June 1, 2025 • 16 mins
Wade REACTS to the viral petition to strip UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones of his title and DEMANDS for Tom Aspinall to get his chance at the belt..
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Folks. Something historic is going down right now in the
world of MMA, and specifically the UFC. As you have
seen over the last couple of days, people are getting
fed up with the UFC refusing to strip John Jones
of the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship. And they are so
fed up that they have all signed their names to
(00:20):
a verified petition to the UFC to strip John Jones
and either make Tom aspinall the undisputed heavyweight champion or
make his next fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship. And
I'm wearing a West brom soccer jersey because I don't
really have anything else English, and I'm trying to support
because this is a moment in time that you want
(00:42):
to be on the right side of history. And if
you're an MMA fan and you're looking at this situation,
Tom aspinall truly is and should be the heavyweight champion
of the world. Why the UFC refuses to strip John Jones?
Not in that way. He is down in Thailand maybe
doing some of that stuff himself, but I don't know
were gonna talk about it today. This is monumental fans
(01:02):
banding together behind the encouragement of quite frankly, some of
the biggest MMA YouTubers on the planet, MMA Guru Lucas, Tracy,
Ariel Helwani and Moore telling the UFC and telling the
industry itself. The most simple answer is right in front
of you. Do what is best for your own sport
or risk losing hundreds of thousands of fans. What do
(01:24):
I mean the breakdown? Let's go solazy gentlemen, like I said.
A petition to strip John Jones of the undisputed UFC
Heavyweight Championship belt has now reached one hundred and thirty
three thousand verified signatures. Decision maker Dana White the issue.
John Jones is now the longest reigning champion in the
UFC heavyweight history and only has two fights in that
(01:46):
time period. There's a clear interim champion, Tom Aspinall, who
has defended his interim championship belt. Aspinall is ready to
fight Jones. Jones refuses to fight him. Therefore, we as
fans must let Dana White know it is time to
strip John Jones of the heavyweight title. He clearly has
no intentions of fighting anyone soon. Well said by mister
Tony has died, We're gonna give a shamalahamala to him
(02:10):
for the resurrection of passion from the UFC fan base
and from hopefully the decision makers over at the UFC.
I am going to sign this petition myself as well
and let it be known that quite frankly, this is
unacceptable for the sport of MMA. I mean, we've talked
about it in videos I think earlier this week or
last week. I don't remember when I did the video,
(02:31):
but everybody is talking about it right now. It makes
no sense John Jones is refusing to fight. There's no
reason for him to hold the belt. In fact, in
the time that John has held the belt, the interim
champion not only hasn't gotten his shot. Whilst holding the
interim championship, the interim champion has also defended that belt
while John holds the undisputed It makes no sense. It
(02:53):
never has, it never will. And you won't give me
an explanation that Dana or anybody else could feed you
that would make it make sense. If John is refusing
to fight Tom for whatever amount that the UFC has
offered him, it is simple strip him and move on. Now.
The only thing that people are potentially saying could be
the case for what's happening so far is that John
(03:14):
Jones and Tom Aspinal may fight in the early part
of twenty twenty six on the UFC's new TV rights
deal as a promised fight to the new distributor, right,
because there's a lot going on there as well. The
UFC is starting to slowly but surely remove their content
or someone is removing their content from ESPN Plus. As
we take a look here, welp, looks like all previous
(03:35):
UFC bouts have been scrubbed from ESPN Plus. The whole
catalog is gone. Only official source for UFC passed bouts
is on fight Pass and then Zane Simon was an editor,
you know, writer and podcast not an official source for
the UFC. But still it doesn't take you know, more
than two eyes to see what's happening here. And he
says there's also still a couple of pay per views
(03:56):
floating around, but the general consensus is simple. The UFC
is probably moving either from ESPN Plus to another distributor
or behind ESPN's new paywall, which I think is still
being described as ESPN and then they'll still have ESPN Plus.
