Is Gastelum Getting the Jon Jones Treatment?

[HaulParris]

One of the criticisms that some people have of Jones is that his LHW reign was against fighters past their prime - Shogun / Rampage / Machida / Belfort, etc.

I see a parallel with Gastelum - Weidman loss aside, he has somewhat of a streak against near retirees (no disrespect): Jacare, Bisping, Belfort, Kennedy, Marquardt, Hendricks. I know, I left out his WW losses (Magny/Woodley), because this is about Gastellum as a MW contender.

I understand that the MW division appears to be aging rapidly at the top, and that Gastelum (arguably a natural welterweight) is at the right place, at the right time. In this (and only this), he can be said to have the same career trajectory as Jones.

What do you guys think?

 

[Sansnom]

 

[HelloJapan]

I like KG, but yes, he's had a fortunate streak of name fighters who are past their best years.

 

[Gorkle]

Probably.

But only bellends look at the list of fighters and think it's a bad thing.

It's not as if they all should be retired already.

 

[electricfuneral]

he's a legend killer and that's why I love him. Bring on Anderson Silva!!!

 

[rurouni]

those "retirees" are really good. Among the top in the entire world.
Baby cain is legit

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

are we tryin to act like jacare isnt top five?

 

[Rea_ctor]

Bisping was one fight from being champ, Jacare was rated number 2 in the division, Kennedy was supposed to run through him and only decided on retirement after the fight, I'll give you the others but it's far from a list of scrubs.

 

[Deleted member 499399]

When Jones was coming up the ranks the top four light heavyweights were Shogun,Rampage,Machida and Rashad. No one was favored to beat those guys a d no one was saying they were too old. He beat them all. And then they became washed up.
As for Gastelums list I see some top ten guys in there and Bisping was only one loss from being the champ so I think maybe you are reading too much into it. He's just a good fighter.
On the other hand, I remember reading somewhere once that statistically younger fighters have a significantly higher win percentage. But I don't remember the exact numbers or what the source was.

 

[loisestrad]

What's supposed to happen? Is he supposed to fight up and comers, whom no one has heard about, then get a title shot and have people complaining that he fought nobodies to get a title shot?

Like McGregor fought, say, Holloway and Poirier, and now people are saying: Yeah, dude, but they where young and inexperienced at the time, doesn't matter that he beat them, he was gifted a title shot!

 

[Ruthless_swag]

he is legit as they come but I totally understand the criticism dished out towards him. he has certainly faced older guys but what could he possibly do? most guys in top 15 are geriatric slobs. the younger ones unfortunately are just not good enough to compete with the likes of gas, whittaker. So he can only face those fighters in front of him and those said fighters are generally older. david branch is 38 for god sake but he is still good. age doesnt matter honestly unless you are over 40. It also depends on when you actually started your mma career.

 

[MMAfanJabroniJew]

This is why UFC was stupid for discarding Gegard Mousasi and Rory MacDonald , fucking stupid , i'd of suggested Mousasi as Gastelums next opponent.

 

[MMAfanJabroniJew]

he is legit as they come but I totally understand the criticism dished out towards him. he has certainly faced older guys but what could he possibly do? most guys in top 15 are geriatric slobs. the younger ones unfortunately are just not good enough to compete with the likes of gas, whittaker. So he can only face those fighters in front of him and those said fighters are generally older. david branch is 38 for god sake but he is still good. age doesnt matter honestly unless you are over 40. It also depends on when you actually started your mma career.

The division is getting geriatric that a 41 year old is fighting for the title , then again that 41 YO is Yoel fucking Romero.

 

[BoD 2.0]

One of the criticisms that some people have of Jones is that his LHW reign was against fighters past their prime - Shogun / Rampage / Machida / Belfort, etc.

I see a parallel with Gastelum - Weidman loss aside, he has somewhat of a streak against near retirees (no disrespect): Jacare, Bisping, Belfort, Kennedy, Marquardt, Hendricks. I know, I left out his WW losses (Magny/Woodley), because this is about Gastellum as a MW contender.

I understand that the MW division appears to be aging rapidly at the top, and that Gastelum (arguably a natural welterweight) is at the right place, at the right time. In this (and only this), he can be said to have the same career trajectory as Jones.

What do you guys think?

Jon Jones didn't get any "treatement". It just so happened that Shogun and Rampage were past their best, but still on top of the division. Machida was still in top form, so was Belfort. Glover was still operating in top form as well, as was DC and gus.

 

[Deleted member 499399]

https://partyondata.com/2011/09/21/betting-on-ufc-fights-a-statistical-data-analysis/
This has some of those fighter statistics about age of fighters.
I think it's healthy for younger fighters to come up into the mix at the top of the divisions.
I think it's more peculiar that there are so many old timers in the top ten in the heavier weight classes.

 

[Franc Mittelo]

People don't care. Look at Fedor's record. It is littered with Japanese WWE performers, juiced up soccer dads and Bullshido masters, and some people have crowned him GOAT based on that record.

People only care about winning. If you win and you do so in a memorable fashion, nostalgia will kick in and people will forget the context of the fight, and only exaggerate their recollection of the glory.

 

[SuperNerd]

It's a factor but doesn't hurt Kelvin imo.

He's a good boxer, he's heavy, quick and agile, great movement. The first time I saw him fight Brian Melancon, who also was super impressive but retired, I thought this guy was something good.

As a GSP fan, I was thinking Kelvin vs GSP right away, and I still that that is a tough style match-up for Georges.

 

[BROWNPRIDE]

Yes but i think he matches up well with Whitaker.

 

[ImNotSurpisedDonks!]

The only bonafide loss that Gastelum has is Weidman. His two losses to Magny and Trayvon were closely contested and controversial. When you take all this into consideration, and the fact that he's a mere 26, you realize he does not get enough credit. K-Gas is absolutely a P4P stud, and he is still progressing and getting better. It's hard to conceive him not ever winning a belt when you take his age and resume in to consideration.

 

[Moezao]

I like KG, but yes, he's had a fortunate streak of name fighters who are past their best years.

Not only that, his best win in Jacare had a very weird performance last fight. He gassed hard in a round he won. And even so Gastelum couldn't finish a completely exhausted opponent. In fact, he barely won the fight.
Jacare takes it 8 out of 10 times.

Gastelum is being very overestimated right now, I hope Vegas fall for it so I can make some money at his downfall.