Tony was stripped in under a year after his injury, the UFC panders to their stars its been known since Conor. I hate the fact Jon is still champ, he should have been stripped when he couldnt fight Stipe because of the Pec injury, exact same thing that happened when Tony hurt his knee
There isn't much of an incentive to stay active when you're at the top of the divisions. The UFC could easily fix this if they actually paid their athletes 😂
There was never any consistency in regards to this it wasn't like back in the day we did things a certain way it's just depending on how popular the champion is or what's going on in the division they might do things differently.
Yea he should definitely have his champions defend even if they’re recovering from injuries. Especially bad injury’s. Conor should have fought even with that broken leg
@@Jjweeks01Injury lay-offs are totally understandable. But after the Stipe fight Jones doesn't want to fight Tom Aspinall he should either retire or be stripped of the belt. The idea that a champion refuses to fight the interim-champ, aka 2nd best after the champ himself, is ridiculous
Dude that wasn't what he meant nobody said they should fight with injuries what I'm assuming he meant was because Jones wasn't stripped cause they are holding out for the big money fight. In any other circumstance he would've been stripped Aspinal would be the actual champ and defend his title until Jones got back and made a match for him to get the title back @@Jjweeks01
You shouldnt be able to win the interim belt when you are ranked 5th in the world, thats what happened to Tom. If you want the rankings to mean something, you should be equally appalled Tom got a crack at the interim title when there were 3 challengers ranked ahead of him. Stipe is ranked 5th now, him fighting for the belt is no different to Tom ranked 5th fighting for the interim title
@@oliviertrudel2384 The rules dont mean anything unless they are equally applied to everyone. Yours or my opinions on who deserves to be ranked are irrelevant. Otherwise the rankings are meaningless...... and wait, they already have become meaningless, which is why we are having this debate
Jiri and Jamahal were 10000% pressured to vacate the belt cant tell me otherwise lol. They were told they both get PPV points like they were the champions when they fight for the belt again, the UFC just wont do it to Jones. Also saying Aspinall is the biggest waste is a joke dude fought in November only and became the interim there wtf Bisping did the exact same to Yoel and Whittaker he knew they would both smoked him thats why he ducked him and chose a 46yo Hendo for his first title defense lmao. God I hate when Bisping talks about Tom when he was ducking way harder than Jon is lmao. They created an interim for Rob and he became champ when Bisping retired
Jon: "You gotta get credible wins over champions" Tom: "Okay can I fight you then? You're 1 of 2 champions left" Jon: "No, you need credible wins over champions first" Make it make sense please
That just Jones' way of saying "I'm too scared to fight you because you look like you have a really good shot at beating me" Jones doesn't want to fight anyone that might actually beat him. That's why he ducked Ngannou until he left the UFC.
@@adamdrach3894who CAN he beat if neither of the previous champs accept a fight with him? Gane 'well Jones smashed him' and any other fighter you would say are nobodies.
@@adamdrach3894also to clarify he's beat the #3, #6, #8 and #9 in the division. Champ and #4 won't fight him so rematching Blaydes is about all he can do.
Crazy that Jones actually said "make your own legacy" to Tom while holding up yet another division. Dana is willing to sacrifice the future of heavyweight just for a single PPV with Jones vs Stipe with both fighters retiring.
And that fight isn't even going to look as good as it could have when both men were in their prime. All because Jon dragged his feet going to HW, instead of split decisioning with Thiago and robbing Reyes he could've moved up. Everyone said Jon barely won those because "he was bored" bullshit, if he was bored he could've moved up.
@@publiusventidiusbassus1232no you dumb ass kids really don’t understand this sport at all yet. He’s allowing Jon to pick the fights he wants cause Jon has never lost to anyone. I don’t like him personally but you can’t argue with his results. Jon isn’t running from no one and it isn’t about ppv sales for this one. It’s about giving the best fighter the fight he wants.
Yeah it's always hilarious when fighters say they aren't impressed with a fighter, but yet they continuously dodge them? Like if they aren't impressive shouldn't you take the fight then? Easy win right?
@JonnyLin7 I would be of the train of thought like uncle chael "take the easiest fights that pay the most" aspinall would generate tons of views and 'easy work'
Now Jon is saying that if Tom Aspinall loses to Curtis Blaydes, that it means he will never reach a title, and his career with go away. Meanwhile, it was Curtis Blaydes who caused that severe injury to Jon Jones, when they were training together.
Sat out for 7 years and still took out generations. I want to see him fight Tom but at the end of the day looking back in 20 years if Jones beats Tom it will be ‘just another contender he’s taken out’. Having the HW goat on your resume is far better.
All great points. This is why Dana needs to run his business, and force Jones to vacate the belt, or set a fight date. Fighters shouldn't have to give up their "prime" and make all fans suffer because someone is injured, or a coward, etc..At some point the reason doesn't matter.
If Jones doesn’t want to fight Tom that’s fine but he should BE STRIPPED of the title and jones vs stipe just a 5 round fight. UFC is just scared of hurting Jones’s feelings
Thank you for addressing this!!!! Its insane seeing an interim champion having to beg for a chance to re-unify the titles.... Jon is a running from a challenge...
Possibly, he is old and had a plan in place why would he let some goofball come and dictate what he does when he has earned the right to end his career on his terms?
@@Yeshuaspupilbecause that "goofball" has earned his right as number one contender clown where stipe is coming off inactivity and a knock out. Talk about being a class A idiot 🙄🤦
Stipe has to either fight Aspinall or retire, and Jon has to fight the winner of that fight or he stripped of his title. I’m tired of waiting for grandpas to fight each other
Jon Jones can't keep the pace required of a heavyweight champion without peds. Dana White should not allow anyone to leave any title undefended for more than six months.
What about when DC took a whole year off, uninjured by the way, because he was "devestated" by his loss to Jon Jones by head kick, it ended in a no contest and DC got his title back and took even more then a year, a year and 2,3 months off, then fought again?? Against Volkan Ozdemyr, and you don't say anything about that?
@@skiddadleskidoodle4585 I could say a lot of things about a lot of things. What I said actually covers D.C. My point is that it's been over 15 months since Jones has had his first and only heavyweight fight. They need to push the pace. If an athlete is too injured then it's understandable to heal up, but there needs to be a title holder that can defend the belt or they are out. If they could get use to that then perhaps there will be less peds being abused.
@@crimsonmamba I disagree. Sure, there's been times when peds were far more common and times less common, but that does not mean that every single athlete uses peds.
Tom Aspinall coming in and saving a MSG card on 8 days notice with an injury. He deserves a title shot over Stipe who has ZERO wins over anyone in the Top 15 at heavyweight and hasn’t won a fight in over 1,300 days. It’s absurd
It’s absurd they didn’t give him a trilogy with Francis years ago… if the UFC would’ve given him his rightful shot at the belt back, we wouldn’t be in this situation rn
The fact that people blame Tom for trying to fight the 'champion' who is ducking him for post KO, imminent retirement, Stipe and not Jones who could have easily vacated like Jiri and Jamahal, is actually unacceptable.
Jones saying his opponent has zero title defenses and zero credible wins is hilarious as neither does Jon. His legacy was at LHW not HW. He fought a guy who just lost and was a well rounded decision fight. Tom fought the guy on a 6 fight KO streak and KO'd him. John Is fucking delusional at this point.
@@xNSHDIf you knew how to read it would've been clear that when he said "he just fought a guy that lost a well rounded decision fight" You would've clued in he's talking about Gane. They offered Gane the chance for the interim belt but he wasn't there because he turned it down. He's scared of losing and wants another title shot after not facing any of the new top contenders. Same way Jones feels about Tom
@@xNSHDJones is worse, he wants to fight a 41 year old who hasn't won a fight in 3 years to then retire and say he's the best because he beat this and that. He doesn't want to smoke. Doesn't want the risk of the real challenger.
