Media Tom Aspinall and Stipe Miocic exchange words about Jon Jones fight

[Levi_]

No, UFC never even offered Stipe the fight. Jon and the UFC both want Jones Stipe. They aren't going to entertain anything else at this point.

So Tom was lying?

Rumored - According to Tom Aspinall, Stipe Miocic turned down interim title-fight against Pavlovich

According to Tom Aspinall. Swipe:

forums.sherdog.com

 

[Copper Burner]

So Tom was lying?

Rumored - According to Tom Aspinall, Stipe Miocic turned down interim title-fight against Pavlovich

According to Tom Aspinall. Swipe:

forums.sherdog.com

Yes

 

[g*r*b]

So Tom was lying?

Rumored - According to Tom Aspinall, Stipe Miocic turned down interim title-fight against Pavlovich

According to Tom Aspinall. Swipe:

forums.sherdog.com

Or maybe he was lied to. Or maybe the guy who told him that was lied to. Who knows? In the flurry of trying to get the interim booking done as fast as possible, there could have been all sorts of miscommunications and assumptions made.

But both Dana and Stipe said the fight wasn't offered to Stipe. And not only are they the ones involved in the situation, they ain't exactly buddy-buddy so I can't imagine them collaborating to back up a lie.

 

[g*r*b]

My job includes firefighting on the regular. I wouldn’t put it above being champ. He’s holding up the division. He should tell Dana to relinquish his ranking if it’s so important to bum around Ohio.

Curious, does your job also include being a paramedic "on the regular"? That's actually the bulk of Stipe's job.

But as to holding up the division, it didn't prevent Gane from fighting for the belt even though Stipe had been approached, verbally agreed and then got stiffed by the matchmakers, according to Stipe. Well, he didn't say "stiffed" — he said "went another way". Because through all this time he hasn't been bitching or demanding anything. Not throughout the whole will he/won't he contract drama with an injured Ngannou that stalled the division for a year. Not with suddenly having a fight snatched from him even though there was a designated substitute should his opponent have to pull out; that was met with puzzlement over why he wasn't asked to fight for the interim, but no scathing blame. The only fight we know he said "not now" to, it wasn't for the title.

So he's holding up the division by....being patient? By letting the UFC manuever as it chooses? By EXISTING?

 

[CatchtheseHands]

If everyone put enough pressure on the UFC by voicing their displeasure with their practices, then maybe shit like this wouldn't happen as much. Unfortunately too many just except it, or even worse, they back Dana.

You guys can feel free to shit on me all you want but I'm honestly going to have to be one of those people that back Dana on this one. Jon is one of the GOATS in this sport. He's definitely earned his right to have his demands met and I can respect Dana in this instance for his commitment to meeting said demands. If you were in Jon's position would you not like to have your final request fulfilled after everything you did for the sport and the UFC? That's why as frustrating as this is and how much I want the HW division to move along already, I'm fine with waiting and if Tom were ever in the same position someday as Jon in the future I would also back him. I just can't back him now. He just doesn't have the leverage to be demanding shit and instead of wasting energy crying about this he could be building his legacy by starting with defending the interim.

 

[Deceasedxo]

That's an extremely limited view of comedy that eliminates like 80% of the best stand ups ever right off the bat.

Stand up comedy is based almost exclusively in relatability, which wouldn't be possible if the facts of the punchlines didn't have a basis in reality. 'how about that airline food eh?' Wouldn't work if the food was widely known to be good. You seem confused.

 

[AdamWarlock]

i really wish miocic knock jones out just to spoil dana's plan

it would be so glorious

 

[Fedor>Cain]

Tom vs Stipe at 300 while Jon’s out. That’s the fight to make

No way Stipe takes that fight

Tom could be very marketable. He is a very exciting fighter. A young phenom just wrecking dudes. Him and Jon's skills are not so different. Both very well rounded. Very high fight iqs.unpredictable. can finish a fight anywhere.
Jon wasn't a huge draw in the early days.
It will come.
The ufc for such a successful company sure can make very dumb and questionable decisions.
Jon is a legend. He also has his foot out the door. Why the hell they would want him to leave and sail off into the sunset still holding the belt is beyond me.
They have it all right here. The new guy.
It's time to give jon the treatment, he either passes the torch or proves he's still the best.
In all honesty jon always has a chance, man's been incredible but it's not a good matchup. Not at this stage in my opinion.

