If Jones fights Stipe, while Aspinall has the interim belt... Do we just have 2 active belts or do you strip the belt of Aspinall as soon as the Stipe fight starts? Makes no sense but that's the UFC.UFC should step in and make a statement that Jones needs to fight the interim champ next or lose the belt. Fighting Stipe makes less than zero sense.
My guess:
-Interim title fight at ufc295
-winner defends interim title sometime early 2024
-miocic/jones happens mid/late 2024
-winner retires, interim belt holder becomes real champ
The closest example I would consider is what happened with Renan Barao. Won an interim title, then defended it twice and after the second defense it was changed to the actual title. Not exactly the same scenario but closest there has probably been.
I think it also gives them some options. If they need to strip Jones that's easy enough, if they need to move on from Miocic that's easy enough as well. Fluid situation.. but ya, the above is my guess in terms of a plausible scenario.
So when Ankalaev or Hill eventually win the LHW belt, Paul Craig gets to come up from middleweight and challenge for the belt right?I know he's coming off a loss to Pavlovich, but I might do Aspinall/Blaydes. You have a storyline with Blaydes "winning" the fight last time due to an injury.
So when Ankalaev or Hill eventually win the LHW belt, Paul Craig gets to come up from middleweight and challenge for the belt right?
Blaydes lost to the loser of the interim HW title fight. Outside of a self inflicted Aspinall injury his 2 most recent wins are Daukus (out of the company) and Rozenstruik who is ranked 12 and hasn't put together 2 consecutive wins in 5 years. There's lots of ranked guys Blaydes can beat so let's see him beat one of them first and earn a title shot.
Jones and Stipe are out for the foreseeable future. Volkov, Pavlovich, and Spivak lost to Aspinall already. Gane, Blaydes, and Almeida are left, they have never fought each other. Just put 2 of them together and winner gets a title shot. Seems pretty straight forward.
That's not the question though - the timing might not work if they want/need an Aspinall title shot in March. So who do you give the title fight of the three?
That's not the question though - the timing might not work if they want/need an Aspinall title shot in March. So who do you give the title fight of the three?
Reluctantly Almeida out of those 3.
Gane is probably the most exciting match up but he's already had two title shots and lost.
Blaydes needs to put on a bit of a run on before he gets a title shot. The injury early last fight does make it somewhat intriguing to do a rematch.
Almeida is on a good run, but his last victory did him no favours.
I would ideally say two of these have to fight each other before they fight Tom. But if Tom fights in March the timing won't work as you pointed out.
Where does March come into play? Just an arbitrary time frame? If they do want to do it, I don't see it being a huge problem. UFC doesn't care about the time in between fights or prep time as long as the fighter shows up.
Gane last fought in September, no injuries sustained. Almeida fought early November, no injuries sustained, Blaydes got TKOd in April should be ready to go by now. Just pick the 2 that are willing, put them in January 13/20 give them 8/9 weeks to prep (UFC had no problem giving Tom 2/3 for a title). Market it as a #1 contenders fight. Winner gets Aspinall at UFC 300 which could be late March, early April. That's 9/10/11 weeks out. That's plenty.
If they just pick one of these 3 guys to fight Aspinall in March it will be the most lackluster title fight imaginable. These are nice guys who aren't big draws. It's a waste of a title fight to put any of them in it without fighting again. That fight can't headline a PPV. It can co main at best, just like Pavlovich vs Aspinall which was much more exciting than these 3 names.
Also UFC 300 is coming up end of March/April. I know there's rumors Connor going to headline and they usually don't put titles on those cards cause of the PPV points but do interim champs get ppv points?I think out of the 3 somehow Almeida is the most deserving. My other thought would be he was so boring and did so little v Lewis that maybe they just give him the shot as they think it's an easy win for Aspinall. Aspinall can move on probably easily and Almeida likely goes back down to 205lbs for good.
We both know how it works in the UFC sometimes - they get scrambling for a headliner and need a fight. There are rumors of a London card in March/April and if they turn that into a PPV then Aspinall would be the ideal top fight.
I'm basically just trying to figure out if they decide to book an Aspinall title fight sooner or later who gets the shot. I think Gane/Blaydes/Almeida are the only 3 potential so that's why I narrowed it down to that. And yeah, whoever doesn't get the fight would be fighting each other.