Jones waited till Nugannou left before going up to heavyweight, where it seemed only old and broken MMA stars were left now a young challenger appears he disappears again.
Wouldn't it be great if Tom could go to the PFL and fight a few contenders there and eventually he an Francis meet in a title showdown? Only thing is PFL, for some reason, doesn't allow elbows. But anyway, imagine the biggest heavyweight MMA fight _not_ being in the ufc!
The only way this situation gets sorted out is it the Jones V Stipe fight gets outright cancelled, that fight has no reason to happen besides being booked before Jon got injured, that fight only does bad things for the division, along with that it straight up isn’t fair on Tom at all
The ufc is becoming more and more like wwe everyday. When I was a new fan I was proud that meritocracy and rankings actually meant something. now a days that means nothing
Speaking on the bad match making in the ufc I also hate how they throw the older veteran fighters to the wolves instead of having them fight each other. Toney Ferguson vs Nate Diaz should have been the original fight booked not fucking kamzat chimaev vs Nate. Literally tried to sacrifice Nate, thank god kamzat missed weight that night.
@SCHMOBEX because he baa'd like a goat after he wrestle fucked a kick boxer. He talks about all the guys he's beat in his career but he seems to be running from Big Tom.
This type of stuff really makes you appreciate dudes like jiri and hill. Jon is acting like he is some big dawg lineal champion like no bro, after screwing up the flow of the LHW division for multiple years you now fight for a vacant belt and screw up the flow of the HW division
Jon at age 36 is ducking a 30 year old Aspinall and fans talking about him being too old. DC at age 36 had to wait for 27 year old Jon to pass a drug test and was beyond ready to step to him. Jon is older and clearly doesn't want to lose his perfect (yes ik his one dq loss) record and GOAT streak
Lesnar was 15 years ago, they could have offered Francis $1 more and say he was the highest paid ever, not even taking into account Inflation. Dana is so full of shit sometimes
Its pretty simple you cant let any of your fighters dictate there way into getting what they want, no one is indispensable if Dana buckled to Nanganou there would be an avalanche. Dana calls the shots but it looks like he's cutting his nose off to spite his face its purely buisness , how do you tell a multi multi millionaire hes got it all wrong 😂😂 good luck with that one!!!
Stipe is gonna do nothing more than get himself hurt if he ever comes back. Even his last wins were hard-earned wins against a guy Jones easily beat twice. Stipe is too injured and old, there's no point bringing him back. Let him enjoy retirement.
This isn’t rocket science… 1) you remove the belts from those who refuse to fight 2) give the belt to aspinel 3) let other fighters with aspirations to become world champions challenge for the belts It’s simple
Jon Jones is so worried about his “legacy” but doesn’t realize we’ll always remember him as a huge talent but an even bigger letdown. The scandals, the steroids, the eyepokes, now this.
@pstx2816 Open your eyes!!! The Whole reason why Ngannou left was because of Dana White!!! it's the same reason why we are seeing many other UFC fighters quit bc of their strict contracts with the company! UFC fighters go to boxing which pays way more than their contracts! I have a gut feeling Mcgregor will be the next one to leave.
@@pstx2816nah not at all goofy. Francis waited 3 years before he left. He was supposed to fight jones before gane but your daddy said he needed more time 😂
@@mattreese-7 yes you'd rather see older, slower, much less dangerous fighters because of shit that's on their wiki page. What is actually wrong with you?
Once upon a time, Anderson Silva fought 11 times in a 3 year stretch, Jon Jones fought 9 times in a 3 year stretch, GSP fought 9 times in a 3 year stretch, all as champions by the way. What Alex is doing right now was normal 15 years ago. It's lame that this is the state of MMA.
Wtf are they going to do about it? It's a business, and they can't always depend on superstars. If you lose one of your best employees, you don't mourn their loss, you keep the machine running so fighters can keep moving up
well he came back and wrecked gane... people cant give jones shit for being injured considering this is only the 2nd time in like 15 years worth of fighting
Dana has created this problem by ignoring his own ranking system. Fighters basically choose who to fight and when to fight. Ultimately you end up with a champion who has not fought most of the ranked fighters in his division. Izzy, Usman, Volk, Valentino, and Nganou cleared their divisions and ultimately paid the price for being so active. Alex Pereira will suffer the same fate soon. Most fighters are now taking the easy way out. O'Malley just announced that he is fighting in 2025 and has already cherry-picked his next opponent. That is the current state of the UFC.
I respect Izzy as an active champion, but not as impressed with him as the others. Whenever he fought at less than 4 months turnaround his opponent had less time to prepare than him by a couple of weeks or a full month
@LunaticKing-fj3hp Merab denied a title shot to Fight Sean at first because he wanted Aljo to get the rematch first because they're friends it's crazy.
@LunaticKing-fj3hp He fought Chito because Merab was pussyfooting until they finally lit a fire under his ass and Aljo told him to take the belt back for him and to stop being a bitch and go for it
You'll notice the division hold ups. The belt camping, the injures and delays. All are a John Jones hallmark. Hes stalling any division he gets in. Only fights 1-2 per career. Something ALWAYS happens where he cant have a fight and sort the belts out. Hes lilke the best employee you got who always calls in sick.
How ? Stop being delusional he tried that shit by asking for a face off and even tried to put his hand on Jon but Jones wasn’t having none of that shit
@@castielemmanuel9915Jon doesn’t want the smoke, stop glazing him. Jon Jones fans are absolute dipshits, dude could run over their mothers while drunk driving and they’d still say at least he’s still undefeated
This all started when Jones got the totally unjustified title shot, in a division where he had never fought before... After being out of the sport for years. Dana only gave him the fight to try and make people forget about Ngannou and the way he screwed that whole situation up.
1. There was no champion 2. Jones has been undefeated in the ufc and the lhw king for 15 years… He deserved the shot. And regardless, he made easy work of Gane who I think could beat Tom 🤷♂️
@@timsimpson6019 He's one of the most overrated champions in UFC history. He's not only a drug cheat, but also cheats in the fights too by constantly poking people in the eyes. The only reason he's been as successful as his has, is because he's nearly always fighting people way smaller than he is, that he has a massive reach advantage over. When he's fought anyone who's the same kind of size as him he's really struggled. Everyone knows that he really lost that fight against Reyes. That's why he was too scared to rematch him. Also you could argue that he lost the first Gustafsson fight too. He should have been fighting at heavyweight from the start. Then when her was supposed to move up he wouldn't fight Ngannou, because he knew he'd lose. He only came back as he knew Gane was an easy win, because he has no wrestling. Now he won't fight Aspinal, as he knows he can't win that fight. Even though he should be the next in line as he's the Interim Champion. Instead he just wants to fight old man Stipe, who lets be honest is way past his best and is not going to put up much of a fight at all.
Man, imagine being Reyes who peaked in a loss to Jones. The guy put up such a fight and had a lot of heart against a juggernaut, it would have been nice to see him win
@@chiquita683 It's not on him to defend an interim, they have to unify. I don't want another Tony, Conor, and Khabib situation. I get putting on superstar fights for PPV, but not at the expense of deserving contenders IMO.
@@chiquita683Why won't the champion face the interim and instead wants to cherry pick the only person on the opposite side of 40 in the rankings that hasn't fought in THREE YEARS. Things that make you go hmmm
That implies that he's making Tom wait to fight him at an ideal time, when in reality Jones has no interest in facing him. He knows he'd get beaten, so he'll take grandpa Stipe and then retire
It's up to him. My humble advice would to be to start calling out everyone else in the HW smash every prospect and can and put the pressure on the ufc to do something.
