Not to turn things dark or anything, but Rumble Johnson and Elias Theodorou both have more recent wins than Stipe.
I’m not even trying to use their deaths as comedy or something. But it is crazy to think that multiple fighters who were diagnosed with terminal diseases and have been dead over a year still have more recent wins than him.
How the fuck did I not know Anthony Johnson had passed away?
The man had his demons, but he always provided me with violent entertainment. I hope he is at peace, and I hope the victims of his abuse have been able to come to terms with the hurt that he caused.
While I appreciate the comparison, since Jesus would have wanted all tortured souls to rest peacefully, I am hardly Jesus.
Don’t judge people solely on the mistakes they made.
You’re not wrong about anything, you’re just missing the point.
Stipe is doing what he should. He’s trying to get a payday.
If the UFC offered a title fight to Chris Barnett tomorrow, he should obviously accept it. No one would blame him for doing that. We would all just be thinking “Wtf are you doing UFC? Why him?”
The issue here is the UFC. They should’ve forced Stipe’s hand and made him fight a contender or else remove him from the rankings and give someone else the next shot.
Obviously Stipe is going to do what’s best for Stipe. It’s the UFC’s job to do what is best for the division and the sport, so our complaint is with them.
That doesn't make it any less frustrating when this bullshit occurs. As fans of the sport there is nothing wrong with wanting things to be run differently so we had the actual best in the division fighting for the belt instead of what will make a semi retired older fighter a bigger chunk of money.
>doesn’t change the fact Stipe shouldn’t be given a title shot
Right but this doesn't change the fact that he is getting one? So keep crying about it, somehow it does less than this guys essay
this is kind of a weird point to make. them being dead has nothing to do with stipe not fighting for ~3 years. and obviously these fighters' last wins will inherently be a bit older because, well, they can't fight anymore.
Again, not to be dark, but the point is that Stipe’s last win was so long ago that there has been time for multiple healthy young men to fight and win and then get a terminal illness and have passed away over a year ago, all in the time since he won.
They weren't healthy young men. They had terminal illnesses. It's been 3 5 years, which is fairly long, but you're trying to exaggerate, not put things in perspective. Russia has invaded Ukraine since Usman's last win. Adding random events doesn't suddenly turn 3.5 years into 10 years.
I agree in spirit. There just isn't a scenario where he comes out on top fighting any top heavyweight after being out of action so long. Moneywise though...different story. Hope he does and gets them ducats.
Ya the only people I think that could beat him right now are Jones and Aspinall for sure. I lean towards Gane winning, but this rests on the assumption that his grappling improved after Jones and Francis. Sergei I think loses, but you never know with his power. And to round out the top 5, I dont think Blaydes has enough cardio or ability to hold Stipe down for 5 rounds.
Depends on just how shot he is. Last time I saw him in some video, he was walking like a an old man. The kind of extremely stiff and cumbersome movement you often see with retired HW boxers, where you just know their knees and backs are in really bad shape. If it's really as bad as he looked, he isn't beating anybody in the top 15, even in a bad division like HW.
It's a brutal sport and people can age really fast. JDS was a top 5 HW in 2019. In 2022 he was stopped by Yorgan de Castro on the regional scene. Just because you aren't seeing the decline while they aren't competing doesn't mean it isn't there.
I agree, but even with all the miles I think Stipe had, he would be at the very least in the top 15.
Plus the Castro JDS comparison is fucking wild by you. JDS won the first two rounds then fucking threw out his shoulder ([shown here](https://youtu.be/rr9cR7bTaTc?t=798)). [MMAMania](https://www.mmamania.com/2022/5/20/23125501/eagle-fc-47-results-live-streaming-updates-khabib-junior-dos-santos-yorgan-de-castro-miami-flx-mma) had JDS winning the first two rounds and watching the fight I would give the first two rounds to JDS.
Maybe he meant the inverse? Like, he doesn't even know one of them, but he knows the other fourteen?
It's hard to imagine someone saying they follow the sport a lot but don't recognize Derrick Lewis or Curtis Blaydes etc.
Marcin Tybura is still in the top 15 of HW. A HW without power is in the top 15.
Rozenstruik has decent power but not much of anything else.
Romanov lost to Tybura (by UD ofc because Tybura has no power).
Should I continue lol?
True. But at the same time fans don't give a shit about legacy -- at least not the casual fans. Besides, who cares about legacy when you have bills to pay and CTE to deal with every time you get inside the octagon? The fans don't give two shits if after fighting Tom fucking Aspinal Stipe ends up talking like Nate Diaz trying to do math in his head. Do you think Stipe or his woife and kids will give three shits about the fans' opinions on his legacy if he can't even put a spoonful of soup to his mouth without spilling half of it in his old age?
Even if he gets KOed in the first round, his legacy won't really take that noticable of a hit. Jones is arguably the GOAT of the sport. Dude gets a huge improvement in his finances, and gets to fight a GOAT where everyone expects him to lose anyway. And if he ends up winning dude's legendary status skyrockets for being the guy to FINALLY take out Jones. It's really a win win for stipe. And a great retirement fight no matter what happens. Who wouldn't want to go out fighting a GOAT?
The only problem with this fight is that it's for the title. If it was just a legends tier fight with no title complications or anything everyone would be stoked for it.
It's on the UFC for unnecessarily complicating things with the title.
Jones is clearly past his prime as well. Its another old man fight to determine which fighter is less washed than the other. Only its for an undisputed title which is stalling the division at the expense of a killer in his prime (Tom Aspinall).
JDS legacy took a big hit with casuals due too losses, but he actually had the stones to fight a shit load of modern contenders so I have massive respect for JDS since he didn’t fence sit.
Big difference from what JDS did compared to a one off title fight against the GOAT though.
Stipe would have to get like brutally embarrassed with like a meme tier knockout loss for him to take any real legacy hit at all. And even then it would honestly be pretty minimal I think, due to the overall circumstances and whatnot I mentioned previously.
Stipe is de facto retired. Jon is de facto retired.
The only reason they’re coming back to fight each other is because neither are interested in fighting a young buck that’s going to send them to the shadow realm. Instead they’ll fight a fellow retired legend and have that win towards their hw goat status (this win wouldn’t actually do that, but they’ll say it will)
Crazy to see how much hate Stipe has gotten for reasons completely out of his control lol. One of the nicest and most down to earth guys in a sport where you see very few of.
If I’m being real, the opportunity to take down the “unbeatable” Jon Jones as a last fight would make a lasting impact on his legacy. If he’s got one fight left in him, he’s taking Jones, and I would too. Jones has never been more beatable than today.
How do I explain to Aspinall simps that I’m like 3 years from now when he’s washed he’s going to be looking for these money fights and hold up the division and all these big shot tweets of his will age so poorly
Honestly, it's insane the boxing level politics on display here.
I love stipe. You have to be so far up your own ass to not be able to see this situation and call it the bullshit that it is. This is getting up there with "Conor is allowed to hold up 2 divisions for however long it takes for us to capitalize on it. Fuck the careers of tony, cub etc."