It's all very convoluted. The point is the UFC waiting
another seven months to do that would make John I mean,
(04:19):
he already is the longest reigning UFC heavyweight champion while
only having two fights, And it takes another seven months
off the prime of a person in tom Aspinall you
could build into the next big heavyweight. Look at the
potential for Tom Aspinall is e Conor McGregor. No, but
he does have a nation behind him. In fact, now
he has more than a nation, He has an entire
(04:40):
UFC fan base behind him. He has the new generation
of opinionated media behind him, which no one really talks
about as a global ground force. Like if you have
the support of MMA Guru and his fans like it
or not, the hardcore audience of MMA is usually in
that community. Lucas Tracy as well. These numbers prove it
(05:01):
like this is not a community that can be afforded
to just be overlooked, if that makes sense. Like before
we had YouTubers really covering the sport before even MMA
was mainstream, you could control the narrative a bit. If
you were the UFC, you could control what was said,
how it was said, and where it came from. I mean,
look at Arihjwane getting ousted by Dana White all the
(05:21):
way back when when he broke the brock Lessner coming
back at UFC two hundred store. That was the UFC
controlling the narrative. And yes, people took sides with Aerial,
which you didn't really have what you have now, which
is a media you can't control, that doesn't have to
be at the venue, that doesn't need tickets to the event,
that doesn't have to say yes or obey. They can
say exactly how they feel. It may not make a
(05:41):
difference to the decision that the UFC makes, but it
will make a difference in the long term as more
and more people get fed up watching the sport they
love go by the wayside in favor of business decision.
And I get at the UFC is a business and
it needs to make money. But let's not kill ourselves
and act like the UFC is hurting for money. It's
a billion dollar company with year over year massive revenue games.
(06:02):
If they can't throw a number at John Jones that
he will accept, even maybe outside of the terms of
what they deem fair or worthy of that fight, and
John continues to do things the way he's been doing them,
which is stuff like this where Tom is on Mighty
Mouse's show. Another one, by the way, Mighty Mouse, obviously
a legendary fighter and one of the greatest of all
(06:23):
time in his own right, turned massive MMA personality on YouTube,
interviewed Tom, and Tom said, listen, I've been in active
for nearly a year and I'm just being told to wait.
I don't care about fighting John Jones. I just want
to be the undispeeded champion. And you have John Jones,
troll and shut your mouth and do as you're told
with the laughing face. So again it looks like John's
taking this very seriously, and now he's changed his profile
(06:43):
picture to a duck holding the UFC championship, very much
intent on trolling. And while yeah, you know trolling is
funny or whatever, it's not when you're holding up I
would say, an entirety of a sport, quite frankly, like
the heavyweight champion is the most important fighter your sport,
in your division, and your promotion in the sport entirely.
(07:04):
And when they're trolling and talking about I'm retired, but
not really. And Tom's gonna do what he's told and
just not a care in the world about the sport.
Then what are we as fans supposed to think about
the sport? About the integrity of the best fighting the best,
which is always the tagline in the UFC for the
longest time, that was it. It's not even just us
the fans that think that what John is doing right
(07:24):
now is wrong. It's not even us the fans that
think what the UFC is doing is wrong. It's actually
the man himself, John Jones. He's the one that said
something very similar all the way back in twenty twenty
when he vacated the light heavyweight championship to move up
to heavyweight. He said, I vacated the light heavyweight championship
because I knew my heavyweight goals were going to take
(07:45):
some time. I wasn't gonna play games with the contenders
and make people fight interim championship belts. There's little rest
on the throne, and correctly pointed out by Ben the
Bain Davis, that was a fucking lie. These things sound
great in theory. Right at the time John tweeting that out,
whether it was earnest or he was just trying to
look for some new fans as he had to the heavyweight.
(08:05):
It doesn't hold up under scrutiny, does it. It doesn't
when you see one hundred thousand fans understanding what it
is is going on here, when for some reason the
UFC cannot. It's a simple answer. And again this has
reached over one hundred and thirty now. But what's it
gonna take for the UFC. What's it gonna take for
them to realize that they are cutting off their nose
(08:25):
despite their face. Here is John one of, if not
the greatest fighter to ever live, yet is his legacy cemented? Yeah,
this fight, in my opinion, still needs to happen. I
want to see the fight. I think we as fans
deserve to see the fight because there is a certain
lineage with the belt and if Tom and John are
never to face off and Tom doesn't get that opportunity
to take the belt off the undisputed champion, that'd be
(08:45):
unfortunate because the old saying is to be the man,
you have to beat the man, and John is the
man that would take Tom Aspinall's career to the next level.
