Heh, JJ was trying to hype the Stipe fight with that stuff about being offended and making up the thing about Stipe meaning his own kids. He knew that Stipe would never trash talk... It was a fight that meant a lot to both, JJ had made that clear how much fighting Stipe meant to him... The focus was shifting heavily from the fight because ppl nowadays lost the ability to wait and want all the future plans laid out for once... So imo JJ likely wanted to make the, to them (JJ and Stipe), pretty meaningful fight to have the focus turned back to it somewhat, and maybe adding the name like that so the match will be more remembered and commented... Since it definitely was a huuuge match up considering both guys' toughness through their career. They weren't too apart age wise (DC was 42 and Stipe 37 when they fought and it went on a trilogy...)... and it may be one of the best HWs fights, with maybe JJ, perhaps, showing peak prowess as a fighter ever, and Stipe, being top 3, being just somewhat below Aspinall, appearing to be terrible... Which maybe just shows current JJ can make one of the still best fighters, like Miocic, then a little behind, Gane, look easy.
Maybe Tom is somewhat above Stipe, but maybe he can make it as competitive to current JJ as Alexander Gustaffson second fight, or Glover Teixeira... Maybe Tom Aspinall is at the level of once close rivals of JJ like DC and Stipe, but current JJ is untouchable.... Who knows......