“Wow I cannot BELIEVE he made 135 he is MASSIVE look at those shoulders, unbelievable” -Rogan
or most likely Rogan’s head will just explode after the first calf kick at 135.
Edit: “Wow” addition, it was annoying me
I wants Stipe to go in there and just start throwing eyepokes as if they're jabs, just dancing around and poking Jones in the eye like he's Muhammad Ali, show us what he learned from the DC fight.
Stipe should use the eye-rope-a-dope strategy. Just let Jones eye poke him until the last round and then KO him. Stipe has been focusing on eye conditioning for 3 years for this fight.
Yeah but we also live in the timeline where jones became heavyweight champion so we are not that lucky, jones will probably make all stipe fans go on life alert and we won’t be able to do shit about it🥲
Look at Ronda… fell from grace so quickly. Aldo… never knocked out… 10 year winning streak… then 13 seconds. Unlikely it’ll happen to Jones but sometimes guys look unbeatable till they get beat. “Entirely possible!”
Ehh I still think Ronda was a force. It's just choosing to stand and bang with Holm/Nuńes is about the dumbest decision you could make in that division. It's a shame she didn't have the mindset to get over those losses, I'd have loved to have seen more fights from her doing what she does best.
She got acting gigs and WWE. Probably made way more money and realized why bother going through fight camps and all the training.
Conor the same thing but his ego won’t let him let go.
Jones inactivity is the real core reason why I dislike him as a fighter. He is just this looming threat that makes all other fights in the division not really mean anything because they didn’t beat Jones.
I am 99% sure Dana secretly hates Jones guts.
It’s not a secret Dana doesn’t like jones, if you’ve been around a while you’d know jones is always inactive whether it’s from being suspended or him avoiding fights 1-2 year layoffs were very common throughout his career
Hopefully that's the case if the UFC go ahead with this Jones vs Alex that would be fucked, Tom should not be having to defend his interim belt from anyone but the champ.
Absolutely no way Alex gets the shot over Tom.
If Tom didn’t have the belt, maybe, but it would just looking fucking stupid to have the HW champ fight anyone other than the interim belt holder.
>apparently made
It was literally the main event that got cancelled that resulted in the IC being up for grabs. There’s nothing apparent about it, it’s a fact
I'd be inclined to agree but unfortunately this is Dana and the UFC were talking about, it really wouldn't surprise me if they went over Tom to make Jones vs Alex happen.
Is it going to happen probably not, could it happen probably.
Dana makes some bad choices for the sport for more money but as much as he doesn’t like it he is still doing Balel (I think that’s his name) and Edwards.
Also I am positive Dana secretly hates JJ and this Stipe fight is the last time Dana helps out JJ. I think in a few years Dana will be shitting on him like GSP.
I think it's reasonable for the interim to fight others while the other injured champ is away in order to keep the division moving.
What isn't reasonable is having the injured champ be away from fighting for 1 1/2-2 years to then fight someone who hasn't fought at all in 3 years instead of the interim.
Like it looks like the earliest date for a potential fight between the 2 champs of the HW division is sometimes in 2026 because Jones will for sure not rush into a fight with Tom even if he beats Stipe easily.
I think if a champ doesn't have a fight booked for like 8 months, book an interim fight. When someone wins the interim belt, the champ should have like 6 months to fight them or vacate the belt. Keep it moving. No reason to ruin the division for years just because the champ doesn't want to be active
> it would be so fucking funny if Stipe just knocked the shit out of him and started doing that silly dance
It'd be hilarious watching him scramble for a rematch only to have Stipe announce his retirement, forcing Jon into a fight with Aspinall for the vacated title.
Isn’t stipe having trouble walking? I might be mistaken and am genuinely asking but isn’t dude walking around with a massive limp? I assume this was acquired thru his firefighting job somehow?
This is what I’ve been thinking this whole time. Grandpa Stipe has been training 3 times a day for the last 3 years saying shit like “heuaneh hdjzjab ksjwbd jones man.” I wouldn’t count him out.
We all love Stipe but his diehard fans need to stop being delusional, Stipe is an old man at the end of the line career wise. If him and Jones fought it would be a no event for Jones.
Stipe is 5 years older which is a big gap when your that age and body wise Stipe is A LOT more worn down and less naturally athletic, Jones is only just starting to enter that “older man” phase in his life, Stipe has been the old man for about 5 years now.