But at the same time, I honestly think that Tom
could do that without John. At this point. He has
gotten a fan base simply by being steadfast and what
he has said he wants to do. He wants to
be the heavyweight champ. He wants the John Jones fight.
He's ready for the John Jones fight. He's calling for
(09:07):
the John Jones fight. It's all he can really do
his career is being shackled and handcuffed because John wants
to play fucking touch button Thailand. And I don't know
what else, to be honest with you, and I said
this in the last video. You know, yeah, John should
try to get every cent of what he's oh in
this fight. But at the same time, the UFC has
to put the big boy pants on here. And again,
(09:28):
it's not like they haven't done it before. It's not
like they're not currently doing it with other champions right now,
Guys are moving weight, refusing to defend their belt in
their weight class that they have a championship. In Nilia
Tuporia did not want to fight at one forty five anymore,
refuse to fight at one forty five, so he vacated
or they would have stripped him, and he moves to
one fifty five. Same with Islam Makichev. He doesn't want
(09:50):
to fight at one fifty five right now. Instead, he
wants to challenge for the one seventy belt. Well, you're
gonna have to vacate or we're gonna strip you. John
Jones does not want to defend his belt, is not
gonna fight anytime soon. It's clearly gona vacate. And the
UFC is standing there with their dicks in their hands.
You know, there's a whole other issue that I see
right now at the UFC, And it's not even hard
to see. You just open your eyes and you see
that there's complacency top to bottom in the promotion. The
(10:11):
inability to create new stars falls sometimes on the fighters,
but also on the promotion. I'll go back to this.
It's not like we haven't seen Dana do this before.
I alluded to it my last video. And I think
either people have not been around MMA for a very
long time, or they forgot what happened when George Saint Pierre,
not the second time, but the first time, walked away
(10:31):
from the sport, and what Dana White said, not three
hundred days later, not a year after, not when George
was thinking about maybe he'll come back. The night of
the fight that drew George Saint Pierre away from the sport.
George Saint Pierre versus Johnny Hendrix at UFC won sixty seven,
a fight that a lot of people thought Johnny Hendrix
(10:52):
did enough to win. Also looked like he was on
the way out the door. And this was the UFC's
twenty year anniversary, and this is Dana White had to say,
what was your take? Can you explain what you said
on television about you were upset that George was talking
about retiring and not giving Johnny arm.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I said about him. Listen, when a guy wants to retire,
I mean, did he say he wants to retire. He
didn't say I'm gonna retire. I'm hanging it up. It's
been great, everybody, Thanks a lot for all the year.
See you later. He said, I'm gonna take some time
off and I'm gonna sen nough. First of all, that
decision that happens, right, You don't you don't just say, hey,
I'm gonna take a while off and maybe I'll be back,
(11:29):
maybe I won't. You owe it to the fans. You
owe it to that belt, you owe it to this company,
and you owe it to Johnny Hendricks to give him
that opportunity to fight again unless you're gonna retire. You know,
I told you guys a million times he's got plenty
of money. He can retire. That's a fact. He could
absolutely positively do that. There's no Hey, listen, I'm gonna
go on a cruise and you know I'm gonna be
(11:50):
gone for two years, and you know I'm gonna take
a hiatus. I'm gonna I'm gonna take a leave of absence.
I'm gonna whatever the hell it was that he was saying,
that's not how it works, doesn't work that.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Way, He doesn't. I guess it didn't back then, but
maybe it does now. Or maybe Dana should take a
look in the mirror and really see what changed between
then and now. For it, because the fighters still fight,
champions are still made Dana's own words. John Jones especially
has enough money to retire. And if you troll John
on Twitter, he's gonna make sure he tells you how
(12:19):
much money he's got in cash, real estate, and other
ventures that allow him to go on trips to Thailand
and do whatever this is in a pool full of
his peers. So if John has money, and he's wishy
washy on if he's ever gonna fight again. And in
Dana's own words, at least when speaking about George Saint Pierre,
he owes it to the fans, to the company, to
the belt, and to the opponent that rightfully deserves the
(12:42):
next fight. What changed, I'll sell you what changed, Dana White.
