Dana already said (if you believe him) that Jones would either retire or fight Tom if he beat Stipe. There was no way that he'd let him fight Alex first, but if Jon did beat Tom, then he would let him fight Alex at that point. Didn't specify if it would be at HW or LHW.

I guess Dana also said if Jon and Alex did want to fight he wouldn't stop them, so who really knows at this point.

It feels like UFC have really pushed the Pereira hype train and Aspinall's been quietly cleaning out the HW division whilst being called the interim Champ.

The hyped fight to make for the casuals is Jones / Pereira - would be good if Ngannou could return somehow but that's not realistically going to happen. Everyone else knows that Pereira has 0 ground game and will be dumped on his back and dominated.

I don't blame jones for not wanting to fight aspinall

the risk/reward just isnt there, aspinall hasnt done enough in the sport

Jones is old, he should retire, this aint the sport to be hanging around when some young guy will break your face. Jones has been in the ufc forever

The reward is being able to unify the division and say he beat the actual Champion and put to bed the belief that he's ducking everyone.

Aspinall has been active and beaten all the top guys in the division. As a HW, what has Jones done? Beat a 42 year old who sat on the bench for 4 years and beat Gane who wasn't very good and lost to the Champion (Ngannou).

Aspinall last win was vs Blaydes who has been a gatekeeper forever, before that Pavlovic who no one knows.

If jones beats him, people will just say whatever HW sucks, I dunno, I don't think it is that valuable to fight him and if he wins he beat the great young up and comer Tom Aspinall or something. I get why Jones thinks it isn't worth his time.

I can't say that I personally rate Blaydes. But Blaydes was top 5 ranked in the division and they had the rematch because Tom got injured in the first fight.

I thought Pavlovic was the real deal and a potential Champion. Tom walked straight through him and made it look like easy work.

Who is next in the UFC rankings? Volkov (#3)? Tom has beaten him as well.

Spivac (currently #7) - Tom has also beaten him.
Gane (#2) went missing and will be light work for Tom.

In summary, Tom has fought most of the top contenders in the division and won dominantly. Maybe the division is just really bad, but there's two champions in the same division and any sensible person can see that position is not sustainable and the fight has to be made.

On the bright side, I watched Aspinall's latest YouTube video and he seemed very positive about a discussion with Dana. I feel there's a much better chance the Jones / Aspinall fight will be announced. Whether it happens is a different matter

Surely it makes a bit of joke of the sport if Jones can just pick and choose his title defences to people he deems worthy, i.e., knows he's a big favourite against...

I'm fine with him doing that and letting Dana boost his ego more, like on Sat, if he vacates the belt first.

Saw something with Jon where he said he doesn't want to fight hungry up and comers like Tom and would rather fight a proven champion like Alex.

That he doesn't care about belts, and he'd have no problem giving his belt to Tom.

yeah but HW sucks, he needs to do more than that to get Jones interested

maybe UFC just pays jones a lot to do it and he does, you would think they could cut a check at this point

the elephant in the room is if jones beats aspinall in their next fight, no one is going to give him the credit he deserves for that itll just be lol heavyweight...the risk just isnt really worth the reward especially if he isn't even getting paid more than he normally makes

he has the leverage in this situation atleast, can't blame him for using it

Just saw Saturday's card starts at 3am EST

Then realized it's in China. Guessing Trump won't be in attendance for this one.

Even he knows the card is dead.

10 fighters making their UFC debut. Is that the most on a single card?

UFC 2 had 14 if my math is right, but 10 is likely to be the most under the current format

Deiveson Figueiredo looks a bit like the villain from Sin City.

It's a grizzly question but what is to keep these guys from getting serious or catastrophic neck injuries in the choke holds? You have a guys neck from behind, you start jerking it instead of just holding, as strong as they are the worst could happen it seems. They could snap it easily. Is there a rule for the choke holds that you can't do any violent motions with it? Even if there is a rule, they could lose it in uncontrolled anger and aggression and do it anyway of course.

Jones is a fascinating character to me. He has some ugly aspects to him admittedly no doubt mixed in with the incredible fortitude. He's just off the charts.