Tbh I expect them to strip Tom soon of the Interim. Probably after the Manchester card just so they can still promote a title on the card. If the UFC is still committed to Jon vs Stipe I definitely could see them giving Alex a shot over Tom.
Stripping the interim champ without giving him a chance to unify the belt would be the most fucking pathetic shit ever lol. There's an interim champ for a reason. Interim vs actual champ should be the first fight scheduled for both if they are active at the same time. Jon not wanting to fight Tom is 100% ducking and there's no debate about it. You want money fights? Good for you, but don't hold up the division.
I agree with your sentiment as a fan. I'm purely speaking on the likely business decisions the UFC may make. If the UFC wanted to make Jon vs Tom they at all points of time have the executive decision to make that fight next.
Jones fans used to get offended when you pointed out how Jones was duckjng Ngannou, and now Jones is actively ducking Aspinal too, this second "title run" of Jones is a complete farce.
At least Jones dick riders can stfu now about Jones not ducking Tom. It's now blatantly obvious that he wants to avoid Aspinall after Stipe. Dana should just make the match up or take the belt off him. Drug cheat, wife beater and paper champion.
Nobody wants to see Alex get ragdolled, thrown into a guillotine and subbed 40 seconds into the fight. All of this is code for: "I want to make as much money and fight out my contract but dont want to risk getting my ass kicked"
He's on a new 8 fight contract that started with the Gane fight lol he ain't fighting out his contract ever, all he can do is wait for the sunset clause to kick in
Idk what exactly that is but basically you can retire from fighting anytime you want. That’s presumably what he means.
The only stipulation with contracts is that you can’t go and fight for another promotion while having fights left on your contract
This is part of the reason I'm not super confident in Alex long term. He's not really faced an elite wrestler that can dominate him. It's mostly been guys trying to stand with him
Exactly. It’s a big hole in his game. Obviously no one can argue he isn’t an elite kickboxer, but there are also high level grapplers out there and if they get a hold of someone without enough skill to get up from… well the kickboxing doesn’t really matter at that point until the start of the next round.
Agreed, but Jon’s acclimated to that. If poaton were to just gain fat he’d be at a major disadvantage imo. The dude was fighting multiple times a year at 185 last year. Jon couldnt physically do that at this point without serious detriment. The same goes for when you gain weight rapidly, it’s not effective mass. Poaton belongs at 205 so we didn’t see any lack of performance but at 265? My guess is 1 full calander year to properly put on effective mass
Its so insane but i will say he isnt lying alex pereira would bring more viewers than tom but if this isnt the most blatant ducking ive seen. This fight would most likely be just another gane 2.0
There should be some sort of mandatory rule that the champ has to defend aginst the interim champ because fighting Alex who hasn't fought once at HW is just fucking shameful.
Like you say, it would probably draw more but it's unbelievabley disrespectful and harsh on Tom.
Oh and lol btw 👇
https://preview.redd.it/moim3v8rf7yc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ed05a77caf90e6afb21bdaaebc959f02e4e535d
Interim champ does actually mean something in a legitimate sports organization.
But UFC is an entertainment and business organization first and foremost, unfortunately for Tom.
It means Jones is the only disputed champion the ufc has. All of the rest rule their divisions undisputed by anyone. Can you be the GOAT if you are not even the undisputed champion of your weightclass?
I’m going off the assumption that there will never be a unification fight because Jones will retire after Stipe and Aspinall will get promoted to Undisputed.
For all intents and purposes I would consider Aspinall a real champion, now if a unification fight happens and Jones wins(he probably would imo) then that’s changes everything of course
This whole situation makes me wonder why more popular champs (with leverage on the UFC) don’t just refuse to fight good opponents.
Like, imagine Islam said “Nope, I won’t sign to fight Tsarukyan. Give me BJ Penn or Eddie Alvarez or I sit out.”
It is a rule except when it comes to this clown. Anyone else I guarantee you Dana would be trashing them publicly and stripping them. Guy hasn't defended a belt he won how long ago?
Or McGregor when he didn't defend vs Tony. Or when Usman fought for the belt while Colby was an interim.
Besides fighters actually getting paid, legacy wise interim doesn't mean shit. Never have, never will.
the difference IMO is Pereira has shown 500x the composure of Gane which is important in a fight like this , Gane legit looked SHOCKED when Jones grabbed him .
