Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones, and Tom Aspinall: Will We Get Any of This Era's Elite Heavyweight Showdowns, or Nah?

[Deleted member 585708]

(image shamelessly stolen from somewhere, I think Essentially Sports)

Simple question, Sherfriends, will we get any of the biggest of the big fights featuring Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, and Francis Ngannou?

No disrespect to Stipe, but he is on the verge of retirement and unlikely to be a factor after Jones-Miocic. Once that fights take place there is a 'BIG THREE' in terms of the current MMA era at heavyweight.

We never got to see Fedor in the UFC, but that's a slightly different scenario to this one because in 2022 Dana White and Hunter Campbell had all of these guys on the roster... there were no barriers!

Have these fights slipped through their hands? Or do we get at least one of these huge heavyweight superfights?

Jones vs Aspinall is most likely, but it sounds like Jones will need some coaxing as he also toys with the idea of retiring.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Jon is retiring and Franci$ burned his bridges with Daner/TKO

 

[Deleted member 585708]

Jon is retiring and Franci$ burned his bridges with Daner/TKO

I think Franci$ only signed a two-fight deal with PFL, right?

Allegedly he made $10 million for beating Renan.

Think UFC can stretch to that if it means Francis vs Aspinall?

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I think Franci$ only signed a two-fight deal with PFL, right?

Allegedly he made $10 million for beating Renan.

Think UFC can stretch to that if it means Francis vs Aspinall?

Doubt it. Daner never overlooks his hurt feelings.

 

[Fergelmince]

Regarding Ngannou -

Dana White: We worked with this guy for 2 years to get him a fight. He's absolutely impossible to deal with. No. He'll never be in the UFC again. So...

 

[VinceArch]

I think Dana put Ngannou with Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Paul Daley. He'll look petty as fuck but he's okay with that.

 

[Shaolin Alan]

Aspinall is not elite

 

[Morning Star]

Regarding Ngannou -

Dana White: We worked with this guy for 2 years to get him a fight. He's absolutely impossible to deal with. No. He'll never be in the UFC again. So...

 

[Deleted member 585708]

Aspinall is not elite

You mean like he's not established?

 

[AdamWarlock]

Aspinall is not elite

lol

 

[filthybliss]

We are not. I would love to be proven wrong though.

 

[filthybliss]

Aspinall is not elite

What can he do right now to become elite?

He has finished so many top caliber fighters walking around in the division and the champ is ducking him.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

Aspinall is not elite

Thanks. I needed a good laugh this morning.

 

[Marko Polo]

Jon has ruined the UFC in the last 3 years. I think he played a part in Francis leaving (obviously Francis wasn’t scared of Jon) but you just know he was giving Dana ways to low ball Francis during negations. It’s right about the time Dana started glazing Jon after getting rid of Usada for him too. Francis left, Jon moves up to HW and now Dana can safely invest in promoting Jon with no fear of Usada or him getting beat. Thank God Aspinall is there to expose Jon’s true mentality and cowardice

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

The biggest fights we will be getting at HW in the next year or two realistically are Aspinall/Gane and ones that involve Poatan.

 

[MrBlackheart]

How Dana mismanaged HW is appalling. It’s like having Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman and none of them fought each other. You can claim it’s because of business decision or money. But as a fan, I’m pissed because it’s because fights like these that watch mma. So instead of seeing them settling it inside the octagon, we get to have endless and meaningless debates about who would’ve won. Thanks Dana.

 

[Hdfi]

Only Aspinall is game, the other two are essentially retired. Ngannou will box again, and Jones will continue to avoid Tom.

 

[Istryker]

Dana also fumbled Brock Fedor.

Bum fuck

 

[MarioLemieux]

I don't even see Jon as a top HW plus he will be gonzo after Stipe.

The other two fight in different orgs.

 

[blaseblase]

Regarding Ngannou -

Dana White: We worked with this guy for 2 years to get him a fight.

Objectively not true, it was one year.