So is Jon jones retiring?

[ArtardFiesta]

It was pretty obvious when signing his retirement fight to be against stipe that jones wanted nothing to do with the HW division.

Now that there will be an interim champ, it is likely he is expected to defend against the interim.

Do you think he does it? Does he retire? Or does he vacate the belt and fight stipe for his send off fight?

 

[eighterumg5]

Fuck em

 

[Barteh]

They'll just give Jones his fight against Stipe while the interim champ has to defend that belt or something. They'll figure out a way to make this shit fight happen.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Ummm nothing changes. The UFC will pull something or make an excuse to have Jon fight Stipe.

 

[DoubleA012]

Aspinall said on The MMA Hour today, that the original plans as basically told to him, were to wait around until the fight was over. As Aspinall was under the impression, that the UFC thought both Jon Jones and Stipe were going to retire. So they were going to have Pavlavich be the backup fighter, but were expecting Jones & Stipe to both retire after, thus eventually booking Aspinall vs Pavlavich next year for the vacant Heavyweight belt anyways.

So, now that it's an interim belt and Jones will likely be out for a year, I could see a scenario where they let the winner defend the Interim belt sometime next year, maybe even twice and then when Jones returns, they can just do Jon Jones vs Stipe for the HW Title once and for all. It might still end in a double retirement, or if Jon retains, perhaps they could convince him to stay and unify against Aspinall or Pavlavich. If he doesn't want to, he'll just retire and then they'll elevate whoever was the interim champion to full champion.

 

[Kohelet]

after stipe

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

It was pretty obvious when signing his retirement fight to be against stipe that jones wanted nothing to do with the HW division.

Now that there will be an interim champ, it is likely he is expected to defend against the interim.

Do you think he does it? Does he retire? Or does he vacate the belt and fight stipe for his send off fight?

Picogram Jones is retiring, but post USADA horsemeat UberJones is debuting!

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

He’s retiring from USADA.

 

[don't ask]

Who knows. But I bet he'll be back with another sweetheart of an opponent for him.

 

[Spam On Rye]

Let's hope so.

 

[clutchCAT420]

USADA IS UNDEFEATED

 

[Dr Guildo]

Stipe should retire. Jon Jones I think he should try to test himself in HW if he got any fight left in him.

 

[LiQuiD42]

I think Jones is sticking around for a little bit longer. Especially with USADA gone he should recover in no time. I think if he returns to reclaim the belt from a younger opponent and succeeds it will be even better for his legacy. Then he may then call it a wrap.

 

[LoneLynx]

Probably

 

[Clark Rogers]

ESPN quoted Dana saying they planned to do the Stipe fight 8+ months from now, this morning.

I have my doubts, but that was the initial response.

 

[DoctorTaco]

He and stipe will fight in 12 months and then double retire

 

[moreorless87]

They'll just give Jones his fight against Stipe while the interim champ has to defend that belt or something. They'll figure out a way to make this shit fight happen.

I think this is probably Jones/Dana's plan but I'm guessing it may become increasingly hard to sell, meaning Jones will be forced to either fight the interim champ or drop the belt.

I don't think the former will happen unless Jones is REALLY hard up for cash or perhaps if Sergei's grappling looks really bad but he still wins so Jones maybe forced to drop the belt. If that happens I suspect he will claim its due to not getting over the injury but will not officially retire, he'll carry on claiming he's the real champ from the side-lines and is coming back but will never fight again, unless again he gets REALLY desperate for money.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

If he fully recovers from this injury. He will fight Stipe. If Stipe retires in the meantime. Jones would also retire. If he doesn’t heal sufficiently in his opinion. He will retire, for that reason.

He’s NEVER fighting the winner of the IC fight.

Why should it take thread after thread for people to understand the most obvious thing in the UFC right now?

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

After the Stipe fight, yes.

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

Aspinall said on The MMA Hour today, that the original plans as basically told to him, were to wait around until the fight was over. As Aspinall was under the impression, that the UFC thought both Jon Jones and Stipe were going to retire. So they were going to have Pavlavich be the backup fighter, but were expecting Jones & Stipe to both retire after, thus eventually booking Aspinall vs Pavlavich next year for the vacant Heavyweight belt anyways.

So, now that it's an interim belt and Jones will likely be out for a year, I could see a scenario where they let the winner defend the Interim belt sometime next year, maybe even twice and then when Jones returns, they can just do Jon Jones vs Stipe for the HW Title once and for all. It might still end in a double retirement, or if Jon retains, perhaps they could convince him to stay and unify against Aspinall or Pavlavich. If he doesn't want to, he'll just retire and then they'll elevate whoever was the interim champion to full champion.

Yea, the Interim will have to be defended. As long as they do that its fine. Its kind of clogged up. Any predictions on who will challenge Aspinall Pavlovich winner? (don't say Gane).