Stipe-Jones age gap: 5 years (which is arguably much more of an advantage for Jon because Stipe is literally at retirement age and shows a lot more obvious wear and tear on his body)
I don't even know anymore. Is he trolling?
He presents it as if the fans have been trying to bait him into fighting someone with these extreme advantages, but he's too smart to bite.
If Jon thinks it's not impressive for such a "bigger" and younger fighter to win, he should take a look back at his own career. He's basically trashing his own legacy.
Let's see if there's some sort of pattern we can identify in his first 10 title defenses:
9 years younger than Rampage
9 years younger than natural middleweight Lyoto
8 years younger than Rashad
10 years younger than natural middleweight Vitor
10 years younger than natural middleweight Chael
Same age as Gus (who really won that fight?)
9 years younger than Glover
8 years younger than Cormier
4 years younger than OSP
8 years younger than Cormier (caught cheating, win overturned)
Thoughts? Does Jon even realize how bad this last presser made him look?
Jake Paul fights Mike Tyson in the main event of the Tyson vs. Paul fight card Friday | Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images
The Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight is almost here.
Mike Tyson and Jake Paul meet in the ring Friday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in a showdown that could be the most-watched fight in boxing history.
The main card of the Tyson vs. Paul event will be televised on Netflix at 8 p.m. ET. It will have three fights before Tyson vs. Paul:
Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 2 rematch (10 rounds)
Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos (12 rounds)
Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes (6 rounds)
The Tyson vs. Paul main event walkout will likely not happen until 11:30 p.m.-12 a.m. ET due to the length of the previous fights.
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 2 NC) hasn’t fought since an exhibition draw with legend Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 28, 2020. The 58-year-old hasn’t had a professional fight in almost 20 years when he quit at the end of the sixth round against Kevin McBride on June 11, 2005.
Jake Paul (10-1) is coming off a sixth-round knockout win of BKFC star Mike Perry on July 20, 2024. He has won four fights in a row.
Pat Downey, left, wrestles Bo Nickal at 86 kg during the first session of the USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trials, Friday, April 2, 2021 | Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services, LLC
A standout from CJI is going from beating Luke Rockhold to a blue belt jiu-jitsu tournament.
Pat Downey, a champion wrestler that transitioned to Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), has almost exclusively faced big names in his grappling career. That’s about to change though, as his next jiu-jitsu tournament is already lined up.
Downey is going from facing black belt superstars like Nick Rodriguez, Gordon Ryan and Luke Rockhold, to random blue belts and hobbyists next.
Pat Downey Goes From Beating Luke Rockhold in CJI to IBJJF Blue Belts
As the US Open wrestling champion announced, he has signed up to compete at the 2024 IBJJF No Gi World Championships this December.
“I am upgrading,” Downey wrote as he goes from one stripe white belt after dominating Rockhold, to now competing at a colored belt division. “Best blue belt on (earth)!”
To calm a collective amount of older blue belt hobbyists and dads that were planning on flying to Las Vegas, Downey said he won’t be competing at the Masters division (age 30 and up).
“(I’m joining) Adult blue belt division. I’m not here to hurt old men like Jake Paul does lmfao,” the 32-year-old Downey wrote.
Many people naturally still criticized him for “sandbagging” and taking on beginners, but Downey has since defended his entry.
“Ed Ruth, one of the best NCAA wrestler EVER lost at this tournament multiple times as blue belt stfu,” Downey commented in response.
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services, LLCPat Downey vs. Bo Nickal at the USA Olympic Trials
IBJJF has outdated rules on belts and competitions
While the criticisms are valid, IBJJF is also partly to blame for situations like this. Even with Downey’s wrestling accolades and experience as a professional grappler, blue belt is the highest division he can compete in for IBJJF events.
The long running BJJ institution has a rule that grapplers need to spend a minimum time as a blue belt before they can compete at purple belt. Winning blue belt world championships like this one, would allow Downey to bypass that rule and compete as a purple belt earlier.
Downey of course wouldn’t be immune to sandbagging criticisms at purple belt either. So if he really just wanted more grappling experience, he could easily just join the various non-IBJJF events and ADCC opens as a professional.
As he was just starting his jiu-jitsu career, the NCAA Division I All-American beat BJJ star Nicky Rod in wrestling, then went 1-1 with Gordon Ryan in a predictable mixed rules exhibition. In 2020, he handily beat Ryan in seconds during the wrestling portion, before losing the no-time limit, submission-only ruleset that followed.
In 2024, under a full submission grappling ruleset, Downey most recently dominated former UFC champ Luke Rockhold at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) event.
Downey has since signed with Polaris to continue his pro grappling career. Ryan and Downey also recently agreed to another weird mixed rules match next, which may or may not happen.
For the latest Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and grappling-related news click here.
Stipe Miocic will answer questions during UFC 309 media day. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The UFC 309 media day is the first official stop for fight week festivities in New York City.
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, former UFC champion Charles Oliveira, and Michael Chandler are just a few of the athletes who will answer questions Wednesday morning.
About a week ago, some fake rumors started to circulate online that one of the big match-ups at UFC 309 could be at risk. Any claims that Charles Oliveira had suffered an injury ahead of his co-main event clash with Michael Chandler on November 16 were cleared up before fight week had begun for the promotion’s return to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Chandler was even asked about this during his recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show where he stated that he wasn’t sure where the rumor started. For some fans, they may have assumed this to be true after seeing fighters like Renato Moicano posting on social media to say that they would be willing to step in on short notice.
Chandler or Charles out? Call me I fight in 10 days! Time is money #ufc
— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) November 6, 2024
“Do Bronx” has had two notable fights either cancelled or postponed in recent times with the most significant one being his rematch with Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 last year. The former lightweight champion suffered a cut above his eye less than two weeks out from the fight and the match-up wasn’t booked again once Oliveira was back in fighting shape.
Instead, the featherweight champion at the time, Alexander Volkanovski, stepped in to his place for a rematch with Makhachev that didn’t go his way. It’s become a consistent joke on social media ever since last October that whenever a fighter pulls out, Volkanovski is waiting by the phone with his gloves and luggage already in hand.
In his recent breakdown of the fights on his YouTube channel, “The Great” joked that after he heard the rumors that Oliveira was injured, he would offer to replace him once again.
“I did see things popping up where Charles was out maybe they needed a replacement, it must have just been okay that’s why you can never believe what you see on the internet. I almost put my hand up, almost, but I didn’t but yeah. Probably because we knew that wasn’t the case. If the UFC called, you never know right.”
Continue Reading UFC 309: Volkanovski Jokes That He Nearly Offered To Fight Amid Injury Rumor at MMA News.
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Jon Jones | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The biggest weekend of the month is finally here!
It’s a combat sports double-header this weekend as on Friday, Jake Paul faces Mike Tyson in their specialty boxing match in Arlington, Texas, and then on Saturday Jon Jones finally defends his UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309. So with so much action, No Bets Barred returns to break it all down.
MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew dives deep into both fight cards on this mega-weekend, with betting breakdowns for all the best action. Topics discussed include how bad Jones vs. Miocic will be, whether Tyson has any chance against Jake Paul, Michael Chandler’s odds of avenging his previous loss to Charles Oliveira, the latest update on THE CLIMB, and much more.
Tune in for episode 108 of No Bets Barred.
New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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