The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The W.A.D.E. Concept - Jon Jones Is Making The UFC Look Like CLOWNS.. And They're Letting It Happen

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

Wade dives into the state of Jon Jones MMA Career and why the MASSIVE fight between him and Tom Aspinall has not yet happened.. 💥Join The WADE Concept Media Team to get access to EXCLUSIVE perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJb9AgsGZvAIGxP6AGUORAw 💥Subscribe to The W.A.D.E. Concept on YouTube!! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJb9AgsGZvAIGxP6AGUORAw 💥Check Out All of My Content in Audio Form On Spotify & Apple Podcasts!! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UAOy35GkG9gqmRpQyr6Fr?si=e3ce2c880ba64e3a Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-w-a-d-e-concept-with-wade-plemons/id1807106061 💥 FOLLOW Me on Twitch!! https://www.twitch.tv/wadeplem 💥I Have a PO BOX!! You can send me things here: "The WADE Concept" 27758 Santa Margarita Pkwy Box 581 Mission Viejo, CA 92691 Follow me on Twitter and hit me up with any questions or feedback on the videos:https://x.com/WadePlem  ✅ Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wadeplem ✅ For business inquiries email me here: [e-mail] ✅See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021.

And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the U. USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now let's go to what I originally wanted to talk about today. Because we're back on the weight concept presented by the Ring magazine. And folks, it is a day in MMA that is bizarre. We have two heavyweight champions of the world in the UFC right now. And neither of them are fighting. And while everybody has blamed, John Jones for not fighting Tom Aspinall and there's a lot of blame to go around there. The real blame for the John Jones problem for Tom Aspinall wasting a year plus of his prime has to go back on the company itself.

Has to go back on the UFC because they are the real reason that their heavyweight division is at a standstill, that we don't have any answers about this fight, that we don't even know who the real champion is because they are the real reason. will not concede and stand up to John Jones. And I don't know why. The breakdown, let's go. If you guys over the last couple of days have seen, John Jones has been living his best life. Out in Thailand filming something, I'm pretty sure, or I don't know if he's filming it or has filmed it with Nate Diaz and some Russian Ultimate Fighter wannabe show. He has been riding on the back of mopeds and grasping men's hair whilst riding. and he's just out here and enjoying his life, you know, fair play, whatever. But he's not getting ready for a fight.

He's not in any way showing interest in a fight. It's not representing the UFC as their heavyweight champion. And let me just say this because everybody wants to just bury John Jones because of what's happening right now. John Jones is the greatest fighter it's ever lived. Point blank period to me, opinion, that's what I think. But what's happening right now is a travesty to the sport. Travesty.

And yes, a lot of it is because of it. of John Jones, but more of it is because of the UFC. And their unwillingness to let go of short-term gain for long-term build. Evolution of the sport. An ability to see past the trees of the forest to the pasture behind. They don't have that right now. And I don't know why. I have some theories, but I don't know why. So let's talk about a couple of them. Number one, let's go into what has been said over the last week by John Jones, right? Because this story, we could go back the last, you know, since November, since he beat Stebe. We can go back before that.

And the entire Stepe fight happening while John had an interim champion waiting on him. Tom Aspinall was there waiting. We can go all the way back there, but we're not. Let's go to the newest stuff said from John Jones, talking to somebody on FaceTime about his next moves as a fighter. My man, I'm excited to see you, man. So you got 10 years left, but you're still active?

You know, I'm done. You have a little girl. He's like, oh. I'm forward to seeing you again, Camille. You look great. Let's say, let's do some business. If you wanted my boldest prediction of 2025, I'm actually very confident in the prediction,

and that is that John Jones retires. I mean, listen, Uncle Chale is not right a lot. Actually, you know what? Uncle Chale's never wrong, I should say. But I think he's got it right there, at least for what we're hearing. John is saying he's done. And the only thing I can take away from that is exactly what he's saying.

He is not in this moment thinking about fighting. He does not care about fighting right now. And because of that, you're seeing all this other stuff that John has going on. Like I said, he's in Thailand. He's doing other shows. He's talking to people, let's do business. Let's do business. There is no care about defending his world title.