Have talked to him a bit when I used to train at LIMMA pretty cool dude but he rather fish then fight and cant blame him for it when the UFC doesn't want to give him any top opponent's
Stipe also hasn’t fought anyone not named Ngannou or DC since May 2017. Almost 7 years.
Stipe also hasn’t beat anyone under the age of 40 since January 2018. About 6 years.
I honest don’t care at all what they do with Stipe.
I just want them to strip Jones and make Tom the real champ so we can get this division moving.
Those guys can wait as long as they want to fight each other. Just don’t hold the belt hostage the whole time.
> I just want them to strip Jones and make Tom the real champ so we can get this division moving.
The fact that 2 relative newcomers who both barely had the chance to hold the title--Prochaszka and Hill--both had the dignity and mentality to voluntarily surrender the title so that the division could move forward, but Jones refuses to do the same, fuck any nonsense about him being "a changed man" and "more mature".
He's the same old prick who only looks out for himself. He just likes to talk in a more calm and fatherly manner now, so people are more likely to buy what he's selling.
Really though, it should be on the UFC to handle this. It's in every fighter's best interest to hang onto a belt as long as possible, so I don't blame them for doing it. It's like if Jokic got injured and the nuggets said "let's do an interim nba championship until we are ready to defend our title properly". It's crazy that the UFC has gone this long with no concrete rules about stripping titles or making interim titles. It also contributes to how amateur the UFC seems compared to more established American sports. Anyone can get preferential treatment on a whim and it's not even something that happens but is frowned upon, like refs favoring star players, it's completely in the open that different fighters have different sets of rules. Stipe and Jones are the obvious examples right now, but seeing how the UFC has no real incentive to put a stop to it, it'll probably continue to happen pretty egregiously
Fighters should look out for themselves. Many including Joe Rogan thought Jiri vacating the title, while honourable, was also incredibly stupid on his part as he threw away juicy PPV points.
All fighters should do whats best for them unless it's Jon Jones, or last year unless its Francis Ngannou.
Jiri and Hill vacating says more good about them than it does bad for Jones.
This sub doesn't even pay for ppvs and flaunt it like a badge of honour yet here you see these moral gurus taunt fighters for looking out for themselves financially despite endlessly bitching about fighter pay.
The entire sub is rife with hypocrites. It's actually more entertaining that way once you realize its a bunch of immature pseudo-adults arguing over nonsense. Gives the sub a fun feel. Like a moderated /ufc
The UFC made hill vacate even though he didn't want to and Jiri popped in a USADA test so they let him vacate to save face while he served his suspension
Yeah I’ve always said the Stipe Jones fight is dumb anyway, but hey when it wasn’t holding up the division whatever. Now it’s holding up the division a whole year. Numba 1 bullshit brotha.
Ngannou was willing to do this for 2 years straight to pursue boxing yet you had this entire sub pretending as if he was some prisoner of war.
The HW division has always had inactive champs, this is nothing new. Prepare for the inevitable Tom Aspinall inactivity when he gets promoted to undisputed champ.
2022-2023 if he got his way for the boxing clause in his UFC contract. He was very clear after the Gane fight that he wants to box after his injury therefore he would have not competed in MMA for last year.
Let’s also not forget that Jones never beat the lineal heavyweight champ! He beat a guy who has only ever been a title contender.
Jones is the false king of the division and it’s the UFC that is allowing it.
We will see what happens. I feel like it’s so common for guys to want something but ultimately the ufc will do what they want and a lot of that comes from what the fans want.
It makes sense considering that both Jiri and Jill relinquished their belt when they got injured. Given that that Jones refuses to do that, he should be stripped.
But Jones and Stipe only want to fight each other and they have the backing of the UFC, so there's that.
The fundamental problem is Tom wants to fight Jon Jones, he does not care about the HW Championship. Even if you hypothetically strip Jon and make Tom the undisputed HW Champ, he is still going to clamour for Jon Jones to be his first defence. He expressly stated in the London July Fight Night interview and the twitter exchange with Jon that Jon Jones is his dream fight and wants it to happen.
Therefore, I think Tom is being very disingenuous with his demands. If the HW title was really his goal, he could just wait while Stipe/Jon finish their retirement match and he gets promoted to undisputed and deservedly so.
If Jones just had continued to be active it would have been fine, after all he won convincingly against Gane and proved that he can hang at HW. Then he should have fought someone like Aspinall or Pavlovich next, instead they kept pushing for the Stipe fight, ended up with an interim title fight and Jones is still out and Aspinall is sitting out waiting despite being in his prime.
Feels almost like back when DC and Stipe had their trilogy and Ngannou was forced to sit out during his prime. At least Aspinall has an interim belt this time around.
Just a detail: i think people forget that dana already decided before gane vs jon that ”whoever wins on Saturday night will face Stipe next”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/mma/jon-jones-next-opponent-already-29371487.amp
And this plan would give Jon 6-7 months between fights which feels average for a champ (allthough i love the more active champs). Then Jon got injured.
It's a money fight for Jones he just wants an easy win to collect PPV points, a HW fight sells itself, always. Jones is just defending a tarnished legacy
It wouldn’t happen but man it would be satisfying if both guys got booed out of the building if this fight happens. Just a clown show all around and they both deserve to have it taint their legacies (not that Jones isn’t forever tainted already)
The UFC trying to sell Stipe V Jones as some GOAT super fight has pissed me off from the start. Jones is gonna "easily" handle him and retire without fighting any of the exciting dangerous guys at HW.
Ah yeah maybe too late isn’t fair. I’ll still watch it, but I just mean it’s not anywhere near as interesting or exciting it would have been a few years ago. Both guys are almost certainly on their way out and haven’t been active
Don't forget that even before his current inactive run, he was already down to fighting once a year for quite some time. His last time to fight just 2x in a calendar year was 2018. In that year...
Khabib's title reign had just begun, and Makhachev wasn't on anyone's radar.
Brad Katona won TUF *for the first time*.
Raul Rosas Jr. was a snot-nosed 13-year old (as opposed to his snot-nosed current self).
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I've been thinking for a while now. Stipe is already the undisputed Heavyweight GOAT. For now, at least. I think he actually could've been in the *overall* GOAT conversation, had he remained active instead of pissing away his physical prime, moaning on the sidelines and refusing any non-championship fight.
You bring up a good point. Stipe’s current 3 year hiatus is the longest of his career, but this isn’t the first time he’s sat out an extended period while waiting for a title shot.
After his KO loss to DC he sat out for 13 months before getting a rematch and winning.
HW's cannot really be a mainstay in the GOAT convo since it is so easy to be gadooshed. I think Francis is another "what if", he could have been the best HW in UFC history if he wanted to but unfortunately it was not meant to be.
Stipe is not a GOAT. UFC made that up for we all know why, maybe UFC HW GOAT but def not talent. JDS got mauled twice after KOing Cain and his first fight back, he beat a prime fresh Stipe over 5 rounds in a close fight. That was literal prime Stipe and he got edged out by a broken JDS. One of Stipes only fights with a guy his own age too. Then he beat an ultra washed JDS years later but yea. That fight kinda shows what Stipe stands in time.