Jones was *terrified* of Ngannou to the point where he literally retired for years just to avoid being in the same division with him and now he's running from Aspinal because he doesn't want there to be a chance of his glass house breaking. He'd rather fight a 72yr old veteran to retire and call himself GOAT what a joke.
@@aaronerickson8878Eh, doesnt matter anyway, dude cant pass a test to save his life, unless of course he hides under the ring. Not a Goat in any sense of the word.
Why hold up the division from active fighters over fighters who have been inactive for years? One who was knocked out in his last fight, hasn't fought in years, and the other who's spent more time in a jail cell than he has an octagon over the years. Both are more than likely gonna retire after the fight anyways, heavyweight is such a joke rn
Tbh that's the problem, the UFC are keen to give Tom *fights* when there's only one *fight* the interim champ should get, and the 'undisputed champ' who should be unifying the belts demands to instead fight a 42yo grampa Stipe, then retire and allow his fanboys to say that Tom would have been 'too easy to bother fighting'
bro why ppl assuming Stipe sucks just bc he got KOd by the best machine ever in the HW division? @@jamesthompson9003 I dont even like francis all that much, but you gotta respect who stipe is just bc he slurs like CRAZY when speaking doesn't mean he can't fight
8:01 How will that be a "massive seller"? Who genuinely wants to see that fight in 2024/25?! It makes more sense to stage it in a Retirement Village in Florida then in Vegas!
Jon should be stripped. If he wants a farewell fight against a legend, fair enough, but it shouldn't be for the title. If he ducks Tom it'll be one more asterix against his name.
@@MojoMoneyMajorthat's another topic there are levels to everything. Lesnar was making 2.5 million per match. For a 3 round 5 min fight. It's a grueling sport, gotta be active gotta get with the crowd. MMA is relatively new in comparison. This isn't its peek yet. Just in recent years it's picked up in popularity. It took time as well. More people watching, more popularity more fame more money. This is the begining of UFC being mainstream. Fighters are making as to what that sport is inflating and their draw.
@Racso88e MMA will never be mainstream as long as the athletes in UFC are only getting paid 13%. Francis Ngannou & Connor McGregor showed smart MMA athletes the blueprint to maximize earning potential in this era. This is why champs like O'Malley & Topria first order of business was to clout chase boxers & ignore contenders in the division. UFC is literally the only sport in the world where this is normal.
Big reason for it is Jones himself, for years he has been overly selective on fights and held up both divisions. Granted LHW had a sting of bad luck with a few champs in a row that had nothing to do with Jones at all.
Part of the reason for that is Jones taking fights with Middleweights rather than moving up to challenge Cain Velasquez or Stipe in their prime. Cormier came down to LHW 3 times to fight Jones, then Jones dodged Anthony Johnson (R.I.P.) rather than consider moving up.
I think we are over-exaggerate because same think was when Whittaker was interim champion after defeating Romero and Bisping was waiting one year for GSP
i also think Jones should've been stripped after his injury, but you guys need to chill a little lol, Aspinall is about to be only 31 in a division where historically most contenders are way older than that, what's happening to him is totally unfair but it's definitely not something that'll ruin his career, he still has a bright future ahead of him
It seriously is messed up that Toms prime years are being wasted waiting for Jones to have his stupid "legacy" fight w an old washed up Stipe, I know it's only been 4-5 months since Tom won the interim belt but fighters only get a certain amount of time to take advantage of their bodies full potential
@@adamdrach3894 the point of an interim title is to see if the holder is good enough to unify it with the champions belt, sure he can fight other people and probably will since Jon is too scared too but on paper year's down the line mfers are gonna be like "yeah but he didn't actually have the real belt it was just the interim title" plus ppv points and the popularity and money boost being a champ brings
@@chiquita683 what are you even trying to say bro? He's in his prime the f****** champion of his division refuses to fight him when Tom is the interim champion yeah it's only been 4 to 5 months but who knows how long Jones is going to be out while he's just sitting on that belt waiting to fight a washed up fighter. The champion is supposed to represent the absolute best of that division and at the moment that is unproven whether it's Jon Jones or Tom aspinal and that's the whole damn point 4-5 months so far This could easily go on a lot longer Tom will probably defend his interim belt before Jones even steps back in the cage for his stupid legacy fight
@@chiquita683 here's a better question why is Jones just sitting on a belt that is completely meaningless because he won't actually fight the best in his division and is holding up the whole division so he can fight somebody that nobody even wants to see him fight in the first place
I think its insane that fighters get to choose who they want to fight but if you left it up to a committee, it would be somewhat corrupt b/c they're not going to throw the best of the rising contenders at the champ right away b/c the more fights you can arrange before the best contender is matched up with the champ equates to more money.
@@ricoamordavila7496 Difference is that GSP was younger and better than Bisping, Jones is only demanding to fight grandpa Stipe because he's an old man who is 5 years older & coming off a KO loss 3 years ago (last win 4 years ago)
He fought twice last year, once in 2022 (for the title, and earned his title shot so he was right to wait for this one fight), twice in 2021, missed 2020 cause of Covid and twice in 2019. He said yes to every fight offered for 300, his opponents declined. You can say whatever you want about him being boring in the cage, but he’s been an active fighter and active champion (defended twice).
Yeah I was exaggerating. And I'm not blaming or having a go at Leon, I'm blaming the UFC for not getting their shit together because Leon could have and probably would have fought more often. While he's 32/33 is best time for him to face Belal and Shavkat who are both only getting better with time
@pokeyanteater598 that's the issue tho, UFC fans online are QUICK to shit on the fighters when it isn't even the fighters fault 🤣 why didn't you have a knee jerk reaction to UFC corporate for the bs they pull? Yall never put pressure on the heads of the company and wonder why they get away with so much 💩🤷🏾♂️
Great point, great video. Dana is making a mistake as are the match makers. Tom's career is suffering. But more importantly, so is the sport. Tom is potentially the most talented heavyweight MMA has seen, even if not, we and Tom, deserve to find out.
Khamzat and islam fighting once a year, Leon is ready to fight but is not getting booked, Sandhagen ready to fight but now he has to wait for Umar to recover and those are not the only cases.
I've been saying this shit since Ngannou left! Dana fumbled the Heavyweight division! How many Light Heavyweight champions got stripped due to injury in this time span? But Jon Jones is unstrippable!
Good point, I didn't even think of it like that. Hill and Jiri seemed to have no issues in giving the belt up when injured, or at least they were pressured to do so. Man I am so bored of this Jon Jones situation. Might not even watch Stipe Vs Jones now out of spite lol
@dahui58 Dana so determined to present Jon Jones as the GOAT, ever since he lost Ngannou, that it's ridiculous! Who did he fight for title? Cyril Gane who was 1 and 2 in his 3 fights before! Now he wont be stripped when everyone else is, and he gets a hand picked 40+ year old Stipe off the couch, instead of the Interim Champ!? Yes, this is all Danas doing, trying to prove UFC dont need Ngannou! The funny thing is, he really didn't have to do all this BS! Now he will let Jones fight Stipe, and no matter the outcome, both fighters will likely retire immediately afterword! Who does Aspinal fight then, if he isn't forced to defend Interim and potentially lose that!? Im not watching 40+ year old Stipe off the couch vs Jones anyway!
All MMA fans should appreciate this video. The lack of initiative shown by UFC to enforce competition in the heavyweight division is worrying, as a consumer we lose-out. John Jones is a bone fide legend of the sport, but he lingered for glory. He was given that glory, but now a credible challenger appears (Aspinell), and he has to give the opportunity. If Jones loses, his legacy will hold-up, but if he ducks it'll be in absolute tatters. That's the fight game - beat the best, or get out. Simple.
