity.

He should be saying "Stop asking me about Jon because Jon and Stipe have an old man fight to settle over who was the best in 2018. Of course Jon can't fight me. I'm bigger, stronger, faster, younger. I don't want to beat up an old, shop-worn, Jon Jones. That wont prove anything."

If the media, the locker room, and fans started to talk about Jon being over the hill he might get that fight.

 

[g*r*b]

So he made it all up. OK then lol.

No I don't think that. I think if one of them pulls out then they've finally run out of bullshit and excuses and cop outs and everything else. There isn't anything else they can say or any other way left to spin this.

There's always the "oooh, my pec is acting up, guess I need more time to rehab" excuse to play if all else fails. Something like this happened to Stipe once, when he was subbed in as a replacement for Cain in his (never accomplished) rematch with Werdum. The very next day Werdum pulls out because of injuries that he said he would have suffered through for the sake of the Cain fight, but not for some new bloke.

Of course even Jones stands to be stripped if he goes that route. As much as Dana was enamoured of Conor, the UFC had to do that eventually. But it's not like it would be a new experience for Jon.

 

[duke_droese]

UFC is entering WWE territory with Poatan ducking Ank and the whole Jon vs Stipe situation.

Not to mention the Conrad nonsense from this year.

 

[duke_droese]

Agreed. I think Tom is taking the wrong tactic here though. He paints himself as a hungry young contenter and the fans love that, but it plays into Jon's "You're just a contender I'm doing GOAT things" storyline. He should attack Jon's ego and vanity.

He should be saying "Stop asking me about Jon because Jon and Stipe have an old man fight to settle over who was the best in 2018. Of course Jon can't fight me. I'm bigger, stronger, faster, younger. I don't want to beat up an old, shop-worn, Jon Jones. That wont prove anything."

If the media, the locker room, and fans started to talk about Jon being over the hill he might get that fight.

He needs to take a page from Clubber Lang



Would be a good shoop to put Tom and Jon's faces on Clubber and Rocky, and Dana's face on Mickey.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

Don't do cliffhanger thread starts it is just bad form!
I have contacted the admins to get you banned for it!
Sadly it always ends up with me getting banned instead.

 

[ChangeIsComing]

They are just wasting Tom’s prime to entertain some notion of “goats fighting”. Both “goats” are past prime doing a legacy fight for big bucks which is fine, but the belt should gave been handed over to Tom after his interim defense.

Toms Prime is 6-12 months?

 

[HHJ]

And GSP likely is somewhere, with zéro fucks to give either way.

He defintiely doesnt give a fuck. He has already defeated the UFC twice.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

Imagine still thinking Jones wont fight anyone ...


This is about money....read between the lines..

Jones is about his business and self image above all else..the true narcissist of MMA.

The only one who beats Jones is Jones himself
..

If your not going to make it worth it for Jones he's not interested...so Dana knows how to solve this .. question is have they learned anything from the Ngannou debacle... Jones could walk away just as easy as Ngannou did...he has fuck you money ...so Dana and CO has to cut this man a proper cheque and he'll fight anyone... He's proven that over and over again

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Yes.. Jones, and the UFC are BULLSHIT. Stipe is taking a multimillion dollar payday well after he’s already out the fucking door. He’s a Fulltime Firefighter.

It’s easily the MOST embarrassing thing the UFC has ever done.

Every single one of us would take what they’ve offered Stipe to protect the biggest fraud in mma history.

But Dana, and Jones even trying to pretend this is a complete fucking joke..



Come on Stipe. You used to play ball. You know the saying..

ONE TIME.

KTFO of that walking, talking, cowardly, pos.

 

[Ozze]

For all the bitching happening here about Jones and Stipe, I see very little about the UFC. They are the ones that created this mess by letting Jones fight Stipe.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Imagine still thinking Jones wont fight anyone ...


This is about money....read between the lines..

Jones is about his business and self image above all else..the true narcissist of MMA.

The only one who beats Jones is Jones himself
..

If your not going to make it worth it for Jones he's not interested...so Dana knows how to solve this .. question is have they learned anything from the Ngannou debacle... Jones could walk away just as easy as Ngannou did...he has fuck you money ...so Dana and CO has to cut this man a proper cheque and he'll fight anyone... He's proven that over and over again

You can’t actually believe that shit, right?



He’s backed out of fights. Money wasn’t the issue. The fucking UFC moved an entire event to a different state, a week out.

They cancelled an ENTIRE PPV because of this lowlife, coward.

Wtf are you talking about?



Edit.

When Covid hit you told us all you were training to become a pro mma fighter.

You haven’t had a pro fight yet. As a fellow Canadian, I was totally behind you. I was ready to support you in your endeavours.

But this fucking nonsense. There is NOT a clean athlete on this planet that would EVER idolize Jon Jones.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

I am one who has been looking at this from both perspectives. I get why Tom wants the fight against Jon. It would by far be the biggest fight of his career. His biggest payday, etc. At the same time I understand why Jones would rather fight Stipe. Stipe has already solidified a legacy as the best UFC heavyweight ever. On paper stipe is probably the easier fight currently. But on paper stipe also looks like a much nicer win on the resume where Tom is still newer in the division and there have been plenty of fighters who have fallen off when they were supposed to be the next big thing, especially at heavyweight. Pav comes to mind. If I was in Jones' shoes I would be wanting the stipe fight as well. no need for another Dom Reyes type fight where it is highly competitive and then the opponent falls off and goes on a losing skid.

Agree with most of what you said.

But best UFC heavyweight ever? No one said that till Dana started chirping it to sell the fight. He defended 3 straight times.