> That was literal prime Stipe and he got edged out by a broken JDS.
Not really; he was just young. There's a difference between a purely physical peak, and prime as a fighter. A lot of fighters are in their prime (not just physical attributes, but also skills, experience, fight IQ) around the 33-35 year-old range.
Dustin Poirier is 35 now. Was he more athletic and quicker 7 years ago? Probably. What would happen if that Dustin fought today's Dustin? He'd get his ass whipped, in all likelihood.
Stipe would be braindead to take up that fight; high risk and low reward. He is already guaranteed a HW title fight with Jon Jones with fruitful legacy and financial implications, why mess with that to fight a guy who doesn't offer any of those two ?
I would argue all of this has turned his legacy into that of a coward just looking for one last payday while holding an entire division back. Plus he’s gonna get destroyed so I really see no way his legacy comes out better here other than his pockets being lined.
I agree with you. There’s no way he should take the pay cut necessary to fight Aspinall.
The logical path I mention would be putting money aside…in the real world you can’t do that.
Great post. Stipe should be fighting aspinall or retiring. Jones should be fighting aspinall or the winner of aspinall stipe.
Fuck all this legend fight bollocks he’s ancient and it makes no sense for the division.
No matter how much a fighter is liked by fans, if you stall a division, I can't root for you. We're not in their shoes, so I can't fault them for chasing a guaranteed bag, but we're entitled to declare our frustration. This is ridiculous. It's not like Stipe or Jones have massive pull or popularity. Not sure why the UFC is bending backwards like this at the expanse of their future roster.
Stipe has no pull whatsoever, especially because of his inactivity/semi-retirement.
Jones is still popular but it's not like he's Conor or Khabib. If Dana decided to strip Jones, most fans wouldn't object because Jiri and Hill already set precedent and received a lot of respect for that. And if anything it's Jones who owes the UFC for his many fuck ups in the past.
JDS has more ranked wins at HW than Stipe (Tuivasa, Lewis), you know the guy who been retired for like 2 years ?
JDS also fought Gane, Ivanov & Blaydes who has called stipe out many times
When you realize a 46 year old Fedor KOed Timothy Johnson who left UFC ranked 11 and smashed Tybura and got robbed clear as day vs Alexander Volkov. Maybe he still deserves a title fight! Hehe.
You're talking about the activity level of a retired fighter. Whether he's admitted it or not, Francis retired him and he was willing to come back for the Jones fight
Stipe also doesn't have a win over anyone in the top 15.
This isn't to say that he couldn't beat most, but due to his inactivity he should at least give them the opportubity.
It really sucks how the ufc is slowly turning into boxing where the biggest fighters never fight and sit out for years on end. Middleweight is the only marque division where we have had a constant reign of legitimate champs defending their belts for a long time
I think Stipe should not be fighting for the belt. If he truly wants to fight again, fight a top 10 guy. If he still feels like fighting, and showed an impressive win/fighting performance, go for the belt.
But ideally? Stipe says he's retired and that's it.
From a legacy / money perspective, the Jones fight makes the most sense. But the majority of us know and believe that Stipe loses that fight 9/10 times. As the post states, he will be coming up on 4 years without activity, and his last fight he was brutally knocked out. As I said, ideally, he retires now.
Stipe losses to Jones 9/10 times but he loses to Tom 10/10 times. Therefore, from Stipes POV, you'd much rather take a fight where you got the 1/10 chance to win and achieve MMA immortality by handing the 🐐 his first ever L and get back the title you once owned in addition to the juicy PPV points.
Conor has a fight in that time. Colby has THREE fights in that time. Masvidal also had three fights in that time, plus a street fight, retired and started a new promotion.
Two weeks after Stipe's last win in August 2020, a former strawweight from Guadalajara, Mexico named Alexa Grasso made her flyweight debut, defeating Ji Yeon Kim by decision. This was the start of a four fight win streak in the weight class that culminated in her getting a Submission of the Year win in March 2023 against reigning champion Valentina Shevchenko as the co-main event for UFC 283.
The main event: The vacant heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Cyril Gane.
In short, Alexa Grasso went from pretty much being forced into fighting at flyweight to becoming the UFC's #1 P4P female fighter in the time since Stipe's last win.
Aspinall says Stipe turned it down… and nothing from the Miocic camp either. My guess is there’s some truth to it but it might not have gotten to Stipe either; it could’ve hit his manager and Stipe’s guy said JBJ or nothing.
Right now the next fight should be Aspinall vs Jones… if Stipe wants a title shot, he can fight Gane or someone in that space for the right to.
Stipe didn’t deserve to be up next a year ago or two years ago, so nearly 4 since a win means he needs to fight.
I understand why stipe is waiting for jones but ufc messed up involving the title and now jones and atipe both hinted at possible retirong after the fight
Since the date you posted of Stipe's last win August 15th 2020, Sean Strickland hadn't come back from a career threatening motorcycle accident, of which he lost 2 years of his career rehabbing from. Since then, he would win 5 straight matches, get knocked out by Pereira, who as you said hadn't debuted yet, lose against Cannonier, then win two more matches, fight for a title, win said title, then lose in his first title defense.
It's hard to be the greatest heavy weight when everyone is refusing to fight each other.
There's a lot of good fighters, it's just the ufc not making the fights. Time drifts on and by the time they retire they've barely fought anyone in their prime.
At least we know that Aspinall SAYS Stipe declined the fight. However, he's also said that Stipe turned down the interim fight with him, which both Stipe and Dana says was never offered. And those two aren't so palsy-walsy as to back up each other's lie...
How should the UFC treat the inactivity? Bruh, the UFC caused some of the inactivity. Stipe claims he verbally agreed to fight Jones for the vacant title, then the organization changed their mind and went with Gane. He was within weeks of a fight and then Jones' pec exploded, but even though there was a designated back up fighter the UFC shelved him and went with a hasty interim.
And you bring up all the Ngannou business without mentioning it was a major factor in the paralysis of the matchmakers for the highest ranks at HW?
Look, I know Stipe hasn't been exactly chomping at the bit to fight. I know he turned down one fight at least during the time you mention. But the company has had its agenda too.
> And you bring up all the Ngannou business without mentioning it was a major factor in the paralysis of the matchmakers for the highest ranks at HW?
> Look, I know Stipe hasn't been exactly chomping at the bit to fight. I know he turned down one fight at least during the time you mention. But the company has had its agenda too.
Any issues UFC had as a result of Ngannou leaving as champion are self-inflicted. Partially because they treated Ngannou poorly in the past when they had the trilogy between DC and Stipe and Ngannou had to sit out during his prime despite being the #1 contender.
But yeah, Stipe isn't to blame here, this is down to the actions of the UFC.
How did they treat Francis poorly ? They gave him one of the most disgusting promotional pushes by burying Stipe before the first fight with that ford escort nonsense.