You're missing something though, Jones isn't a draw because of his fighting at this point. He's a draw because he's famous for having a shitty personal life. People watch him hoping he'll lose. He has the Floyd effect on an MMA sized downscale

 

[Deleted member 504083]

Everyone should just ignore paper champ Jones and Stipe, and just move on like Aspinall is the champ. After all, Jones never actually beat the champ to become the champ, and is unwilling to fight interim champ Aspinall.

The champ should fight the winner of Blaydes/Jailton next for the title.

 

[Captain Herb]

What im saying is, Jones will retire when he beats Stipe. He's gone. Title vacated.

Why is the promotion having his back with this knowledge? Super weird. Jon losing the belt is even better because then the division won't be a giant mess.

And then Jones is going to prance around saying with a straight face that the new champ is a paper champ because they didn't beat him, the real champ. It is going to be a mess.

 

[BrockLesnarsTurtleBack]

Because they are as desperate as can be to ensure that the single highest % of people think the GOAT of MMA was someone endorsed by the UFC.

Is it petty? Yes. Does it fuck over the present for a marketing talking point? Yes. Does it attempt to rig the deck yet again in favor of the corporate line in that Jones would fight someone who is 100 miles from any title shot? Hell yes.

But it is exactly the sort of cheap, petty bullshit UFC brass are known for. They are perfectly willing to sink their current HW champ (Tom) and division in favor of of a guy they let roid who has fucked them over 10 times over solely so they can bury two of their legends (GSP and Anderson) in an effort JUST to minimize the chance any fan has to say another legend (Fedor) might qualify as the GOAT.

Fedor is not relevant at all. I highly doubt the UFC cares about this angle whatsoever. Fedor is an important figure mostly for hardcores/hipsters on MMA forums who aren't going to change their minds regardless of what happens.

 

[benebox]

UFC selling you WOLF tickets. What, should they bring in Fedor after so the real HW GOAT can face the UFC GOAT... don't be a pawn, you must see how ridiculous this is?

 

[Robbocop]

This Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic fight is still weird. Absolute bullshit.

No one is talking about it, no one is looking forward to it, yet the promotion is hellbent on making it happen. Stipe must have a helluva manager

I'm looking forward to it, speak for yourself.

 

[Gamer2k4]

If Aspinall wants to keep the division moving, he should defend the interim belt against the next contender. That's supposed to be the point of an interim championship, right? To avoid the division being held up while the actual champion is injured?

If you're not going to treat the interim belt like an actual championship belt that needs to be defended, why award it at all?

 

[Mike]

Did lol at the san Andreas line, not bad.

 

[beaglepuss]

im always in awe of accounts made in the early 2000s. the date you joined that year i was still playing with WWF
dolls/action figurines. i still believed in santa too. holy cow pokemon ruby & sapphire for the gameboy advance was just released
when you joined.. i know its random but i just wanna say thats so cool to see you are still
on here. god bless

I had been lurking the boards for a few years earlier too believe it or not. It’s the one message board that I still check daily. When I first started reading/posting, I would watch PPVs on my friend’s black box in his basement. The first event I watched live on PPV was UFC 4, and the first event I attended live in person was UFC 45. I’ve gone on to literally train guys that were in the UFC (albeit, not particularly successful) since then. I remember thinking anyone that joined due to Bonnar and Griffin was noob, and latter thinking the same when Lesnar entered the game. Now, I realize I’m probably entirely too old to still be on an Internet forum.

Jones is absolutely ducking Tom though!

 

[LostMyBlackBelt]

This Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic fight is still weird. Absolute bullshit.

No one is talking about it, no one is looking forward to it, yet the promotion is hellbent on making it happen. Stipe must have a helluva manager

Nah, he just has a great record for somebody so relatively easy to beat now.

 

[Bones The Goat]

Jones will beat both Miocic and Aspinall this year, raising the number of champions beaten in the

 

[aogiri]

Stipe will be 42 by the time he fights Jones lol. Lets keep the HW commodity who is in his prime active and defend his interim against Gane or Blaydes/Jailton. Stipe can wait a few more years. It won't make no difference.

 

[CJrider]

There's 0 point talking about this. This is a retirement prestige fight for the GOAT vs the most decorated HW ever. Both are passed their primes, everyone knows this, and that is a big part of the reason Aspinal ISNT getting a shot. This is a favor to Jones that will look nice on his fight finder as people look back and debate all time greats. That's it.
Dana already said if you want to fight, go ahead and defend the interm, nothing stopping you. It'll be promoted to championship the day after Jones wins and retires.