The UFC's ideas about business versus sport change. You could
say TKO changed the US. You could say endeavor, you
could say money. You could say all of those things
and you'd probably be right. But the point is Dana
White lost his fastball. That's what it is. That's all
(13:03):
This comes down to John doing What John is doing
is only allowable because Dana allows it to happen. Dane
is the one that calls the shots here, always has been,
always will. Maybe he's having to answer to bigger names
now that the TKO deal has done. But who is
going to tell Dana White that John Jones can't be
stripped to the detriment of his sports, to the detriment
of future monetization of the sport. For what the potential
(13:25):
of a short term gain If you throw enough money
at John Jones to come back and fight Tom Asmenal.
We're so shortsighted that we can't see what happens five, ten,
fifteen years down the road. If Tom Aspinall gets his shot,
we're not willing to risk it for the biscuit. Isn't
the UFC built on risks? So now because you've eliminated
all the competition, you dominated the sport. Now, the fans
(13:47):
don't matter. Now, the fights don't matter. Now, the sport
doesn't matter. Just money. Right. If you want to know
why the UFC is doing this, it's because they can.
And if John Jones is not willing to fight, will
he won't he? As Dana says, this simple answer always
has been and always will be destripping. I think they're
gonna try to wait until twenty twenty six and make
one last pitch to John Jones, But in doing so
(14:08):
again I said it a second ago, they're cutting off
their nose. Despite their face, they're looking at John and
saying we need one more big payday out of you,
and turning their back on the young, hungry heavyweight champion,
rightful champion that could lead them into the next era,
all because they want to hold on to whatever's left
of the golden era, John Jones, Connor McGregor, etc. So
(14:31):
you ask yourself, why why are there no new stars?
Where are the UFC's newest stars? And yeah, sure, some
of it can be attributed to the sport, some of
it can be attributed to fight styles, some of it
can be attributed to just a general lack of interesting
personalities in the sport. And that's fine. This fan base
is rabid and they're hungry for the next big thing.
And Tom aspinall literally and physically is the heavyweight young
(14:54):
ready to try to take over this division, to risk
something and become a legend. The only thing holding back
as John Jones in the UFC. And the simplest answer
is to look in the mirror if you're Dana White,
and say, why did one hundred and thirty three thousand
people sign up petition to strip my heavyweight champion? If
he's so popular within this sport. The Internet isn't real life.
(15:15):
And I understand that there's something to be said for
John Jones' ability to appeal to a casual fan here
in the United States, But that's your hardcore audience, that's
the people that want Tomorrow. It'll probably be two hundred thousand.
The next day it'll probably be two fifty, maybe even
three hundred thousand people. What's the number it's gonna take
to wake them up? I don't know, But keep going
(15:36):
and pressure the UFC and pressure this company to do
what it always has done, or what it's always said
to have wanted to do, which is have the best
fight the best. I know. It's been a while since
it feels like that's been the case. We want to
see it again. It's what made this company great, it's
what made MMA grow, it's what made the UFC what
it is. And again, for the long term health of
(15:58):
the company is for them to either make the fight,
which they've had ample opportunity to do. I don't think
it's gonna happen, and if it does, we're waiting another
seven months. And then even if they do make the fight,
strip John, pay him a shit ton of money he
obviously doesn't care about the belt, and then have him
fight Tom sometime in twenty twenty six, with Tom being
the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, because that's what he truly is,
(16:20):
and right now, that's exactly what John is. A man
refusing to fight and refusing to retire hanging out into
dead space because the UFC allows it to have. I'm
not even gonna ask Dana White to do the right thing.
I'm just gonna ask you guys to keep signing that
damn petition and shout out to Mma Guru, shout out
to Arajuani, Shout out to Mighty Mouse, shout out to Lucastra.
What happens with this whole Tom aspinall viral petition to
(16:41):
strip John and make Tom the rightful, undisputed champion. I
don't have those answers, but all you can do is,
fans is speak up and let your voice be heard.
