The MMA general news, events and thoughts thread

[Carbomb]

What I find so odd about him ducking Aspinall is that it's not like that wasn't necessarily an unwinnable fight for him. Sure, Aspinall being a legit HW and, more importantly, a good one who is actually mobile and dangerous would have been a challenge for him, sure, but so's Gane. Alright, Tom's savvy enough that it's not likely he'd stick his head into Jones' arms to get choked out, but there's a reason why Jones is considered one of the greatest ever - not sure why he didn't bet on himself, even at this stage in his career.

[wandshogun09]

Left $30 million on the table as well. He saw something that spooked him with Aspinall. There’s no other reason why you’d pass on that kind of payday otherwise. And 99% of fighters would still take a fight that they didn’t fancy for that kind of money. But Jones is so fragile and obsessed with being able to say he’s never lost that he bottled it. Yet now he’s tweeting agreeing with people saying Aspinall is faking the injury. Aspinall’s the pussy apparently. Not the man who ducked Ngannou and Aspinall for years and only resurfaced when it was safe. Genuinely think I’d root for Frank Mir over him at this point 🤣

[jimufctna24]

35 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

What I find so odd about him ducking Aspinall is that it's not like that wasn't necessarily an unwinnable fight for him. Sure, Aspinall being a legit HW and, more importantly, a good one who is actually mobile and dangerous would have been a challenge for him, sure, but so's Gane. Alright, Tom's savvy enough that it's not likely he'd stick his head into Jones' arms to get choked out, but there's a reason why Jones is considered one of the greatest ever - not sure why he didn't bet on himself, even at this stage in his career.

I raised my eyebrows when Jones vs Gane was announced, because I thought Gane could cause him serious problems. Obviously that didn't happen. 

Still, it can see why Jones would not want to risk fighting Aspinall, especially at this stage of his career. From what I've seen of Aspinall, he's a tall and rangy striker, who is indeed mobile, and can kick and punch effectively from long range. In other words, Aspinall has similarities to those opponents who have given Jones the most problems in the past (Reyes, Gusty). At his peak, Jones could probably rely on his durability/cardio and adjustments to carry him through after a rough start to the fight (as was the case in the first Gusty bout), but at this stage of his life he may not be as certain his chin will hold up, or that he could turn the tables as the fight progresses. He was very lucky to get the nod from the judges against Reyes in 2020 (the 1 fight I believe Jones lost clearly).

I agree it wasn't an unwinnable fight for Jones though. I'm not confident that Aspinall would've had the endurance to win a decision against Jones had the latter's chin held up. 

Edited September 16 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

55 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said:

From what I’ve seen of Aspinall, he’s a tall and rangy striker, who is indeed mobile, and can kick and punch effectively from long range. In other words, Aspinall has similarities to those opponents who have given Jones the most problems in the past (Reyes, Gusty).

And on top of that, unlike those guys, he’s a legit Heavyweight who couldn’t make 205 if he chopped a limb off. All those attributes plus actual Heavyweight punching power. Jones didn’t want any of it. Like you say, it’s not even that I think Jones couldn’t beat Aspinall. There were enough unanswered questions and things we hadn’t seen from him yet to give me some doubts. But we’ll never know now because Jones fannied out of it, turned down the biggest payday of his life and scurried off into retirement.

I do think I’d have favoured Aspinall to clip him early if they fought though. Jones has been past his peak a lot longer than people like to admit. He hasn’t looked like his prime self since the latter days of his 205 run. The second Cormier and second Gustafsson fights in 2017/18 were the last times we saw prime Jones, in my opinion. And even those performances have asterisks attached to them due to PED fuckery surrounding those specific fights. We’re coming up on a decade of Jones being past his best and, while that was still enough to get him over the line against the opposition he’s faced, I think a younger, fresh, big, quick and powerful Heavyweight like Aspinall would’ve got to him. People forget that, as washed up as Stipe was when they fought, old and slow as fuck Stipe was still catching him at times. If 2024 Stipe was able to find the odd opening to lay gloves on him, I have a hard time imagining Aspinall not catching him early. Of course if it went long, that’s a different story and those questions I had on Aspinall come into play. But people often get hung up on the prime versions of these guys when predicting a fight, and that guy hasn’t existed since 2018. Same going into Holloway vs McGregor 2 recently, the amount of people I saw acting like 2015 McGregor was gonna show up was hilarious. In the end, I just think the timing of when fights happen and paths cross is so huge in combat sports. I think Aspinall was the wrong man at the wrong time for Jones and, despite all Jones bluster and bullshit, he knew it. 

[Egg Shen]

Ilia sprung back to life last night. The glove thing is interesting, I hadn't read Ilia make any kind of accusation previously. We're gonna get the rematch aren't we?

