The UFC heavyweight division is stuck in limbo, with champion Jon Jones and interim champ Tom Aspinall trading barbs on social media instead of punches in the octagon. On the latest episode of Ringside Report MMA, hosts Dave Simon and AJ D’Alesio dissected the latest comments from UFC President Dana White and debated whether the super fight will ever happen. The hosts also turned their attention to this weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Atlanta, offering predictions for the five-round main event between former welterweight king Kamaru Usman and the surging Joaquin Buckley. With fight picks, legacy debates, and a heated discussion on Canada’s greatest athletes, the show covered all the bases for combat sports fans.
The Heavyweight Logjam: Jones, Aspinall, and Dana White
The conversation kicked off with the biggest story in MMA: the standoff between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. Dana White recently addressed the situation at a post-fight press conference, and the hosts were quick to analyze and ridicule his statements.
Dana White Plays Dumb
Clips from the UFC 316 post-fight press conference showed Dana White being asked about Jon Jones’ recent tweets, where the champion suggested he would be willing to vacate the belt. White’s response that he hadn’t been “keeping up with the gossip” drew immediate disbelief from the hosts.
Dave Simon found the claim absurd. “Sorry, hang on, that’s a total lie,” he said. “If Jon Jones says he’s ready to vacate the belt, you don’t think somebody tells that to Dana White? You don’t think he’s aware he hasn’t been keeping up with the gossip? Listen to that… it’s bullshit.”
AJ D’Alesio, however, thought White’s demeanor suggested some truth to the rumors of Jones’s potential retirement or vacation of the title. As the clip continued, White repeated his supposed ignorance, saying, “he’s talking that crazy shit, I didn’t realize that.”
This only fueled Dave’s skepticism. “How does Dana White not realize something that I’ve been saying since Jon Jones last November?” he questioned. “Dana didn’t realize that Jon Jones might retire? He didn’t realize that as a guy who’s negotiating… what are you talking about, dude? Oh, he’s talking about retirement. Wow. I didn’t realize that. Huh? You should watch Ringside Report MMA… The smokescreen he’s trying to put out there is bananas.”
The discussion highlighted the hosts’ belief that the UFC is in a difficult position, trying to manage a legendary but possibly unmotivated champion. At the same time, a hungry interim champion waits in the wings.
Money, Motivation, and Changing Your Mind
The core of the issue seems to be Jones’s motivation. Reports, including one from Ariel Helwani, suggested the UFC offered Jones a massive payday to fight Aspinall. “The rumor is 15 million, but like who knows,” Dave mentioned.
According to the reports, Jones initially accepted the deal but then backed out. This led to a debate between the hosts about Jones’s obligations and decision-making. Dave defended the champion’s right to change his mind.
“People are getting on Jon Jones about this,” Dave explained. “People are like, oh, he accepted the fight and then he turned it down… and like as far as I know, you’re allowed to change your mind. You’re allowed to accept something and then go, ‘Actually, you know, I thought about it, I slept on it, I don’t want to do this. The money is pretty good, but it’s just not worth it for me.’ Like, he’s allowed to do that.”
Dave also presented a business angle for Jones’s hesitation. “He’s also allowed to think of it as a business move and go, ‘Yeah, if Aspinall wins a couple more fights, I could probably get them up to 20, 25 mil, and I’m willing to wait a year or two for that.'”
AJ disagreed, pointing to Jones’s age as a factor. “No man, you can’t do that, Dave,” AJ countered. “Let’s be honest, man, he’s like, the spring chicken, he’s not a spring chicken anymore, man.” He argued that Jones’s value is at its peak right now, and waiting is too risky. “All he has to do is one more crazy thing outside of the octagon… You take it now. You wait a couple of years, he could get injured, anything could happen.”
Dave pushed back, arguing that even if Jones loses, his financial future is secure, but a loss itself diminishes his bargaining power for future endeavors. “If you lose the fight to Tom Aspinall, then all your bargaining power goes away,” Dave stated. “So why not wait, make it more valuable of a fight?”
The conversation illustrated the complex calculus behind a fighter’s career choices, balancing immediate financial gain against long-term legacy and future earning potential. The fact that Jones is willing to turn down a rumored $15 million offer speaks volumes to Dave. “The fact that Jon Jones is willing to say ‘nah’ to 15 million means he’s probably got some money… he doesn’t need the money.”
Legacy, Legends, and When to Leave the Casino
The debate over Jon Jones’s next move spiraled into a larger conversation about fighter legacies and the all-too-common mistake of not knowing when to walk away. Dave Simon presented a powerful analogy that resonated throughout the discussion.
The Fighter’s Gamble
“MMA fighter experience is a lot like being at the casino,” Dave began. “Most of the time, you go in and you just get beat, and then you leave and you’re done. But sometimes you go in and you win and you’re on a hot streak… but you gotta know at a certain point I have to leave with my money before they take it all away from me. And MMA fighters, just like most gamblers, stay in that casino a little too long, and it costs them everything.”
He applied this directly to Jones, who has been at the top for over a decade. Dave argued that Jones has already beaten the house. “Jon Jones should have lost when he was like 30 because of all the cocaine and all the partying and the lack of training,” Dave said, marveling at his longevity. “The fact that he did it is nuts… A guy like that doesn’t usually last this long.”
Now, after winning the heavyweight title, Dave believes Jones has reached the perfect point to cash out his winnings and protect his legacy. “You’ve won. Leave the casino,” he urged. “Why can’t we tell Jones, ‘Yo, leave Vegas, dude… You gotta leave the casino because so few guys do that.'”
