Jon Jones destroyed the HW division

[The Cysko Kid]

I haven't been following anything for a while. Is Jones STILL ducking Aspinall? I knew he was a scumbag but I didn't take him for a pu$$y.

 

[icemun]

Speaking of facts: The Miocic/Cormier trilogy, especially the last two fights, are some of the most overrated fights in MMA history. Basically they consisted of a man with a broken back fighting a man with broken knees, both of them moving far too slowly to avoid getting hit by the other guy. They were terrible fights, and Miocic was very clearly a charcoal briquette, not merely toast, by the time they were done. After the Ngannou rematch he was a brain-damaged charcoal briquette.

That Miocic was the number two ranked UFC HW at that point says it all about both the quality of the rankings and the quality of the division.

Hey theres what we want in our personal opinions (in terms of ranking)

and reality

 

[icemun]

Stipe hadn't fought in like 4 years lmao.

No way should he be ranked 2nd.

UFC gonna UFC and ranked fighters higher to make their favorites look better.

They did it with Conor too.

I think I see the confusion


Stipe hadnt fought in just under two years when Jones became champ


There are 365 days in a year dude

 

[icemun]

He hasn't fought in half a year and still doesn't have a fight booked. That is not the normal course of things in any division, setting aside the fact that there is a literal Interim Champion and there is no debate over the next booking - he simply refuses to book it.

-Jones is obviously not a "normal" fighter by any metric in or outside of the UFC. He (and the UFC) are able to make terms based on his excpetionalism.

It is absurd at face value to be ranked at all if you have not fought in 3 years. Retired fighters cannot be ranked by definition - others cannot fight in your place, you have to fight your peers to be ranked among them.

Stipe hadnt fought in under two years. Fighters just dont become retired because we want to arbitrarily label them as such

Tom has literally already defended an interim belt. There is no such thing as a SECOND defense of an interim belt

There is if you want to prove you are the best. Stay active.
This is at least what GSP states

 

[muaythaibeast]

Jones lastfight was 165 days ago

Stipe was the #2 ranked fighter after Jones choked out the #1 fighter.



Why isnt Tom or the other HWs active?

I'm sorry man, but Stipe is no bigger a win than Faber today. The guy hasn't won a fight in 5 years, and hasn't trained in 3. He had a full time job at the time of the fight, that's a retired fighter.

 

[rjmbrd]

-Jones is obviously not a "normal" fighter by any metric in or outside of the UFC. He (and the UFC) are able to make terms based on his excpetionalism.

He retired after two controversial split decisions at LHW against unheralded fighters with middling careers.

This is after USADA suspended him a second time for repeatedly testing positive.

Stipe hadnt fought in under two years. Fighters just dont become retired because we want to arbitrarily label them as such

Stipe fought at UFC 260 March 27th 2021 and next UFC 309 November 16 2024.

That is 3 years 7 months, since you can't count.

Yes, not fighting for multiple years (as a 40+ year old) is retirement. Stipe retired literally in cage, again, after his single fight with Jon.

There is if you want to prove you are the best. Stay active.
This is at least what GSP states

Jon by that definition is not the best, since he's not active. He's fought twice in the last half decade.

 

[muaythaibeast]

Try and name your next title fight then if it’s not Jones/Aspinall

It would have to be Almeida, Gane or Volkov. Not great fights, but that doesn't mean you just scrap the division. Plenty of Anderson and DJs title defenses were against low quality opposition, but they still made the fights.
Except for Welterweight, most divisions only have 1 or 2 genuine contenders.

 

[Hdfi]

-Jones is obviously not a "normal" fighter by any metric in or outside of the UFC. He (and the UFC) are able to make terms based on his excpetionalism.

Why? The UFC didn't do this for better, cleaner GOATs like GSP and Demetrious Johnson. Even their most profitable fighter Conor McGregor never received this level of protection.

 

[icemun]

I'm sorry man, but Stipe is no bigger a win than Faber today. The guy hasn't won a fight in 5 years, and hasn't trained in 3. He had a full time job at the time of the fight, that's a retired fighter.

Hes not retired, if he was ranked and fought for the championship.

 

[icemun]

Why? The UFC didn't do this for better, cleaner GOATs like GSP and Demetrious Johnson. Even their most profitable fighter Conor McGregor never received this level of protection.

