Why did he avoid Francis when Francis was in the ufc?
Not sure I agree that Jones vs Stipe is the most attractive fight to make for PPV, both guys have hardly been active for the last 3/4 years so not in the current sphere of MMA consciousness, Aspinall on the other hand has been fighting regularly when fit and winning in explosive fashion, plus he's pretty active on social media with his Twitter and Youtube presence, building a pretty significant fanbase across the sport.I don’t think he is ducking anyone. It’s Dana who makes and approves the fights (with input from his team), and if there’s anything we’ve learned it’s that Dana is going to select the matchup that garners the most PPV buys in the US. Aspinall may not be that guy and given that Jones is nearing the end of his career, he too will want maximum PPV points, which is driven by the number of buys.
Not sure I agree that Jones vs Stipe is the most attractive fight to make for PPV, both guys have hardly been active for the last 3/4 years so not in the current sphere of MMA consciousness, Aspinall on the other hand has been fighting regularly when fit and winning in explosive fashion, plus he's pretty active on social media with his Twitter and Youtube presence, building a pretty significant fanbase across the sport.
I think Dana is giving Jones what he wants because he's trying to build his legacy as the "GOAT" of the sport which could be more beneficial in the long run in terms of keeping him as some sort of figurehead/public personality representing the company once he retires, kinda like a Jordan or Brady, so he doesn't necessarily want to push him into tarnishing that legacy at this point.
They just need to strip him if he beats Stipe and then turns down aspinall. It’s not even a problem he ducked Francis and now is ducking Aspinall because physiologically they’re just awful match ups and his career has been at a different weight class. The issue the ufc enabling him to degrade the heavyweight title.
Would love for this to screw Dana over, the best HW clash available is Francis / Aspinall and one already quit. If the other does ufc HW is dead.
After all this ‘ducking Tom’ stuff and him pushing for the Alex fight, it’d be fecking awesome if Stipe beat himThey won't strip him, and he won't vacate it either. I can 100% see him teasing potential fights for about a year before finally announcing the Alex P. fight or retirement.
After all this ‘ducking Tom’ stuff and him pushing for the Alex fight, it’d be fecking awesome if Stipe beat him
I don’t know why? It’s not as if he’s got Francis’s engine. Surely he can fight 5 roundsDoes Stipe have a chance after the first round though ?
It seems like people don't believe he can be competitive after the first.
I don’t know why? It’s not as if he’s got Francis’s engine. Surely he can fight 5 rounds
Does Stipe have a chance after the first round though ?
It seems like people don't believe he can be competitive after the first.
He became a social media fighter for three years, then was fighting literally as soon as Ngannou left. Re Francis being beaten, that’s why it reflects so poorly on Jones but it was clear from Stipe 1 to 2 that Ngannou did a crash course in takedown defence. Francis just wanted to get paid, so he’d have no reason to avoid the only real payday in HW which is Jones.Did he avoid him? He was out of MMA for three years. I don’t think it had anything to do with Francis. It was during that period that the UFC offered Francis a new contract but Francis moaned about wanting to make as much as top boxers so he left and would up fighting Fury and AJ.
As for Jones ducking Francis, bear in mind that Francis lost to Stipe and Derrick Lewis, so we’re not talking about someone who is so unbeatable that other top fighters would duck him.
He became a social media fighter for three years, then was fighting literally as soon as Ngannou left. Re Francis being beaten, that’s why it reflects so poorly on Jones but it was clear from Stipe 1 to 2 that Ngannou did a crash course in takedown defence. Francis just wanted to get paid, so he’d have no reason to avoid the only real payday in HW which is Jones.
The best part was when Jones was giving it the big one about how he’d fight anyone, any time and then Ngannou beat Gane and he straight away was like ‘I won’t fight again if im not paid well’.
He has a punchers chance. If he happens to clip Jones anything can happen. That said, Jones will be at much better reach distance that what Stipe is accustomed to and if Jon gets him to the ground, I don't think there much a 42 year old Stipe will be able to do.
You know as well as I that’s not how it works. Fighters will influence what he does, as will his team as they try and create stars to market.Sure, but ultimately it’s Dana White who authorizes the fights so it would be on him whether these two fight. Fighters are always going to talk a big game, but at the of the day they don’t get to choose who they fight when the President of the UFC wants something else.
You know as well as I that’s not how it works. Fighters will influence what he does, as will his team as they try and create stars to market.
Jones/Stipe makes sense for the ppv numbers, the issue is simply Dana stupidly has allowed Jones to hold a major belt hostage. He’s got no intention of fighting any current/active heavyweight and Stipe is essentially retired so we’re faced with this ludicrous situation where, whoever wins, the next fight for the HW title will be Jones versus Pereira or Stipe simply vacating.
That if Jon thought he could beat Francis, he would have fought him. That if he thought he could beat Aspinall, he'd have booked that fight long ago.I’m not entirely sure what we’re debating here. We’ve already established that it’s Dana who approves the fights (nobody with a shred of knowledge about the UFC would credibly dispute this), so we’re left with debating why Jones didn’t actively campaign to fight Francis during his three year sabbatical when he was bulking up and taking a bit of a break.
As for Aspinall, the fight may still yet happen. The Stipe fight has been in the works for some time and has been delayed for various reasons. Aspinall just fought 3 and a half months ago, so if Jones wins and Dana approves the fight then there’s no reason to believe it wouldn’t go forward. If it winds up being Perreira, then we shouldn’t be surprised either given how Dana has a history of prioritizing fights that generate the most hype and drama.
