Former heavyweight contender and The Ultimate Fighter victor, Brendan Schaub has claimed the UFC “missed the boat” on stripping incumbent divisional champion, Jon Jones of gold following his exit from UFC 295 due to injury, claiming the title should now be vacant in the Endicott native’s absence.
Jones, the current undisputed heavyweight champion, was slated to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 295 next month in New York City, however, a pectoral tendon tear has forced the pound-for-pound number one off the Madison Square Garden card, cancelling a long-awaited bout with Stipe Miocic.
And as a result, in Jones’ expected eight month absence from active competition, the UFC have introduced an interim title to the division, which will be on the line at UFC 295, between surging heavyweight new-blood, Sergei Pavlovich, and Tom Aspinall.
Brendan Schaub claims Jon Jones should’ve been stripped of his UFC gold
Whilst the introduction of an interim crown to the division has been heralded – as has the booking of a bout between Pavlovich, and Aspinall, UFC alum turned podcast host and standup comedian, Schaub claims Jones should have been stripped of the undisputed heavyweight championship.
“UFC missed the boat on this a little, not stripping [Jon Jones of the title],” Brendan Schaub said on his YouTube channel. “I guess, yeah, strip him of the belt. When he beat Ciryl Gane, he’s the heavyweight champ, when your champ is out at least a year with this injury, there should not be an interim title fight. It should just be the vacant belt.”
“When you think about Jon Jones and Stipe (Miocic), I guess the rumor, anybody who’ close to the game knows that the plan was both these guys to retire so whether it was win or loss on either end, Stipe was planning on retiring. Jon Jones was going to do the same thing so either way, if their fight were to go down like it was supposed to in two weeks, you still don’t really have a heavyweight champion.” (H/T MMA News)
Sharing his thoughts on the cancellation of his fight with Jones, Ohio veteran, Miocic claims the UFC took the decision to compete for an interim title next month away from him – in favor of rebooking a long-anticipated fight with the former at some stage next year.
Do you agree with Brendan Schaub’s thoughts on Jon Jones’ injury setback?