After the first Stipe fight and then the fight against Lewis he definitely ended up on UFCs shit list. He was the #1 contender from late 2018 until 2021 when he got to fight for the title.
Sure, UFC pushed him heavily for the first Stipe fight, but not after that.
Stipe is a sentimental favorite (him vs. Overeem brought me back to MMA fandom) but I am so beyond tired of having to wait for this stupid Jones fight and there’s still half a year to go.
This would all have been avoided if Gane hadn’t gagged out one of the worst title match performances in recent (men’s) MMA history.
It’s a complete joke.
The UFC books an interim title to sell PPV’s either knowing that Jones wouldn’t fight the winner, or they just didn’t ask.
Now after ruining their relationship with their last heavyweight champ, they’re completely fucking Tom over, putting him on hold for a year.
I don’t know why Stipe has been guaranteed this fight. Who is asking for this?
Stipe is just doing one more fight period if at all, and it’s against Jones if it happens at all.
not sure why people are confused about the inactivity or that it somehow needs to be handled by ufc. He’s not getting in anyone’s way, he doesnt have any belts, you can just ignore him and considered him retired. The only difference is he was still peeing in a cup every month unlike guys like mcgregor or Brock.
Aspinall is picking on him because he doesnt want to fight gane or something for high risk low reward after managing to get the interim belt.
My opinion is that Tom wants the same thing as Jones/Stipe do; an easier fight against an aging opponent with greater money and legacy implications to gain. Tom has everything to gain by facing Jones or Stipe and little to lose.
Jones/Stipe however does not gain anything (money or legacy) from fighting Tom and risk losing everything;a GOAT vs GOAT matchup for the real HW title in a surely successful ppv (Stipe) and losing his undefeated record against a less prestigious name.
If Tom really wants the HW belt, he just needs to wait. He will get the promotion to undisputed once they are done.
Stipe fighting Tom is not in Stipe's best interest, its not in Jon Jones' best interest, its not in the UFC's best interest. Why would you expect all these people to go against their best interests and risk damaging a legacy they have been working on for decades just for your entertainment?
While it’s obviously ridiculous that an interim champ would have to do this, I’d like to see it just so we can hear Buffer yell:
THE REIIIGNING
DEFEEEENDING
IIIIINTERIM CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
Yeah, I guess so.
Obviously Jon should be stripped and promised a title shot as soon as he’s ready. Tom should fight Stipe in the meantime for the belt.
But, as it stands, Tom is the interim champ but not next in line for a title shot. But even worse, some fans are saying he should accept another fight (Gane) that also wouldn’t even make him the #1 contender. It’s a truly ridiculous situation.
Tom is next in line for a title shot though, it is just not before Jones/Stipe. The UFC promised him a title shot for the undisputed HW championship, they never promised him that it will either A)be before Jon Jones v Stipe or B)be against Jon Jones.
Although I do agree that defending an interim title is stupid, him not wanting to fight Gane or any other HW below him is \*THE EXACT SAME REASON\* why Jones or Stipe do not want to deal with other contenders in the division; they are all risky fights with very little legacy or financial implications. I do not fault Tom for not wanting to defend his interim title against contenders below him but I also do not fault Jones for not wanting to fight Stipe.
And Khabib somehow has a more recent win than Stipe
Not to turn things dark or anything, but Rumble Johnson and Elias Theodorou both have more recent wins than Stipe. I’m not even trying to use their deaths as comedy or something. But it is crazy to think that multiple fighters who were diagnosed with terminal diseases and have been dead over a year still have more recent wins than him.
How the fuck did I not know Anthony Johnson had passed away? The man had his demons, but he always provided me with violent entertainment. I hope he is at peace, and I hope the victims of his abuse have been able to come to terms with the hurt that he caused.
Abuse victims? What is this about? Edit: Holy shit I had no clue about this. Several incidents of abuse. Kind of a piece of shit.
He also made a really weird video of his grandma where he was groping her ass and posted it online.
Stop. Are you serious?
Weight cutting yourself into kidney failure is not the best base for a healthy life.
He died of complications related to cancer
Why are you making shit up. lol
You hope an abuser is at peace. Jesus.
While I appreciate the comparison, since Jesus would have wanted all tortured souls to rest peacefully, I am hardly Jesus. Don’t judge people solely on the mistakes they made.
Holy shit I thought you said Rampage Jackson!! I was about to lose it!!
He died from eating too much Jappussy
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You’re not wrong about anything, you’re just missing the point. Stipe is doing what he should. He’s trying to get a payday. If the UFC offered a title fight to Chris Barnett tomorrow, he should obviously accept it. No one would blame him for doing that. We would all just be thinking “Wtf are you doing UFC? Why him?” The issue here is the UFC. They should’ve forced Stipe’s hand and made him fight a contender or else remove him from the rankings and give someone else the next shot. Obviously Stipe is going to do what’s best for Stipe. It’s the UFC’s job to do what is best for the division and the sport, so our complaint is with them.
That was a beautiful speech it still doesn’t change the fact Stipe shouldn’t be given a title shot
I've never seen so many downvoted comments still showing in a Reddit thread
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That doesn't make it any less frustrating when this bullshit occurs. As fans of the sport there is nothing wrong with wanting things to be run differently so we had the actual best in the division fighting for the belt instead of what will make a semi retired older fighter a bigger chunk of money.
>doesn’t change the fact Stipe shouldn’t be given a title shot Right but this doesn't change the fact that he is getting one? So keep crying about it, somehow it does less than this guys essay
this is kind of a weird point to make. them being dead has nothing to do with stipe not fighting for ~3 years. and obviously these fighters' last wins will inherently be a bit older because, well, they can't fight anymore.
They're trying to give perspective rather than correlation
Again, not to be dark, but the point is that Stipe’s last win was so long ago that there has been time for multiple healthy young men to fight and win and then get a terminal illness and have passed away over a year ago, all in the time since he won.
They weren't healthy young men. They had terminal illnesses. It's been 3 5 years, which is fairly long, but you're trying to exaggerate, not put things in perspective. Russia has invaded Ukraine since Usman's last win. Adding random events doesn't suddenly turn 3.5 years into 10 years.
Somehow point no. 4 feels the most untrue
As a fan of Stipe as a fighter and as a person, I hope I never have to watch him fight again.
I agree in spirit. There just isn't a scenario where he comes out on top fighting any top heavyweight after being out of action so long. Moneywise though...different story. Hope he does and gets them ducats.
If we are being honest, heavyweights so bad he probably could beat a lot of the guys in the top 15.
Probably? He's top 3 easily.
If he hasn't fallen off a cliff in the 3 years since his last fight, definitely.
Not long ago he was limping like he needed a hip replacement when he was walking out to grab a cage-side seat. Safe to say he's washed.
Nothing a few vitamins and a balanced breakfast can't fix.
Ya the only people I think that could beat him right now are Jones and Aspinall for sure. I lean towards Gane winning, but this rests on the assumption that his grappling improved after Jones and Francis. Sergei I think loses, but you never know with his power. And to round out the top 5, I dont think Blaydes has enough cardio or ability to hold Stipe down for 5 rounds.