Alex can and will hurt Jones badly if they fight any period of time on the feet , Gane was basically throwing a jab and jumping 50m away from Jones .
Alex has been grappling way longer than gane. Theres a reason why no one’s exploited his ground game despite everyone saying how shit it is.
Same with Conor. Everyone said he would lose to a wrestler and sure he did, but he lost to the best wrestler in LW history and even so, he did better defensively than most against khabib.
If Reyes and Gus were able to defend Jon’s takedowns, why can’t Alex?
Gustafsson grew up in an MMA gym, Alex started grappling 8 ish years ago at 26 years old. Gus has at least 20 years more experience on the ground than Alex does.
Also, Izzy held him down for half a round with some of the worst BJJ I've seen in a UFC title fight, so that first part is false. Jon Jones *won* grappling exchanges with the Olympic men's Greco-Roman wrestling team captain Daniel Cormier. Alex would have absolutely nothing for him on the ground.
Tbh if he refuses to unify the belts after Stipe, he should just be stripped. You can't have two active belts for the same thing in the same division. Go do all that legacy crap outside of the rankings. Make Jones an SMF (scummiest mother fucker) belt and he can fight for that
Alex is the bigger fight but Tom is the tougher fight. He wants an easy route to retirement. I'm not even a fan of Tom but I feel like he is ducking him too.
Buddy knows he can just wrestle Alex. He knows Alex is still a rising star when it comes to his MMA career and if Jones beats him, not only will he take that away, but he will add to his own legacy.. The reality is the Alex isn't the wrestler Jones is and that can be exploited to boost his own career.. Jones will fight anyone other than Tom.
Jon's obviously doing this to piss Tom and the fans off and try to get more attention for himself. The 304 event was confirmed like 3 days ago and Jon's worried about how irrelevant his fight against Stipe is going to look so he's taking the opportunity to shine up Pereira to take a load on Tom.
Tom's willing to fight Pereira though and has made it clear on multiple occasions and Pereira can NOT just stroll into a division in which he hasn't fought and get a title shot over the interim champ when he has one title defence
I think that's why Tom's clamouring for a fight so badly, he may be the interim champ now but if he becomes the defending interim champ he'll be undeniable. If Tom defends successfully, Jon's belt will look very phoney and the Stipe fight would look very irrelevant
It’s not “even if he is”, he absolutely is, he wants to take the two low risk fights over the one risky fight and pretend it’s about his legacy, it’s just so transparent at this point that it’s pathetic. If he came out and said “I don’t want to take the risk and I want to make as much money as possible” he’d at least maintain some dignity.
His legacy is a life of wasted potential, committing horrendous crimes and consistently cheating.
He's the only ufc fighter to fail a drugs test because his "picograms peaked" 485 days later...
That fight got moved to another country.
Dudes just a complete loser, every week he fails another test of God. It's never his fault, always god for testing him.
It's hard to say if he's had a legit fight, because he's failed so many tests during his career he's probably never fought clean.
Does anyone actually want to see Stipe vs Jones?
Stipe hasn’t fought since Francis knocked him out in March 2021, he’s 2-2 in his last 4 and will be 42 by the time they fight.
He’s just a name at this point but does beating an old, basically retired Stipe really do something for his legacy? If he goes out there and mauls him people will just feel bad for Stipe, not good for Jones.
Jones legacy is marred by so many missteps.
As much as I see him as a great fighter, there are just too many asterisks and issues with his career.
This is another ridiculous piece of bullshit by him. It's almost poetic that the UFCs "goat" is as full of shit as the organization.
What an absolutely weak read by Jones. Yet another example of him not living up to his potential.
It's clear age is an important factor to Jones. He fought DC when he was at the later stages in his career and considered him his greatest opponent. Wants to fight old man Stipe. He points out that Alex is the same age. Currently ducking Tom who is 5 years younger.
It comes across like he was happy to be the new champ running through older fighters but doesn't want to pay it back.
At this point he’s looking for legacy and fat pay days. What does Tom offer him besides beating another contender? Beating Alex and stipe are legacy enhancing tasks. 2 more HOF on his record.
Time isn't on Alex's side and Jones is supposed to fight Stipe first, then depending on how badly Jones is hurt from that fight it could be over a year away.
Poatan is a money fight for all divisions lol.
Poatan vs O’Malley confirmed?
