Between 43 year old Stipe and Alex Pereira, who is the tougher match up?

[TerraRayzing]

Should be Stipe but man, I really don't think he will be anywhere close to the same as he was in his prime. The DC trilogy took a lot out of him and that Francis KO likely ended his chin/durability for good. On the other hand there is Alex, who might not be as complete of a fighter as Stipe but he is also far less damaged and has been active, unlike Stipe who has been out for years.
If you had to pick one with the best chance of beating Jones, who would it be?

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Probably Stipe because he is more complete. If Alex fought Jon I could see Jon just submitting Alex and getting him Gane quickly. Where as with Stipe it wouldn't be as easy.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

If Jon's so great let him fight them both at once.


*Also, I agree with TS final analysis

 

[TerraRayzing]

Probably Stipe because he is more complete. If Alex fought Jon I could see Jon just submitting Alex and getting him Gane quickly. Where as with Stipe it wouldn't be as easy.

Stipe has been hurt so often. Got knocked out in the first DC fight, rocked a few times in the rematch and while he was okay in the trilogy, he definitely took some damage. Then Francis put him out cold.
If he has the durability of old Stipe then I think Jones would be in for a hell of a fight but 3 years off, damaged and 43? Time and circumstances not on his side.

 

[Bojka]

Jones took like 3 years to gain the weight for HW. If he fights Pereira at HW that's meaningless.

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

Should be Stipe but man, I really don't think he will be anywhere close to the same as he was in his prime. The DC trilogy took a lot out of him and that Francis KO likely ended his chin/durability for good. On the other hand there is Alex, who might not be as complete of a fighter as Stipe but he is also far less damaged and has been active, unlike Stipe who has been out for years.
If you had to pick one with the best chance of beating Jones, who would it be?

We saw how Pereira deals with fouls, so Jon's secret weapon of eye pokes plays right into Alex's hands, specifically the left hook

>>>

 

[TerraRayzing]

We saw how Pereira deals with fouls, so Jon's secret weapon of eye pokes plays right into Alex's hands, specifically the left hook

>>>

I'm curious how Jones would deal with his leg kicks too. I don't think Jones has dealt with a kicker as brutal as Alex and while many don't kick Jones due to the wrestling threat, I don't Alex gives a crap.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Stipe has been hurt so often. Got knocked out in the first DC fight, rocked a few times in the rematch and while he was okay in the trilogy, he definitely took some damage. Then Francis put him out cold.
If he has the durability of old Stipe then I think Jones would be in for a hell of a fight but 3 years off, damaged and 43? Time and circumstances not on his side.

Yeah, it's certainly hard to tell what kind of Stipe is going to show up to the fight. For all we know maybe the lay off rejuvenated him a little bit and put some life back into his chin. But on the other hand he could come back and get absolutely crunched.

 

[Phisher]

Call me crazy, but I think that even a shopworn Stipe is a bad match up for Jones and could be a cherrypick gone wrong.

Jones has historically struggled striking with guys who have similar heights and reaches, and Stipe is good boxer and a solid wrestler.

Since the fight was announced, I've thought that it might turn out being much more difficult for Jones than people expect.

Jones is now deep into his 30s, has been very inactive over the past several years, is coming of the first serious injury of his career and looks like shit physically after doing a bunch of partying. All of those factors are going to balance things out for Stipe.

 

[Human Bass]

Call me crazy, but I think that even a shopworn Stipe is a bad match up for Jones and could be a cherrypick gone wrong.

Jones has historically struggled striking with guys who have similar heights and reaches, and Stipe is good boxer and a solid wrestler.

Since the fight was announced, I've thought that it might turn out being much more difficult for Jones than people expect.

Jones is now deep into his 30s, has been very inactive over the past several years, is coming of the first serious injury of his career and looks like shit physically after doing a bunch of partying. All of those factors are going to balance things out for Stipe.

2019 Stipe would be the fav. But time is a thing...

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Should be Stipe but man, I really don't think he will be anywhere close to the same as he was in his prime. The DC trilogy took a lot out of him and that Francis KO likely ended his chin/durability for good. On the other hand there is Alex, who might not be as complete of a fighter as Stipe but he is also far less damaged and has been active, unlike Stipe who has been out for years.
If you had to pick one with the best chance of beating Jones, who would it be?

Tom Aspinall

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Call me crazy, but I think that even a shopworn Stipe is a bad match up for Jones and could be a cherrypick gone wrong.

Jones has historically struggled striking with guys who have similar heights and reaches, and Stipe is good boxer and a solid wrestler.

Since the fight was announced, I've thought that it might turn out being much more difficult for Jones than people expect.

Jones is now deep into his 30s, has been very inactive over the past several years, is coming of the first serious injury of his career and looks like shit physically after doing a bunch of partying. All of those factors are going to balance things out for Stipe.