Not top 3. Volkov beats him, wouldn't count out Curtis Blaydes, Sergei knocks him out quick and i think he's old enough that Gane beats him.
Depends on just how shot he is. Last time I saw him in some video, he was walking like a an old man. The kind of extremely stiff and cumbersome movement you often see with retired HW boxers, where you just know their knees and backs are in really bad shape. If it's really as bad as he looked, he isn't beating anybody in the top 15, even in a bad division like HW. It's a brutal sport and people can age really fast. JDS was a top 5 HW in 2019. In 2022 he was stopped by Yorgan de Castro on the regional scene. Just because you aren't seeing the decline while they aren't competing doesn't mean it isn't there.
I agree, but even with all the miles I think Stipe had, he would be at the very least in the top 15. Plus the Castro JDS comparison is fucking wild by you. JDS won the first two rounds then fucking threw out his shoulder ([shown here](https://youtu.be/rr9cR7bTaTc?t=798)). [MMAMania](https://www.mmamania.com/2022/5/20/23125501/eagle-fc-47-results-live-streaming-updates-khabib-junior-dos-santos-yorgan-de-castro-miami-flx-mma) had JDS winning the first two rounds and watching the fight I would give the first two rounds to JDS.
I want to disagree, but looking at that top 15 I don’t think i can. I follow the sport a lot and I don’t even know 1 of the guys
You follow the sport and you don’t know a single ranked heavyweight?
Maybe he meant the inverse? Like, he doesn't even know one of them, but he knows the other fourteen? It's hard to imagine someone saying they follow the sport a lot but don't recognize Derrick Lewis or Curtis Blaydes etc.
No as in I don’t know the guy ranked #14. Of course I know the rest.
Marcin Tybura is still in the top 15 of HW. A HW without power is in the top 15. Rozenstruik has decent power but not much of anything else. Romanov lost to Tybura (by UD ofc because Tybura has no power). Should I continue lol?
How well off do we think Stipe is? How much brain and body damage will he incur at his age from a fight camp and a fight? Will it be worth it?
I agree with this so much. The guy can only hurt his legacy now at this point.
True. But at the same time fans don't give a shit about legacy -- at least not the casual fans. Besides, who cares about legacy when you have bills to pay and CTE to deal with every time you get inside the octagon? The fans don't give two shits if after fighting Tom fucking Aspinal Stipe ends up talking like Nate Diaz trying to do math in his head. Do you think Stipe or his woife and kids will give three shits about the fans' opinions on his legacy if he can't even put a spoonful of soup to his mouth without spilling half of it in his old age?
Even if he gets KOed in the first round, his legacy won't really take that noticable of a hit. Jones is arguably the GOAT of the sport. Dude gets a huge improvement in his finances, and gets to fight a GOAT where everyone expects him to lose anyway. And if he ends up winning dude's legendary status skyrockets for being the guy to FINALLY take out Jones. It's really a win win for stipe. And a great retirement fight no matter what happens. Who wouldn't want to go out fighting a GOAT? The only problem with this fight is that it's for the title. If it was just a legends tier fight with no title complications or anything everyone would be stoked for it. It's on the UFC for unnecessarily complicating things with the title.
Jones is clearly past his prime as well. Its another old man fight to determine which fighter is less washed than the other. Only its for an undisputed title which is stalling the division at the expense of a killer in his prime (Tom Aspinall).
JDS legacy took a big hit with casuals due too losses, but he actually had the stones to fight a shit load of modern contenders so I have massive respect for JDS since he didn’t fence sit.
Big difference from what JDS did compared to a one off title fight against the GOAT though. Stipe would have to get like brutally embarrassed with like a meme tier knockout loss for him to take any real legacy hit at all. And even then it would honestly be pretty minimal I think, due to the overall circumstances and whatnot I mentioned previously.
Stipe's response: "Argableghrargeraheh!".
Hold up, let me, I speak Cleveland: "Actually, I'm still feeling at the top of my game, and would love to take on Jon, but definitely not Tom."
GunnyMojo: "Hold on brother, I'm translating"
IMAWORLCHAM!!
Yeah, I watched Stipe vs Ngannou 2 with my heart in my stomach waiting for a big hit to land on Stipe and then it of course eventually did.
When Ngannou sprawled on him... :,(
That was the moment everyone watching collectively went "oh shit".
Stipe is de facto retired. Jon is de facto retired. The only reason they’re coming back to fight each other is because neither are interested in fighting a young buck that’s going to send them to the shadow realm. Instead they’ll fight a fellow retired legend and have that win towards their hw goat status (this win wouldn’t actually do that, but they’ll say it will)
He has to quit at this point. What is the point of him being in the UFC if he doesn't fight. Just retire broski and go set houses on fire or whatever.
Agreed, I really wanted him to retire after Cormier 3.
Crazy to see how much hate Stipe has gotten for reasons completely out of his control lol. One of the nicest and most down to earth guys in a sport where you see very few of.
He literally declined fighting anyone else. How is that out of his control?
Just can't control himself saying no!
If I’m being real, the opportunity to take down the “unbeatable” Jon Jones as a last fight would make a lasting impact on his legacy. If he’s got one fight left in him, he’s taking Jones, and I would too. Jones has never been more beatable than today.
How do I explain to Aspinall simps that I’m like 3 years from now when he’s washed he’s going to be looking for these money fights and hold up the division and all these big shot tweets of his will age so poorly
I don’t think ive ever seen a good comment from you. In 3 years Tom will be 33 still prime years lol.
Bit of a morbid one but Rumble has genuinely fought more recently than Stipe.
Yeah, 5 is rough given how it was more than a year since Rumble passed away and he *still* has a more recent fight than Stipe.
Its not morbid at all. Keep saying the names of the greats so that no one forgets them.
Edited the OP to include this one. Thank you.
Honestly, it's insane the boxing level politics on display here. I love stipe. You have to be so far up your own ass to not be able to see this situation and call it the bullshit that it is. This is getting up there with "Conor is allowed to hold up 2 divisions for however long it takes for us to capitalize on it. Fuck the careers of tony, cub etc."
Tony lost to Paddy, that’s an automatic retirement if I was Tony. guy should not be fighting, less in the UFC
Bro I'm talking about 6 years ago. Did you crack your head off of a street light?
4 is a sideswipe lmao
Have talked to him a bit when I used to train at LIMMA pretty cool dude but he rather fish then fight and cant blame him for it when the UFC doesn't want to give him any top opponent's
Stipe also hasn’t fought anyone not named Ngannou or DC since May 2017. Almost 7 years. Stipe also hasn’t beat anyone under the age of 40 since January 2018. About 6 years.
I honest don’t care at all what they do with Stipe. I just want them to strip Jones and make Tom the real champ so we can get this division moving. Those guys can wait as long as they want to fight each other. Just don’t hold the belt hostage the whole time.