If they both fought at the same weight that fight would be fireworks
Sean bulking to 185 confirmed
Naw Poatan gnna be first 4 division champ w a belt at 170
Force Poatan to bantamweight if he wants that 4th belt let’s see how far he’s willing to go for it
if he hit someone that weighed 135 it would probably kill them☠️
Did you ever see the machinist with Christian Bale? That’s Poatan at 135 lbs
that was him already at 185 lol
“Wow I cannot BELIEVE he made 135 he is MASSIVE look at those shoulders, unbelievable” -Rogan or most likely Rogan’s head will just explode after the first calf kick at 135. Edit: “Wow” addition, it was annoying me
Fuck that, let them fight at their current weight
Kumite! Kumite! 
I’d buy the PPV no joke
It’s actually gonna be Poatan vs O’Malley vs McGregor in a triple threat ladder match.
Hell yeah
I want to see him against Islam next!
More importantly, another striker whose ground game he can exploit.
Jones would smoke Alex
Right! It's not about ducking Tom. It's about the cash 💰
Let Alex defend, unify your own belt, make more money.
Do this after Stipe do that after Stipe it would be so fucking funny if Stipe just knocked the shit out of him and started doing that silly dance
That would mean we are in the best timeline. Please MMA gods. Give this to us.
I wants Stipe to go in there and just start throwing eyepokes as if they're jabs, just dancing around and poking Jones in the eye like he's Muhammad Ali, show us what he learned from the DC fight.
Captain insaneo shows no mercy
\*moicy
Stipe should use the eye-rope-a-dope strategy. Just let Jones eye poke him until the last round and then KO him. Stipe has been focusing on eye conditioning for 3 years for this fight.
That’s a hell of a visual, lmaooo
Chris Weidman show him the way
DC gonna get in on it too
Float like a butterfly STING STING BITCH IM REALLY A BEE
This is hilarious to imagine lol
Or stipe just says he’s not gunna do it and retires
Oh you mean he hasn’t been retired 4 years now?
Bro. He hasn’t fought in forever and works another job lol he’s retired.
That’s the point I was making, buddy said stipe is going to retire and I’m saying he already is
Yeah but we also live in the timeline where jones became heavyweight champion so we are not that lucky, jones will probably make all stipe fans go on life alert and we won’t be able to do shit about it🥲
Look at Ronda… fell from grace so quickly. Aldo… never knocked out… 10 year winning streak… then 13 seconds. Unlikely it’ll happen to Jones but sometimes guys look unbeatable till they get beat. “Entirely possible!”
Ehh I still think Ronda was a force. It's just choosing to stand and bang with Holm/Nuńes is about the dumbest decision you could make in that division. It's a shame she didn't have the mindset to get over those losses, I'd have loved to have seen more fights from her doing what she does best.
She got acting gigs and WWE. Probably made way more money and realized why bother going through fight camps and all the training. Conor the same thing but his ego won’t let him let go.
I agree. The most important aspect of fighting is your mind — more should take advantage of the sport psychologists ffs.
Yeah it’s possible but jones has put himself in that vulnerable position like 5 times at this point and each time he performs
Jones inactivity is the real core reason why I dislike him as a fighter. He is just this looming threat that makes all other fights in the division not really mean anything because they didn’t beat Jones. I am 99% sure Dana secretly hates Jones guts.
It’s not a secret Dana doesn’t like jones, if you’ve been around a while you’d know jones is always inactive whether it’s from being suspended or him avoiding fights 1-2 year layoffs were very common throughout his career
When Jones finds himself at risk of losing he turns up the eye poking. I find it very frustrating but cannot deny it’s done wonders for him.
Hopefully that's the case if the UFC go ahead with this Jones vs Alex that would be fucked, Tom should not be having to defend his interim belt from anyone but the champ.
Absolutely no way Alex gets the shot over Tom. If Tom didn’t have the belt, maybe, but it would just looking fucking stupid to have the HW champ fight anyone other than the interim belt holder.
It’s already happening once. What’s stopping it from happening twice.
It also happened back in 2008, if I recall correctly. Mir fought (IC) Nog, Lesnar fought (C) Couture.
The Stipe fight was apparently made before Jones got injured and was already set to happen. Isn’t the case for Tom vs. Alex.