Because why would he? John has already, apparently, made enough money to be very well off. Made enough money to invest and grow businesses. And made enough money to tell the UFC, I am not coming back to put my legacy on the line, to put my heavyweight title on the line, unless you pay me an exuberant amount. of money. And I don't know if the UFC has offered the amount he wants and he still is saying no, or if the UFC is just not willing to match what John wants, or if there's other things at play that we'll get into in a second. But the point I'm trying to make is that John is essentially

grabbing the UFC by the balls and saying, I've got you now. I know this is a weird comparison analogy, but I've got you now do something. And the UFC is like, no, I'd rather you just play with them a little. Like that's what's happened. They're not doing anything about it. Do we not remember back in 2017 when George St. Pierre beat Michael Bisbe for the middleweight belt. And I think in the post-fight presser he was having like, I don't know if I'm going to defend this. I'm going to take some time off. And I don't know, maybe I'll retire, maybe I won't. And they stripped him right there. Like a day later, they stripped him. Hey, George, you're not going to hold this division up. We appreciate you coming back and doing business with us. Fantastic fight. We'll see

you later. And George retired. And guess what? The middleweight division moved on. You remember who with the next champion of the world is. After that, in the UFC. Robert Whitaker. And guess what happened? The division moved on. It moved. It didn't stay in one position.

And guess what? We built stars at least to a degree out of that move. Robert Whitaker and Israel-A-Sahna rivalry. Israel-A-Dazania and Kelvin Gastilm fought. Those things built into Izzy being the next big dominant champion at the middleweight division. Imagine if GSP holds that belt for a year.

It just doesn't fight. The pure just stagnation. of that division. And maybe we don't even get the stars we get out of that point. And that's the middleweight division. That's not, in my opinion, the most important division in combat sports. I don't care if you agree with them or not. Historically, especially in boxing, maybe not in the UFC, but that's because their heavyweight division hasn't had a longstanding, massive global star since, I mean, honestly, Brock Lesner on that level. But, you know, D.C. came in and Steepa had a great run and cane and all that. But the heavyweight division should be your most important division.

It's going to be the most casual fan friendly because you can claim baddest man on the planet. It should be full of your biggest draw, although the UFC has had an issue with that. Not many American heavyweights out there that really tow the line. But it should be your most important division. And right now the UFC's most important division is being jerked around by John Jones and the UFC's just letting it happen. He's told the UFC, let me find a tweet. Do I come across as a type of guy who cares about things like that? Talking about being stripped. Does he care about things like that? And honestly, over John's career, he hasn't cared about that.

How many times? John's been stripped like four or five times. And John's a big enough name if you stripped him and made Tom Aspinall the actual champion. And he starts wiping out the division. He's kind of already done that. But let's just say he starts going through the division again. Maybe Alex Pereira moves up and he runs through him, whatever. And then John gets that itch.

Does it really matter that it's a champion versus champion fight? To anybody? No, it doesn't. John Jones versus Tom Aspinall for the belt is what matter If you ever wanted to make that fuck It does not matter who holds said belts when it's made I could give a about champion versus interim I could give a shit about that and I'm telling you now

Your casual fan doesn't care either So I'm just I'm baffled by why the UFC is doing this Now again we have more examples of what John is doing Or potentially trying to do in a tweet like this Where John is talking about you know Again what he said y'all barking up the wrong tree here the ufc i told the ufc my plans a long time ago i have no clue why they haven't shared them with you guys yet this guy says shut the fuck up and fight

john says this attitude right here is making me a very wealthy man this desperation is incredibly lucrative so thank you keep it coming that tells me that john is told the ufc if you guys really want this fight here's my number and maybe that number keeps increasing the longer this thing goes i don't know maybe he just continues to drag the ufc along and see how much they'll let him get away with before they intervene and say, okay, you're being unreasonable, we're going to take our belt back. The fight is not wanted because John is the champ. The fight is wanted because John Jones is the greatest fighter ever,

and yes, he holds the belt. But you take the belt off John, and he's still fucking John Jones. He didn't lose the belt. You can do that fight without John being the sitting champion if he ever wanted to make it. If the UFC is not willing to intervene and say, you're giving us our belt back now because you're being unreasonable, there's no reason for John to give them the belt back. There's no reason for him to go, yeah, you know what?