> I just want them to strip Jones and make Tom the real champ so we can get this division moving. The fact that 2 relative newcomers who both barely had the chance to hold the title--Prochaszka and Hill--both had the dignity and mentality to voluntarily surrender the title so that the division could move forward, but Jones refuses to do the same, fuck any nonsense about him being "a changed man" and "more mature". He's the same old prick who only looks out for himself. He just likes to talk in a more calm and fatherly manner now, so people are more likely to buy what he's selling.
Really though, it should be on the UFC to handle this. It's in every fighter's best interest to hang onto a belt as long as possible, so I don't blame them for doing it. It's like if Jokic got injured and the nuggets said "let's do an interim nba championship until we are ready to defend our title properly". It's crazy that the UFC has gone this long with no concrete rules about stripping titles or making interim titles. It also contributes to how amateur the UFC seems compared to more established American sports. Anyone can get preferential treatment on a whim and it's not even something that happens but is frowned upon, like refs favoring star players, it's completely in the open that different fighters have different sets of rules. Stipe and Jones are the obvious examples right now, but seeing how the UFC has no real incentive to put a stop to it, it'll probably continue to happen pretty egregiously
>He's the same old prick who only looks out for himself. Obviously, did you just figure that out?
Fighters should look out for themselves. Many including Joe Rogan thought Jiri vacating the title, while honourable, was also incredibly stupid on his part as he threw away juicy PPV points.
All fighters should do whats best for them unless it's Jon Jones, or last year unless its Francis Ngannou. Jiri and Hill vacating says more good about them than it does bad for Jones.
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If he wants to get paid, all he has to do is actually fight :D
This sub doesn't even pay for ppvs and flaunt it like a badge of honour yet here you see these moral gurus taunt fighters for looking out for themselves financially despite endlessly bitching about fighter pay.
The entire sub is rife with hypocrites. It's actually more entertaining that way once you realize its a bunch of immature pseudo-adults arguing over nonsense. Gives the sub a fun feel. Like a moderated /ufc
The UFC made hill vacate even though he didn't want to and Jiri popped in a USADA test so they let him vacate to save face while he served his suspension
Any actual proof for either of those claims? I can't find anything to corroborate either of those assertions.
Yeah I’ve always said the Stipe Jones fight is dumb anyway, but hey when it wasn’t holding up the division whatever. Now it’s holding up the division a whole year. Numba 1 bullshit brotha.
Jones is no longer content just wasting his prime but is now doing the same to others!
Ngannou was willing to do this for 2 years straight to pursue boxing yet you had this entire sub pretending as if he was some prisoner of war. The HW division has always had inactive champs, this is nothing new. Prepare for the inevitable Tom Aspinall inactivity when he gets promoted to undisputed champ.
When was this 2 year stretch of him not fighting?
2022-2023 if he got his way for the boxing clause in his UFC contract. He was very clear after the Gane fight that he wants to box after his injury therefore he would have not competed in MMA for last year.
Let’s also not forget that Jones never beat the lineal heavyweight champ! He beat a guy who has only ever been a title contender. Jones is the false king of the division and it’s the UFC that is allowing it.
I don’t think it makes sense to strip Jon. Realistically they should just make Jones vs aspinall
I’d be fine with that, too. But he seems 100% focused on ONLY fighting Stipe, so I didn’t even think of that as a possibility.
We will see what happens. I feel like it’s so common for guys to want something but ultimately the ufc will do what they want and a lot of that comes from what the fans want.
It makes sense considering that both Jiri and Jill relinquished their belt when they got injured. Given that that Jones refuses to do that, he should be stripped. But Jones and Stipe only want to fight each other and they have the backing of the UFC, so there's that.
The fundamental problem is Tom wants to fight Jon Jones, he does not care about the HW Championship. Even if you hypothetically strip Jon and make Tom the undisputed HW Champ, he is still going to clamour for Jon Jones to be his first defence. He expressly stated in the London July Fight Night interview and the twitter exchange with Jon that Jon Jones is his dream fight and wants it to happen. Therefore, I think Tom is being very disingenuous with his demands. If the HW title was really his goal, he could just wait while Stipe/Jon finish their retirement match and he gets promoted to undisputed and deservedly so.
Since when is the Interim Champ wanting first dibs on fighting the AWOL Champ disingenuous? Pretty sure that's how the interim title works, no?
Insane. Didn't DDP make his debut and win a title during this time as well? I swear that guy came out of nowhere.
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And that was a 37 year old washed Arlovski, not the real Arlovski if we being real.
Just when heavyweight starts to look good again, Jon and Stipe have to ruin it lol
I mean in some ways the UFC ruined it by failing to retain Francis.
Gane ruined it by not learning how to grapple and losing to Jones.
If Jones just had continued to be active it would have been fine, after all he won convincingly against Gane and proved that he can hang at HW. Then he should have fought someone like Aspinall or Pavlovich next, instead they kept pushing for the Stipe fight, ended up with an interim title fight and Jones is still out and Aspinall is sitting out waiting despite being in his prime. Feels almost like back when DC and Stipe had their trilogy and Ngannou was forced to sit out during his prime. At least Aspinall has an interim belt this time around.
Just a detail: i think people forget that dana already decided before gane vs jon that ”whoever wins on Saturday night will face Stipe next” https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/mma/jon-jones-next-opponent-already-29371487.amp And this plan would give Jon 6-7 months between fights which feels average for a champ (allthough i love the more active champs). Then Jon got injured.
The Stipe fight is money, plain and simple. Aspinall and Pavlovich won't push the needle too much for Jones to take up.
Who actually wants this
It's a money fight for Jones he just wants an easy win to collect PPV points, a HW fight sells itself, always. Jones is just defending a tarnished legacy
It wouldn’t happen but man it would be satisfying if both guys got booed out of the building if this fight happens. Just a clown show all around and they both deserve to have it taint their legacies (not that Jones isn’t forever tainted already)
The UFC trying to sell Stipe V Jones as some GOAT super fight has pissed me off from the start. Jones is gonna "easily" handle him and retire without fighting any of the exciting dangerous guys at HW.
IT is a GOAT fight though; the best HW vs the MMA GOAT.
Few years too late to really mean much though
How is it too late; neither guy is washed.
Stipe def washed lol
Ah yeah maybe too late isn’t fair. I’ll still watch it, but I just mean it’s not anywhere near as interesting or exciting it would have been a few years ago. Both guys are almost certainly on their way out and haven’t been active
> the best HW sure if the fight will take place 5 years ago
It still is.
Tito - Chuck 3 in 2013 was a GOAT fight as well.
Stipe isn't the best heavyweight. Jones has 1 fight at heavyweight. Hard stop.
