@Luffy
Buddy...are you dropping the act now?
Nah, all 3d chess. The UFC wants Tom to be more known by beating Gane, as a match still is not what they hope in PPV. Once he beats Gane (likely but who knows) and makes it way more known into promotion, then the reveal will all land on and JJ will pop up again and "NEW" ... Then have another defense bs whoever wins between Ankalaev and Alex.
Tom couldn't fight JJ holding the interim. That'd give him no $ participation ... So leaving the undisputed to him would both let the division move on and give Tom more $ by having the belt when fighting Jon Jones... That's if Alex loses. If Alex wins the rematch, he'd likely go to HW and steal Aspinall's win maybe. But unlikely, they'd bring JJ back (JJ said "well the UFC knows, I will still pop up for 1 or 2 more but for now let Tom build more" ) ...
It's like when DC had the belt and JJ had been stripped. JJ comes back with DC as the undisputed and wins. Dana said "September you all will be seeing something special" ... September matches the 6 months .. March+ 6 months = September. JJ meant November + 6 months = May... But it got reconstructed to September because of platforms deals , but waiting until then would bring the stalling when Dana said JJ accepted... The act now is for Tom to move the division a little and have the fight when it is more advantageous in a new platform. Ideally tho, JJ would like to it be seen by you all in Many rather than the 6 months needing to be read as from March... But espn+ end prevented that so they possibly did the May special so it can be used in a new platform... IFW fell short as again, special fights wouldn't be profitable as Netflix deal requires more time. That's why the already done rematch of Alex is now talked by Ali, Ankalaev and Alex as September, October or November
Ankalaev and Ali said October. Alex said September, October, November... To maximize the Chicago card as they all know the new platforms deal forces them to be on hold as special stars (Alex) and wait for when the fighters and promoters can get the most from the already done fights.