I hate Jones. I was there in NJ when he won the belt. That said, Sergei is a nobody and there’s no reason Jones needs to fight him. Now if Sergei keeps fighting and keeps winning, in maybe 2 years there would be an argument that Jones NEEDS to fight him.
Chael had a theory that Jones retires if he beats Stipe and then returns once there is a new champ who has built a brand like Ngannou was starting to do. Thats what makes sense to me. For Jones it will be better to beat Stipe, let someone else have the belt and build and brand and then return and beat them for his last fight instead of just beating Stipe and then trying to defend the belt two times a year vs challengers without a ton of hype.
Sure Stipe could somehow upset Jones but I’m more interested in who is champ in a year.
I assume Jones beats Stipe and then they both retire, then Pavlovich beats Aspinall for the vacant belt.
Jailton Almeida, Gane, Volkov, Aspinall, Blaydes, Tybura and Spivac are the only fighters really close to a title fight with Pavlovich.
Come on now. He fought who he agreed to have put in front of him and when. The guy cancelled an even to avoid a short notice fight with Chael. Basically amit he was afraid to try DC at Heavyweight. Tried to get out of fights or threw bitch fits about refs who were on top of eyepokes.
““I’m a realist,” Jones said. “Daniel Cormier is a special athlete and anyone can be beat. I think my greatest chance of losing would be to a guy like Daniel Cormier. We’d be giving him a power and strength advantage over me; it just doesn’t make sense.”
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Why do Jones fans always pretend he’s that guy who fights anyone, anytime? He was always very cautious about who he fought, when and under what conditions. He was no Sakuraba or BJ Penn with the matchmaking. Hell, even Connor was ballsier that way lol.
Maybe he’s not afraid of a person specifically, he’s afraid of losing and tarnishing his legacy, over a nobody. Just as much risk fighting Sergei as Francis, with no name value