Did Gusta Shatter the Idea That Jones Could Easily Compete At HW?

[J-Pac]

I thought Jones would breeze through everyone except guys like JDS/Cain/Overeem. And even then that Jones had a legit chance against them

Now, I'm not so sure lol + am convinced JDS/Cain would absolutely smash Jones.


Jones went from destroying all the top LHWs to looking out of place against someone with similar size/physique. It was very shocking to watch

Because all the "top lhws" he fought are actually just middleweights who don't want to cut weight.

Shogun, Rashad, Vitor, Chael, Machida.. all of them could be middleweights. Rampage and gus are the only legit big men he's fought, and rampage was washcup by then.

This is the first fight I've seen since rampage where I went "oh shit, Jones isn't twice the fucking size of his opponent" and we all saw how he performed.

He would get destroyed by the big boys at heavyweight. If he fought a Lesnar-type guy or a Gonzaga he would get rolled quick, and the big strikers in the division he would get snapped up.

 

[GrindingANARCHY]

I still think he could beat 95% of the HWs out there, and given the time to physically get used to it he could beat the top guys like JDS and Cain.

Whoa whoa whoa.......no way he's beating Cigano.

 

[hto63]

Gus would do similarly well at HW, probably.

It's kind of funny how people bitch and moan about the lack of athleticism and talent in the HW division but then turn around and talk shit about two guys who could do great things at the weight if they were not much smaller dudes.

 

[Prex32]

cain and cormier would beat him
otherwise he has some chances to win
but not if jds connects

 

[jmadtx]

im somewhere between smashed and mid level but i didnt wanna be mean so i picked mid level.

as of right now that's my opinion but i'm not saying he couldn't be a beast later on

 

[PrinceOfPain]

I fail to see how it changes anything. Jon Jones is still favored to beat everyone except the top 2-3 HWs, which is a bit harder to gauge.

Gustafsson is a great fighter and there is very few at HW that could do what he does. He himself could probably do great things at HW.

Eh, Gus and Jones both ran into issues dealing with a skilled opponent of similar size. I reckon you're either ignoring that fact, or you didn't notice it.

Either way, you're wrong.

 

[J-Pac]

What the fuck? Mitrione & Schaub would beat Jones? Lol what the fuck has Sherdog come too lol.

Jones hate is outrageous

If you saw them in the ring together it would make alot more sense. Those dudes are fucking huge, and they both looked fast as hell the other day. These are the 2 most athletic guys in the divison and are both gigantic men. You are probably imagining Jones being a foot taller than either of them because he normally just fights middleweights, but they would both have some quality size on him. We've seen him fight someone his own size, and we saw how he looked.

 

[Cygnus-X]

It's funny that you retards are just immune to learning. Four days ago Gustafsson would get demolished against Jones and had nothing. When are you going to stop doing these absurd blanket statement that has zero rational thought behind them?

 

[GrindingANARCHY]

If you saw them in the ring together it would make alot more sense. Those dudes are fucking huge, and they both looked fast as hell the other day. These are the 2 most athletic guys in the divison and are both gigantic men. You are probably imagining Jones being a foot taller than either of them because he normally just fights middleweights, but they would both have some quality size on him. We've seen him fight someone his own size, and we saw how he looked.

Opinions vary.

 

[ROAR**]

All this does is show that Gus is another name to add to the "205ers who could be top10-5 HW"

 

[Corleone187]

He could beat some guys at HW but they would have to be very short, no hands, and no skills. For sure he won't be able to beat the much taller guys. JDS would KO him in 1 round, even a mediocre guy like browne would beat him based on size alone

He has a fairly large height advantage over cain but cain can just get in with a double jab and he has way faster hands

 

[ravifreitas]

Maybe this proves that Gus can also compete at HW lol

 

[AndrewGolota48]

If anything this fight really showed he's not some freak athlete. There are several HW guys who are bigger and stronger and just as fast as him if not faster.

 

[Cygnus-X]

There are several HW guys who are bigger and stronger and just as fast as him if not faster.

Like who?

 

[Benoco]

I feel like people aren't giving Gus enough credit. He's a phenomenal fighter.

It reminds me of when Chael destroyed Silva for 4.5 rounds people started saying "Clearly GSP could do that and do it better", they didn't appreciate just how good Chael was/is.

Just cause Gus can do well isn't saying much imo, Gus is serious.

 

[Shonuff1980**]

Personally, I don't think he changed the fact that Jon would be a top contender at HW. What this fight did show IMO, is that Gus would also be a formidable HW. HW isn't the deepest of divisions, IMO, maybe the shallowest. I think both of them would do very well there.

 

[Dart Feld]

Well, we already knew he could beat top 30 former HWs in O'Brien and Vera.

I don't think the fight shattered anything but did put more doubt in certain match ups with top ten HWs and Jon.

Before I didn't think a match up with someone like Miocic/Jones would be very interesting but now it's a different case. I still think Jones would be a top ten LHW but realize the match ups in the top 5 are tougher than I thought.

That said, I'm not in the camp that believes it was just size that was the reason for Gus' success. His footwork, angles, and speed were on point and the combination of them at an elite level is absent in many HWs.

 

[ShagginTurtles]

I think Junior would KO Jones and Cain would beat him but Jones against someone like Mir I'd probably favor Jones

 

[UltraMan DX]

JDS, Cain, Werdum, Mir, and Barnett beat him. Overeem, Nelson, Gonzaga, Hunt, and Browne might be a little closer, but I'd have most of them winning too (Hunt could get sub'd real fast). If he goes to HW I see him beating the Todd Duffee's of the world real easy, but once he gets matched up with some of the Top 10 in the HW division, things will get real tough for Jones.

 

[bjjwar]

I mean, Jones' first opponent where he finally didn't have a dominant height & reach advantage, and here he had the toughest fight of his life. Don't get me wrong, Jones is very talented and may move up someday, but before this fight a lot of people were talking like maybe he could just move up and breeze through everyone at HW, and be up there fighting for the title with Cain and JDS in no time.

Does this skin-of-his-teeth fight with Gustafsson destroy that idea? To me it does. Jones clearly belongs at LHW, I think he gets smashed by guys like Travis Browne and Bigfoot, much less the top of the division like Cain and JDS. What do you think?

95% of HW's are smaller than him,so no.

The only difference is that Gus and Jones cut weight and don't eat Burritos all day.Without cutting weight they'd be around 225 and with the HW's diet they easily be 250 chubby like Cain.