And y'all are doing that. So keep it going. And
what happens next, I guess we'll find out
Folks. Something historic is going down right now in the
world of MMA, and specifically the UFC. As you have
seen over the last couple of days, people are getting
fed up with the UFC refusing to strip John Jones
of the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship. And they are so
fed up that they have all signed their names to
(00:20):
a verified petition to the UFC to strip John Jones
and either make Tom aspinall the undisputed heavyweight champion or
make his next fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship. And
I'm wearing a West brom soccer jersey because I don't
really have anything else English, and I'm trying to support
because this is a moment in time that you want
(00:42):
to be on the right side of history. And if
you're an MMA fan and you're looking at this situation,
Tom aspinall truly is and should be the heavyweight champion
of the world. Why the UFC refuses to strip John Jones?
Not in that way. He is down in Thailand maybe
doing some of that stuff himself, but I don't know
were gonna talk about it today. This is monumental fans
(01:02):
banding together behind the encouragement of quite frankly, some of
the biggest MMA YouTubers on the planet, MMA Guru Lucas, Tracy,
Ariel Helwani and Moore telling the UFC and telling the
industry itself. The most simple answer is right in front
of you. Do what is best for your own sport
or risk losing hundreds of thousands of fans. What do
(01:24):
I mean the breakdown? Let's go solazy gentlemen, like I said.
A petition to strip John Jones of the undisputed UFC
Heavyweight Championship belt has now reached one hundred and thirty
three thousand verified signatures. Decision maker Dana White the issue.
John Jones is now the longest reigning champion in the
UFC heavyweight history and only has two fights in that
(01:46):
time period. There's a clear interim champion, Tom Aspinall, who
has defended his interim championship belt. Aspinall is ready to
fight Jones. Jones refuses to fight him. Therefore, we as
fans must let Dana White know it is time to
strip John Jones of the heavyweight title. He clearly has
no intentions of fighting anyone soon. Well said by mister
Tony has died, We're gonna give a shamalahamala to him
(02:10):
for the resurrection of passion from the UFC fan base
and from hopefully the decision makers over at the UFC.
I am going to sign this petition myself as well
and let it be known that quite frankly, this is
unacceptable for the sport of MMA. I mean, we've talked
about it in videos I think earlier this week or
last week. I don't remember when I did the video,
(02:31):
but everybody is talking about it right now. It makes
no sense John Jones is refusing to fight. There's no
reason for him to hold the belt. In fact, in
the time that John has held the belt, the interim
champion not only hasn't gotten his shot. Whilst holding the
interim championship, the interim champion has also defended that belt
while John holds the undisputed It makes no sense. It
(02:53):
never has, it never will. And you won't give me
an explanation that Dana or anybody else could feed you
that would make it make sense. If John is refusing
to fight Tom for whatever amount that the UFC has
offered him, it is simple strip him and move on. Now.
The only thing that people are potentially saying could be
the case for what's happening so far is that John
(03:14):
Jones and Tom Aspinal may fight in the early part
of twenty twenty six on the UFC's new TV rights
deal as a promised fight to the new distributor, right,
because there's a lot going on there as well. The
UFC is starting to slowly but surely remove their content
or someone is removing their content from ESPN Plus. As
we take a look here, welp, looks like all previous
(03:35):
UFC bouts have been scrubbed from ESPN Plus. The whole
catalog is gone. Only official source for UFC passed bouts
is on fight Pass and then Zane Simon was an editor,
you know, writer and podcast not an official source for
the UFC. But still it doesn't take you know, more
than two eyes to see what's happening here. And he
says there's also still a couple of pay per views
(03:56):
floating around, but the general consensus is simple. The UFC
is probably moving either from ESPN Plus to another distributor
or behind ESPN's new paywall, which I think is still
being described as ESPN and then they'll still have ESPN Plus.
