Good. Fuck Jones. I’m over that fight. Its like Khabib GSP at this point. No use wasting any time on the talk about it. If they book it, watch it but paying attention to any talk of it is a waste of time.
The MMA media will create 9,000 clickbait headlines about it like they have done with Conor, GSP, Diaz and others for years and years.
I’m sure Jones expected to fight Stipe and be the same weight as him.
This is the fight nobody wants to see. Dana is protecting Francis as long as he can. Doesn’t want Jones to put an end to their African expansion plans.
Good. Fuck JBJ.
Fans have way shorter memories than JBJ thinks. For all his accomplishments, he is tipping more and more on the side of being irrelevant if he doesn’t become active again
I kinda think Ngannou starches him this time.
The Usman card UFC just did sold more PPVs than the average Jones PPV.
UFC does not need Jones at all going forward. He will not help them open new markets.
He seems to be declining to a degree and is also not very likeable at all and has given the UFC tons of bad press over the years.
Fans won’t care if Jones is gone, his legacy means less to the public than he imagines.
Few things…the fans won’t care if anyone is gone. MMA fans keep watching regardless of who the stars happen to be, and there are always new ones. The UFC will continue to grow, and continue to profit.
As for the “Usman” card…let’s be honest, people aren’t paying for Usman. Maybe they will moving forward, but Masvidal is the guy who has pulled good numbers in his PPVs every time, and Usman has had big numbers twice, both against Masvidal. The Burns PPV sold like shit.
Agree that the fans don’t care if anyone is gone or who the stars happen to be. Just saying thats a great reason they don’t need to pay Jones $30M right now for the Ngannou fight.
I only called it the Usman card to identify it. Was not at all trying to imply he is the reason it sold. I do think you are right it sold because of Masvidal but the two female title fights did not hurt it either as I think they get a little boost whenever they throw three title fights on the card.
I don’t think you guys really get what’s happening here. It’s not that he thinks he has the UFC by the balls, and they’re surely going to pay him because they need him…the public will demand it!!!
That’s not it at all. He sees what other people are making, lesser fighters than him, and he’s mad about it. He feels disrespected. He’s rich as fuck, and doesn’t need the UFC any more than the UFC needs him. He’s been making millions every fight for a while now, and said as much in interviews…how it’s crazy that he only made like $2M for some of his early title defenses that sold 700K PPV buys. Since the fights that he “only made $2M in” he’s been in like 12-13 more title fights…and has said he made $10M for the DC fights…$5M each…and he’s had tons of endorsements…probably made $30-40M from the UFC. He doesn’t need the $.
And when he sees that guys like Khabib are making $10M to fight Gaethje on a PPV that sells 660K buys, he’s pissed. He made $5M for DC that sold like 900K buys. So he’s mad, and feels underpaid and disrespected.
In addition to that, he’s talked about never having so much as a steak dinner or a glass of whiskey with Dana. Dana is always shit talking him in public too. So imagine that you’re Jon…the guy Dana openly calls the GOAT…and the boss hates you, won’t even have dinner with you…and chases Khabib around the globe to beg him to keep fighting. Meets with guys like Nick Diaz (who has been a huge pain in the ass for the UFC) face to face to discuss fights…doesn’t even talk to Jon because he hates him.
So you’re the GOAT, you think you’re still in your prime, you sell better than guys who are getting paid more $ than you, the boss won’t even talk to you, talks shit about you publicly, and kisses the ass of guys who don’t sell as well as you do…you’re looking to move up to HWT to win another world title, and the talk is “derrick lewis is the fight” when it’s a fight nobody gives a fuck about.
Jon’s rich, and would rather walk away entirely than eat Dana’s shit anymore. He’s not negotiating, he’s never fighting again if the UFC refuses to stop treating him the way they do.
Jon said he never asked for $30M btw…given how open he’s been about what he’s made in fights, and Dana is often making shit up, I believe Jon when he said that the $30M number was never discussed.
Francis has much better cardio for this fight, so he should be able to run away even more.
I hope that it’s the barnburner their first fight was.
Easy to feel disrespected. But come on. Where else is he going to make 5-8M in the next years… and now he could in ONE bout? Plus if he does beat Francis and becomes HW Champ, imagine his leverage then! It’d be HUGE. $$$$
Tons of UFC fighters are underpaid, and treated like shit… he’s not one of them. Even if he felt “not paid his worth” compared to some other MMA starts, or to boxers and all that, the saying “you are worth what you can bargain for” applies here. He has little leverage, and mainly because he’s been so inactive. Being even more inactive won’t help one bit.
I think Lewis vs Francis is a VERY risky fight for the UFC. The first fight was terrible. Francis is a brand new champion who they’re hoping is a huge star, and this is his first defense. If it sucks, and he wins a boring decision (or god forbid loses?) it crushes his star power. We know what Lewis is, we’ve seen him get knocked out, submitted…we’ve seen him lose big fights. He’s fun, I love watching him fight, but it would feel super weird if he was the HWT champ.
I don’t see any downside to the Jones fight. If Francis KO’s him, that’s great for the UFC…Francis stopping the GOAT would cement him as a huge star, and his PPVs would sell big. If Jones wins, holy shit…the GOAT is back and just won the HWT title. Rematch with Francis is on the table, fights with Stipe and others…PPVs would all sell big, and win or lose Jon vs Francis is the top story on sportscenter. Lewis vs Francis is just another fight.
Even if Jones vs Francis is somewhat boring…we either have a guy who just beat the GOAT, or Jones winning another belt…either story is big. There’s no downside.
I agree. UFC should have just paid Jones what he wanted.
Jones vs Ngannou is a bigger fight than Jones vs Lewis.
Lewis has improved a lot and he can KO Ngannou just as much as Ngannou can KO him.