 

[wandshogun09]

It’s weird. Gaethje vs Topuria might well have been the FOTY so far but I don’t wanna see an immediate rematch, and I don’t think it’s warranted either. Topuria didn’t just get stopped, he got his face broken to the point his own brother had to pull him out and get the fight called off. It was nowhere near the one-sided demolition job for Gaethje that I’m seeing a lot of fans (Topuria haters) act like it was. Topuria very nearly had him out of there earlier in the fight. But the way it ended, I don’t think we need to see it again straight away. Plus it wasn’t like Topuria had some long, legendary reign as champ at 155 either. I could kind of understand it if he’d gone on some GSP-like run with the belt but this was literally his first defence after winning a vacant title.

To me it’s straightforward, Gaethje has said he’s taking the rest of the year off anyway. Tsarukyan vs Ruffy goes down in two days. If Tsarukyan squashes Ruffy, as most expect, do Gaethje vs Tsarukyan for the strap in early 2027. And in the meantime, do Topuria vs Pimblett, maybe in December. Then have the winners of those two fights face off for the gold. That should take us into the summer. But of course TKO don’t care. No long term vision whatsoever, all they’re arsed about is getting that fast money and they probably think Gaethje vs Topuria 2 is bigger than the other options. It probably is but then again they’re not even on PPV anymore in the US so it’s not even an obvious money grab. I don’t know. I like my scenario much better but I suspect we’re getting the immediate rematch.

As for the glove tampering thing, load of shite. Topuria actually put out a really classy response initially after the loss back in June. Don’t know what this bollocks is now, must be the only way he can think to try to goad Gaethje into the rematch because Gaethje has been saying he’s not interested in it up to now. 

[Carbomb]

It's a very stupid thing to say on Topuria's part. I can understand wanting to goad Gaethje into a rematch, but accusing him of cheating? Aside from insulting his family, might have been the worst thing he could say to someone like Gaethje.

[wandshogun09]

Plus, it’s not like this was the first time Gaethje properly busted someone’s face up and made a mess of them. So we’re expected to believe he’s got away with loading his gloves for years and somehow bypassing the pre-fight checks? 

And that’s just four examples. Gaethje’s got that weird power where it doesn’t really put guys out with one shot but it’s just constant thudding mallets over and over that might not knock you unconscious but hurt enough and cause enough damage to change your face. A knockout would probably be kinder. 

Edited September 17 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

I was watching some YouTube earlier and Michael Morales popped up. Remember how much hype, buzz and momentum he had when he stopped Sean Brady? That a was year ago already, and hes not been seen since. Just checked around and it seems like hes not even had any injuries. My random thought is that it is very strange.

[Egg Shen]

Yeah, he's basically just waiting around from what I can tell. Looks like they are going Makhachev/Prates, Garry/Amosov and then there's Bonfim/Brady. Morales is the odd man out.

Morales/Medic?

[Bus Surfer]

While I don't think it was ever official, the usual credible sources are reporting that Machachev v Prates, which was apparently being targeted for Early '27 is off at Machachev's end. No word on a potential injury or anything yet. 

Rough if true. Machachev barely fights once a year as it is and there are some serious contenders waiting. I'm not an interim fan usually, but Morales v Prates makes lots of sense considering each man's position. 

Edited Saturday at 08:31 AM by Bus Surfer

[Egg Shen]

Yeah, im up for that. That fight has a bit of a special feel to it too, clearly the two most "dangerous" guys in the division.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I’d be all for Morales vs Prates. As annoying as it is that Makhachev is so inactive, I think Morales vs Prates is the fight I actually wanna see most in the 170 division at the moment anyway. More than Makhachev against either of them, or anyone really. I love that pairing.

It’s mad though how much of a mess the titles in the UFC are these days. Feels like almost all the divisions now have inactive champions and vacant/interim titles. 

Heavyweight - Gane vs Hokit got promoted to ‘undisputed’ solely because Aspinall vacated. 

Light Heavyweight - Champ Ulberg out with a blown out knee. Wouldn’t be surprised to see an interim created soon.

Middleweight - Champ Strickland is currently at odds with the UFC over pay. Fuck knows when he next fights?

Welterweight - See above. Makhachev out. Possible interim. 

Lightweight - Champ Gaethje out until at least next year but has been making noises about weighing up whether he even wants to fight again or just retire. 

Featherweight - Volk! Legend. Defending tonight against the undefeated top contender. 

Flyweight - Van! Active, young and fresh champ at the top of a really exciting, thriving division. 

Women’s Bantamweight - Champ Kayla Harrison defending against Amanda Nunes next month. But Harrison kills herself to make 135, is coming off a neck injury and has been quoted as saying she’s not cutting to 135 again after the Nunes fight. So could be another vacated or interim belt coming up by the end of the year. Also, Harrison is already 36 and Nunes in 38. 

Women’s Flyweight - Natalia Silva just won the vacant title by beating prelim4life Wang Cong, after Shevchenko relinquished it. 

Strawweight - Mackenzie Dern is champ but only because Zhang Weili vacated to challenge Shevchenko at Flyweight. And Zhang hasn’t fought in almost a year now and is 37 years old anyway. So she’s probably on the way out soon.

 

Fuck me. Typing it all out like that, it’s even more messed up than I thought 🤣 it’s literally just Volk and Van holding the fort. The rest of the title pictures are a shambles at the moment.