@@seanquinn8790 we dont really know about jon at heavyweight, all he did was walrus hump Gane and submit him. Submitted a guy who EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER knows has 0 ground game.
He is fighting Curtis next but why would he want to look back or even have to when you are interim champ you fight the champ, stipe or Jon should fight him
I miss the days when UFC champs were stripped of their belts for inactivity.
Tony was stripped in under a year after his injury, the UFC panders to their stars its been known since Conor. I hate the fact Jon is still champ, he should have been stripped when he couldnt fight Stipe because of the Pec injury, exact same thing that happened when Tony hurt his knee
There isn't much of an incentive to stay active when you're at the top of the divisions. The UFC could easily fix this if they actually paid their athletes 😂
There was never any consistency in regards to this it wasn't like back in the day we did things a certain way it's just depending on how popular the champion is or what's going on in the division they might do things differently.
This really cheapens the title. Unfortunately this is going to be the new norm going forward.
that all depends who it is. dana will strip anyone he wants. key word is want. he would strip jones if he wanted to, white just wont.
Dana White has wasted a lot of fighter's primes with his bs
And NOBODY wants to call UFC corporate for the BS they do wasting talent and killing fights all so they can pay their athletes 13% 🤦🏾♂️
Yea he should definitely have his champions defend even if they’re recovering from injuries. Especially bad injury’s. Conor should have fought even with that broken leg
@@Jjweeks01Injury lay-offs are totally understandable. But after the Stipe fight Jones doesn't want to fight Tom Aspinall he should either retire or be stripped of the belt.
The idea that a champion refuses to fight the interim-champ, aka 2nd best after the champ himself, is ridiculous
Dude that wasn't what he meant nobody said they should fight with injuries what I'm assuming he meant was because Jones wasn't stripped cause they are holding out for the big money fight. In any other circumstance he would've been stripped Aspinal would be the actual champ and defend his title until Jones got back and made a match for him to get the title back @@Jjweeks01
@@Jjweeks01 what are you talking about?
If the interim belt doesn't make you the mandatory then it's worthless
i agree
You shouldnt be able to win the interim belt when you are ranked 5th in the world, thats what happened to Tom. If you want the rankings to mean something, you should be equally appalled Tom got a crack at the interim title when there were 3 challengers ranked ahead of him.
Stipe is ranked 5th now, him fighting for the belt is no different to Tom ranked 5th fighting for the interim title
@@sticktothefacts8905 difference is thats tipe doesnt deserve to be ranked 5th as much as i like him hes basically semi retired at that point
@@oliviertrudel2384 The rules dont mean anything unless they are equally applied to everyone. Yours or my opinions on who deserves to be ranked are irrelevant. Otherwise the rankings are meaningless...... and wait, they already have become meaningless, which is why we are having this debate
Interim belts are worthless
This is why I have such huge respect for Jamahal and Jiri. They both vacated as soon as they became injured so the LHW division could keep moving.
I'm not sure either of them had a choice tbh. They ain't Jon Jones so they don't get the same privileges.
Jiri and Jamahal were 10000% pressured to vacate the belt cant tell me otherwise lol. They were told they both get PPV points like they were the champions when they fight for the belt again, the UFC just wont do it to Jones. Also saying Aspinall is the biggest waste is a joke dude fought in November only and became the interim there wtf Bisping did the exact same to Yoel and Whittaker he knew they would both smoked him thats why he ducked him and chose a 46yo Hendo for his first title defense lmao.
God I hate when Bisping talks about Tom when he was ducking way harder than Jon is lmao. They created an interim for Rob and he became champ when Bisping retired
@@FinnMMA bisping lost the belt to GSP mate why you talking crap 🤣🤣🤣
The UfC decide what happens, respect who you want buddy and those guys do seem to be pretty stand-up… but not for that reason!
he should move down 1 division
Jon: "You gotta get credible wins over champions"
Tom: "Okay can I fight you then? You're 1 of 2 champions left"
Jon: "No, you need credible wins over champions first"
Make it make sense please
The sense is who tf has Tom really beaten? Stop this bs already. Tom been needed to move on from looking this desperate
It is Jones we are talking about. Dude is bonafide piece of shit.
That just Jones' way of saying "I'm too scared to fight you because you look like you have a really good shot at beating me" Jones doesn't want to fight anyone that might actually beat him. That's why he ducked Ngannou until he left the UFC.
@@adamdrach3894who CAN he beat if neither of the previous champs accept a fight with him? Gane 'well Jones smashed him' and any other fighter you would say are nobodies.
@@adamdrach3894also to clarify he's beat the #3, #6, #8 and #9 in the division. Champ and #4 won't fight him so rematching Blaydes is about all he can do.
Crazy that Jones actually said "make your own legacy" to Tom while holding up yet another division. Dana is willing to sacrifice the future of heavyweight just for a single PPV with Jones vs Stipe with both fighters retiring.
That’s because Dana is going to retire on the same card and then they get to do an old man retirement orgy with all of our money
And that fight isn't even going to look as good as it could have when both men were in their prime. All because Jon dragged his feet going to HW, instead of split decisioning with Thiago and robbing Reyes he could've moved up. Everyone said Jon barely won those because "he was bored" bullshit, if he was bored he could've moved up.
@@ceedub3966 Jones got so good at getting in his own way, that he's now getting in other people's way. Truly the GOAT.
Jones vs Stipe would sell only 1/10 of what Dana thinks it would sell. He's letting an entire division go to hell over a pipedream.
@@publiusventidiusbassus1232no you dumb ass kids really don’t understand this sport at all yet. He’s allowing Jon to pick the fights he wants cause Jon has never lost to anyone. I don’t like him personally but you can’t argue with his results. Jon isn’t running from no one and it isn’t about ppv sales for this one. It’s about giving the best fighter the fight he wants.
If there's a "fake belt" in the division, it's the one that Jones is holding. The man has fought once in 4 years - that's no champ.
And did not win it by beating the champ of course
Tom hasn’t beat anyone but Sergei. He has yet to even fight Gane. He’s holding the fake belt.
@cjdig86 Tom has beaten 4 guys in the top 10 all in the first round.
@@egk1996 the heavyweight top 10 is a joke right now. If you haven’t fought the top 2, you haven’t fought anyone. Jones and Gane are the top 2.
And looking like Fury.
Jon saying he isn't impressed with tom is a joke
Yeah it's always hilarious when fighters say they aren't impressed with a fighter, but yet they continuously dodge them? Like if they aren't impressive shouldn't you take the fight then? Easy win right?
@JonnyLin7 I would be of the train of thought like uncle chael "take the easiest fights that pay the most" aspinall would generate tons of views and 'easy work'
Never trust a drug addict. Dude just had a fight while clean and it was a shit show.
not impressed, scared...
Now Jon is saying that if Tom Aspinall loses to Curtis Blaydes, that it means he will never reach a title, and his career with go away. Meanwhile, it was Curtis Blaydes who caused that severe injury to Jon Jones, when they were training together.
Jones has sat out for 7 of 13 years of his career and wants to use his inactivity as leverage of longevity towards Tom.
I never thought about his total time spent not fighting but that's insane if its true
@@RiccoVanWilder it is look it up. He wants to use his activity as leverage for an excuse to not fight Aspinall. He has none.
*16 years
Bc jones is a bum
Sat out for 7 years and still took out generations. I want to see him fight Tom but at the end of the day looking back in 20 years if Jones beats Tom it will be ‘just another contender he’s taken out’. Having the HW goat on your resume is far better.
*Jones is a COWARD! He was 30 when he beat 36 year old Cormier.* Now he’s saying he’s old at 34-35 while trying to fight Stipe whose 42-43.
