Only Opponent Stipe has fought that is still in the UFC is Arlovski

[Chalky White]

Arlovski is still in the UFC? Dude needs to leave and hop on that TRTrain and play as the bad guy in undisputed 37 or something.

He gets paid(or at least was before his latest contract, not sure) 250k+ a fight for glorified sparring matches lol he could milk that for 1 or 2 more fights before going the movie route.

 

[kingghidrah]

hasn't fought in over 2 years, hasn't won in nearly 3 and hasn't fought anybody in the current top 15 of the division.

Sounds a whole lot like Jones before the Gane fight

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Sounds a whole lot like Jones before the Gane fight

Yeah Jones shouldn't have been ranked either but was still in the P4P rankings.

 

[Dr Fong]

Sounds a whole lot like Jones before the Gane fight

Jones didn't get knocked the f*ck out before the Gane fight. And of course it wouldn't have been the second time he got a title shot off a KO loss + layoff like we are looking at with Stipe with here either.

(Insert whimpers of 'Jones lost to Reyes' - but he literally didn't)

 

[g*r*b]

I mean, yeah it's on Stipe for not fighting but it's not his fault they still have him ranked. If you listen to him talk he sounds extremely unmotivated.

Stipe claims that the UFC offered the fight last March with Jones to him and he verbally agreed, only for them to change their minds and go with Gane. Multiple times during the interviews he gave when he attended that fight he said "I expected to be fighting tonight but..." So maybe it isn't entirely his fault. And maybe that's why he hasn't been yanked from the ranks yet for inactivity — bastards though the UFC can be, it would be pretty f'd up to punish the guy for their own about-face.

 

[ineverpost]

Could just as easily say that Stipe retired them or sent them packing.

 

[Gamer2k4]

Not a knock on Stipe but a knock on the UFC for having him ranked and on Jones for wanting that fight. How can you be ranked #3 when you haven't fought anybody else in the top 15?

Good point. Better bump him to #16, or better yet, put him behind every single active fighter who he hasn't fought yet.

 

[Chalky White]

Jones has earned this fight. Not even for being the greatest MMA fighter of all-time(which he is), but because he did the UFC a massive favor during the Ngannou fallout.

Both Jones and Stipe have leverage here, you just have to accept the business aspect of the UFC.

 

[JoeRowe]

Pavlovich
Blaydes
Aspinall
Jailton
Spivak
Gane
Volkov

This division could be really fun if we could just get the Jones/Stipe fight out of the way. Or better yet just move on from Stipe, which of course isn't very likely. Hopefully he prices himself out.

 

[BigTruck]

Stipe is not top 5 HWs.

How'd u get the dubs weinerbutt?

 

[kingghidrah]

Jones didn't get knocked the f*ck out before the Gane fight.

That's because he ducked Ngannou, unlike Stipe who fought him twice and beat him once

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Good point. Better bump him to #16, or better yet, put him behind every single active fighter who he hasn't fought yet.

Should just not be ranked (there is no #16 officially). Not saying to rank him lower I'm just saying if you sit out for years, to the point where only 1 guy you fought is still in the UFC you should not be in the rankings at all. You're a big question mark at that point.

 

[legcramp]

Jon Jones is the king of the division with all these new breeds of heavyweights, that's how amazing Jon is.


JK Jones is a paperchamp at HW.

 

[kellier]

Stipe's 1st UFC fight was 12 yrs ago, and he won the title 7yrs ago. Of course the roster changed in the interim.

In fact, we spent the last decade lamenting the lack of new talent in HW and complaining it was an aging division. It finally has a generational change and its Stipe's fault?! He beat whoever they put in front of him

 

[chinarice]

Found this kind of interesting.. Obviously Ngannou left on his own terms but Stipe hasn't fought in over 2 years, hasn't won in nearly 3 and hasn't fought anybody in the current top 15 of the division. Only guy he has fought that is still in the UFC is Arlovski who is old as shit now and unranked.

Not a knock on Stipe but a knock on the UFC for having him ranked and on Jones for wanting that fight. How can you be ranked #3 when you haven't fought anybody else in the top 15?

That is still 1 more win over guys on the UFC roster than 6th ranked UFC MW Paulo Costa has.

Rankings are a joke.

 

[markg171]

Yeah, cause he's been in the UFC for 12 years. It's not like he's some new fighter. There's just obviously going to be not many people still around from those days. Ironically enough though, his supposed next opponent Jones is one of them, who's even been in the UFC 3 years longer than Stipe.

In fact, the actual crazy stat is that Jon won and defended the title before Stipe was ever even in the UFC. And still hasn't lost a title fight since.