Maybe I should just do what's best for the company. Maybe I, John Jones, should do what's best for the UFC and just give up my belt. Why would he do that? Why would he? I wouldn't. Would you, would you as an individual, if you stood to make, let's say 30 million is the number, because that's what's been rumored, if you stood to make $30 million in a fight versus Tom Aspinall? As long as the UFC isn't asking for their belt back, would you voluntarily give it up?

Or would you try to negotiate? And if they're not willing to negotiate, but they're also not asking for their belt, then why don't you just go and do whatever you're doing and keep that in your back pocket? I don't have a problem with that if I'm John. And as a fan, yeah, it sucks. I don't want the division to be on hold like that.

I would like to see the fight. I do think that John is very apprehensive about fighting Tom Aspinall. I'm not like everyone else that thinks that Tom's just going to beat the shit out of him. I do think this fight's competitive. I do think there's ways that John can win this fight. But I guess my point is

none of those things are the fault of John Outside of, as a fan selfishly wanting to fight to happen and him negotiating for himself. The UFC has to put their foot down and say, this is our promotion, that is our belt, and if you are not willing to defend it, it is time to take our belt back. And I just don't know why they haven't done this. This is no longer John Jones' fault for Tom Aspinall. And people are blaming John Jones, like, oh, you're the reason, you're the reason. You can say John's scared, that's what you want to say.

But when he is rattling off stuff like this right here, I don't know if I want to call it retired, As this guy said, has it feel to be retired. I don't know if I want to call it retired. I feel like I'll always have the ability to pop out and show him. I've had many breaks throughout my career. My identity outside of fighting is well intact. And I'm genuinely enjoying life and growing in different ways. That's great.

That's awesome. If that doesn't tell you that he is not interested in fighting, he's not training, there is no movement in the division. What in the f-are we doing? He said, I've told the UFC that my plans, I don't know why they're not telling him. I'm not retired, but I'm not interested in. and fighting. I'm out in Thailand doing whatever the fuck I want. I'm doing my own thing and I'm enjoying life. What are we doing? So, listen, I think this is only a couple of things that could be going on.

Number one, well, let's just read the tweet I made on this. I said at this point, the damaging of Tom Aspenall's career is on the UFC. John is saying he's at least on an extended break and has no timeline of returning. He stated he doesn't care about being stripped and the UFC is, quote, known his plans for a while now. Why are the UFC keeping the belt on him? TV rights negotiations trying every last option for the December card. I'm not sure, but strip him and move on. Two things. Number one, I think the UFC right now has a lot of things up their sleeve.

I think they have a lot of things they want to bring to a TV rights negotiation because they're in the middle of that right now. Maybe potentially a kickoff to that deal being a John Jones, Tom Aspinall fight in the early part of 2026 could be something that they're dangling in front of whatever suitor they have. Because everybody just assumes that this fight, if it's going to happen, is going to be done before 2025's over. Now, I don't know that that's the case because if that was the case, they could have already had the fight done. It's supposed to been done in the summer, then the fall.

But if they are looking to start off their TV rights or their new TV deal, whatever it's going to be, ESPN, Netflix, wherever they go, with a bang, what's a bigger fight than John Jones, Tom Aspinall? Maybe that's what it is. Maybe it's a hurry up and wait situation to where they can get the first big fight card on their new. contract to be their heavyweight title unification. That's what I'm saying. I don't know why they wouldn't inform Tom Aspinall because it seems like Tom has some things he knows, but genuinely it seems like he has more questions and answers. Let's take a look at this clip from Tom's interview on Mighty Mousis channel. I've been almost a year inactive with no prospects of anything apart from weight. Yeah. So now he's actually a little bit more of a tricky time for me mentally than it

was then and that it's kind of difficult like mentally to be like and but this is the this is the fight against john jones like not the fight is another thing yeah this is the tricky bit where i really have to stay switched on stay motivated and uh i'm trying my best i'm trying it's tough sometimes especially like listen to the way he talks let's just go back and listen to the first part again now i've been almost a year inactive with no prospects of anything apart from wait. That's all he knows right now. Wait for what?