All great points. This is why Dana needs to run his business, and force Jones to vacate the belt, or set a fight date. Fighters shouldn't have to give up their "prime" and make all fans suffer because someone is injured, or a coward, etc..At some point the reason doesn't matter.
If Jones doesn’t want to fight Tom that’s fine but he should BE STRIPPED of the title and jones vs stipe just a 5 round fight. UFC is just scared of hurting Jones’s feelings
Tom should be stripped. If Jones is injured and Tom has no one else in the division to fight then what will he do as champ when Jones retires?
@@chiquita683why should Aspinall be stripped when he's the only champion here who actually wants to fight???
@chiquita683 he is fighting blades now since Jones is ducking
Ufc doesn’t want Jones to have a new record. Most stripped champion of all time.
Goat stripper.
@@chiquita683 How can you be THAT imbecilic? Jfc lol 🤡
Thank you for addressing this!!!!
Its insane seeing an interim champion having to beg for a chance to re-unify the titles....
Jon is a running from a challenge...
It's insane he's happy to just sit by and beg instead of fighting Gane.
How can you blame Jon Jones? 😂 blame the UFC PDiddy style contracts
@@Kermit2khe's actually going to fight Curtis because Jon is running so what now, what other argument do you have to defend your papa jon
@@Kermit2kGane ducked him like three times. And he 100% doesn’t deserve a chance at interim AGAIN.
Frenchie can work his way back again
@@TheMightyMidgetGane also ducked blaydes.
Its simple.
Jon is ducking tom because he wants to protect his record
Possibly, he is old and had a plan in place why would he let some goofball come and dictate what he does when he has earned the right to end his career on his terms?
@@Yeshuaspupilyour hope Jon Jones lost to a journeyman called Dominick Reyes. And he’s ducking Tom Aspinall.
@@Yeshuaspupil”some goofball”, always laugh at Internet tough guys putting down men that would end you in 5 seconds.
@@Yeshuaspupilbecause that "goofball" has earned his right as number one contender clown where stipe is coming off inactivity and a knock out. Talk about being a class A idiot 🙄🤦
@@Yeshuaspupilyou realize Jon has sat out for 7 years.
Stipe has to either fight Aspinall or retire, and Jon has to fight the winner of that fight or he stripped of his title. I’m tired of waiting for grandpas to fight each other
Most logical comment
Jon Jones can't keep the pace required of a heavyweight champion without peds.
Dana White should not allow anyone to leave any title undefended for more than six months.
They’re all on peds
Jones is juiced to the gills on PEDs he's been caught several times
What about when DC took a whole year off, uninjured by the way, because he was "devestated" by his loss to Jon Jones by head kick, it ended in a no contest and DC got his title back and took even more then a year, a year and 2,3 months off, then fought again?? Against Volkan Ozdemyr, and you don't say anything about that?
@@skiddadleskidoodle4585 I could say a lot of things about a lot of things. What I said actually covers D.C.
My point is that it's been over 15 months since Jones has had his first and only heavyweight fight.
They need to push the pace. If an athlete is too injured then it's understandable to heal up, but there needs to be a title holder that can defend the belt or they are out. If they could get use to that then perhaps there will be less peds being abused.
@@crimsonmamba I disagree. Sure, there's been times when peds were far more common and times less common, but that does not mean that every single athlete uses peds.
Tom is the current heavyweight champion in my opinion.
same. the peoples champ of the heavyweight division.
@@cjskelton7603look what happened to chito, and toms leg literally locked like 12 seconds into the fight
@@cjskelton7603bruh your comment is wild 😂😂😂😂😂
@cjskelton7603 notice you say "won against him" and not "beat him". Bragging about a win via injury is pretty weird ngl
@@cjskelton7603 tom injured himself 15 sec into the fight and he is also calling out curtis. It's so easy do tell you're just a jon edgy fan boy
Tom Aspinall coming in and saving a MSG card on 8 days notice with an injury. He deserves a title shot over Stipe who has ZERO wins over anyone in the Top 15 at heavyweight and hasn’t won a fight in over 1,300 days. It’s absurd
Absolutely absurd when you put it like that. No idea why the UFC is letting this happen
It’s absurd they didn’t give him a trilogy with Francis years ago… if the UFC would’ve given him his rightful shot at the belt back, we wouldn’t be in this situation rn
@@L0RDWAR12 Because Dana wants Jon Jones to be the Goat so hes waiting to set him up with an easy heavyweight win to further cement his legacy
@@chadwellington2524then once they erase the DQ and get the NC overturned by pushing the picogram excuse, they can argue he had a perfect record
Stipe the only person jones willing to fight. They want jones as champ. That’s the size of it
The fact that people blame Tom for trying to fight the 'champion' who is ducking him for post KO, imminent retirement, Stipe and not Jones who could have easily vacated like Jiri and Jamahal, is actually unacceptable.
And gsp vacated after 34 days.
Jones fans would suck his balls dry if he asked ,they are all so gay for him that they will defend him till he dies.
Fr, he is literally interim champ therefore he should fight the champ that is Jon jones, stipe should fight the winner, simple as that.
Jones won't fight anyone he knows can beat him
A rare MMA channel voiced by a well spoken, intelligent, analytical, accurate personality. Thanks so much.
Jones saying his opponent has zero title defenses and zero credible wins is hilarious as neither does Jon. His legacy was at LHW not HW. He fought a guy who just lost and was a well rounded decision fight. Tom fought the guy on a 6 fight KO streak and KO'd him.
John Is fucking delusional at this point.
he choked out Gane in like 2 minutes do research.
@@xNSHDIf you knew how to read it would've been clear that when he said "he just fought a guy that lost a well rounded decision fight"
You would've clued in he's talking about Gane.
They offered Gane the chance for the interim belt but he wasn't there because he turned it down. He's scared of losing and wants another title shot after not facing any of the new top contenders. Same way Jones feels about Tom
@@xNSHDJones is worse, he wants to fight a 41 year old who hasn't won a fight in 3 years to then retire and say he's the best because he beat this and that. He doesn't want to smoke. Doesn't want the risk of the real challenger.
@xNSHD Jones is overrated, he gonna retire to avoid Tom 😂
when the supposed HW champ is telling the interim to get more defenses.... lol
And he has no defenses himself!
Jones waited till Nugannou left before going up to heavyweight, where it seemed only old and broken MMA stars were left now a young challenger appears he disappears again.
did you forget he beat gane for the belt? gane is an up and coming fighter.
@@ekaavyeah an upcoming fighter who before he fought Jones lost against a ngannou with no knees who outgrappled him…
@@ekaav yeah exactly when Gane is the best around you know the division is weak.
gane is also in his 30s bro@@ekaav
@@ekaavup and coming fighter? Hilarious
Wouldn't it be great if Tom could go to the PFL and fight a few contenders there and eventually he an Francis meet in a title showdown? Only thing is PFL, for some reason, doesn't allow elbows. But anyway, imagine the biggest heavyweight MMA fight _not_ being in the ufc!
The only way this situation gets sorted out is it the Jones V Stipe fight gets outright cancelled, that fight has no reason to happen besides being booked before Jon got injured, that fight only does bad things for the division, along with that it straight up isn’t fair on Tom at all
The ufc is becoming more and more like wwe everyday. When I was a new fan I was proud that meritocracy and rankings actually meant something. now a days that means nothing
Speaking on the bad match making in the ufc I also hate how they throw the older veteran fighters to the wolves instead of having them fight each other. Toney Ferguson vs Nate Diaz should have been the original fight booked not fucking kamzat chimaev vs Nate. Literally tried to sacrifice Nate, thank god kamzat missed weight that night.
