Rumored If Stipe is injured, will Jon face the music against the "official" backup Tom?

[MarioLemieux]

Now we know that Jon didn't take that fight against Chael short notice, but Tom was announced as the backup fighter MONTHS in advance so Jon couldn't wriggle his way out.

Could you imagine the fan backlash if Jon didn't take that fight and that was the last we heard of him? It would be yet another huge asterisks on his legacy.

That would be outright ducking the interim champ.

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[GluttonforPunishment]

Wriggle his way out? He signed a contract to fighters Stipe. Up and comers and people trying to be company men do that switch of a fighter nonsense. Jones will not. Because he doesn't have to.

 

[Luthien]

Nope

 

[burningspear]

He must be a self appointed back up because neither will accept that?

 

[cmw43]

As you mentioned Prime Jones wouldn't fight Chael after he'd a had a full camp with a weeks notice of the opponent change so no way he takes a fight with Tom without training for him specifically.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Short answer ?

Hell NO

 

[humdizzle]

 

[MarioLemieux]

They're giving Jon the heads up, Dana will rake him through the coals if he doesn't step up. Even admidst all Dana's glazing, he's still mad about Jon not taking the Chael fight when Jon had no time to prepare. Now he has months.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Why?

Jones gets to eat greatness if he conquers Stipe.

Stipe beats Bones -- and his greatness is elevated.

Aspinall is no where near "Greatness". So, the Risk-Reward is different -- especially as he is dangerous.

 

[mangokush]

Jones will not take the backup fight against Tom and the card will be cancelled and Jones will stripped and cut from the UFC

 

[Gamer007]

Hell naw

 

[usernamee]

I sure as fuck wouldn't if I were Jon.

If I was champ I would never take a backup fighter if it's on like a weeks notice. Fuck that shit. I'm the champ and demand a proper camp focused on that particular guy. Sure, challengers are gonna want to fucking take that chance because they have the chance of becoming freaking champ tho.

 

[AmonTobin]

He wouldn't accept an Aspinall fight with all the prep time and dick pills in the world.
(Not unless UFC, Aspinall and Jones had this subversively planned the whole time but that just seems impossible).

 

[DudeBroMMA]

Fuck no. He wouldnt even fight MW Chael on a week's notice.
I'm not a fan Jones, but he would be a moron to accept Aspinal as a short notice replacement.

 

[Khaosan]

LOL of course not.

 

[Marko Polo]

Nope

 

[PeterGriffin]

Aspinall is healthy and ready to go, regardless of who bails out of the fight.

I would love to watch Dana try to explain away the reigning, defending and healthy Interim HW champ being onsite and ready to fight but the UFC having to cancel the fight instead.

As per Jon and Dana, he's the greatest ever to do it, right? If Jon is healthy, ready-to-go on a full camp, having trained with wrestling and BJJ all-stars and dietary gurus... and he still refuses to fight Tom because Stipe pulls out... there is nothing that can explain that away.

Jon's the champ, it's his job to defend the title. Two HW's (let alone two HW champs) will be ready to go, and at least one of them will have the balls and want to fight that night. At that point, Jon shouldn't even have a fucking choice. There is absolutely no reason, or no tricks that Miocic can bring to the table that Jones hasn't seen before, so any "I would have trained differently for Tom instead" is nothing but a fucking cop out.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Less than a 1% chance stipe or jon take on Tom

 

[Kungpowking]

Why?

Jones gets to eat greatness if he conquers Stipe.

Stipe beats Bones -- and his greatness is elevated.

Aspinall is no where near "Greatness". So, the Risk-Reward is different -- especially as he is dangerous.

Nah bra. There is NOTHING to be gained by Stipe or Jones in this fight.... just MONEY. Neither one will ever fight again and therefore have no impact on the HW division beyond being in the fucking way.

Jones beats Stipe....he beat an old man who hasnt fought in years
Stipe beats Jones... he beat LHW who hasnt fought in 18months

Its money and nothing more.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Nah bra. There is NOTHING to be gained by Stipe or Jones in this fight.... just MONEY. Neither one will ever fight again and therefore have no impact on the HW division beyond being in the fucking way.

Jones beats Stipe....he beat an old man who hasnt fought in years
Stipe beats Jones... he beat LHW who hasnt fought in 18months

Its money and nothing more.

Listen to yourself -- "just MONEY" -- well duh, it's Prize Fighting.

But the Legends of this Fight will be exalted in the annals of MMA History -- especially the Winner. People arguing the legitimacy will fade away into obscurity -- clinging to their opinions as the mob moves on to the next distraction.

Aspinall is the SMALL BEER in this fight triangle.