When asked about fighting, you could hear in Stipe's voice he didn't really want it and even before retiring, you could see he was already declining. Jon always had the idea of fighting at Heavyweight if he were to get the perfect chance and stayed ready. Stipe was effectively retired and fought for a big paycheck and free title shot, him officially retiring after shoes just how shot he was. He got his ass whooped in one sided fashion against a guy that went the distance with Anthony Smith... that was not the same guy that won the belt years ago...
Also I think you meant Stipe said that (about feeling in better shape), I'm pretty sure DC did not fight himself lol.
As for Stipe saying stuff, of course he's not going to make excuses. Fact is he was old af and effectively just a retired fighter and full time fire fighter at that point. He used to just do the fire fighting stuff on the side, the fact that he started doing it full time shows he was not serious anymore.
Also I am sure there are a few people back when the idea first floated around of Stipe vs Jones, that thought that would be a good fight. There were also a lot of people back then who said his age is what did him in against Ngannou. Everybody talked about how slow and old Stipe and DC looked in their fights as well. You watch the young Stipe on his rise up, then his first title fights, then Jones and you will see something....
Before the Jones fight I watched all of his fights and on his rise up he was very ferocious and pretty athletic, by the time he became champ a bit of that was already gone but what he lose in athleticism and fire, he more than made up for in experience. Then by the time it the Jones fight came around he was a total shell of himself. You watch his previous fights, in almost all of them he was the aggressor. He was a pressure fighter. A prime Stipe would not have been the one backing up like crazy against Jones.
Huh? No, I couldn't hear at all that on Stipe's voice. Post me the voice tune he had that made you sure he didn't want to fight , please. When was he declining before retiring? If you gi by facts, Stipe had said he had planned to get revenge vs Francis and get the belt back, and got disappointed when Ngannou left. But that fighting JJ was an even bigger opportunity. Are you making stuff up? Also, perfect match? Cyril Gane isn't a perfect match, he moves like a middleweight (DDP's words) and is a powerful and technical kickboxer. He didn't get destroyed on the ground by Ngannou either... He actually got up most times, he took Ngannou down once too and got kinda close to locking a heel lock on Ngannou, though he couldn't complete it. Ngannou couldn't do much if anything in the ground with him. And we don't know Ngannou's wrestling level. It clearly got way better as he stopped Stipe's takedown in their second fight and even managed to take Stipe down briefly and land some shots... He won his last fight by sheer wrestling and nasty ground and pound and had been working a lot on it. Before the Stipe rematch, Kamaru Usman complimented Ngannou's grappling, even saying "he's to talented, I don't know if he were born with a bigger talent for striking or for wrestling"... Ofc he's better at striking, Usman's point though, was that Ngannou had a huge talent for improvement. And he improved in his wrestling.
Yeah, JJ went to decision vs an Anthony Smith that was in a big win streak. Yet, it was a total one sided beat down. Jon Jones was dou whatever he wanted to Anthony Smith. Anthony Smith looked hopeless throughout the fight. After that fight, Anthony Smith went in and subbed Gustafsson in round 3... Your point?
It was the same Stipe. Stipe said he felt as good as ever, like, he said he was in a better and readier state than vs Ngannou 2. Their statement override your own perception.
Yeah, lol. I worded it wrong. My bad. I meant Stipe vs DC 2 and 3.
How do you know he is not telling the truth? Many fighters make excuse. When Stipe lost to Ngannou and it tied 1-1, he said "I came to this fight as 231 lb, that was a poor strategy on my end". Like, the information we have is from Stipe himself. And he looked in shape, and lean, all while weighing 247 lb ... He had no visible fat or signs many guys who it can be seen are past their physical prime, show. His shape was impressive for someone at 247 lb.
I've watched them. I've made an in-depth and huge breakdown on how fast Stipe Miocic was vs Jon Jones, taking his fights vs Ngannou 1 and DC as comparisons. It's in one of the threads that for stupid mods reasons, got moved to the LWs. You can read it here in the lightweights tho, it's in this very page. Just as a general idea, I've used:
Kinovea with calibrated octagon mesh and ffprobe for locked framerate.
I broke down kicks and punches by frame and comparing them to past fights (DC 1, Gus 2) for Jon Jones's speed
I've made impulse estimates and physiological consequences (vagal response, liver shot impact, VO₂ estimations)... Basically additions that contextualize the "why" behind what we see... And thus, I feel I dismantled the “Stipe is too old” narrative with reaction speed comparisons and jab-dodging sequences... With data, not just opinions.