Tbh rankings have NEVER meant shit… it’s ALWAYS been about how many PPVs u can sell
Ong
well, both company merged into one so yeah
Called it when wwe bought the ufc
Jon, not wanting to do a face-off, makes it look like he doesn't want to fight Tom at all.
Cus he doesn’t… lol & it’s not cus he’s scared…
@@pearleycunningham allegedly
why would he want to fight him when he retires after stipe lmao
@SCHMOBEX because he baa'd like a goat after he wrestle fucked a kick boxer. He talks about all the guys he's beat in his career but he seems to be running from Big Tom.
What do something for free he can get paid for?
This type of stuff really makes you appreciate dudes like jiri and hill. Jon is acting like he is some big dawg lineal champion like no bro, after screwing up the flow of the LHW division for multiple years you now fight for a vacant belt and screw up the flow of the HW division
Agreed. I was thinking about this the other day. If you can not fight, you should be stripped. This is bull!
Great content as always ! ❤
Jon at age 36 is ducking a 30 year old Aspinall and fans talking about him being too old.
DC at age 36 had to wait for 27 year old Jon to pass a drug test and was beyond ready to step to him.
Jon is older and clearly doesn't want to lose his perfect (yes ik his one dq loss) record and GOAT streak
WAHHHHHH WAHHHHHHHHH WAHHHHHHHHHH
@BillBagBargensonsBargerno it isnt, his pfp doesnt show an eyepoke
Lesnar was 15 years ago, they could have offered Francis $1 more and say he was the highest paid ever, not even taking into account Inflation. Dana is so full of shit sometimes
Sometimes?😂
Finally someone man enough not to censor a comment. I thought I was the only one.
@@bazitube390 ohter times he proves to be wise/reasoable, but I think the older Dana gets, the worse his judgement becomes.
Its pretty simple you cant let any of your fighters dictate there way into getting what they want, no one is indispensable if Dana buckled to Nanganou there would be an avalanche. Dana calls the shots but it looks like he's cutting his nose off to spite his face its purely buisness , how do you tell a multi multi millionaire hes got it all wrong 😂😂 good luck with that one!!!
Sorry folks but a 41 yo Stipe who hasn’t won a fight since 2020 doesn’t deserve a title shot!
Facts, and I'm a huge stipe fan.
Stipe is gonna do nothing more than get himself hurt if he ever comes back. Even his last wins were hard-earned wins against a guy Jones easily beat twice. Stipe is too injured and old, there's no point bringing him back. Let him enjoy retirement.
stipe fought a 41 year old dc and no one complained
@@GoodStuff1992facts. People just wanna be 🐑 bro
Unfortunately thats exactly whats happening folks. Tom needs to defend against gane
Loving the doorbell sounds you added at the end
This isn’t rocket science…
1) you remove the belts from those who refuse to fight
2) give the belt to aspinel
3) let other fighters with aspirations to become world champions challenge for the belts
It’s simple
Jon Jones is so worried about his “legacy” but doesn’t realize we’ll always remember him as a huge talent but an even bigger letdown. The scandals, the steroids, the eyepokes, now this.
This. This right here. If this doesn't describe Jon's career, then idk
Accurate summation of Jon
Yep I don't see him as a Legend of UFC. Too many letdowns.
I believe Jones should have lost to Reyes too
He'll go down as one of the most accurate eye-pokers in the UFC.
Jones is afraid of Ngannou and Aspinall
Lol Ngannou left .... he is the one ducking being a diva
@@pstx2816he did the best thing for his career because dana is a dickhead
@pstx2816 Open your eyes!!! The Whole reason why Ngannou left was because of Dana White!!! it's the same reason why we are seeing many other UFC fighters quit bc of their strict contracts with the company! UFC fighters go to boxing which pays way more than their contracts! I have a gut feeling Mcgregor will be the next one to leave.
@@pstx2816nah not at all goofy. Francis waited 3 years before he left. He was supposed to fight jones before gane but your daddy said he needed more time 😂
@@pstx2816and aspinall??? We have an interim champ now and he only wants to fight grandpa stipe 😂 you Jon jones fan boys are delusional
I’m tired of hearing jones vs stipe would sell more than jones vs aspinall. It’s flat out not true
Actually it is true. Especially since MMA Guru fans that want Tom dont buy PPVs
It's true. Flat out.
i couldn't give less of a fuck about aspinall
@@mattreese-7 yes you'd rather see older, slower, much less dangerous fighters because of shit that's on their wiki page. What is actually wrong with you?
@@McGeezlehes a jon jones meat eater
Once upon a time, Anderson Silva fought 11 times in a 3 year stretch, Jon Jones fought 9 times in a 3 year stretch, GSP fought 9 times in a 3 year stretch, all as champions by the way.
What Alex is doing right now was normal 15 years ago. It's lame that this is the state of MMA.
That was a brilliant video ❤
Thank you for making this lads, it's been doing a lot of us MMA fans heads in.
I cannot believe the UFC isn't more distraught from letting the linneal walk. They dont have anyones best interests at heart, fans or fighters.
Wtf are they going to do about it? It's a business, and they can't always depend on superstars. If you lose one of your best employees, you don't mourn their loss, you keep the machine running so fighters can keep moving up
they cant force it. Guys like Jones have a lot of power.
I legit forgot that Jones ever came back
well he came back and wrecked gane... people cant give jones shit for being injured considering this is only the 2nd time in like 15 years worth of fighting
@@JG-ge3ui Gane made Ngannou look like Khabib.... he legit has the shittiest ground game I've ever seen even for a heavywheight
@@JG-ge3ui people dont care about his injury, it's moreso him bitching out of Ngannou for 3 years, and now bitching out again
Jones, who is he?
That fight was rigged I think. Seems so fishy Gane layed down like that
Bravo. On point. Subbed
Dana has created this problem by ignoring his own ranking system. Fighters basically choose who to fight and when to fight. Ultimately you end up with a champion who has not fought most of the ranked fighters in his division. Izzy, Usman, Volk, Valentino, and Nganou cleared their divisions and ultimately paid the price for being so active. Alex Pereira will suffer the same fate soon. Most fighters are now taking the easy way out. O'Malley just announced that he is fighting in 2025 and has already cherry-picked his next opponent. That is the current state of the UFC.
I respect Izzy as an active champion, but not as impressed with him as the others. Whenever he fought at less than 4 months turnaround his opponent had less time to prepare than him by a couple of weeks or a full month
@LunaticKing-fj3hp Merab denied a title shot to Fight Sean at first because he wanted Aljo to get the rematch first because they're friends it's crazy.
@LunaticKing-fj3hp He fought Chito because Merab was pussyfooting until they finally lit a fire under his ass and Aljo told him to take the belt back for him and to stop being a bitch and go for it
Defend are vacate should be the UFC's motto.
You'll notice the division hold ups. The belt camping, the injures and delays. All are a John Jones hallmark. Hes stalling any division he gets in. Only fights 1-2 per career. Something ALWAYS happens where he cant have a fight and sort the belts out. Hes lilke the best employee you got who always calls in sick.
True but the top of HW has ALWAYS been slow & inactive… that division has basically never had a very active champ…
I’m so glad Tom got in Jon’s face and showed whos the bigger man … literally
How ? Stop being delusional he tried that shit by asking for a face off and even tried to put his hand on Jon but Jones wasn’t having none of that shit
@@castielemmanuel9915Jon doesn’t want the smoke, stop glazing him. Jon Jones fans are absolute dipshits, dude could run over their mothers while drunk driving and they’d still say at least he’s still undefeated
@@castielemmanuel9915 How's he delusional, Tom is literally bigger than jones
All your points were 100% true no bias all facts 💯
As always, top video
This all started when Jones got the totally unjustified title shot, in a division where he had never fought before... After being out of the sport for years. Dana only gave him the fight to try and make people forget about Ngannou and the way he screwed that whole situation up.