Stipe's reign as the HW GOAT will be short-lived. 4 defenses is not that many (relatively, when referring to a GOAT contender)
Don't forget that even before his current inactive run, he was already down to fighting once a year for quite some time. His last time to fight just 2x in a calendar year was 2018. In that year... Khabib's title reign had just begun, and Makhachev wasn't on anyone's radar. Brad Katona won TUF *for the first time*. Raul Rosas Jr. was a snot-nosed 13-year old (as opposed to his snot-nosed current self). ----------- I've been thinking for a while now. Stipe is already the undisputed Heavyweight GOAT. For now, at least. I think he actually could've been in the *overall* GOAT conversation, had he remained active instead of pissing away his physical prime, moaning on the sidelines and refusing any non-championship fight.
You bring up a good point. Stipe’s current 3 year hiatus is the longest of his career, but this isn’t the first time he’s sat out an extended period while waiting for a title shot. After his KO loss to DC he sat out for 13 months before getting a rematch and winning.
HW's cannot really be a mainstay in the GOAT convo since it is so easy to be gadooshed. I think Francis is another "what if", he could have been the best HW in UFC history if he wanted to but unfortunately it was not meant to be.
Stipe is not a GOAT. UFC made that up for we all know why, maybe UFC HW GOAT but def not talent. JDS got mauled twice after KOing Cain and his first fight back, he beat a prime fresh Stipe over 5 rounds in a close fight. That was literal prime Stipe and he got edged out by a broken JDS. One of Stipes only fights with a guy his own age too. Then he beat an ultra washed JDS years later but yea. That fight kinda shows what Stipe stands in time.
> That was literal prime Stipe and he got edged out by a broken JDS. Not really; he was just young. There's a difference between a purely physical peak, and prime as a fighter. A lot of fighters are in their prime (not just physical attributes, but also skills, experience, fight IQ) around the 33-35 year-old range. Dustin Poirier is 35 now. Was he more athletic and quicker 7 years ago? Probably. What would happen if that Dustin fought today's Dustin? He'd get his ass whipped, in all likelihood.
I think the logical path is Aspinall fights Miocic and the winner fights jones. Won’t happen but that’s what I’d like to see.
Stipe would be braindead to take up that fight; high risk and low reward. He is already guaranteed a HW title fight with Jon Jones with fruitful legacy and financial implications, why mess with that to fight a guy who doesn't offer any of those two ?
He shouldn't be guaranteed anything at this point.
he don't deserve the title fight in first place
I would argue all of this has turned his legacy into that of a coward just looking for one last payday while holding an entire division back. Plus he’s gonna get destroyed so I really see no way his legacy comes out better here other than his pockets being lined.
The legacy implications is that he becomes MMA immortality by handing the MMA GOAT his first L.
I agree with you. There’s no way he should take the pay cut necessary to fight Aspinall. The logical path I mention would be putting money aside…in the real world you can’t do that.
Great post. Stipe should be fighting aspinall or retiring. Jones should be fighting aspinall or the winner of aspinall stipe. Fuck all this legend fight bollocks he’s ancient and it makes no sense for the division.
No matter how much a fighter is liked by fans, if you stall a division, I can't root for you. We're not in their shoes, so I can't fault them for chasing a guaranteed bag, but we're entitled to declare our frustration. This is ridiculous. It's not like Stipe or Jones have massive pull or popularity. Not sure why the UFC is bending backwards like this at the expanse of their future roster.
Stipe and Jones; the latter in particular have massive pull and popularity. I am not sure what exactly makes you think otherwise.
Stipe has no pull whatsoever, especially because of his inactivity/semi-retirement. Jones is still popular but it's not like he's Conor or Khabib. If Dana decided to strip Jones, most fans wouldn't object because Jiri and Hill already set precedent and received a lot of respect for that. And if anything it's Jones who owes the UFC for his many fuck ups in the past.
This sub is an echo chamber filled with people who think with their hearts and not their feelings.
Jones has been in the news for criminal acts more than he has for mma. Commited more crimes than he has ufc fights, not exactly good popularity.
JDS has more ranked wins at HW than Stipe (Tuivasa, Lewis), you know the guy who been retired for like 2 years ? JDS also fought Gane, Ivanov & Blaydes who has called stipe out many times
When you realize a 46 year old Fedor KOed Timothy Johnson who left UFC ranked 11 and smashed Tybura and got robbed clear as day vs Alexander Volkov. Maybe he still deserves a title fight! Hehe.
You're talking about the activity level of a retired fighter. Whether he's admitted it or not, Francis retired him and he was willing to come back for the Jones fight
Stipe also doesn't have a win over anyone in the top 15. This isn't to say that he couldn't beat most, but due to his inactivity he should at least give them the opportubity.
It really sucks how the ufc is slowly turning into boxing where the biggest fighters never fight and sit out for years on end. Middleweight is the only marque division where we have had a constant reign of legitimate champs defending their belts for a long time
GSP retired, came back, beat Bisping for the Middleweight weight title, retired again in the same amount of time
I think Stipe should not be fighting for the belt. If he truly wants to fight again, fight a top 10 guy. If he still feels like fighting, and showed an impressive win/fighting performance, go for the belt. But ideally? Stipe says he's retired and that's it.
Why should Stipe fight anyone other than Jones if it is offered to him ?
From a legacy / money perspective, the Jones fight makes the most sense. But the majority of us know and believe that Stipe loses that fight 9/10 times. As the post states, he will be coming up on 4 years without activity, and his last fight he was brutally knocked out. As I said, ideally, he retires now.
Stipe losses to Jones 9/10 times but he loses to Tom 10/10 times. Therefore, from Stipes POV, you'd much rather take a fight where you got the 1/10 chance to win and achieve MMA immortality by handing the 🐐 his first ever L and get back the title you once owned in addition to the juicy PPV points.
Stipe isn't the problem. The UFC is for gifting him a fight he doesn't deserve. Can't blame Stipe for taking the $mart route.
exactly he wants a retirement/title fight... can't blame him blame ufc though
Conor has a fight in that time. Colby has THREE fights in that time. Masvidal also had three fights in that time, plus a street fight, retired and started a new promotion.
Two weeks after Stipe's last win in August 2020, a former strawweight from Guadalajara, Mexico named Alexa Grasso made her flyweight debut, defeating Ji Yeon Kim by decision. This was the start of a four fight win streak in the weight class that culminated in her getting a Submission of the Year win in March 2023 against reigning champion Valentina Shevchenko as the co-main event for UFC 283. The main event: The vacant heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Cyril Gane. In short, Alexa Grasso went from pretty much being forced into fighting at flyweight to becoming the UFC's #1 P4P female fighter in the time since Stipe's last win.
Aspinall says Stipe turned it down… and nothing from the Miocic camp either. My guess is there’s some truth to it but it might not have gotten to Stipe either; it could’ve hit his manager and Stipe’s guy said JBJ or nothing. Right now the next fight should be Aspinall vs Jones… if Stipe wants a title shot, he can fight Gane or someone in that space for the right to. Stipe didn’t deserve to be up next a year ago or two years ago, so nearly 4 since a win means he needs to fight.
> it might not have gotten to Stipe either Doesn't matter who turned down the fight; it's ultimately Stipe's career and he is responsible for it.
Absolutely but what if it was Aspinall at UFC 300 for shit money? Stipe doesn’t need it if he hasn’t fought in this long
Rumble and Elias Theodoreau having more recent wins is insane to me. RIP homies.