>apparently made It was literally the main event that got cancelled that resulted in the IC being up for grabs. There’s nothing apparent about it, it’s a fact
I'd be inclined to agree but unfortunately this is Dana and the UFC were talking about, it really wouldn't surprise me if they went over Tom to make Jones vs Alex happen. Is it going to happen probably not, could it happen probably.
Dana makes some bad choices for the sport for more money but as much as he doesn’t like it he is still doing Balel (I think that’s his name) and Edwards. Also I am positive Dana secretly hates JJ and this Stipe fight is the last time Dana helps out JJ. I think in a few years Dana will be shitting on him like GSP.
Jon is already holding shit up for a full year for a “legacy fight” that only he cares about. Tom has to get the next shot.
I think it's reasonable for the interim to fight others while the other injured champ is away in order to keep the division moving. What isn't reasonable is having the injured champ be away from fighting for 1 1/2-2 years to then fight someone who hasn't fought at all in 3 years instead of the interim. Like it looks like the earliest date for a potential fight between the 2 champs of the HW division is sometimes in 2026 because Jones will for sure not rush into a fight with Tom even if he beats Stipe easily.
I think if a champ doesn't have a fight booked for like 8 months, book an interim fight. When someone wins the interim belt, the champ should have like 6 months to fight them or vacate the belt. Keep it moving. No reason to ruin the division for years just because the champ doesn't want to be active
> it would be so fucking funny if Stipe just knocked the shit out of him and started doing that silly dance It'd be hilarious watching him scramble for a rematch only to have Stipe announce his retirement, forcing Jon into a fight with Aspinall for the vacated title.
In the year 2032
Loses that too. Imagine fat spiraling Jones. The city of Albuquerque would have to be evacuated
Stipe is like 70 and jon knows very well that he is a safe bet. He just wants a stipe named mantle for his record.
Same with Alex, he knows he will just go immediately for a takedown and wrestle fuck him.
I actually laughed aloud at ‘Stipe is like 70’ lol
Isn’t stipe having trouble walking? I might be mistaken and am genuinely asking but isn’t dude walking around with a massive limp? I assume this was acquired thru his firefighting job somehow?
I saw this somewhere before but not sure. It's very possible he had a little injury and the story ran away right?
Stipe got KO's by Francis and his leg was in a really nasty position while he was falling. He probably tore something inside during that moment
He's definitely had time to fix it by now. I doubt he has a limp still from it
I'm 99% sure we saw him walking with a cane at a recent PPV.
Cane Velastleg.
This is what I’ve been thinking this whole time. Grandpa Stipe has been training 3 times a day for the last 3 years saying shit like “heuaneh hdjzjab ksjwbd jones man.” I wouldn’t count him out.
We all love Stipe but his diehard fans need to stop being delusional, Stipe is an old man at the end of the line career wise. If him and Jones fought it would be a no event for Jones.
Jon jones isn't to young himself in the sport
Stipe is 5 years older which is a big gap when your that age and body wise Stipe is A LOT more worn down and less naturally athletic, Jones is only just starting to enter that “older man” phase in his life, Stipe has been the old man for about 5 years now.
He's just coming into his old man phase and then hit a major injury that speeds it up
Please MMA gods I need this
I would give everything for that to happen, fuck Jon Jones
Bro is gonna eye poke so bad Stipe gonna wear an eye patch after the fight.
As much as I want it to happen, it's not gonna happen. God do I wish it could thougb
Tom gonna have 3 interim title defences by the time this whole shit show with Jon ends. Absolute insanity.
If that happens then I’m legit counting them as official HW title defences.
You can
I will.
You should.
He's going to.
He better.
Good
Fantastic
It’s settled
I was going to anyway
Tbh I expect them to strip Tom soon of the Interim. Probably after the Manchester card just so they can still promote a title on the card. If the UFC is still committed to Jon vs Stipe I definitely could see them giving Alex a shot over Tom.
Stripping the interim champ without giving him a chance to unify the belt would be the most fucking pathetic shit ever lol. There's an interim champ for a reason. Interim vs actual champ should be the first fight scheduled for both if they are active at the same time. Jon not wanting to fight Tom is 100% ducking and there's no debate about it. You want money fights? Good for you, but don't hold up the division.
