Who is a better matchup for Jones, Francis or Stipe?

[Martialbeef]

Neither are a walk in the park or anything close. If Frank lands one big one, you are done, even with Jones comic book chin. Stipe has cardio for days with great wrestling and boxing.

I think Jones and camp would rather fight Francis, which may be an unpopular opinion, i just feel he’d be an easier guy to game plan for.

 

[pointblankstrike]

Overeem or Blaydes, Jones needs to earn the title shot first.

 

[Rajon Rondo]

Jones hardest matchup? A driving course

 

[Martialbeef]

Overeem or Blaydes, Jones needs to earn the title shot first.

True but that probably isn’t going to happen

 

[Deleted member 582760]

Neither are a walk in the park or anything close. If Frank lands one big one, you are done, even with Jones comic book chin. Stipe has cardio for days with great wrestling and boxing.

I think Jones and camp would rather fight Francis, which may be an unpopular opinion, i just feel he’d be an easier guy to game plan for.

I think Jones and his camp probably think Francis fight is more winnable but also know that making a mistake would be less tolerable in that fight. Way to beat Francis is pretty upfront; avoid getting hit in the striking exchanges during the first two rounds and wrestle him. However, the caveat is if you make even one mistake, the consequence is immediate and brutal.

With Stipe, especially the way he fought in his third fight against DC, it seems like Jon has many ways to beat him. But the caveat for this is, it is less clear. It “feels” like Jon is the better wrestler, but we don’t know if he can take Stipe down. You can say Jon easily took DC down so taking Stipe down will be a cake, but that’s MMA math. Stipe is similar in size and frame to Jon, Jon will have a hard time. I know some people might say DC was able to outwrestle Stipe with ease in the first round of the second fight but context matters here because Stipe was fighting uncharacteristically timidly to avoid getting into the clinch. Back to how Jon can beat Stipe, it seems Jon could knock Stipe out with a kick in the later rounds when Stipe is gassed but we don’t know if Jon has the power to knock Stipe out or is going to be fresh all five rounds like he is in the lightheavyweight.