26 thoughts on “Anthony Smith: Jon Jones ‘not within the equation’ at heavyweight till he indicators a contract, Curtis Blaydes deserves interim title shot”

  2. Exactly what I’ve been saying. Jon has been talking about fighting at Heavyweight for 10 years but never has, and currently hasn’t fought in over 2 years.

    Let’s see him in an actual Heavyweight fight first…

  4. The problem is that outside of Stipe, there’s no consensus on which of the Top Heavyweights deserves the shot.

    Gane is the highest ranked and beaten the best competition as a whole, but he just got a title shot and lost.

    Blaydes has been around the longest and also beat alot of good fighters, but he’s 0-2 against the reigning champ already and has chin hasn’t help up against the heaviest hitters in the division.

    Tuivasa is on a win streak and his last win was over a better contender than the guys Blaydes and Aspinall beat, but he’s still very new to the upper ranks of the division and hasn’t really earned a title shot.

    Aspinall has the longest win streak out of everybody, had the most impressive win in terms of skill, but just like Tuivasa he’s still really new and hasn’t been tested much to earn that title shot.

    I don’t know to rank these 4 guys. With Jones you can at least say he’s been a very dominant champion before and is pretty much undefeated, that’s the type of resume that typically earns an immediate title shot in another division.

  5. He has been out longer than Khabib or Cejudo, he’s just retired with a big mouth at this point, until he signs a fight contract that is.

  6. If it’s not obvious right now Jon is waiting for the right heavyweight to win the title like GSP did with Bisping. He’d easily would’ve fought Stipe.

    Even Curtis Blaydes is a terrible match up because just like Daukus, Jon doesn’t have that snap in his punches to heep elite heavyweights honest. Not to mention Curtis, like Jon, was a NJCAA champ, but at 285.

  9. My personal theory is that Jon got popped on an out-of-competition test (covered up with fighter pay disagreements). It’s been so long that he had no bargaining power with Dana anymore because no one expects to see him again.

    Just a thought, because it doesn’t make much sense otherwise.

  11. Funny that he left Tai out of the conversation – the guy who just knocked out Lewis, who obliterated Blaydes.

    Aspinal’s win streak and performance against Volkov is also more impressive than two wins against Rozenstruik and Daukus since being turned into a cardboard cutout against Derrick.

    This take from Smith is so bad I had to read the article again in case I missed something.

  13. Not considering what Jon’s done outside the octagon but if you just look at his career, he deserves the shot imo. The mans got something like 14 title defenses, and never lost, pretty incredible. Hes the goat imo and that earns you a few things.

    Besides, lets be real, most fans would much rather see Jones vs Stipe than Blaydes or Tai.

  14. Jones hasn’t fought since early 2020, never fought at heavyweight and his last 3 fights were decision wins. Why people want him in HW and why they give him any sort of pass is beyond me.

  16. Agree with the later part that Blaydes deserves the shot at the interim title. But idk about Jones not being in the equation at HW.

    He’s still has contract with UFC, and is still in the USADA pool for what it’s worth, isn’t he? And it’s not like we hadn’t already been sold on the notion that his next fight will be at the HW for the title by no other than Dana himself. The only dispute was the $$$$$$.

    So Jones is very much in the equation. As to what the value of the equation is. Thats a different matter.

  17. Man these stupid interim title shots. They’re just money grabs and Smith is just doing some UFC PR to sell tickets. Blaydes isn’t even in the same stratosphere as the other guys. I love Tai, but same thing for him. I think it’s between Ngannou, Stipe, Gane and Aspinall. Jon Jones is the dark horse obviously, but he’s unstable as usual.

  20. I feel like blades/Tai would be good. Just because out of the possibilities, they’d probably fight the most frequently. No offense, but Jon and Stipe would defend one every 18 months.

  21. This is all fine but has nothing to do with the UFC’s considerations for who gets the shot. They will book the biggest draw they can put together, same as if Conor wants to come back. If that means signing Jon, they can do that tomorrow if he’s ready to accept their number. Blaydes’ stock improved after his last fight but that’s not saying much. Every single MMA fan in the world would drop what they’re doing to watch Jones’s HW debut for the belt or not for the belt. That’s money. Plenty of people would skip Blaydes’s next fight no matter who it’s against (unless it was Jones). That’s ho hum. Wins and losses and deserve are only considered after money.

  25. JJ is McGregor 2.0 (minus that he has no losses), sits around holding up divisions, while doing stupid shit in the interim forcing dudes who deserve belts to never get one.

    Or I guess we could say Conor is JJ 2.0 since he was there first 🙃

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