It's all very convoluted. The point is the UFC waiting
another seven months to do that would make John I mean,
(04:19):
he already is the longest reigning UFC heavyweight champion while
only having two fights, And it takes another seven months
off the prime of a person in tom Aspinall you
could build into the next big heavyweight. Look at the
potential for Tom Aspinall is e Conor McGregor. No, but
he does have a nation behind him. In fact, now
he has more than a nation, He has an entire
(04:40):
UFC fan base behind him. He has the new generation
of opinionated media behind him, which no one really talks
about as a global ground force. Like if you have
the support of MMA Guru and his fans like it
or not, the hardcore audience of MMA is usually in
that community. Lucas Tracy as well. These numbers prove it
(05:01):
like this is not a community that can be afforded
to just be overlooked, if that makes sense. Like before
we had YouTubers really covering the sport before even MMA
was mainstream, you could control the narrative a bit. If
you were the UFC, you could control what was said,
how it was said, and where it came from. I mean,
look at Arihjwane getting ousted by Dana White all the
(05:21):
way back when when he broke the brock Lessner coming
back at UFC two hundred store. That was the UFC
controlling the narrative. And yes, people took sides with Aerial,
which you didn't really have what you have now, which
is a media you can't control, that doesn't have to
be at the venue, that doesn't need tickets to the event,
that doesn't have to say yes or obey. They can
say exactly how they feel. It may not make a
(05:41):
difference to the decision that the UFC makes, but it
will make a difference in the long term as more
and more people get fed up watching the sport they
love go by the wayside in favor of business decision.
And I get at the UFC is a business and
it needs to make money. But let's not kill ourselves
and act like the UFC is hurting for money. It's
a billion dollar company with year over year massive revenue games.
(06:02):
If they can't throw a number at John Jones that
he will accept, even maybe outside of the terms of
what they deem fair or worthy of that fight, and
John continues to do things the way he's been doing them,
which is stuff like this where Tom is on Mighty
Mouse's show. Another one, by the way, Mighty Mouse, obviously
a legendary fighter and one of the greatest of all
(06:23):
time in his own right, turned massive MMA personality on YouTube,
interviewed Tom, and Tom said, listen, I've been in active
for nearly a year and I'm just being told to wait.
I don't care about fighting John Jones. I just want
to be the undispeeded champion. And you have John Jones,
troll and shut your mouth and do as you're told
with the laughing face. So again it looks like John's
taking this very seriously, and now he's changed his profile
(06:43):
picture to a duck holding the UFC championship, very much
intent on trolling. And while yeah, you know trolling is
funny or whatever, it's not when you're holding up I
would say, an entirety of a sport, quite frankly, like
the heavyweight champion is the most important fighter your sport,
in your division, and your promotion in the sport entirely.
(07:04):
And when they're trolling and talking about I'm retired, but
not really. And Tom's gonna do what he's told and
just not a care in the world about the sport.
Then what are we as fans supposed to think about
the sport? About the integrity of the best fighting the best,
which is always the tagline in the UFC for the
longest time, that was it. It's not even just us
the fans that think that what John is doing right
(07:24):
now is wrong. It's not even us the fans that
think what the UFC is doing is wrong. It's actually
the man himself, John Jones. He's the one that said
something very similar all the way back in twenty twenty
when he vacated the light heavyweight championship to move up
to heavyweight. He said, I vacated the light heavyweight championship
because I knew my heavyweight goals were going to take
(07:45):
some time. I wasn't gonna play games with the contenders
and make people fight interim championship belts. There's little rest
on the throne, and correctly pointed out by Ben the
Bain Davis, that was a fucking lie. These things sound
great in theory. Right at the time John tweeting that out,
whether it was earnest or he was just trying to
look for some new fans as he had to the heavyweight.
(08:05):
It doesn't hold up under scrutiny, does it. It doesn't
when you see one hundred thousand fans understanding what it
is is going on here, when for some reason the
UFC cannot. It's a simple answer. And again this has
reached over one hundred and thirty now. But what's it
gonna take for the UFC. What's it gonna take for
them to realize that they are cutting off their nose
(08:25):
despite their face. Here is John one of, if not
the greatest fighter to ever live, yet is his legacy cemented? Yeah,
this fight, in my opinion, still needs to happen. I
want to see the fight. I think we as fans
deserve to see the fight because there is a certain
lineage with the belt and if Tom and John are
never to face off and Tom doesn't get that opportunity
to take the belt off the undisputed champion, that'd be
(08:45):
unfortunate because the old saying is to be the man,
you have to beat the man, and John is the
man that would take Tom Aspinall's career to the next level.