Stipes biggest problem would be that he's a notoriously slow starter. Jones is a fast starter. He doesn't need much of a feeling out process to put hands on his opponent. He sees openings fast and makes decisions quickly. Could be bad for Stipe.

 

[whocares]

As much as this fight shouldn't be happening, nobody actually knows what Stipe will look like in his return. Honestly all will be forgiven if he's competitive. If not we burn this motherfucker down. I see a Jones/Pereira match going similar to Gane, except Brazilians don't quit as easily as the French.

 

[TheMaster]

Its all academic. Nothing Jones does will ever get him close to being the greatest at HW. His best chance was to have manned up and fought DC at HW, off steroids. Alas, he failed to take that chance.
His next best bet was to have fought Ngannou instead of ducking and hiding for 3 years until he left the UFC. Alas, he failed.

Fighting a LHW or an aged HW whose chin has been cracked does little for his legacy.
Jones screwed himself, but at least gets to keep his 'undefeated' record.

 

[markys00]

Stipe

 

[Cobra 03]

I don't think Miocic has a chance against Jones at this stage of his career. Aspinall is young, hungry, and has a good ground game. I would say he definitely has the better chance at winning.

 

[PeterGriffin]

This is actually a tough choice. My heart wants to pick Miocic but my brain tells me Pereira.

Pereira rolls with Texeira, so I would be shocked if his grappling was complete shit. If Jones gets tagged hard or pieced up standing, he's certainly going to try to take it to the ground. No one has seen enough of Alex's ground game to know how that plays out.

The ONLY redeeming quality I can see in Miocic is that he is a firefighter. Most firefighters I have known stay in good physical shape because they want to, and not because they have to. They know their conditioning can mean the difference between life and death... either their own, their co-workers, or someone in need.

That being said, staying in physical shape does nothing for the chin, or the ability to take a good shot or sustained abuse. Stipe will be 42 and Jones 37 by the time the octagon door closes behind them.

Now, I can't speak to what it is like fighting at 42, but I can tell you for sure that it was a hell of a lot harder to get up from a solid bodycheck at 42 than it was at 37. People's will to win lasts way longer than their bodies can perform.

I like Miocic, I always have. I want him to win, and in the extremely unlikely event he shocked the world, it would be right up there with Serra beating GSP. Realistically? I think hell will freeze over first.

Pereira has been a beast. Fights often, and I don't think he fears anything or anyone. Doesn't seem to care about trash talk or get caught up in drama. Doesn't seem to give a shit what others think about him either.

If the UFC was hell-bent on making the Jones/Miocic fight happen, they NEVER should have created the interim HW title in the first place. The UFC fucked this entire situation up, all for the sake of marketing one single fight.

If Jones simply unified the titles by beating Aspinall first (at MSG in November), he could fight Alex, or Stipe or even fucking Dana White and there would be no outcry at all. It would be the natural progression of the division and belts.

Hell, if Jones dispatched Aspinall easily and took no damage, the Pereira fight could happen in as little as 3 or 4 months later. If Alex gets another LHW KO finish in the meantime, and it becomes a collision course between two killers that is quite marketable.

I know, I know... a lot of ifs, but damn if that wouldn't make for a way to kick off 2025.

 

[IronGolem007]

Call me crazy, but I think that even a shopworn Stipe is a bad match up for Jones and could be a cherrypick gone wrong.

Jones has historically struggled striking with guys who have similar heights and reaches, and Stipe is good boxer and a solid wrestler.

Since the fight was announced, I've thought that it might turn out being much more difficult for Jones than people expect.

Jones is now deep into his 30s, has been very inactive over the past several years, is coming of the first serious injury of his career and looks like shit physically after doing a bunch of partying. All of those factors are going to balance things out for Stipe.

I concur.

Jones has also never faced anyone with Stipe's power ...

 

[Herwald]

I don't think even a half a century old Stipe's chin is any worse than Alex's (which isn't bad, btw, that Izzy KO looked as bad as it did cause of his head bouncing off the canvas). Grappling defense and strength is on Stipe's side as well. But speed, agility, leg kicks, most likely punching power as well - Alex is superior.

So it's quite even, but AP is literally the definition of a puncher's chance here. Meanwhile Stipe is legit good all around and can power through a lot. I guess I'd favor Stipe as the tougher fight.

I'd like to see both, though.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Both present different problems for Jon

I just don’t see Alex easily getting Jon off of him if he were to get taken down, whereas I see Stipe able to “stand-up” from some pretty bad places while on his back due to his size/experience

All its gonna take is two leg-kicks and Jon will be closing distance, clinching, and just making life hell for Alex ultimately grounding him and being heavy on top