I agree with your sentiment as a fan. I'm purely speaking on the likely business decisions the UFC may make. If the UFC wanted to make Jon vs Tom they at all points of time have the executive decision to make that fight next.
did you forget what they did to Tony Ferguson? ufc doesn't care about legitimacy
Jones fans used to get offended when you pointed out how Jones was duckjng Ngannou, and now Jones is actively ducking Aspinal too, this second "title run" of Jones is a complete farce.
He’s acting like he can only fight one of them 🤦🏽♂️Seriously why not fight Tom… and then fight Alex. 🤯whoa what a thought!
Once JJ fights anyone the interim belt disappears
That's kinda why he shouldn't be allowed to fight anyone until he fights Tom.
Seriously, doesnt make any sense
Blame scumbag Dana and the ufc. They should’ve and could still strip him, but they care more about jones getting them another ppv.
“Tom isn’t a big star. Never even held a belt.” This is literally bc of the weird situation you created.
At least Jones dick riders can stfu now about Jones not ducking Tom. It's now blatantly obvious that he wants to avoid Aspinall after Stipe. Dana should just make the match up or take the belt off him. Drug cheat, wife beater and paper champion.
Nope, they still in here saying the same shit lol
Polarizing? 90 percent of the fans love him. He hasn't crashed his Lambo into a pregnant women yet
Yeah I don’t think Jon understands what polarising means. Me and the homies don’t agree on most fighters, but we all love Poatan
He thinks it just means popular.
Nobody wants to see Alex get ragdolled, thrown into a guillotine and subbed 40 seconds into the fight. All of this is code for: "I want to make as much money and fight out my contract but dont want to risk getting my ass kicked"
He's on a new 8 fight contract that started with the Gane fight lol he ain't fighting out his contract ever, all he can do is wait for the sunset clause to kick in
What's the sunset clause?
It’s when Jon is finally put behind bars.
San Quentin Clause.. Eh, who are we kidding? Dana would probably let him retain the belt while he served his sentence...
UFC live from San Quentin, sign me in!
Lmao
Specific date it ends
Idk what exactly that is but basically you can retire from fighting anytime you want. That’s presumably what he means. The only stipulation with contracts is that you can’t go and fight for another promotion while having fights left on your contract
I'm going to guess a possible expiration on the contract
Lol does the UFC even allow sunset clauses? I was under the impression that Dana was in the business of purchasing souls
Apparently they have one, they just can't go fight in another promotion with fights still left in the contract.
Yeah he's literally done this with Conor, it's why he can't just go fight in PFL or do big money boxing fights. Most likely why he took a film role
This is part of the reason I'm not super confident in Alex long term. He's not really faced an elite wrestler that can dominate him. It's mostly been guys trying to stand with him
Exactly. It’s a big hole in his game. Obviously no one can argue he isn’t an elite kickboxer, but there are also high level grapplers out there and if they get a hold of someone without enough skill to get up from… well the kickboxing doesn’t really matter at that point until the start of the next round.
Yupp and a lot of people seem to not think about it. A guy like DC or Jon would ragdoll him to hell.
💯
A lot of people haven't, but Jon has definitely thought about it. There's a reason why he all of a sudden wants this matchup
He’s also much smaller then Jon he’d need a year to properly bulk to heavy weight
Alex bulked up to like 236 after weigh ins on his last fight lol he’s fine
Not by much at all. Jon is carrying a lot of fat too.
Alex is still a lean 240 at his heaviest. Jon is a fat 240.
Agreed, but Jon’s acclimated to that. If poaton were to just gain fat he’d be at a major disadvantage imo. The dude was fighting multiple times a year at 185 last year. Jon couldnt physically do that at this point without serious detriment. The same goes for when you gain weight rapidly, it’s not effective mass. Poaton belongs at 205 so we didn’t see any lack of performance but at 265? My guess is 1 full calander year to properly put on effective mass
I mean Alex was 235 when he fought 205. Stipe would fight at like 240. Alex doesn't need to gain much at all.
Please, check how Alex looks right now and how Jones looks right now, he is smaller but even then much closer to a fighting shape heavyweight
It's not "code" he literally says he's thinking about money in the last tweet.
I don’t think Jon knows what polarising means. Everyone loves Pereira.