1. There was no champion
2. Jones has been undefeated in the ufc and the lhw king for 15 years…
He deserved the shot. And regardless, he made easy work of Gane who I think could beat Tom 🤷♂️
@@timsimpson6019 He's one of the most overrated champions in UFC history. He's not only a drug cheat, but also cheats in the fights too by constantly poking people in the eyes.
The only reason he's been as successful as his has, is because he's nearly always fighting people way smaller than he is, that he has a massive reach advantage over. When he's fought anyone who's the same kind of size as him he's really struggled.
Everyone knows that he really lost that fight against Reyes. That's why he was too scared to rematch him. Also you could argue that he lost the first Gustafsson fight too.
He should have been fighting at heavyweight from the start. Then when her was supposed to move up he wouldn't fight Ngannou, because he knew he'd lose. He only came back as he knew Gane was an easy win, because he has no wrestling.
Now he won't fight Aspinal, as he knows he can't win that fight. Even though he should be the next in line as he's the Interim Champion. Instead he just wants to fight old man Stipe, who lets be honest is way past his best and is not going to put up much of a fight at all.
@@timsimpson6019 He did not deserve the title shot.
Man, imagine being Reyes who peaked in a loss to Jones. The guy put up such a fight and had a lot of heart against a juggernaut, it would have been nice to see him win
@@HonestWatchReviewsHWRGood comment.
wishing all the best for my boy Tom, one of the most genuine people you'll ever see and a certified killer at the same time
They're probably regretting the interim belt match honestly. It's only causing confusion
Especially when their interim champ won't fight in the division
@@chiquita683 It's not on him to defend an interim, they have to unify. I don't want another Tony, Conor, and Khabib situation. I get putting on superstar fights for PPV, but not at the expense of deserving contenders IMO.
@@chiquita683why fight the division when he's beaten the top of the division excluding Blades and Gane is ducking him?
@@chiquita683Why won't the champion face the interim and instead wants to cherry pick the only person on the opposite side of 40 in the rankings that hasn't fought in THREE YEARS.
Things that make you go hmmm
@@chiquita683And it was a brutal loss 3 years ago.
We need an entire video on what Toe Hold really looks like 👍
Jon is TERRIFIED of Tom.
Destroying the division for the most pointless title fight in UFC history. Pure Dana.
Part of Jon Jones’ sociopathic gameplan is to make his opponents wait as long as possible lol
That implies that he's making Tom wait to fight him at an ideal time, when in reality Jones has no interest in facing him. He knows he'd get beaten, so he'll take grandpa Stipe and then retire
He's just a scared coward
Thanks for having my back Bayliun! I will get that pesky Jones...
Yahushua HaMashiach is the Truth
It's up to him. My humble advice would to be to start calling out everyone else in the HW smash every prospect and can and put the pressure on the ufc to do something.
Jones doesn't wanna take a fight that will involve peeing in a cup coz he's a drug cheat.
Yeah because he doesn't have to pee in the cup to fight stipe right? what a dumb thing to say..
Jones was *terrified* of Ngannou to the point where he literally retired for years just to avoid being in the same division with him and now he's running from Aspinal because he doesn't want there to be a chance of his glass house breaking. He'd rather fight a 72yr old veteran to retire and call himself GOAT what a joke.
So terrified of the man who got taken to a razor thin decision by the man he choked out in 2 minutes.
@@aaronerickson8878 These clowns are a joke and just hate greatness. The same way they did with Khabib.
@@leltrash5683 Well he beat all their favorite fighters for like a decade. Some wounds just don't heal.
@@aaronerickson8878Eh, doesnt matter anyway, dude cant pass a test to save his life, unless of course he hides under the ring. Not a Goat in any sense of the word.
@@higharchbishopofteatasting6217 but he's still the best fighter and it isn't close
He can clearly beat Jon Jones
LOL
Jones knows this too. That’s why he’s so set on fighting grandpa Stipe
😂
Jones knows how hard he hits
@@johnbutler7567fgt
Jones is clearly scared of Aspinall
@WontHarmYou damn right 👊🏻
Well said mate, 100% agree!!
Jones and Stipe have zero interest in fighting Aspinal, the HW division is now an absolute joke. Dana needs to wake up
So ufc fails in the same way boxing does. So the near monopoly paying fighters way less doesn’t provide any better a competition? Crazy🙄
Great vid Alex!
Thanks man!! 🎉
@@Bayliunwho the fuck is that guy
Why hold up the division from active fighters over fighters who have been inactive for years? One who was knocked out in his last fight, hasn't fought in years, and the other who's spent more time in a jail cell than he has an octagon over the years.
Both are more than likely gonna retire after the fight anyways, heavyweight is such a joke rn
UFC: wE aLwAyS gIve FigHtS to oUr fighters
Tbh that's the problem, the UFC are keen to give Tom *fights* when there's only one *fight* the interim champ should get, and the 'undisputed champ' who should be unifying the belts demands to instead fight a 42yo grampa Stipe, then retire and allow his fanboys to say that Tom would have been 'too easy to bother fighting'
bro why ppl assuming Stipe sucks just bc he got KOd by the best machine ever in the HW division? @@jamesthompson9003
I dont even like francis all that much, but you gotta respect who stipe is just bc he slurs like CRAZY when speaking doesn't mean he can't fight
Haven’t even watched the video yet and gave it a like because this topic has been bugging me!
We have the worst lineup of champs/challengers and inactivity from each in all the years I've been watching
I feel like Blaydes is a pretty good alternative since Jones and Stipe won’t
I feel like they should’ve given that rematch as soon as he was healthy
8:01
How will that be a "massive seller"?
Who genuinely wants to see that fight in 2024/25?!
It makes more sense to stage it in a Retirement Village in Florida then in Vegas!
Bro it was literally breaking presale records for ticket prices lol
The UFC, like Uber, wants employees without having to dish out any benefits. 🤢
Bisping looking like Bubbles in those glasses! 😆
Tom looks like a guard in fable 1
Jon should be stripped. If he wants a farewell fight against a legend, fair enough, but it shouldn't be for the title. If he ducks Tom it'll be one more asterix against his name.
Nah, the Stipe ship sailed 5 years ago. Entertaining that fight is actually despicable TBH, the man should retire after passing the torch to Francis.
Light Heavy and Heavyweight Division have been reletively weak for some time now.
The best athletes in the world above 200 pounds are busy making real money boxing, playing football, playing hockey etc
@@MojoMoneyMajorthat's another topic there are levels to everything. Lesnar was making 2.5 million per match. For a 3 round 5 min fight. It's a grueling sport, gotta be active gotta get with the crowd. MMA is relatively new in comparison. This isn't its peek yet. Just in recent years it's picked up in popularity. It took time as well. More people watching, more popularity more fame more money. This is the begining of UFC being mainstream. Fighters are making as to what that sport is inflating and their draw.
@Racso88e MMA will never be mainstream as long as the athletes in UFC are only getting paid 13%. Francis Ngannou & Connor McGregor showed smart MMA athletes the blueprint to maximize earning potential in this era. This is why champs like O'Malley & Topria first order of business was to clout chase boxers & ignore contenders in the division. UFC is literally the only sport in the world where this is normal.
Big reason for it is Jones himself, for years he has been overly selective on fights and held up both divisions. Granted LHW had a sting of bad luck with a few champs in a row that had nothing to do with Jones at all.
Part of the reason for that is Jones taking fights with Middleweights rather than moving up to challenge Cain Velasquez or Stipe in their prime.
Cormier came down to LHW 3 times to fight Jones, then Jones dodged Anthony Johnson (R.I.P.) rather than consider moving up.
