MMA veteran Dan Hardy calls for the UFC to make Aspinall vs Blaydes an undisputed heavyweight title fight, citing McGregor’s reign from when he was champion.
Rather than facing interim champion Tom Aspinall, former light heavyweight king and current heavyweight title holder Jon Jones seems dead set on facing Stipe Miocic later this year.
Yet with ‘Bones’ willing to sit out until MSG rolls around in late 2024, there are some big voices within the MMA community who are calling for him to be stripped of the belt; including fan favorite fighter-turned-commentator, Dan Hardy.
Dan Hardy calls for Jon Jones to be stripped of UFC heavyweight title
Speaking to Kaz Crossley via the Title Sports Network YouTube channel, Dan Hardy called for Jon Jones to be stripped as UFC heavyweight champion and that Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes should fight for the undisputed title at UFC 304.
“It’s going to be a great card, there’s some real superstars on the card and I’m glad to see Tom Aspinall back on home soil.”
“It’s unfortunate that it’s not for the actual belt because I do think it’s time,” said Hardy, with the MMA veteran citing a remarkable statistic that certainly puts the frustrating UFC heavyweight title picture into context.
Hardy shared that on the date of UFC 304 (July 27), Jones will have been inactive for exactly the same amount of time as Conor McGregor was when he was stripped of his 155lb title:
“What is it 511 days on the date that Jon Jones has not been active? And that was the same point that Conor McGregor was stripped of his title… For me, I think they should make it [Aspinall vs Blaydes] the official title and put it as the main event.”
Conor McGregor won the UFC lightweight title in November 2016 at UFC 205, before that belt was taken away from ‘Notorious’ due to inactivity exactly 511 days later – Jon Jones faced Ciryl Gane in March 2023 at UFC 285, with that 511-day marker already looming over the horizon.
That being said, there have been times when champions retained their belts despite longer periods of inactivity than either McGregor or Jones, including Anthony Pettis, Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, and Dominick Cruz.
Jon Jones himself recently teased in a now-deleted tweet that he’ll return to the UFC in November.
Back to ‘The Outlaw’ and Hardy also noted that he’s “really glad that Leon gets a good run out at home” in front of the British faithful, but that he was “disappointed with the time of the event.”
Dan Hardy blasts the horrific start time for UFC 304
If it wasn’t already a frustrating time for UK MMA fans seeing their interim champion overlooked for a deserved shot at undisputed glory, there’s also the pressing matter of the event start for UFC 304 – 3 AM local time.
“It was the same at [UFC] 204 when Bisping fought Hendeson the second time, I was backstage for that, and it was hard work to get through,” said Hardy.
“You got to think that everyone there is up through the night, not just the fighters who are expected to perform at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning but also the fans are expected to be up at that time and excited.”
Hardy argued that under typical circumstances, fans would arrive at the arena around 6 o’clock in the evening with the atmosphere slowly ramping up over the course of the evening.
“Whereas this now throws out people’s whole week, you stay up at home to watch a PPV and the next three-four days, you’re groggy and in a daze – adrenaline does carry you a long way but if I was fighting on that card, I would be frustrated.”
“I would have to change my whole training camp to suit that time and with the amount of times we have to stay up through the night for the US cards, it would have been nice for us.”
UFC 304 goes down on Saturday, July 27 live from the Co-Op Live in Manchester, England.