 

[Luffy]

So Tom was beat easily? By Almeida? Damn.... And he was the one JJ was ducking???? Lol

 

[icemun]

He retired after two controversial split decisions at LHW against unheralded fighters with middling careers.

Who are you talking about Jones? he never lost and was LHW champions for a decade.

Stipe fought at UFC 260 March 27th 2021 and next UFC 309 November 16 2024.

Jon called the #2 Stipe out when he beat the #1 Gane (in under a minute) on March 2023. Stipes last fight was March 2021

Jon by that definition is not the best, since he's not active. He's fought twice in the last half decade.

Jones has had 17 TITLE WINS in the last decade. He's not fighting at the same pace as in his 20s, which not only makes sense, is still unprecedented, hesthe best.

GSP advised TOM to be active instead of sitting around, waiting for Jon and just talking, talking about being the best.

Jon doesnt have anything to prove at this point. Tom does.

Which is sound advise frankly.

 

[Hdfi]

View attachment 1095534

against guys on a 1-1 or even 0-1 losing streaks...

And 11 consecutive title defenses > 8 consecutive title defenses.

 

[icemun]

against guys on a 1-1 or even 0-1 losing streaks...

And 11 consecutive title defenses > 8 consecutive title defenses.

wut?

 

[AstralPanda]

Stipe hadn't fought in like 4 years lmao.

No way should he be ranked 2nd.

UFC gonna UFC and ranked fighters higher to make their favorites look better.

They did it with Conor too.

Well, he did have the best resume in heavyweight history. Regardless of when his last fight was, it would've been difficult, in good faith to place sergei above him, who had one or 2 good fights against mid level competition.

Although I agree his age and inactivity is an issue.

In the grand scheme, he was still the best choice, especially when it comes to building an event and promotion.

They were scheduled to fight in December 2022, but Stipe never signed due to issues with pay according to helwani.

Then he was ringside for the Gane bout, Jones called him out and it was all set up.

It should've happened that year, but the biggest issue is that Jones got injured after they already both did full camps.

At that point, they were already invested in the Stipe fight, money was put into promoting it, negotiating the details, they'd already both trained for a specific opponent for 2+ months.

So, the UFC was never not going to make that fight next, regardless of a new contender emerging in Aspinall. Hence why it was never offered at any point.

If it were a year since his last fight , I would understand the sentiment of him needing to be stripped. It would make sense.

But it's been 6 months and according to all parties involved and media who are privy to insider details, they're in the middle of negotiations. Only thing that can be done is for that process to play out.

 

[muaythaibeast]

Hes not retired, if he was ranked and fought for the championship.

He was removed from the Combat Press rankings in February 2023 due to inactivity, and has not been ranked since.
He was reintroduced to the UFC rankings just before his fight with Jones to give it the optic of legitimacy.
These are the same UFC rankings that place Jones at #2 p4p, whilst most independent rankings have him at 8 or 9.

 

[icemun]

He was removed from the Combat Press rankings in February 2023 due to inactivity, and has not been ranked since.
He was reintroduced to the UFC rankings just before his fight with Jones to give it the optic of legitimacy.
These are the same UFC rankings that place Jones at #2 p4p, whilst most independent rankings have him at 8 or 9.

Thats cool.

Jones, Stipe and the HW division we are discussing are in the UFC organization.

 

[The-AxeMurderer]

I think I see the confusion


Stipe hadnt fought in just under two years when Jones became champ


There are 365 days in a year dude

It was almost 4 years bro......

Your math isn't correct.

 

[muaythaibeast]

Thats cool.

Jones, Stipe and the HW division we are discussing are in the UFC organization.

And the rankings created by UFC brass to sell fights have no merit. If Junior Tafa was gifted a title shot, he'd be ranked in the top 3 tomorrow, but we all know that's not the case.
The merit based rankings did not include Stipe for legitimate reasons.

 

[SuperAlly]

Let your crush beat the KO King before we throat him. He's beaten nobody's besides Pav.

You add nothing of value to this forum and don't believe your own nonsense.

Imagine running around desperately running defence for a guy who is too cowardly to fight his only worthwhile opponent.

Tragic stuff.