I think we are over-exaggerate because same think was when Whittaker was interim champion after defeating Romero and Bisping was waiting one year for GSP
The only reason why people care so much is because they want to see jon lose and tom is way more like able
@@sousgod5017 yeah definitely, but I think it would have been the same in 2017
i also think Jones should've been stripped after his injury, but you guys need to chill a little lol, Aspinall is about to be only 31 in a division where historically most contenders are way older than that, what's happening to him is totally unfair but it's definitely not something that'll ruin his career, he still has a bright future ahead of him
I completely agree, Tom is probably my favorite fighter right now
he has the Curtis rematch that he lost from an injury
And Ciryl Gane 👍
It seriously is messed up that Toms prime years are being wasted waiting for Jones to have his stupid "legacy" fight w an old washed up Stipe, I know it's only been 4-5 months since Tom won the interim belt but fighters only get a certain amount of time to take advantage of their bodies full potential
He can fight other people 😂
@@adamdrach3894 the point of an interim title is to see if the holder is good enough to unify it with the champions belt, sure he can fight other people and probably will since Jon is too scared too but on paper year's down the line mfers are gonna be like "yeah but he didn't actually have the real belt it was just the interim title" plus ppv points and the popularity and money boost being a champ brings
@@Matthewcoxinsidetruecrim.eThe point is why is he wasting his prime years
@@chiquita683 what are you even trying to say bro? He's in his prime the f****** champion of his division refuses to fight him when Tom is the interim champion yeah it's only been 4 to 5 months but who knows how long Jones is going to be out while he's just sitting on that belt waiting to fight a washed up fighter. The champion is supposed to represent the absolute best of that division and at the moment that is unproven whether it's Jon Jones or Tom aspinal and that's the whole damn point 4-5 months so far This could easily go on a lot longer Tom will probably defend his interim belt before Jones even steps back in the cage for his stupid legacy fight
@@chiquita683 here's a better question why is Jones just sitting on a belt that is completely meaningless because he won't actually fight the best in his division and is holding up the whole division so he can fight somebody that nobody even wants to see him fight in the first place
I think its insane that fighters get to choose who they want to fight but if you left it up to a committee, it would be somewhat corrupt b/c they're not going to throw the best of the rising contenders at the champ right away b/c the more fights you can arrange before the best contender is matched up with the champ equates to more money.
I didn't realize how much this is going to remind me of how I'm pissed at the UFC because of this. I have to come back to this one later LOL
THIS IS RIDICULOUS BISPING DID THE SAME THING TO WHITTAKER
And your point? You just proved UFC does this. Good job genius. U played yourself..
@@ricoamordavila7496 Difference is that GSP was younger and better than Bisping, Jones is only demanding to fight grandpa Stipe because he's an old man who is 5 years older & coming off a KO loss 3 years ago (last win 4 years ago)
Leon Edwards as well, the guy is in his prime and fighting once a year
They do this to every fighter they don't like though... Leon at least defended his belt twice already
Leon has accepted everyone the UFC offered
He fought twice last year, once in 2022 (for the title, and earned his title shot so he was right to wait for this one fight), twice in 2021, missed 2020 cause of Covid and twice in 2019. He said yes to every fight offered for 300, his opponents declined. You can say whatever you want about him being boring in the cage, but he’s been an active fighter and active champion (defended twice).
Yeah I was exaggerating. And I'm not blaming or having a go at Leon, I'm blaming the UFC for not getting their shit together because Leon could have and probably would have fought more often. While he's 32/33 is best time for him to face Belal and Shavkat who are both only getting better with time
@pokeyanteater598 that's the issue tho, UFC fans online are QUICK to shit on the fighters when it isn't even the fighters fault 🤣 why didn't you have a knee jerk reaction to UFC corporate for the bs they pull? Yall never put pressure on the heads of the company and wonder why they get away with so much 💩🤷🏾♂️
Francis got knocked out the exact same way he knocked Stipe out lol
In boxing, against one of the top 2 in the world. What exactly is your point? 😂 So dense
@@dethdaemon
You missed the point, you have downs though so it's ok.
@@Rizzbullawhat was the point
@@dethdaemon Joshua is probably 3rd or 4th in the division.
Great point, great video. Dana is making a mistake as are the match makers. Tom's career is suffering. But more importantly, so is the sport. Tom is potentially the most talented heavyweight MMA has seen, even if not, we and Tom, deserve to find out.
Shows wt a cruel humanbeing Jones is he is totally feeling ok by ruining another man's career
Khamzat and islam fighting once a year, Leon is ready to fight but is not getting booked, Sandhagen ready to fight but now he has to wait for Umar to recover and those are not the only cases.
The longer jones holds on to the title without fighting,the more his legacy is gonna get tarnished.
Im surprised dana isn't doing anything bout it.
Dude just announced he is back and the UFC needs to get a date for him and Stipe
@@xftbllplyr2091 giving him stipe isn't doing anyone any favor.
Dude needs to fight a legit contender.
@@austintgod9621 I’m pretty sure Stipe is happy as hell getting an undeserved title shot. So that’s a huge favor for him.
I've been saying this shit since Ngannou left! Dana fumbled the Heavyweight division! How many Light Heavyweight champions got stripped due to injury in this time span? But Jon Jones is unstrippable!
Good point, I didn't even think of it like that. Hill and Jiri seemed to have no issues in giving the belt up when injured, or at least they were pressured to do so. Man I am so bored of this Jon Jones situation. Might not even watch Stipe Vs Jones now out of spite lol
@dahui58 Dana so determined to present Jon Jones as the GOAT, ever since he lost Ngannou, that it's ridiculous! Who did he fight for title? Cyril Gane who was 1 and 2 in his 3 fights before! Now he wont be stripped when everyone else is, and he gets a hand picked 40+ year old Stipe off the couch, instead of the Interim Champ!? Yes, this is all Danas doing, trying to prove UFC dont need Ngannou! The funny thing is, he really didn't have to do all this BS! Now he will let Jones fight Stipe, and no matter the outcome, both fighters will likely retire immediately afterword! Who does Aspinal fight then, if he isn't forced to defend Interim and potentially lose that!? Im not watching 40+ year old Stipe off the couch vs Jones anyway!
One Fighting Championship? Sounds like the next direction.
All MMA fans should appreciate this video. The lack of initiative shown by UFC to enforce competition in the heavyweight division is worrying, as a consumer we lose-out. John Jones is a bone fide legend of the sport, but he lingered for glory. He was given that glory, but now a credible challenger appears (Aspinell), and he has to give the opportunity. If Jones loses, his legacy will hold-up, but if he ducks it'll be in absolute tatters. That's the fight game - beat the best, or get out. Simple.
Tom is the most skilled most impressive HW I've every seen.
Bas rutten? Cain Velasquez? Jon? Lol
@@seanquinn8790 we dont really know about jon at heavyweight, all he did was walrus hump Gane and submit him. Submitted a guy who EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER knows has 0 ground game.
Heavyweight division is a joke right now. Aspinall is the true champion
Idk to me Jon winning a vacant title and having zero defenses is enough to get stripped
Jones is gonna make that championship money as long as he can. Ufc is such a dirty business now. Its went downhill fast.
Go away Jones. Retire
Why isn't Tom using his time to beat Gane and avenge his loss to Blaydes?
Does he make the fights air rankings?
He is fighting Curtis next but why would he want to look back or even have to when you are interim champ you fight the champ, stipe or Jon should fight him
Tom actually did agree to fight blaydes. Gane on the other hand has ducked both Tom and Blaydes while being 0-2 in title fights.
That's all he is. He's the #1 contender with a fake belt. @MR_WICK_HEADKICK..
Him and blaydes have agreed to fight again, keep up mate