Equitable and Fair Solution to the Jon Jones HW Debacle

[Tweak896]

Jones never had an injury and sat out a year. I'm not sure how bad this injury is, but it doesn't sound like it will be a full year. Other champs have done this before. Because of Jones' history its a no brainer to let him unfortunately. The HW title is cursed anyways, something bad will always happen. You won't see anyone put on long streaks in the division anymore.

 

[DjolexMTL]

What about Gane

Got crushed in 1 minute and has only beaten Spivak since. He doesn't deserve to be near the belt for now

 

[Psychojoe86]

This whole situation is a farce. Literally every step has been nonsensical and delegitimized what should be the most prestigious title in combat sports:

- The UFC let the true HW champion walk away and tried to convince people that Francis was ducking Jones (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between a LHW who hadn't fought in 3 years and a hand-picked opponent who had just lost a title fight against a one-legged Francis (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between Jones and a retired Stipe who hadn't won in 3 years and was flatlined in his last fight (complete nonsense).
- Manufacturing yet another fake interim belt with zero intention of ever unifying it (complete nonsense).

At this point, I say keep the circus going. Have Aspinall defend the interim title against Brock at 300.

Tbh I think this is an understatement. It’s far worse for the sport.

UFC is charging tons of money for ppv, live events, and advertising for these fighters. In reality, it’s all propaganda now. Essentially the entire product in the heavyweight division is a sham.

Hopefully ppl will continue to join in support against this because it’s a huge scam.

 

[blaseblase]

Theres no "debacle". The only people unhappy are Jones haters are they are going to be unhappy anyway cause Jones will never lose and thats what they want and will never get.

Jones will fight Stipe for the regular belt and retire. Aspinall will then be promoted to regular champion. I don't understand why this concept is so hard for people to grasp. As Jones himself said NO ONE IS FORCING ASPINALL TO NOT FIGHT. He can fight other HWs and get an interim title defense.

If Jones isn't going to fight contenders, he shouldn't have the title. There's nothing stopping him from pursuing his retirement fight with Stipe without the title.

Lol at fucking up Aspinall's title run and future legacy for this meaningless fight. In your scenario he racks up 2 interim title defenses while Jones is injured. Then he gets promoted to regular champ and has another title defense. By all rights he would have tied the title defense record and be neck and neck with Stipe for UFC GOAT.

Except not, because 2 of those would technically be interim title defenses. So he would have to put together a full FIVE TITLE DEFENSES, an unprecedented historic run to even be considered in the running with Stipe. And all over a dumb technicality.

 

[ferrisjso]

If Jones isn't going to fight contenders, he shouldn't have the title. There's nothing stopping him from pursuing his retirement fight with Stipe without the title.

Lol at fucking up Aspinall's title run and future legacy for this meaningless fight. In your scenario he racks up 2 interim title defenses while Jones is injured. Then he gets promoted to regular champ and has another title defense. By all rights he would have tied the title defense record and be neck and neck with Stipe for UFC GOAT.

Except not, because 2 of those would technically be interim title defenses. So he would have to put together a full FIVE TITLE DEFENSES, an unprecedented historic run to even be considered in the running with Stipe. And all over a dumb technicality. Aspinall is the real champion and should be holding the real title RIGHT NOW.

Hey if you don't want to count interim title defenses as "real" defenses thats a you problem. In reality he'd have the record after 4 defences regardless it they were interim. You're taking your own incorrect view on the interim title and using it as a justifcation for why Aspinall NEEDS to have the real belt right this moment.

 

[Captain Herb]

Imagine all the pain and suffering in the world and being outraged about the UFCs HW division having 2 champions. What an outrage. I do not understand how you contain your rage.

How dare you be on this website discussing MMA when there is so much pain and suffering in the world. Get off right now and go fix it.

 

[Luvhawky]

Kinda funny a sherdoger telling Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic to get their shit together

Do you actually think Jones has his shit together?

 

[Trabaho]

Do you actually think Jones has his shit together?

As a fighter always
In regards to fighting Tom, he shouldn't care.

 

[JKS]

Thats OK...which is not is maintaining the belt around jons waist

There is no issue with keeping the belt with Jon. He won the belt, he was scheduled to defend it the same year and got injured. It happens all the time. It's not like Jon is avoiding defending the belt, whether he fights Stipe or Tom, he is still fighting and defending his title. The fact it's Stipe is more UFC politics and the desire of Jon and Stipe to fight each other. And those two along with the promotion deserve that fight.

I have no problem with Jon vs Stipe because I have a complete understanding of that fight and the need for it to happen. I do have a problem with Jon on the other hand not fighting Tom after he beats Stipe.

 

[BowserJr]

This whole situation is a farce. Literally every step has been nonsensical and delegitimized what should be the most prestigious title in combat sports:

- The UFC let the true HW champion walk away and tried to convince people that Francis was ducking Jones (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between a LHW who hadn't fought in 3 years and a hand-picked opponent who had just lost a title fight against a one-legged Francis (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between Jones and a retired Stipe who hadn't won in 3 years and was flatlined in his last fight (complete nonsense).
- Manufacturing yet another fake interim belt with zero intention of ever unifying it (complete nonsense).