Again, my theory, they're going to wait until that new TV rights deal. That's the only thing I can, when he says I have no prospects other than wait, that has to be it. Because what else are you waiting for? Is $30 million going to pop out of the sky for John Jones? They have the money to pay him right now.

They have a card in December they need to fill. Their end of the year card, it's their biggest card of the year. If they're still saying wait, and this, this wasn't, this interview was recorded last week, right? With Mighty Mouse and Tom Aspinall. The UFC would already have talks of what they're doing

toward the end of the year, especially if it's going to be Tom Aspinall, their heavyweight interim champion going against John, their heavyweight champ. This has to be it. Either that, or they genuinely can't get John Jones to come to the play. Genuinely, they can't get him to come to the table and make a deal. And they still believe that they'll be able to do it.

Right? They're not. able to get him to say yes to anything, but they're still trying. But having Tom on the sidelines waiting and waiting while you go back and forth with John Jones, not knowing if you're actually going to get him, not knowing if the offer you're making or the negotiations you're having are actually going to come through, will absolutely destroy the heavyweight division. And the potential stardom of Tom Aspinall. This is why I say the UFC is so focused on this short term potential gain and ignoring the long term success of potential heavyweight math. And

matchups and longevity and legacy of what could be with Tom Aspinall could be for this one big moment that may or may not launch him or you may or may not ever get. It's just bizarre to me. Like yet, it would be great for Tom Aspinall to beat John Jones and then have that rocket ship him to the moon. But would also be great for Tom Aspinall to build his career through making big time strides at heavyweight cleaning out the division and becoming a dominant champion, which he has no opportunity to do because his. entire careers on hold right now for John Jones and the whims of John Jones and realistically the whims of the UFC because they're not willing to part with the other guy that made his legacy,

the greatest legacy in the history of combat sports through doing the thing that Tom wants to do. Did John Jones have blockbuster matchup after blockbuster matchup where we waited for a double title fight where we needed a certain name inserted where we needed legacy after. No, he just ran through everybody in his division time after time after time to be. build his name and then he got an ingrained rivalry with Daniel Cormier at the end of it. And built that into a blockbuster fight. Yeah, legends were there along the way. Shogun was there.

Rampage was there. There were so many massive names of the era before him and then the gust of some fights. Rashad Evans, all those fights. But he just did it in a congruent way that built. We didn't do this whole wait around thing that we've done not just with Tom and John, but John and Steepay. That's also affected John. As we sit here, the only thing I can think is that the UFC is waiting until 2026. They thought maybe we could get this done in 2025 and, you know, boost our numbers going into TV rights negotiations,

but they're already negotiated. So there is no way to boost the numbers that you could potentially show a suitor to bring you to the new TV rights deal. Now you're just waiting, again, it's a big term here, waiting for the new deal to start and that you started off right in quarter one. That's all I can think of. that John has just told the UFC, yeah, maybe I'll come back if the number's right, and he keeps giving him the runaround. But at that point, you have to put your foot down. This has been the whole thing the UFC has built themselves into as being the logo is the cell.

The UFC is the star. Is that right or wrong for the business? People can have their opinions. But if you're going to go that route, then you strip them and you move on and you build your next big star. Otherwise, we'll be here again in a year. The simplest problem with the most simple solution, but for some reason, they just won't do it. And I think, again, they see this as a short-term big pop moment. I think it's a sacrifice for long-term potential game. That's what I think. That's the John Jones problem to me.

It's not even necessarily just him, but the UFC is loading the gun up and shooting themselves in the foot by wasting the prime years of Tom Aspinall, just having him wait for something they don't even know that they're going to get. That's sad. But what happens next in this Willie Woney fight thing for John Jones? Is he really retired? and I'm honestly, I don't think John comes back anytime soon.

Unless, unless something changes or my prediction on this whole TV rights thing is correct, I don't see him coming back. At least not in 2025. You guys, let me know what you think down below and I guess we'll find out. Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick.

And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it out. We get to ask other people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of and ask questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey, Jonas, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,

not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month,

tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast.

I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.