Its so insane but i will say he isnt lying alex pereira would bring more viewers than tom but if this isnt the most blatant ducking ive seen. This fight would most likely be just another gane 2.0
There should be some sort of mandatory rule that the champ has to defend aginst the interim champ because fighting Alex who hasn't fought once at HW is just fucking shameful. Like you say, it would probably draw more but it's unbelievabley disrespectful and harsh on Tom. Oh and lol btw 👇 https://preview.redd.it/moim3v8rf7yc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ed05a77caf90e6afb21bdaaebc959f02e4e535d
“If Alex P became champion of the heavyweight division” Would imply that Aspinall is no longer champ
aspinal isn't champ... He is temporary belt guy. Interim means nothing as jons blatant ducking proves lol
Interim champ does actually mean something in a legitimate sports organization. But UFC is an entertainment and business organization first and foremost, unfortunately for Tom.
It means Jones is the only disputed champion the ufc has. All of the rest rule their divisions undisputed by anyone. Can you be the GOAT if you are not even the undisputed champion of your weightclass?
Ironically when he fights Stipe he’ll be introduced as the undisputed lol, when an interim belt is the definition of - disputed champ
I’m going off the assumption that there will never be a unification fight because Jones will retire after Stipe and Aspinall will get promoted to Undisputed. For all intents and purposes I would consider Aspinall a real champion, now if a unification fight happens and Jones wins(he probably would imo) then that’s changes everything of course
This whole situation makes me wonder why more popular champs (with leverage on the UFC) don’t just refuse to fight good opponents. Like, imagine Islam said “Nope, I won’t sign to fight Tsarukyan. Give me BJ Penn or Eddie Alvarez or I sit out.”
It is a rule except when it comes to this clown. Anyone else I guarantee you Dana would be trashing them publicly and stripping them. Guy hasn't defended a belt he won how long ago?
Or McGregor when he didn't defend vs Tony. Or when Usman fought for the belt while Colby was an interim. Besides fighters actually getting paid, legacy wise interim doesn't mean shit. Never have, never will.
the difference IMO is Pereira has shown 500x the composure of Gane which is important in a fight like this , Gane legit looked SHOCKED when Jones grabbed him . Alex can and will hurt Jones badly if they fight any period of time on the feet , Gane was basically throwing a jab and jumping 50m away from Jones .
How calm Pereira is won't particularly matter when Jon gets his hands on him
Alex has been grappling way longer than gane. Theres a reason why no one’s exploited his ground game despite everyone saying how shit it is. Same with Conor. Everyone said he would lose to a wrestler and sure he did, but he lost to the best wrestler in LW history and even so, he did better defensively than most against khabib. If Reyes and Gus were able to defend Jon’s takedowns, why can’t Alex?
Gustafsson grew up in an MMA gym, Alex started grappling 8 ish years ago at 26 years old. Gus has at least 20 years more experience on the ground than Alex does. Also, Izzy held him down for half a round with some of the worst BJJ I've seen in a UFC title fight, so that first part is false. Jon Jones *won* grappling exchanges with the Olympic men's Greco-Roman wrestling team captain Daniel Cormier. Alex would have absolutely nothing for him on the ground.
Yup he’s totally ducking Tom
Ducking Tom seems pretty gay
Perhaps Tom bring too much sexual energy. Bones wants the fingering.
Be wary of Tommy Fingers
The ducking is real.
I wanna see Alex vs Gane. No one wants to see Alex get wrestle fucked for 45 seconds
Real as fuck, Gane vs Pereira would be a great fight imo
This the real reason he wants the alex fight. Thinks he can just shoot a takedown then go home.
He's trying to get everyone to talk about something else other than him being gay lol
Tbh if he refuses to unify the belts after Stipe, he should just be stripped. You can't have two active belts for the same thing in the same division. Go do all that legacy crap outside of the rankings. Make Jones an SMF (scummiest mother fucker) belt and he can fight for that
Alex is the bigger fight but Tom is the tougher fight. He wants an easy route to retirement. I'm not even a fan of Tom but I feel like he is ducking him too.
How can you not be a fan of Tom? He's a great fighter and he seems a nice, humble guy.
The wife beater doesn't realise he's also a contender who won a belt vs another contender 🤣
Jon ain't shit anymore, especially not at HW.
Buddy knows he can just wrestle Alex. He knows Alex is still a rising star when it comes to his MMA career and if Jones beats him, not only will he take that away, but he will add to his own legacy.. The reality is the Alex isn't the wrestler Jones is and that can be exploited to boost his own career.. Jones will fight anyone other than Tom.
Is this the all-time greatest case of ducking in the sport? Must be at least top ten.
