Tom should just vacate the Interim belt.

[Killer Kadoogan]

tom should relinquish the belt and go to streetbeefs, where champions fight everyone. lot's of great matchups to make, shinigami, death sentence, etc, etc.

 

[1King]

Jon has better wins at HW than Tom lmao.

 

[MDoza]

If Tom had balls and really thought he was GOAT material, he’d be calling for another fight with another contender.

The more interim defenses he accumulated, the more pressure it would put on Jones to step up, or the UFC to strip Jones.

He knows what Jones knows though.. Heavyweight is a volatile division, and no matter how good you are, wins are not guaranteed.

Aspinall knows this could be his biggest payday ever, and Jones knows that this should be his biggest payday ever.

 

[Joshua8531]

If Tom had balls and really thought he was GOAT material, he’d be calling for another fight with another contender.

The more interim defenses he accumulated, the more pressure it would put on Jones to step up, or the UFC to strip Jones.

He knows what Jones knows though.. Heavyweight is a volatile division, and no matter how good you are, wins are not guaranteed.

Aspinall knows this could be his biggest payday ever, and Jones knows that this should be his biggest payday ever.

Ridiculous.

 

[MDoza]

Ridiculous.

Ya I know, it’s ridiculous that Tom doesn’t have any balls

 

[Young Calf Kick]

You turds in here act like Tom has been waiting to fight jones for 3 years. Tom has been legitimately waiting since Nov. 2024 after the Stipe fight, which was first, and had concluded. That is about 5 months.

Interim belts in the UFC are created to keep a weight division active and allow contenders to fight for a title when the champion is temporarily unable to defend their belt, whether due to injury, contract issues, or other reasons. The UFC has used interim titles to create exciting matchups and boost the profile of certain fighters. It has been used as a tool in marketing and ensure title fights for PPVs. Some argue that interim champions should be required to defend their title before facing the champion, whereas others say it diminishes the actual title and the division.

It also guarantees nothing nor does it give or confer some status of anything outside of what the UFC deems it to be. The UFC does not mandate that champions must defend their belts against interim champions, but the interim champion is expected to fight the champion for unification.In terms of most interims, once the original champion is ready to return, they are expected to defend their belt and is not a mandate. GSP/Bisping happened while Whittaker was the interim.

Jones in particular had a fight already booked ahead of Aspinall after he came back from a year long injury. Stipe and Jones was signed/rescheduled and in motion before Aspinall was an interim champion. Jones is on the clock now, but the crying about jones before the Stipe fight is absolute nonsense. Jon did not owe Tom shit before the Stipe fight concluded.

This is a great post that I could get behind would it not be that Jones sure as hell wasn’t injured for a fucking whole year, if at all.

IIRC dude was rolling around with a football team barely 2 months after his “injury” was announced and was doing seminars in Thailand not long after that.

 

[skylolow]

Jon is historically not a draw like Conor, Ronda, or Brock that he could ask for FU money. 500 ppv doesn't work out to 30 mil just for himself as far as I know.

Either does 1M in buys.

The point is Jones is the UFC's only "active' 500K+ every time out star today.

I don't believe Jones ever seriously asked for 30M. I think that was just smack talking.

 

[don't ask]

"I would like to let everyone know that I'm no longer the next in line."

Miocic vs Arlovski for the Interim belt, then suddenly Jones is ready to unify the belts.

 

[Simple Southerner]

Huge if true
True if huge

 

[TimeToTrain]

Jones is the G.O.A.T. - Greatest Of Avoiding Tom

 

[markg171]

Miocic vs Arlovski for the Interim belt, then suddenly Jones is ready to unify the belts.

He won't take 2 rounds to finish Arlovski at least

 

[mkess101]

He won't take 2 rounds to finish Arlovski at least

Aspinall would've finished the ghost of Stipe inside 2 minutes, sport.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Huge if true
True if huge

Ooooof course.

Frankly, fine, fuck it. Let's finally move on without him. If Tom beats Gane, then the winner of Volkov/Almeida, who in that time will have put themselves into title contention? Just if Kuniev beats Blaydes? See where we're at when Jon decides he's done being retired

 

[dipstickjimmy]

You should go look at the rankings some time and see what they label Jones as compared to every other divisional champ. Hint: it's just champion like the others

View attachment 1089461

As you see, Tom is the one with the asterisk, not Jon's. You know, cause Jon's is the real belt. It's kinda why if they "unify" it's only Jon's belt that continues as the interim literally doesn't exist once that bout starts.

Cause Mir/Nog was a signed title fight, that had already gone through TUF, before Randy had ever even come back...? As opposed to here where Jones/Stipe was signed in spite of Tom being the interim and they clearly simply ignored him...?

And cause the UFC obviously wanted a HW tourney so they could have a HW unification bout, ideally Brock/Mir 2, to headline the upcoming UFC 100 as the biggest fight possible for their biggest ever card...? As opposed to here where there's no rematch, historic event, or anything...?

Why do you guys do this to yourselves? There's a reason why you don't want to talk about the Bisping/GSP/Whittaker situation which is the actual most relevant precedent. The UFC was fine kicking interims left and right down the curb as irrelevant until GSP retired and fucked them.

WTF are you on about?

You say Interim disappears when champ returns and then there is an obvious case where it clearly does not. GSP/Bisping/Whittaker had nothing to do with anything.

Jon is the Real champ as you state yet he won't unify the belt but wont vacate. Its pretty straight forward. Why are you as a fan arguing about there not being a big event or historical rematch? Here is the historical event. An "Undisputed" Champion is refusing to defend against the Interim Champion who has actually defended that belt while the "Undisputed" champ defended against a retired firefighter.

The truly crazy part is guys like you arguing about why your favourite guy should hold the belt but not defend it or that he needs it to be some sort of Historical Event or a Hundred Billion Dollar Payday for Jon to actually fight.

Jon cries why should he fight a younger bigger guy? Shogun is 6 years older then Jon just like Jon is 6 years older then Tom. Size difference is about the same too. In fact Jon is 3 inches taller then Shogun and Tom is only 1 inch taller. Jon is a crybaby but he is your hero. Why he is your hero is yours to know but why you want to see him not fight is puzzling.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

You turds in here act like Tom has been waiting to fight jones for 3 years. Tom has been legitimately waiting since Nov. 2024 after the Stipe fight, which was first, and had concluded. That is about 5 months.

Interim belts in the UFC are created to keep a weight division active and allow contenders to fight for a title when the champion is temporarily unable to defend their belt, whether due to injury, contract issues, or other reasons. The UFC has used interim titles to create exciting matchups and boost the profile of certain fighters. It has been used as a tool in marketing and ensure title fights for PPVs. Some argue that interim champions should be required to defend their title before facing the champion, whereas others say it diminishes the actual title and the division.

It also guarantees nothing nor does it give or confer some status of anything outside of what the UFC deems it to be. The UFC does not mandate that champions must defend their belts against interim champions, but the interim champion is expected to fight the champion for unification.In terms of most interims, once the original champion is ready to return, they are expected to defend their belt and is not a mandate. GSP/Bisping happened while Whittaker was the interim.

Jones in particular had a fight already booked ahead of Aspinall after he came back from a year long injury. Stipe and Jones was signed/rescheduled and in motion before Aspinall was an interim champion. Jones is on the clock now, but the crying about jones before the Stipe fight is absolute nonsense. Jon did not owe Tom shit before the Stipe fight concluded.

Its not about Tom waiting or being owed anything. Its the fans that are waiting and are owed. The UFC is very much at fault for even booking Jon vs Gane to begin with. Jon wins a vacant belt in his only fight ever at HW. That is like Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner winning Time's Woman of the Year in her first year being a woman!!!

Jon vs Stipe was booked with Pav as an official back up fighter and yet when there was an injury they had to find another fighter to be the backup backup??? Clearly neither Stipe or Jon was willing to fight the Back up if needed. That means they should have just been booked as fighting for the "Legacy" belt for some other made up title.

Jon won the Stipe fight but Tom had been holding the Interim Title for a full year. The Stipe fight did not have to happen. The closest comparable IMO is when GSP was set to fight Nick Diaz and got injured. Nick was the bigger fight but GSP didn't insist Nick sit out and wait for him while Condit and some other WW fought for an Interim. Nick lost the Interim fight with Condit and GSP didn't insist on fighting Nick first. Nick didn't get the GSP fight until after GSP UNIFIED the WW title against the Interim Champion.

The UFC is letting the tail (Jon) wag the dog but Jon is still scummy for his part.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Dude has to provide for his family. IC I’d assume gets you more money. I’d rack up wins against other fighters instead of waiting.

 

[markg171]

The closest comparable IMO is when GSP was set to fight Nick Diaz and got injured. Nick was the bigger fight but GSP didn't insist Nick sit out and wait for him while Condit and some other WW fought for an Interim. Nick lost the Interim fight with Condit and GSP didn't insist on fighting Nick first. Nick didn't get the GSP fight until after GSP UNIFIED the WW title against the Interim Champion.

GSP defended against Condit cause Condit beat his original contender Diaz like what usually happens in interim fights that are made when the champ pulls out. The original contender fights another contender and then of course that winner is next in line.

Please tell us all how that's remotely comparable to this situation where Tom never beat Stipe and instead randomly fought Pav.

 

[Mind Mine]

He should give a deadline to Jones and then move on. Going on a media run to make a big deal about Jon Jones ducking him.

He's at risk of wasting a big chunk of his career waiting for Jones like Chandler did for Conor

So he’s giving Jon Jones a deadline to setup a venue and book a fight the promotion doesn’t give a shit about as much as you do. Man you think Jones is Emperor Ming lol. Watch less pro wrasslin or don’t get how the fights get setup compared nfused. Do one or the other. You dudes are lost

 

[Dave Poodle]

Its not about Tom waiting or being owed anything. Its the fans that are waiting and are owed. The UFC is very much at fault for even booking Jon vs Gane to begin with. Jon wins a vacant belt in his only fight ever at HW. That is like Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner winning Time's Woman of the Year in her first year being a woman!!!

Jon vs Stipe was booked with Pav as an official back up fighter and yet when there was an injury they had to find another fighter to be the backup backup??? Clearly neither Stipe or Jon was willing to fight the Back up if needed. That means they should have just been booked as fighting for the "Legacy" belt for some other made up title.

Jon won the Stipe fight but Tom had been holding the Interim Title for a full year. The Stipe fight did not have to happen. The closest comparable IMO is when GSP was set to fight Nick Diaz and got injured. Nick was the bigger fight but GSP didn't insist Nick sit out and wait for him while Condit and some other WW fought for an Interim. Nick lost the Interim fight with Condit and GSP didn't insist on fighting Nick first. Nick didn't get the GSP fight until after GSP UNIFIED the WW title against the Interim Champion.

The UFC is letting the tail (Jon) wag the dog but Jon is still scummy for his part.

Stipe was never offered the Interim fight. They couldn't risk him losing because Jon was only willing to fight Stipe. We've never had that situation before. Nor have we seen a champ allowed to demand someone be dragged out of retirement while refusing to fight any contenders. Thought Jon's HW run might actually bring some legitimacy to his career but it's just been a sham.

 

[Cartiac]

If Tom had balls and really thought he was GOAT material, he’d be calling for another fight with another contender.

The more interim defenses he accumulated, the more pressure it would put on Jones to step up, or the UFC to strip Jones.

He knows what Jones knows though.. Heavyweight is a volatile division, and no matter how good you are, wins are not guaranteed.

Aspinall knows this could be his biggest payday ever, and Jones knows that this should be his biggest payday ever.

My thoughts exactly. Tom's career is completely owned by Jon Jones much the same way Conor owned Chandler for 2 years. Jon doesn't need or really want to fight Tom at this point in their respective careers. I think it will take a huge amount of money to get Jon's attention which I don't think Tom Aspinall brings enough value to make possible. Tom is a Fight Night headliner not UFC headliner and continuing sit around hanging from Jon's sack isn't going to get him there.

I think Tom's best move is to build his own brand, take the stance this is his division and he is going to carry it forward. Defending against Gane would make for a very good matchup and if Tom has any chance against Jones should be any easy win, get him out in the spotlight again and give him a chance to showcase his skills hopefully longer than a minute to make a better case for himself.