I don't know if Tom Aspinall really wants to fight JJ

Luffy

Luffy

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Look, I don't question that under a "Tom doesn't think he can defeat Jon Jones, he is scared" lens... nothing like that.

But I say this because I think that ideally, he would rather not have to fight Jon Jones. After the JJ-Stipe fight, in an interview with Ariel, Tom Aspinall said some things that make me believe he'd rather not be in a position to be the one to fight Jon Jones. He said:

"Honestly speaking, it would be hard to find someone who's a bigger fan of Jon Jones than I am. And one message I'd like to give to all the 'online experts' is for them to worry about other things and stop talking about what I should do, about how I should act, that I should trash talk Jon Jones and hype the fight. I respect Stipe and Jon Jones a lot, so I won't act in ways that are not aligned to who I am" .

Recently, he said:

"I don't need to fight Jon Jones. The UFC said my next opponent is Jon Jones, but I don't know why the UFC wants for me to be the one to fight Jon Jones so badly..."

IMO, it's because the odd makers, the match makers, see that the other top fighters like Ankalaev and Poatan (very likely, the strongest ones after JJ and Tom) are not likely to be a big threat to Jon Jones. I think that hypothetical odds see both Ankalaev or Pereira vs JJ roughly the same, odds wise, as the Stipe vs Jon Jones fight. When analysing the fights, the possibility in the outcome of a clash between Ankalaev and Jones in hypothetical odds was seen to go more like Stipe vs Jones. So for a greedy business company like the UFC, they don't want for a champion, that champion being the most dominant of the UFC, to retire on top, beating the top fighters. Ideally, they'd match a JJ who has never lost and is about to retire vs a fighter who they see as the one who has a big enough likelihood of defeating him, hoping that such happens. If JJ wins and retire, that'd take somewhat of the hype of the remaining fighters. And even with Tom, the odds are 50/50 ...

But Tom doesn't seem like someone who wants to go after Jon Jones in a way that McGregor would call out opponents, like when he was about to face Jose Aldo. You'd imagine that he'd be way more disgusted of Jon Jones. I think the trolling JJ videos with ducks, buying JJ's t shirts, and memes were his ways of hyping it up all while keeping it respectful in a way, because, as he said, he respects Jon Jones a lot, sees Jon Jones as the fighter that to him, is "the closest someone can be to perfection as a fighter" and won't take online "experts" opinions into account, since he knows what is going, respects Jon Jones and is a huge fan of him. He sees the fight as important in terms of money and the possibility to face the best fighter and if he wins, to keep the hype of a new generation, but deep down, he respects Jon Jones a lot and understands the situation Jon Jones is in as well... They both seem to understand each other's situation and role. It appears that Tom holds way more of a grudge the UFC, as a whole. As for Jon Jones, even when asked recently to describe fighters in one word associations, Tom refers to JJ as "legend". He likes JJ, is a fan of him and doesn't want to badmouth him or anything like that. He even said that:

"It's curious because Jon Jones vs Stipe was happening in the USA but many fans were calling my name and boo'ing JJ vs Stipe, with all they represent in MMA. I can say for sure that it would never, never in a million years happen in the UK, to have fans chanting the name of a foreign fighter instead of some prolific MMA fighter from the UK. In the USA though, it's interesting how fans act. "
 
I prompted ChatGPT to make a post in the style of Luffy. I know Luffy loves CharGPT. This is what it made:

I know some of you are going to roll your eyes and hit the back button the moment you see this is a “wall of text.” But I challenge you — no, I invite you — to read with an open mind, because this isn’t just about Jon Jones. It’s about the sport. It's about truth.


Let’s get the obvious out of the way: yes, Jon Jones has made mistakes. Repeatedly. Some of them serious. Some of them inexcusable. But if we’re going to talk legacy, if we’re going to put on our self-appointed historian hats and speak with authority about "GOATs," then we cannot ignore what he’s done inside the Octagon. That's where legacy is forged. That's where champions are made.


Do you really think any other fighter could have done what Jon did at 23? Dominating Shogun Rua — a legend — not just winning, but making him look outclassed? Who else fought a murderer's row of challengers (Machida, Rampage, Rashad, Vitor, Glover, DC) and emerged without a legitimate loss? The only "L" on his record is a disqualification in a fight he was dominating. And let’s not even start on how many of those guys were juiced to the gills themselves in the pre-USADA era.