Anderson Silva: A Cautionary Tale
The primary example used to illustrate this “gambler’s folly” was Anderson, “The Spider” Silva. “Nowadays, it’s because of the losses, they don’t talk about him as one of the greatest of all time,” Dave noted. “But we know, having lived through the Anderson era, that he is… at his best, I think he’s probably the best I’ve ever seen.”
AJ agreed, remembering Silva’s dominance. “He was untouchable… he was magical.”
The hosts pointed out that Silva’s reputation suffered because he stayed too long, accumulating losses at the end of his career. This contrasts sharply with fighters like Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov, who are always in the GOAT conversation. “Why? Because they never saw them lose,” Dave explained. “People are not talking about Anderson Silva as much in that conversation, and that’s because we saw him lose a bunch at the end.”
The fear for Jones is that Tom Aspinall could become his Chris Weidman—the fighter who ended the streak but isn’t remembered on the same legendary tier. Dave believes Jones is aware of this. “I think Jon Jones looks at him as like, ‘He might be my Chris Weidman and maybe I don’t want a Chris Weidman’… If it’s gonna be a put it all on the line type of fight, I want it to be against a guy who will also have like a great legacy.”
This perspective explains Jones’s public callouts of Francis Ngannou or Alex Pereira, fighters with legacies that would make a potential loss more palatable. For Jones, a fight against Aspinall is a high-risk, low-reward situation in terms of his all-time standing.
A Detour into Canada’s Greatest Athletes
In a tangent that captured the show’s free-flowing nature, a discussion about legacies led to a debate on Canada’s greatest athletes. It started when Dave brought up an old controversy where F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve won Canadian athlete of the year over baseball star Larry Walker.
“Larry Walker said, ‘I lost to a car,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, right on!'” Dave recalled. “Exactly. What Larry Walker did was far more impressive than anything Jacques Villeneuve ever did.”
AJ D’Alesio, while agreeing, shared a hilarious story of his complicated history with Walker. After Walker left the Montreal Expos, AJ heckled him relentlessly at a game over a contract dispute reportedly involving the team refusing to pay for his vitamins.
“I started heckling him so bad,” AJ recounted. “I got up there, man, I’m like, ‘You know what, Larry, you’re a piece of shit’… I said, ‘Vitamins! You’re leaving us for vitamins?’… I was heckling him so much so he went to the dugout, and then things got bad for AJ.”
The hosts then threw out other names for Canada’s best. AJ suggested Georges St-Pierre and Mario Lemieux. Dave made a passionate case for wrestler Bret “The Hitman” Hart. “Bret Hart is the greatest Canadian athlete ever,” Dave declared. “Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be… a real great Canadian, stands for Canada, Bret the Hitman Hart, brother, nobody better.”
In a surprising twist, they settled on an honorary Canadian: Brock Lesnar. “You remember when he represented Canada in the UFC because he lived in Saskatchewan?” Dave asked. “Any American who adopts Canada as his new home country is pretty sweet… I’m taking him in, Brock Lesnar, baby.”
UFC Fight Night Atlanta: Usman vs. Buckley Preview
The focus eventually shifted to the fights on tap for the weekend: UFC Fight Night in Atlanta, headlined by a pivotal welterweight clash.
Main Event: Kamaru Usman vs. Joaquin Buckley
The five-round main event pits former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman against the explosive Joaquin Buckley. At 38 years old and on a three-fight losing streak, Usman is at a career crossroads. Dave noted that the losses, while significant, need context: a last-minute knockout loss to Leon Edwards in a fight he was winning, a close majority decision in the rematch, and another majority decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev on short notice at middleweight. “In all of those fights, you go, ‘Yeah, he was doing pretty well in those fights.’ He was not, you know, completely outmatched,” Dave said.
AJ, however, sees a fighter on the decline facing a dangerous opponent. “He’s going up against a freaking beast of a Buckley who’s active,” AJ argued. “He’s going up against a much older Usman, you know, a much worn and torn Usman… Buckley is fighting because he wants the belt. That’s the difference.” AJ believes Buckley’s pressure and knockout power will be too much. “He’s gonna get caught in that pocket, and Buckley has ridiculous knockout power.”
Dave picked the former champion for the upset, believing Usman’s experience and wrestling will be the deciding factors. “I think it’s gonna be harder for Buckley the more it goes on,” Dave predicted. “Usman’s gonna take over because he’s used to those five-round fights, he’s used to that grinding style, he’s a wrestler… He’s gonna grind out Buckley, he’s gonna put him on his back, and he’s gonna ground and pound. I’ve got Kamaru Usman in this fight.”
Co-Main Event & Parlay Picks
In the co-main event, former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas takes on Miranda Maverick. AJ sees this as a tough matchup for Rose, citing her past struggles with powerful wrestlers. “Ever since she got dropped on her head that time… she’s never been the same again,” AJ said. “The last thing she wants to do is to go up against a wrestler… Maverick is gonna go with that whole wrestling game and overwhelm her.”
The hosts wrapped up with their official parlays for the fight card:
- Dave’s Parlay: Raoni Barcelos (-210) to win, Michael Chiesa (-350) to win, and Kamaru Usman (+200) to win. A $20 bet would pay out $113.88.
- AJ’s Parlay: Joaquin Buckley to win, Miranda Maverick to win, and Rodolfo Bellato to win. A $20 bet would pay out $99.88.
Key Takeaways
The latest Ringside Report MMA episode leaves fans with plenty to think about. The Jon Jones saga appears no closer to a resolution, with the hosts believing the UFC needs to move on and book Tom Aspinall. The main event in Atlanta presents a classic veteran vs. contender matchup, with Dave and AJ offering conflicting predictions on whether Kamaru Usman can turn back the clock against Joaquin Buckley. Finally, the show reminded everyone that sometimes the best discussions happen when you go off-script, as a debate over Canadian sports legends provided one of the night’s most memorable segments.