My main issue with giving the fight to Gane would be you are setting up a potential interim Gane v champ Jon Jones rematch which absolutely nobody wants to see. I almost think you need to shelf Gane from the title picture for a bit until they know what Jones' future is.
Also UFC 300 is coming up end of March/April. I know there's rumors Connor going to headline and they usually don't put titles on those cards cause of the PPV points but do interim champs get ppv points?
I think out of the 3 somehow Almeida is the most deserving. My other thought would be he was so boring and did so little v Lewis that maybe they just give him the shot as they think it's an easy win for Aspinall. Aspinall can move on probably easily and Almeida likely goes back down to 205lbs for good.
We both know how it works in the UFC sometimes - they get scrambling for a headliner and need a fight. There are rumors of a London card in March/April and if they turn that into a PPV then Aspinall would be the ideal top fight.
I'm basically just trying to figure out if they decide to book an Aspinall title fight sooner or later who gets the shot. I think Gane/Blaydes/Almeida are the only 3 potential so that's why I narrowed it down to that. And yeah, whoever doesn't get the fight would be fighting each other.
My main issue with giving the fight to Gane would be you are setting up a potential interim Gane v champ Jon Jones rematch which absolutely nobody wants to see. I almost think you need to shelf Gane from the title picture for a bit until they know what Jones' future is.
I seem to be one of the few Stipe fans around here. I not only was fine with him fighting Jones, but I was looking forward to it. Now, though, I just don't think it makes any sense. You're going to keep Aspinall on ice for the next year because you want to do this 'legacy' fight or have him defend an interim belt? I don't know. It takes a lot out of the legacy stuff out of the Jones-Stipe fight when everyone knows there's an interim champ. I think it hurts the excitement around it and would hurt the PPV's, too. I'd do Aspinall-Stipe and the winner gets Jones. If neither Jones or Stipe accepts that, then strip Jones and promote Aspinall to the real champ. Jones and Stipe can fight each other not for the belt if they want.
I'm suggesting they strip Jones if he's not willing to fight the interim champ.Are you suggesting the UFC strip Jon Jones because.. Stipe Miocic won't fight Tom Aspinall?
Are you suggesting the UFC strip Jon Jones because.. Stipe Miocic won't fight Tom Aspinall?
If he fights whoever the interim champ is when he gets back, great.Jones injury is long-term, no need to strip him. They'll just have Aspinall degree the interim
No, strip him. Having him retain the belt and not fight the interim champion immediately upon his return is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of (almost). It sounds like he's not fighting Aspinall since they're saving Stipe for the Jones fight. Which means well over a year until Aspinall would ever fight Jones? Why have an interim champion if you're letting someone leapfrog the interim champion to fight for the belt, before the interim champion does? Stipe isn't hurt, so if Stipe is the rightful contender he should fight Aspinall. If he doesn't, and he beats Jones when Jones returns (I don't think he will) then what was the point of an interim champion? Does the interim belt get taken away because Stipe is the active champion? It's stupid, if Stipe is good to go... He fights Aspinall then winner fights Jones.Jones injury is long-term, no need to strip him. They'll just have Aspinall degree the interim
No, strip him. Having him retain the belt and not fight the interim champion immediately upon his return is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of (almost). It sounds like he's not fighting Aspinall since they're saving Stipe for the Jones fight. Which means well over a year until Aspinall would ever fight Jones? Why have an interim champion if you're letting someone leapfrog the interim champion to fight for the belt, before the interim champion does? Stipe isn't hurt, so if Stipe is the rightful contender he should fight Aspinall. If he doesn't, and he beats Jones when Jones returns (I don't think he will) then what was the point of an interim champion? Does the interim belt get taken away because Stipe is the active champion? It's stupid, if Stipe is good to go... He fights Aspinall then winner fights Jones.
Also, if Jones is fighting Stipe, they don't need to do it for a belt because neither of them deserve it. Neither is active in the HW division. Jones will be inactive longer than he's been in the HW division and he didn't even beat a champion to win the belt. He won a vacant belt in a division he never fought in, so there should be no problem with him vacating it and having him earn it from an actual active champion when he's active again. Just silly to keep a belt on an inactive, injured guy who was gifted a vacant title fight in a division he never fought in before when he's not fighting the interim champ upon his return.