Where was this same energy for Francis to be stripped when he was out for nearly a year?

[StonedLemur]

Francis was out 10 months before he fought again and no one was campaigning to get him stripped during this time. Mean while the moment Jon got injured and the fight was called off people were already calling for him to get stripped. I'm looking forward to see the mental gymnastics ya'll come up with to defend the bias here.

March 4th 2023, was the last time Jon fought...and won't fight again until November.
That's quite a bit longer than 10 months sir.

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

My thing though is the UFC was ready to skip over Gane to make the Jon Jones fight happen just as they're skipping over tom now to make the JJ and Stipe fight. How do we know that Francis wouldn't have refused to unify as well if it meant being able to fight Jon Jones for more money?


He was happy to fight him because the Jon Jones fight was not an option anymore. If you really think Francis wouldn't have done what Jon did if he could fight Jon for a bigger bag you're out of your mind.

Jones was a far more worthy contender at that stage than Stipe is now. Jones was an undefeated champ potentially moving up a weight class.

 

[mjfan23]

this is when Jon was pretending to be retired and waiting for Francis to fight out his contract?

 

[Conan the K-9]

Any champ who sits out for over 6 months, trying to pick favorable fights and dates should get stripped. Champs only job is to defend the belt, no matter against who.

I have huge respect for those guys who have vacated the belt, when they got injured.

 

[Dogshare]

Not only does it takes at least 1,5 year for Jones to defend, but it took him also years to take a fight. He can be inactive and pick his fights, he has earned that, but don't hold up the division and just take legacy fights. He can fight as much retired fighter as he wants.

 

[Xoleth]

Francis was out 10 months before he fought again and no one was campaigning to get him stripped during this time. Mean while the moment Jon got injured and the fight was called off people were already calling for him to get stripped. I'm looking forward to see the mental gymnastics ya'll come up with to defend the bias here.

1. There is a difference between 10 months vs more than a year with no fight scheduled. My two cents, every champion should be stripped if he doesn't fight in 12 months after getting the title. No matter the reason.

2. The fact that Jon Jones wants to fight a guy who:
a) hasn't fought since 2021
b) his last win was in 2020
c) has zero wins against current ranked HW fighters

In case you didn't know, it's 2024.
And Stipe's last win was in 2020.

UFC at it's best, where a guy gets a title shot after getting KTFO 3 years ago.

 

[GrantB13]

The champ shouldn't be fighting someone other than the interim champion.

 

[Domitian]

Because Francis was a lineal champion. Jones's belt is a paper belt. He won a vacant belt against Cyril Gane when he should have been fighting Aspinall or Pavlovich in the first place. Now he's refusing to unify the belt against Aspinall and fighting Stipe. Not that hard to understand why people are criticizing him.

Why would Jon have fought Aspinall or Pavlovich when the Gane/Jones fight got made in late 2022? Gane came off a close fight with Francis and Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich were behind Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes in the rankings lmao

You know what, you're right. Jon should have fought Tai Tuivasa.

 

[Domitian]

They made an interim title just over 4 months Francis won the title, and then they announced the unification fight with the interim champ 3 months later. They made an interim title 8 months after Jon's last fight, and it's now 6 months later(14 months since Jon's last fight), Jon isn't even injured anymore, and he is refusing to unify the title.

If he gets injured and they have to delay a fight, ok that sucks but whatever. If you flat out refuse to unify the title when you're not even injured anymore and make him defend an interim title, then you should be stripped and that should be for the real belt while you take your seniors tour opponents.

It's almost like there's another party involved in this who wants to make money. I wonder who that is? Hmmm

Did you notice UFC thinks so little of Tom as a draw they put him in a co-main behind Belal Muhammad? Hmmm

 

[Gamer2k4]

Because Francis was a lineal champion. Jones's belt is a paper belt. He won a vacant belt against Cyril Gane when he should have been fighting Aspinall or Pavlovich in the first place. Now he's refusing to unify the belt against Aspinall and fighting Stipe. Not that hard to understand why people are criticizing him.

When Jones fought Gane, Gane was the #1 heavyweight in the UFC. Aspinall had just lost his previous fight (due to injury, but a loss is a loss), and Pavlovich was looking good but still a fight away from title contention.

People are calling for him being stripped cuz there is an interim champ he's refusing to fight.

You understand why there's an interim champion, right? Because Jones got injured. That's the whole point of interim belts - so that you don't strip the champion simply because they're physically (but temporarily) unable to fight.

Any champ ever would get called out on trying to fight a guy in his 40s that is basically retired, hasn't won a fight in 4 years and got KTFO badly his last time out.

Before the Gane fight, you could have said that about Jones. "What's Gane doing trying to fight a past-his-prime LHW who hasn't fought in three years and arguably lost his last two fights? Shouldn't he be challenging real contenders?"

 

[Oldman1]

UFC Shill Post

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Ngannou wasn't out for nearly a year.

He beat Stipe near the end of March 2021, then was back to negotiating his next fight by September, signing early October. That's just over 6 months.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Sherdog: Francis good, Jon bad

 

[blocnoir]

Because Jones failed three drug tests and is ducking with the worst excuses possible for a so called champion. Joke of a person also. So it's well deserved and this guy would even deserve worse (aka have his MMA record cancelled)

 

[SalvadorAllende]

I seem to remember more than just a few people shitting on Ngannou when an Interim Title was made with Gane/Lewis, because Ngannou ducked Lewis.

The same shit happened here. Except Ngannou was healthy when he ducked Lewis. The only man other than Stipe to beat him in the UFC. And he flat out ducked him.

And the problem now is that Jones refuses to fight the Interim Champion. Ngannou did actually fight the Interim Champion.

Only thing more pathetic than the Ngannou ducking of Lewis was his performance in the first fight.

Embarrassing.

 

[StrikerKing]

I agree that champ who is not actively defending his belt should be stripped, maybe 8-12 months. I have no problem with legacy fights, but Jones should just vacate the belt and "retire" from title contention if he only wants legacy/superfights.

 

[orca]

So then how is Tom the "real HW champ" if the belt he should be fighting for is paper? at least try to have consistency in your reasoning. Gane was #1 ranked at the time. Should the number 1 ranked not fight for the belt? You get mad that Stipe is jumping line to fight Jon yet you would have been fine for Aspinall or Pav to jump line and fight Jon of Gane. At least pretend not to be bias if you gonna act is if you aren't lol..


Lol do you really think the UFC doesn't have a part in pushing the Stipe fight themselves? Dana and the UFC has been very adamant about how much they want this fight to happen. I doubt they would make the tom fight over Stipe at this point even if Jon changed his mind today.

they say tom is the real HW champ
because they hate jones
they hate him for having the best resume and the hardest

simple as that

 

[orca]

Maybe .05% were saying that if any at all.

People are calling for him being stripped cuz there is an interim champ he's refusing to fight.

There is a clear challenge of an opponent and it's not Stipe.

Even the fight with Gane was a bit of a joke but that's a different story

Now either stop playing stupid or STFU

lol nganou whent life and death with gane
jones made it look like gane was not on his league

theres a reason jon made it look easy
because hes the GOAT
and theres a reason why nganou went life and death with gane

theres levels to this sht

 

[daniel san]

It's racism because Ngannou is from Africa, you just have to accept it.

 

[Nathan LaMontagne]

lol nganou whent life and death with gane
jones made it look like gane was not on his league

theres a reason jon made it look easy
because hes the GOAT
and theres a reason why nganou went life and death with gane

theres levels to this sht

That or ya know, styles make fights.

If your biggest strength is your opponents weakness...