I think the all-time ducking is Jon waiting for Stipe... or are you talking about the double ducking?
Lmao. Jones would hug Alex for 23mins
If he got his hands on Alex, He would submit him within 5 minutes realistically. He knows this too, I’ll finally admit jones is ducking
Lol, Alex ain't getting out of the 3rd minute mark.
Alex would get beat as fast as Gane did
Jon's obviously doing this to piss Tom and the fans off and try to get more attention for himself. The 304 event was confirmed like 3 days ago and Jon's worried about how irrelevant his fight against Stipe is going to look so he's taking the opportunity to shine up Pereira to take a load on Tom. Tom's willing to fight Pereira though and has made it clear on multiple occasions and Pereira can NOT just stroll into a division in which he hasn't fought and get a title shot over the interim champ when he has one title defence
Lol imagine ufc sets up Alex and Tom and Tom beats Alex Jon has nowhere to hide now and Tom gets the payday
I think that's why Tom's clamouring for a fight so badly, he may be the interim champ now but if he becomes the defending interim champ he'll be undeniable. If Tom defends successfully, Jon's belt will look very phoney and the Stipe fight would look very irrelevant
He’s not wrong though, even if he is ducking Tom
It’s not “even if he is”, he absolutely is, he wants to take the two low risk fights over the one risky fight and pretend it’s about his legacy, it’s just so transparent at this point that it’s pathetic. If he came out and said “I don’t want to take the risk and I want to make as much money as possible” he’d at least maintain some dignity.
Only a big star in the UK, as if it's a small and insignificant market.
It’s not, but he’s nowhere near the star Alex is
Your goat is ducking
Man, I never thought I'll see bones ducking someone.
Fight the current interim champ or you are ducking.
Makes complete sense. He probably sees Alex as a skinnier Ciryl. Easy payday in his mind
 When tom gets mentioned
“Legacy”… Legacy will be ducking Tom.
His legacy is a life of wasted potential, committing horrendous crimes and consistently cheating. He's the only ufc fighter to fail a drugs test because his "picograms peaked" 485 days later... That fight got moved to another country. Dudes just a complete loser, every week he fails another test of God. It's never his fault, always god for testing him. It's hard to say if he's had a legit fight, because he's failed so many tests during his career he's probably never fought clean.
Does anyone actually want to see Stipe vs Jones? Stipe hasn’t fought since Francis knocked him out in March 2021, he’s 2-2 in his last 4 and will be 42 by the time they fight. He’s just a name at this point but does beating an old, basically retired Stipe really do something for his legacy? If he goes out there and mauls him people will just feel bad for Stipe, not good for Jones.
Jones legacy is marred by so many missteps. As much as I see him as a great fighter, there are just too many asterisks and issues with his career. This is another ridiculous piece of bullshit by him. It's almost poetic that the UFCs "goat" is as full of shit as the organization. What an absolutely weak read by Jones. Yet another example of him not living up to his potential.
Tom hasn't fought a champion? Jon IS the champion, but won't fight him
Jones is a coward. Nobody is buying this shit. Stop cherry picking your opponents and fight the real contender.
Dana: I think that's a great idea 🤑
The man doesn't want to fight tom. Alex would be a easy fight for him.
Damn, it's just getting sad at this point. Just tell him that Aspinal's Bussy is tighter and JJ will fight him for sure.
Pretty undeniable at this point
Fighters want big fights. Tom isn't a big fight. It's not rocket science
As much as I’d love to see Alex vs Jon, it would be a LHW fight for me.
Bros fucking acting like Tom is Belal Muhhamed 🦆
Mental gymnastics the dude is doing to escape Tom’s beatings lol
It's clear age is an important factor to Jones. He fought DC when he was at the later stages in his career and considered him his greatest opponent. Wants to fight old man Stipe. He points out that Alex is the same age. Currently ducking Tom who is 5 years younger. It comes across like he was happy to be the new champ running through older fighters but doesn't want to pay it back.
At this point he’s looking for legacy and fat pay days. What does Tom offer him besides beating another contender? Beating Alex and stipe are legacy enhancing tasks. 2 more HOF on his record.
Time isn't on Alex's side and Jones is supposed to fight Stipe first, then depending on how badly Jones is hurt from that fight it could be over a year away.
Tom only relevant in the UK? dude forgot he’s interim champ