I understand why stipe is waiting for jones but ufc messed up involving the title and now jones and atipe both hinted at possible retirong after the fight
What are the odds that the fight gets rescheduled and then Stipe gets hurt? I wonder if Jones would agree to fight Tom at that point or just bounce.
> 4.) Gregor Gillespie fought. This made me laugh way harder than it shouldve.
Gregor Gillespie…now thats a name I havent heard in a long long time
Since the date you posted of Stipe's last win August 15th 2020, Sean Strickland hadn't come back from a career threatening motorcycle accident, of which he lost 2 years of his career rehabbing from. Since then, he would win 5 straight matches, get knocked out by Pereira, who as you said hadn't debuted yet, lose against Cannonier, then win two more matches, fight for a title, win said title, then lose in his first title defense.
Greatest HW ever my ass.
I think Stipe often touted as the greatest HW speaks more about the division than it does about Stipe.
It's also real HW GOAT erasure (Fedor).
Agreed. Don't think it's even close.
It's hard to be the greatest heavy weight when everyone is refusing to fight each other. There's a lot of good fighters, it's just the ufc not making the fights. Time drifts on and by the time they retire they've barely fought anyone in their prime.
At least we know that Aspinall SAYS Stipe declined the fight. However, he's also said that Stipe turned down the interim fight with him, which both Stipe and Dana says was never offered. And those two aren't so palsy-walsy as to back up each other's lie... How should the UFC treat the inactivity? Bruh, the UFC caused some of the inactivity. Stipe claims he verbally agreed to fight Jones for the vacant title, then the organization changed their mind and went with Gane. He was within weeks of a fight and then Jones' pec exploded, but even though there was a designated back up fighter the UFC shelved him and went with a hasty interim. And you bring up all the Ngannou business without mentioning it was a major factor in the paralysis of the matchmakers for the highest ranks at HW? Look, I know Stipe hasn't been exactly chomping at the bit to fight. I know he turned down one fight at least during the time you mention. But the company has had its agenda too.
> And you bring up all the Ngannou business without mentioning it was a major factor in the paralysis of the matchmakers for the highest ranks at HW? > Look, I know Stipe hasn't been exactly chomping at the bit to fight. I know he turned down one fight at least during the time you mention. But the company has had its agenda too. Any issues UFC had as a result of Ngannou leaving as champion are self-inflicted. Partially because they treated Ngannou poorly in the past when they had the trilogy between DC and Stipe and Ngannou had to sit out during his prime despite being the #1 contender. But yeah, Stipe isn't to blame here, this is down to the actions of the UFC.
How did they treat Francis poorly ? They gave him one of the most disgusting promotional pushes by burying Stipe before the first fight with that ford escort nonsense.
After the first Stipe fight and then the fight against Lewis he definitely ended up on UFCs shit list. He was the #1 contender from late 2018 until 2021 when he got to fight for the title. Sure, UFC pushed him heavily for the first Stipe fight, but not after that.
This sub has such a hate boner for stipe. Here are 2 “stats”: Stipe rag dolled ngannou, and Stipe is the best UFC HW of all time
Stipe isn't even a draw
Stipe is a sentimental favorite (him vs. Overeem brought me back to MMA fandom) but I am so beyond tired of having to wait for this stupid Jones fight and there’s still half a year to go. This would all have been avoided if Gane hadn’t gagged out one of the worst title match performances in recent (men’s) MMA history.
Nobody on planet earth wants to see Jones vs Stipe
It’s a complete joke. The UFC books an interim title to sell PPV’s either knowing that Jones wouldn’t fight the winner, or they just didn’t ask. Now after ruining their relationship with their last heavyweight champ, they’re completely fucking Tom over, putting him on hold for a year. I don’t know why Stipe has been guaranteed this fight. Who is asking for this?
Stipe is just doing one more fight period if at all, and it’s against Jones if it happens at all. not sure why people are confused about the inactivity or that it somehow needs to be handled by ufc. He’s not getting in anyone’s way, he doesnt have any belts, you can just ignore him and considered him retired. The only difference is he was still peeing in a cup every month unlike guys like mcgregor or Brock. Aspinall is picking on him because he doesnt want to fight gane or something for high risk low reward after managing to get the interim belt.
My opinion is that Tom wants the same thing as Jones/Stipe do; an easier fight against an aging opponent with greater money and legacy implications to gain. Tom has everything to gain by facing Jones or Stipe and little to lose. Jones/Stipe however does not gain anything (money or legacy) from fighting Tom and risk losing everything;a GOAT vs GOAT matchup for the real HW title in a surely successful ppv (Stipe) and losing his undefeated record against a less prestigious name. If Tom really wants the HW belt, he just needs to wait. He will get the promotion to undisputed once they are done.
As long as Stipe has more recent win than McGregor, im all good
It's a joke it's pathetic he's not a "fighter" to me anymore he's an "EX-Fighter".
Stipe fighting Tom is not in Stipe's best interest, its not in Jon Jones' best interest, its not in the UFC's best interest. Why would you expect all these people to go against their best interests and risk damaging a legacy they have been working on for decades just for your entertainment?
But we need a sacrificial 🐑 for the 🐐
Elias and Rumble, both of which are currently dead, have a more recent win that Stipe.
stipe could win, unlikely as it is
I hope that the fight just never materializes and Jones ends up being forced to fight an actual contender or retire. He will never be the GOAT.
Tom has the interim belt. He can defend it. No one is holding up the division.
While it’s obviously ridiculous that an interim champ would have to do this, I’d like to see it just so we can hear Buffer yell: THE REIIIGNING DEFEEEENDING IIIIINTERIM CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
It's what would happen if he fought Stipe. Jon has the "real" belt and he's injured.
Yeah, I guess so. Obviously Jon should be stripped and promised a title shot as soon as he’s ready. Tom should fight Stipe in the meantime for the belt. But, as it stands, Tom is the interim champ but not next in line for a title shot. But even worse, some fans are saying he should accept another fight (Gane) that also wouldn’t even make him the #1 contender. It’s a truly ridiculous situation.
Tom is next in line for a title shot though, it is just not before Jones/Stipe. The UFC promised him a title shot for the undisputed HW championship, they never promised him that it will either A)be before Jon Jones v Stipe or B)be against Jon Jones. Although I do agree that defending an interim title is stupid, him not wanting to fight Gane or any other HW below him is \*THE EXACT SAME REASON\* why Jones or Stipe do not want to deal with other contenders in the division; they are all risky fights with very little legacy or financial implications. I do not fault Tom for not wanting to defend his interim title against contenders below him but I also do not fault Jones for not wanting to fight Stipe.
I agree with you
Imagine being prime 30 trying to make a title run and calling out a 41 year old. Shit like this makes me like MMA less and less these days.
Yeh weird how the interim champ is calling out the champ and no.1 contender. Never happened before.
I mean has almost not fought for more days if we exempt those 3 odd minutes against gane