At this point, I say keep the circus going. Have Aspinall defend the interim title against Brock at 300.

You didn't know it's the Ultimate Fighting Circus?

 

[markg171]

Get your woke equitable crap out of here.

Fighting's a meritocracy, not communism.

 

[markg171]

This whole situation is a farce. Literally every step has been nonsensical and delegitimized what should be the most prestigious title in combat sports:

- The UFC let the true HW champion walk away and tried to convince people that Francis was ducking Jones (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between a LHW who hadn't fought in 3 years and a hand-picked opponent who had just lost a title fight against a one-legged Francis (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between Jones and a retired Stipe who hadn't won in 3 years and was flatlined in his last fight (complete nonsense).
- Manufacturing yet another fake interim belt with zero intention of ever unifying it (complete nonsense).

At this point, I say keep the circus going. Have Aspinall defend the interim title against Brock at 300.

Francis is ducking even competing in PFL's madeup Super Fight League, but please tell me more about how he totally didn't duck the MMA GOAT.

 

[Luvhawky]

As a fighter always
In regards to fighting Tom, he shouldn't care.

I wouldn't completely say that as a fighter, he still has popped for PEDs and received suspensions for it. To me he doesn't have his act together in any aspect, that being said, most of those situations aren't relevant to fighting. And I do think he is the goat despite popping for PEDs.

 

[markg171]

Jones is the champ. Have everyone else fight each other and the guy at the top fights jones.
No reason to strip him. Aspinalls title is ridiculous. Just scrap boys. Just scrap

People are acting like Aspinall has a legit interim title and not one created 10 days out to save a major PPV solely because Jon couldn't fight on said PPV. Where Tom didn't even fight Jon's challenger but the backup fighter for them which is the entire reason we still have Jon vs Stipe on the table.

Don't get me wrong, he's the legitimate #1 contender and should be fighting Jon instead of Stipe. That doesn't mean we should be talking about stripping Jones when he's set to return this summer. It's not like Tom ever even beat Gane. Jon does still have the legitimate belt and beat the legitimate better fighter (rankings wise) than Tom. Tom's done nothing to support overthrowing Jones when Jones will be back and has his defence still in place.

It's mostly just people who've been waiting since 2011 for Jones to stop being on top. They can't beat him in the cage so they try and beat him outside of it.

 

[Clark Rogers]

I feel like the "debacle" only exists in the extreme corners of fandom, like here.

I also feel like we've seen 4 billion threads talking about the exact same thing, over and over, maybe with one slight difference in the point being made. We're seriously beating a dead horse, like it or not.

 

[JohnMandick]

This whole situation is a farce. Literally every step has been nonsensical and delegitimized what should be the most prestigious title in combat sports:

- The UFC let the true HW champion walk away and tried to convince people that Francis was ducking Jones (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between a LHW who hadn't fought in 3 years and a hand-picked opponent who had just lost a title fight against a one-legged Francis (complete nonsense).
- Title fight between Jones and a retired Stipe who hadn't won in 3 years and was flatlined in his last fight (complete nonsense).
- Manufacturing yet another fake interim belt with zero intention of ever unifying it (complete nonsense).

At this point, I say keep the circus going. Have Aspinall defend the interim title against Brock at 300.

100%. It's why I made this:

 

[Domitian]

Strip Jones and he never fights again. He wants one fight and one fight only. Is the UFC going to throw away that one last payday? No.

Tom should fight Gane.

 

[amok attitude]

There is no issue with keeping the belt with Jon. He won the belt, he was scheduled to defend it the same year and got injured. It happens all the time. It's not like Jon is avoiding defending the belt, whether he fights Stipe or Tom, he is still fighting and defending his title. The fact it's Stipe is more UFC politics and the desire of Jon and Stipe to fight each other. And those two along with the promotion deserve that fight.

I have no problem with Jon vs Stipe because I have a complete understanding of that fight and the need for it to happen. I do have a problem with Jon on the other hand not fighting Tom after he beats Stipe.

Same for Jones vs miocic but as it will happen 15 to 18 months after Jones TS and because Stipe is not active anymore, i still think Jones should have vacated the belt to let the normal stream goes...and obviously i agree that Jones vs aspinal is the fight everyone wants to see (behind Jones vs Francis but thats another story)

 

[Poirierfan]

UFC are all in on this empty husk of a legacy fight because after all the Ngannou situation etc they want to be able to present Jones as the best ever, dominating 2 divisions etc. The division will basically have to wait til then and to see who retires and who does not for the 2-3 decent fighters left at HW to scrap it out for a paper title that holds no prestige anymore. It is a shambles

Good point, it's exactly what the UFC is trying to do imo.

 

[2tanks]

This whole situation is classic Dana/U Fight Cheap bullshit.

Let's get Aspinal to fight two or three times while Jones recovers from his injury.... Wait for it.... We will only pay him 250/250k per fight. Fuck that nonsense.

Aspinal is only asking for a chance to fight for the belt so that he doesn't get fucked over financially by a multi-billion dollar corporation. Each and everyone of you cunts on this forum would be asking for the same thing.

Pico-Jones can get fucked. When he comes back he can match up with Stipe in a legacy fight for which Dana can make up yet another clown show belt.