You dont have to have A1 takedown defense at HW plus Jones is pushing 40....If you have decent acticvity and hands you could give JJ issues....Stipe was just damn old and slow he never went forward and was throwing slap punches when he did....Ngannou/Aspnall def have the hands and aggression that would cause Jones issues at heavyweight...
Jones i thought looked kinda slow on his feet but fortunately he fought a guy who chose to be target practice....His legacy is important to Dana White and thats why you saw UFC not give him to Ngannou and only started yapping it about once he left....
Dana ain’t want to pay Francis or Jon while they were building the fight. Jon even vacated the light heavyweight belt to prove his seriousness and he wanted to take time to build his body for heavyweight (as a reminder the weight limit is 265). Since he left LHW a man he already beat became champ and the title changed hands many times.
Can’t forget that Izzy wanted to fight Jon at LHW but decided against going back up after losing to Jan. There was also rumors of Brock coming back again looking to fight either Jon or Francis.
Typically the UFC renews your contract but because Francis decided to not to resign he was free but he had to go against Gane while very hobbled (man wore two knee braces and wrestled Gane to a decision) arguably Gane was the top heavyweight who wasn’t Francis. His record is 12-2 the only losses are to Francis and Jones. Fast forward Francis leaves so basically Gane is the guy especially after he KOed Tuivasa in Paris. So the fight against Jones made sense the lineal undisputed light heavyweight vs the best heavyweight in the UFC for the undisputed belt.
Jones won but wanted Stipe who had wanted another fight against Francis because they were tied 1-1. Stipe wasn’t going to fight any other heavyweight if it wasn’t Jon or Francis but because of his level he couldn’t be on just a fight week card and the heavyweight championship is a headliner fight.they were scheduled to face off last year but Jones ruptured his pectoral muscle the week of the fight badly to where the recovery was 9 months. That plus a 12 week camp lead to the fight last night.
Gane decided against fighting Tom Aspinal because of basically he would have next shot at the champion. Tom won an interim championship that night. Also Alex
pereira
won the Light Heavyweight Championship.
Since then Alex P has defended the belt 3 times in a year. He’s basically has taken the mantle of Light Heavyweight and he’s the same age as Jon Jones. Plus he’s trained by Glover. Alex has also beaten Izzy.
Tom has fought once and I argue he could’ve fought someone last night especially since he took the time to make weight in case Stipe or Jon didn’t make the fight. Which wasn’t going to happen. MSG is an important card yearly for UFC especially since it wasn’t until 2016 they could hold events there. MSG charges an additional fee on top for any programming that is filmed it’s why the WWE and even more boxing fights have more events at the Barclays in Brooklyn.
Heavyweight division is guys who have all beaten each other for years on the fight night cards especially since Stipe won the championship back off of DC. It’s a murder’s row so it won’t get its respect.
In Alex P Jones is facing a multi weight middleweight & light heavyweight kickboxing champion who is also double champion across middleweight & light heavyweight with only two loses who been KOing a bunch of people. In my opinion one of the best pure strikers in UFC history across all weight classes.
In Tom Jones is facing a man with devastating power winning 13 fights by KO in the first round. Tom is 31 years old is as explosive as young Francis but with better wrestling. He’s beaten many vets including a former champion.
Jones on facing Francis
Dana needs to pay these gentlemen all of them more.