People love to say “but PEDs!” Yet the only time Jon ever popped during the USADA era was under the murky cloud of picograms — trace amounts that scientists still can’t agree on. Is that what we’re hanging our hats on now? Nanograms and speculation?


And now he’s back, a heavyweight champion, after a 3-year layoff, dismantling Ciryl Gane — someone many thought would give him problems. At this point, if you’re still doubting him, you're not being honest. You're being emotional.


Do I wish he were a better role model? Yes. Do I think he’s squandered goodwill and burned bridges? Absolutely. But you don’t get to selectively erase greatness. You don’t get to pretend that history started in 2015 or that Jon didn’t beat Daniel Cormier twice — the same Cormier who would later become a double champ and a beloved ambassador of the sport.


Jon Jones is the most complete fighter we’ve ever seen: reach, fight IQ, adaptability, wrestling, elbows, unpredictability. You don’t have to like him, but you should respect what he’s done.


If this sport is ever going to grow beyond casual soundbites and clickbait outrage, we need to learn how to separate personal flaws from professional brilliance.


In closing: you can dislike the man. But you cannot deny the fighter.
 
loisestrad said:
I prompted ChatGPT to make a post in the style of Luffy. I know Luffy loves CharGPT. This is what it made:

I know some of you are going to roll your eyes and hit the back button the moment you see this is a “wall of text.” But I challenge you — no, I invite you — to read with an open mind, because this isn’t just about Jon Jones. It’s about the sport. It's about truth.


Let’s get the obvious out of the way: yes, Jon Jones has made mistakes. Repeatedly. Some of them serious. Some of them inexcusable. But if we’re going to talk legacy, if we’re going to put on our self-appointed historian hats and speak with authority about "GOATs," then we cannot ignore what he’s done inside the Octagon. That's where legacy is forged. That's where champions are made.


Do you really think any other fighter could have done what Jon did at 23? Dominating Shogun Rua — a legend — not just winning, but making him look outclassed? Who else fought a murderer's row of challengers (Machida, Rampage, Rashad, Vitor, Glover, DC) and emerged without a legitimate loss? The only "L" on his record is a disqualification in a fight he was dominating. And let’s not even start on how many of those guys were juiced to the gills themselves in the pre-USADA era.


People love to say “but PEDs!” Yet the only time Jon ever popped during the USADA era was under the murky cloud of picograms — trace amounts that scientists still can’t agree on. Is that what we’re hanging our hats on now? Nanograms and speculation?


And now he’s back, a heavyweight champion, after a 3-year layoff, dismantling Ciryl Gane — someone many thought would give him problems. At this point, if you’re still doubting him, you're not being honest. You're being emotional.


Do I wish he were a better role model? Yes. Do I think he’s squandered goodwill and burned bridges? Absolutely. But you don’t get to selectively erase greatness. You don’t get to pretend that history started in 2015 or that Jon didn’t beat Daniel Cormier twice — the same Cormier who would later become a double champ and a beloved ambassador of the sport.


Jon Jones is the most complete fighter we’ve ever seen: reach, fight IQ, adaptability, wrestling, elbows, unpredictability. You don’t have to like him, but you should respect what he’s done.


If this sport is ever going to grow beyond casual soundbites and clickbait outrage, we need to learn how to separate personal flaws from professional brilliance.


In closing: you can dislike the man. But you cannot deny the fighter.
Click to expand...
Lmao. This writing style is not even remotely similar to mine.
 
It was too forced... Like, too emotional. "You can dislike the person. Do I wish he was better as a person?? Yes. But you can't deny greatness". Ehh... Not my style. Firstly, it was a neat writing, while I commit typos and I tend to have a less structured cohesion when writing. And it appealed too much to emotion and nostalgia, not my type.
 
Luffy said:
Lmao. This writing style is not even remotely similar to mine.
Click to expand...

It's long though, which is important. And ChatGPT made some decent points about Jon, which I feel you could have made as well.
 
WillyWarminski said:
Holy crap. I didn't realise your account was so old. I only read on my phone without seeing your details and always assumed you were a new troll. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Actually I am new. I created it many years ago but I started posting last year. I'd post rarely before, like, 10 posts in a year or so...
 
Luffy said:
Here you go... Ppl can't even read 2 lines but want to talk about poor threads and all. Lol bunch of dummy dummies
Click to expand...
Reading those 2 lines was charity on my part after that retarded title. I assumed it was going to be a click baity humerous post, but you actually just went full retard within the first 2 sentences.
 
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