But at the same time, I honestly think that Tom
could do that without John. At this point. He has
gotten a fan base simply by being steadfast and what
he has said he wants to do. He wants to
be the heavyweight champ. He wants the John Jones fight.
He's ready for the John Jones fight. He's calling for
(09:07):
the John Jones fight. It's all he can really do
his career is being shackled and handcuffed because John wants
to play fucking touch button Thailand. And I don't know
what else, to be honest with you, and I said
this in the last video. You know, yeah, John should
try to get every cent of what he's oh in
this fight. But at the same time, the UFC has
to put the big boy pants on here. And again,
(09:28):
it's not like they haven't done it before. It's not
like they're not currently doing it with other champions right now,
Guys are moving weight, refusing to defend their belt in
their weight class that they have a championship. In Nilia
Tuporia did not want to fight at one forty five anymore,
refuse to fight at one forty five, so he vacated
or they would have stripped him, and he moves to
one fifty five. Same with Islam Makichev. He doesn't want
(09:50):
to fight at one fifty five right now. Instead, he
wants to challenge for the one seventy belt. Well, you're
gonna have to vacate or we're gonna strip you. John
Jones does not want to defend his belt, is not
gonna fight anytime soon. It's clearly gona vacate. And the
UFC is standing there with their dicks in their hands.
You know, there's a whole other issue that I see
right now at the UFC, And it's not even hard
to see. You just open your eyes and you see
that there's complacency top to bottom in the promotion. The
(10:11):
inability to create new stars falls sometimes on the fighters,
but also on the promotion. I'll go back to this.
It's not like we haven't seen Dana do this before.
I alluded to it my last video. And I think
either people have not been around MMA for a very
long time, or they forgot what happened when George Saint Pierre,
not the second time, but the first time, walked away
(10:31):
from the sport, and what Dana White said, not three
hundred days later, not a year after, not when George
was thinking about maybe he'll come back. The night of
the fight that drew George Saint Pierre away from the sport.
George Saint Pierre versus Johnny Hendrix at UFC won sixty seven,
a fight that a lot of people thought Johnny Hendrix
(10:52):
did enough to win. Also looked like he was on
the way out the door. And this was the UFC's
twenty year anniversary, and this is Dana White had to say,
what was your take? Can you explain what you said
on television about you were upset that George was talking
about retiring and not giving Johnny arm.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I said about him. Listen, when a guy wants to retire,
I mean, did he say he wants to retire. He
didn't say I'm gonna retire. I'm hanging it up. It's
been great, everybody, Thanks a lot for all the year.
See you later. He said, I'm gonna take some time
off and I'm gonna sen nough. First of all, that
decision that happens, right, You don't you don't just say, hey,
I'm gonna take a while off and maybe I'll be back,
(11:29):
maybe I won't. You owe it to the fans. You
owe it to that belt, you owe it to this company,
and you owe it to Johnny Hendricks to give him
that opportunity to fight again unless you're gonna retire. You know,
I told you guys a million times he's got plenty
of money. He can retire. That's a fact. He could
absolutely positively do that. There's no Hey, listen, I'm gonna
go on a cruise and you know I'm gonna be
(11:50):
gone for two years, and you know I'm gonna take
a hiatus. I'm gonna I'm gonna take a leave of absence.
I'm gonna whatever the hell it was that he was saying,
that's not how it works, doesn't work that.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Way, He doesn't. I guess it didn't back then, but
maybe it does now. Or maybe Dana should take a
look in the mirror and really see what changed between
then and now. For it, because the fighters still fight,
champions are still made Dana's own words. John Jones especially
has enough money to retire. And if you troll John
on Twitter, he's gonna make sure he tells you how
(12:19):
much money he's got in cash, real estate, and other
ventures that allow him to go on trips to Thailand
and do whatever this is in a pool full of
his peers. So if John has money, and he's wishy
washy on if he's ever gonna fight again. And in
Dana's own words, at least when speaking about George Saint Pierre,
he owes it to the fans, to the company, to
the belt, and to the opponent that rightfully deserves the
(12:42):
next fight. What changed, I'll sell you what changed, Dana White.
