Why is Dana and UFC so adamant and over fixated on making Jones vs Stipe ? Explain like I'm five please

[maximus__]

Not when you look at the context of his wins. He beat washed up out of prime legends who were small middleweights compared to him and he was on STEROIDS. That is an overrated legacy if anything, not to mention any time he fought a guy his age and size he arguably lost. He was gifted 3 wins.

He beat Gane who has zero grappling and even Francis outwrestled. He ducked Francis, Rumble and prime Gus in a rematch. His best wins are Machida and DC and he 100% juiced when he beat them.

Nah when you look at his run with the belt it's undeniable that it was a GOAT level run.

He should have gone up to HW when DC had the belt and taken it then.

Still has the most PED failures of any fighter in the modern era though.

 

[jeff7b9]

A) Jones won't fight anyone else.

B) Jones sells pretty well, especially relative to this current landscape with no Brock, no Ronda and basically no Conor, even Izzy supposedly claiming he is sitting out until 2027.

C) UFC has a lot of money invested in promoting Jones over the years and his 16 title fights, all with promotional "Countdown" "embedded" press conferences, billboards, etc.

They love to squeeze every dollar out of stars they built, and they haven't built many lately, hence why they are releasing rumors like GSP vs Nick Diaz for ufc 300.

 

[Prex32]

desperately painting the goat narrative

 

[Lepo Lepo]

Might have to do with it being the best LHW of all time vs the consensus best UFC heavyweight. Who both have a limited time left in this sport, probably being the last fight for both of them?

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

It’s baffling to me as well. This isn’t some all time great fight. Plus, Stipe has turned down numerous fights in the past which usually gets on Dana’s bad side.

I think Dana just loves Jones these days and really wants to push him as the greatest of all time. Dana has tried in recent years to get Jones’ one loss removed from his record. I think he’s just doing all of this to appease Jones.

 

[BangBang]

It’s a fight that promotes itself based on the reputations of the two fighters (GOAT and no 1 heavyweight if recent times). It would therefore sell, and ol’ would be a nice way for Jones to exit fighting for good.

Aspinall for all the potential in the world but he has to do it first. Stipe and Jones have been there done it. It’s basically a farewell fight.

 

[Ozze]

Because even though everyone say it's a shitty fight, over the hill, not my champion, etc., a lot of people will tune in and will be good money for the UFC.

Plus, I'm pretty sure that both Jones and Stipe would rather fight each other than Aspinall.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

I don't think this fight needs as much explanation as everyone seems to think it does it's pretty straightforward you have the guy who was the champion before Francis Stipe who has the most heavyweight title defenses in history versus Jon Jones who's the current heavyweight champion when stipe stepped away and when Francis left the promotion so you have the current heavyweight champion versus the guy who was the champion with the most amount of titles defenses

Neither man officially retired and nether man might not retire when this is over Tom is the interim Champion he has to wait for this to be settled it's really not a big dispute

You guys just need to think of it this way Tom has a guaranteed title shot no matter what and Jones has business with Stipe over the history and prestige of the heavyweight title


Also Money

 

[Dr Fong]

The 'it's about money, bro' argument makes no sense. The people who say this don't understand how the ESPN deal works.

The only difference between what the UFC makes off a Jones-Stipe vs a Jones-Aspinall fight is the live gate, which is a tiny part of revenue and not something they would wait years for.

And they don't understand the concept of opportunity costs. The UFC could establish a HW champ and do multiple more HW title fights in the time spent waiting for this fight plus set the division up to make more money later. Because Jones and Stipe will both retire, this will delay the time the UFC can establish a new HW star even further.

And they overestimate how big the fight is even if the above wasn't true.

The only explanation for this fight is that the UFC is now a very poorly run organization, led by a lazy retard. They got their mind set on this fight and are seeing in through without actually thinking about it.

 

[Fedora Millionankles]

Seriously I don't get it.

They both said that it will be their last fight. So after it the UFC has a division without champ and needs to build up another title fight. Or promote Aspinall like they did for Aldo in 2017.

Also the fight doesn't seem to have a huge anticipation. Most people wouldn't mind if it doesn't get done and aren't very excited about it.

It doesn't look like something that will make huge sales. Plus Stipe will be freaking 42 by the time the fight is made.

Now sport wise, Stipe hasn't fought since early 2021, where he was sent to the shadow realm by Ngannou. Before you say I'm jealous of him, remember he can't put a freaking sentence together, for real, so don't reach for those grapes.

Now Aspinall is exciting, he's an HW and he's a brit. For all I know Dana should be jumping at the opportunity to have him fight and beat Jones (if he can) because he has then a British fighter who beat one of the Top 3 MMA Goats and he will sell PPV in UK like we sell lemonade on a summer day.

I.Don't.Get.It

Explain to me like I'm five please

I’d explain it to you in Crayon, but Bryce Mitchell ate all of them.
But seriously, my take is that if Jones is successful, the UFC has an undeniable claim for having the GOAT. That and money; fistfuls of money.

 

[WokeWarrior]

the reality is alot of haters want to see Jones humbled, he got away for doing too much and
in their world thats a big no no. it keeps them up at night seeing jones do the most reckless stuff
and still come out on top.
its starting to set in that jones is the undisputed Goat.....

and now after all these years they think they got the ONE to do it.
so instead of letting jones
bow out as he deserves it, they want to see him get demolished so they can brag.

its truly pathetic. Tom is LITERALLY in the easiest weight class to get title shots he can wait.
he got another decade that jones doesnt. have

 

[Fedora Millionankles]

the reality is alot of haters want to see Jones humbled, he got away for doing too much and
in their world thats a big no no. it keeps them up at night seeing jones do the most reckless stuff
and still come out on top.
its starting to set in that jones is the undisputed Goat.....

and now after all these years they think they got the ONE to do it.
so instead of letting jones
bow out as he deserves it, they want to see him get demolished so they can brag.

its truly pathetic. Tom is LITERALLY in the easiest weight class to get title shots he can wait.
he got another decade that jones doesnt. have

Garbage post from a garbage poster.
“He got another decade that Jones doesn’t.”
Nobody has a guaranteed shelf life and especially not in MMA where 1 fight can make a tremendous difference on one’s career. Just ask Tony.
The fact that you speak like that just shows you have no experience in this sport and are the embodiment of Dunning Kruger.

 

[quebert]

What's so hard to understand is that the UFC never ever did nice farewell fights.

Not for Anderson Silva. Not for Jose Aldo. Not for Frankie Edgar. Not for Chuck Lidell. Nor for Not for Demain Maia. Not for Tyron Woodley.

They always use old legends to build up young contenders.

So why now ?

The difference here, and it's big. Everyone you named fought past their prime and were on a losing skid or hadn't looked like a top 5 fighter in a good while. Jon might be past his prime, but he's still undefeated, and as evidenced by the Gane fight could easily still compete way past 1 more fight if he decided to. But he wants to retire on his terms and not fight until he hits a 6 loss streak like BJ Penn. You mentioned legends, but none of them went out anywhere close to on top. Where Jon will likely win his last fight and retire as champ. Rr at worst a champ who went out losing his belt to one of the HW GOATS. And while Stipe hasn't

Bones is a legend but he's still the top dog in the UFC. Usually legend implies the fighter was elite at one point but they're on their way out due to age affecting them, Jon's still elite. It's not likely a top 10 younger fighter would lose to an old Edgar and it looks good on paper for a contender to beat a legend. But there's a very good chance any HW loses to Bones. Dana probably doesn't want a young contender he's trying to build up to lose to a retiring Jon. I mean look what he did to Gage, and that's a top HW dude.

 

[sanguinius]

Not salty it’s just the facts. He’s overrated and is a steroid cheat. Without the steroids he would have 7 losses by now

Whatever helps you sleep.

 

[TheTickG]

Seriously I don't get it.

They both said that it will be their last fight. So after it the UFC has a division without champ and needs to build up another title fight. Or promote Aspinall like they did for Aldo in 2017.

Also the fight doesn't seem to have a huge anticipation. Most people wouldn't mind if it doesn't get done and aren't very excited about it.

It doesn't look like something that will make huge sales. Plus Stipe will be freaking 42 by the time the fight is made.

Now sport wise, Stipe hasn't fought since early 2021, where he was sent to the shadow realm by Ngannou. Before you say I'm jealous of him, remember he can't put a freaking sentence together, for real, so don't reach for those grapes.

Now Aspinall is exciting, he's an HW and he's a brit. For all I know Dana should be jumping at the opportunity to have him fight and beat Jones (if he can) because he has then a British fighter who beat one of the Top 3 MMA Goats and he will sell PPV in UK like we sell lemonade on a summer day.

I.Don't.Get.It

Explain to me like I'm five please

They didn't have anyone else in the HW division that could make them money in the US.

In there weird way, they are now checking Aspinall's monetary value.