Forget Stipe, is Jones vs Poatan the best fight the UFC can make right now?

[Iroh]

Tom is the more dangerous fight. Alex is the more exciting, dramatic one you can build a story around.

I vote Alex. Better story for the last fight in an all time greats career. And think about it if Alex beats him.. that would be massive

Personally, I find the idea of Jon vs plausibly his hardest match up ever more exciting, than Jon vs a guy who he should be a massive favorite over.

Also, I find Aspinall more exciting than Pereira, because Aspinall is exciting in all 3 dimensions of MMA and Pereira in only one of them.

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Jon Jones is going to do what he thinks is best for him. Fighting a Tom Aspinall, is lose lose situation to him. He thinks it won't move the needle for his legacy if he beats Tom. But Poatan is more enticing because of his big name and the type of fighter he is. Which Jon Jones can easily take down and obliterate.

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

What's even the fucking point of the interim belt? The ufc can be such a clown show

 

[downthepines]

Defend or vacate.

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

The Heavyweight Division is an absolute joke.

What's the point of having an Interim Champion in the first place?

Jones is refusing to fight and the division is on ice because of it.

Strip Jones and send him packing.

 

[Pious Augustus]

Jones wants another middleweight who can't wrestle

 

[bjjwar]

Jones looking to continue his tradition of whooping on former middleweights

You forgot "OVER 36 yrs old" MW's. No way Jones fights anyone in their prime.

 

[djacobox372]

Why would Jones want to fight a kickboxer who can't wrestle? I wonder.

 

[BoxerMaurits]

If Alex matches up & KO's Jones, I think it'll be a perfect time to stop watching MMA

Why? That’s when all the chaos begins

 

[JKS]

All the petty haters here.
If he fights Aspinall it means he's ducking Poatan.
If he fights Poatan he's ducking Aspinall.
it says a lot about how envious people are of success.

Nah, lol, nothing like that. People aren't hating here, I think they are just calling out Jon on avoiding the much harder fight.

I think this is pretty clear that 99% of fans would see this as ducking Tom. If Jonny avoided Alex, no one would think anything of it.

It's very clear that Alex is a very favorable match up for him, while Tom is actually the hardest fight in the entire promotion. Fans can see that.

 

[Timewarp]

So jones took 3 years off to bulk up to fight middleweights/lightheavyweights at heavyweight? Weird...

 

[JKS]

Fans voted Tom he picks Alex anyways but yeah he's right it makes sense Alex is a well known phenom due to a lot of things mostly circumstances winning in a division that's Ben one dimensional for decades

I think Jon is smart to beat him next

Tom shit himself in the foot by not fighting Tom is to scared to lose his spot but he def hasn't earned a jbj fight at this level in Jon's career and agree or not Stipe is the number 1 contender and he's ben tried and true anf a reigning champ Tom refuses to leave his mark and defend that interim belt vs lets be real tom should smoke the hw Top 10 they all the legends and the top hw prospect are retired or gone and its full of unimpressive fighters most just big slow right hand swingers.. Tom is a fool he coulda cleared it out with 2 or 3 fights and Ben cleared for the belt fight

What?? Tom has made it very clear he's defending the interim belt, he did back in March or so. He confirmed he's gonna be on the Manchester card in July.

 

[skylolow]

According to Sherdog, Jones doesn't want to fight anyone besides a 40+ year old over the hill fighter.

 

[nonoob]

I actually had faith Jon would do the right thing at HW and challenge himself and fight the best.

Sorry. The reality of any POS HW that ducked EVERY HW (except 1 cherry-picked HW) and for that cowardice got awarded a "belt" and has refused to defend his gifted title (from Stipe, Tom, and all other HW fighters) THEN calls out a smaller LHW screams nothing but a "shameless gutless legacy".

 

[Billthebutcher]

Honor the Stipe fight Jonny, if you don't know what that means, look it up.

 

[JKS]

Sorry. The reality of any POS HW that ducked all but 1 HW and for that cowardice was awarded a "belt" now refusing both Stipe and Tom to call out LHW screams "gutless legacy".

I like Jon and had the upmost respect for his run a LHW and winning the HW belt. But it will be disappointing if he doesn't fight Tom.

 

[Killer Whale]

The “professional sport” side of me says Jones vs Aspinall.
The “just bleed” side says Jones vs Pereira

So deep down I really want to see Jones vs Pereira more.

 

[OldBoy91]

I like Jon and had the upmost respect for his run a LHW and winning the HW belt. But it will be disappointing if he doesn't fight Tom.

I've been telling you for a while dude, your faith in Jones was misplaced.

He has been very clear about him not wanting to fight Aspinall. He has been as clear as its possible to be without actually stating it.

He is risk averse, he always has been, but especially so at this point in his career. Tom doesn't have a good risk/reward ratio. Too much risk for a lesser reward. All Jones thinks about is his legacy, and a loss would be catastrophic to it. A loss is almost certainly the outcome of a fight against Aspinall.

He can't be any more clear that he will never fight Aspinall at this point. He literally polled fans and ignored the results of his own poll, because Aspinall came out the clear winner. Even going as far as to hide certain responses making him look bad.

 

[Kevin Sorbo]

Honestly, either fight would be much more exciting than Jones vs. Stipe. However, it sounds like Jones means after he fights Stipe, so i'll believe it when i see it because he's fought once in the last 4 years.

 

[Streeter]

Bones v Alex is biggest fight UFC can reasonable make. Aspunal it silucks n it should be you ...... but you willl need to wait. Alex beat Jiriband Bones beats Stipe - both shpuld happen. Bones v Poatan needs to happen!


No its not fair but a chance for this level mega fight only happens so often can't pass it up.

Appears Bones wants it as well.