The UFC's ideas about business versus sport change. You could
say TKO changed the US. You could say endeavor, you
could say money. You could say all of those things
and you'd probably be right. But the point is Dana
White lost his fastball. That's what it is. That's all
(13:03):
This comes down to John doing What John is doing
is only allowable because Dana allows it to happen. Dane
is the one that calls the shots here, always has been,
always will. Maybe he's having to answer to bigger names
now that the TKO deal has done. But who is
going to tell Dana White that John Jones can't be
stripped to the detriment of his sports, to the detriment
of future monetization of the sport. For what the potential
(13:25):
of a short term gain If you throw enough money
at John Jones to come back and fight Tom Asmenal.
We're so shortsighted that we can't see what happens five, ten,
fifteen years down the road. If Tom Aspinall gets his shot,
we're not willing to risk it for the biscuit. Isn't
the UFC built on risks? So now because you've eliminated
all the competition, you dominated the sport. Now, the fans
(13:47):
don't matter. Now, the fights don't matter. Now, the sport
doesn't matter. Just money. Right. If you want to know
why the UFC is doing this, it's because they can.
And if John Jones is not willing to fight, will
he won't he? As Dana says, this simple answer always
has been and always will be destripping. I think they're
gonna try to wait until twenty twenty six and make
one last pitch to John Jones, But in doing so
(14:08):
again I said it a second ago, they're cutting off
their nose. Despite their face, they're looking at John and
saying we need one more big payday out of you,
and turning their back on the young, hungry heavyweight champion,
rightful champion that could lead them into the next era,
all because they want to hold on to whatever's left
of the golden era, John Jones, Connor McGregor, etc. So
(14:31):
you ask yourself, why why are there no new stars?
Where are the UFC's newest stars? And yeah, sure, some
of it can be attributed to the sport, some of
it can be attributed to fight styles, some of it
can be attributed to just a general lack of interesting
personalities in the sport. And that's fine. This fan base
is rabid and they're hungry for the next big thing.
And Tom aspinall literally and physically is the heavyweight young
(14:54):
ready to try to take over this division, to risk
something and become a legend. The only thing holding back
as John Jones in the UFC. And the simplest answer
is to look in the mirror if you're Dana White,
and say, why did one hundred and thirty three thousand
people sign up petition to strip my heavyweight champion? If
he's so popular within this sport. The Internet isn't real life.
(15:15):
And I understand that there's something to be said for
John Jones' ability to appeal to a casual fan here
in the United States, But that's your hardcore audience, that's
the people that want Tomorrow. It'll probably be two hundred thousand.
The next day it'll probably be two fifty, maybe even
three hundred thousand people. What's the number it's gonna take
to wake them up? I don't know, But keep going
(15:36):
and pressure the UFC and pressure this company to do
what it always has done, or what it's always said
to have wanted to do, which is have the best
fight the best. I know. It's been a while since
it feels like that's been the case. We want to
see it again. It's what made this company great, it's
what made MMA grow, it's what made the UFC what
it is. And again, for the long term health of
(15:58):
the company is for them to either make the fight,
which they've had ample opportunity to do. I don't think
it's gonna happen, and if it does, we're waiting another
seven months. And then even if they do make the fight,
strip John, pay him a shit ton of money he
obviously doesn't care about the belt, and then have him
fight Tom sometime in twenty twenty six, with Tom being
the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, because that's what he truly is,
(16:20):
and right now, that's exactly what John is. A man
refusing to fight and refusing to retire hanging out into
dead space because the UFC allows it to have. I'm
not even gonna ask Dana White to do the right thing.
I'm just gonna ask you guys to keep signing that
damn petition and shout out to Mma Guru, shout out
to Arajuani, Shout out to Mighty Mouse, shout out to Lucastra.
What happens with this whole Tom aspinall viral petition to
(16:41):
strip John and make Tom the rightful, undisputed champion. I
don't have those answers, but all you can do is,
fans is speak up and let your voice be heard.
And y'all are doing that. So keep it going. And
what happens next, I guess we'll find out
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre