Cereal Gain the favorite?

[Jarvan]

Even though jones is undefeated*, he hasn't been in the cage in awhile
Ring rust is real, and I think Jon may be too used to sparring rather than full on fighting
But Henry isn't a dumb dude and think he's actually a great coach.

I got Cereal Gain via decision

Who do you flavor

 

[Dirty Frank]

Even though jones is undefeated*, he hasn't been in the cage in awhile
Ring rust is real, and I think Jon may be too used to sparring rather than full on fighting
But Henry isn't a dumb dude and think he's actually a great coach.

I got Cereal Gain via decision

Who do you flavor

Jones is probably a slight favorite but that depends on a whole lotta IFs.
Gane is in his prime, is naturally bigger and presumably has more power, and I say more mobile and versatile on the feet. He appears to be very confident in his wrestling as well (does not mean he's good enough now).
If the Jones that showed up vs. Santos and Reyes shows up vs. Gane, I'm picking the latter to win via safe and comfortable UD.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Even though jones is undefeated*, he hasn't been in the cage in awhile
Ring rust is real, and I think Jon may be too used to sparring rather than full on fighting
But Henry isn't a dumb dude and think he's actually a great coach.

I got Cereal Gain via decision

Who do you flavor

Ring rust is dependent on the individual. Lots of fighters have big gaps in-between fights with no issues. If you are in shape everything else is just mental. If you know how to fight, you don't suddenly forget how to fight. Ring rust is usually people affected by everything leading up to the fight. How they train and how they deal with all the pre-fight stuff again leading up to the fight. If you are training right, you should be in shape with your timing sharp and everything on point.

 

[Egészségére!]

surprised at these odds too I'd favor Gain

 

[loisestrad]

Anyone who thinks there's an actual clear favorite in this match is, as the kids say, dumb as a sherdogger.

 

[SharpasaRazor]

I serially gain weight so I feel thats gotta be a strong indication of where this is going.

 

[Banana Tree's Nemesis]

Difficult one.
Jones fought little and didn't look very impressive in his last couple fights. Gane usually looks pretty good, but he didn't look out of this world good in his last fights either. Francis had some weight on him, but is not near the level of grappler that Jones is. People forget how good his grappling is.
I would counterargue the ring rust argument, saying that he had some time now to adapt to a HW frame. He might be around Gane's size actually.
Those two factors might about cancel each other out.
Striking wise Gane will probably have an edge. But Gane doesn't really carry that one punch KO power, which would be helpful in keeping Jon away from him to stop him from wrestling.

If I had to give a wild prediction, I would say Gane styles one round on Jon, gets an easy 10-9, round 2 Jon takes him down effortless, Gane has the illusion he would be able to snatch a heelhook or some fancy leglock, commits to that and ends up getting his guard passed easily, then gets gnpd and Jon finishes him up with a submission late into round 2.
(Don't call me out on this, this is just a bluff to look cool if it comes true)

 

[JonJonesNeedle]

Gane will tool the Jones who fought Santos/Reyes. Jones arguably lost against them and barely scraped by against those two. His wrestling failed miserably.

Prime Jones with the HW frame is a different story.

 

[reviv4l]

I was sure it's Surreal Gong.

 

[Dacha]

Gane by whatever he wants whenever.

And i would honestly like to see Jon win.

 

[Jinx_AA]

Ngannou wrestlefucked gane ….. jones will too

shoukd be jones vs Blaydes

 

[AmericanMMA]

Ngannou wrestlefucked gane ….. jones will too

shoukd be jones vs Blaydes

This is my take as well. He should be able to easily out wrestle Gane.

 

[mmainvestigations]

Gane will tool the Jones who fought Santos/Reyes. Jones arguably lost against them and barely scraped by against those two. His wrestling failed miserably.

Prime Jones with the HW frame is a different story.

What about past his prime Jones with a HW frame ?

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

People pretending Jones is undefeated is still such a laugh to me

 

[Mentallooser]

I don't think anyone here has any real insight into how this fight will play out. We have no idea how Jon is performing at this weight, relative to other HWs. We have no idea how Gane is improving in different aspects of his game, since the Francis fight. We know his striking is still fantastic, though he showed some real mental lapses against an overmatched Tuivasa. Those can be easily excused as overconfidence.

We don't know how his wrestling is looking. We don't know what Jon is bringing to the table after all of this time, and with his physical transformation.

 

[Eiger]

Jones is just too big of a question mark for me. 3 years older, 3 years away, 40 pounds heavier and fighting HWs now? Hell if I know.

 

[Fight Professor]

If Jones did not decline, he wins it by using his distance control and the ground game. But who knows how he is going to perform in a different weight class after a long layoff.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

“Undefeated” in a different weight class lol. It means shit to me when said fighter will fight a division 20+ lbs heavier. Jon is obviously a different type of dude, brilliant despite being a serial abuser and a cheater. It will be pretty interesting.

I’m picking Gane to win, his tdd is not Coner terrible. Don’t be fooled. That said, I wouldn’t be shocked if Jon manages to win.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Yeah, I think Gane takes it.

There’s a weird phenomenon with a lot of mma fans. At some point time just ceases to move forward. And people think this fighter or that fighter is the same as they were 10 years ago.

New weightclass, 3 years out, hasn’t wrestled at all for several fights in a row. I think Jones fans are in for a shock.

The time standing still thing... They think it works both ways. Jones hasn’t gone downhill, and Gane hasn’t learned any tdd in the last year. Bizarre.

 

[jeff7b9]

Difficult one.
Jones fought little and didn't look very impressive in his last couple fights. Gane usually looks pretty good, but he didn't look out of this world good in his last fights either. Francis had some weight on him, but is not near the level of grappler that Jones is. People forget how good his grappling is.
I would counterargue the ring rust argument, saying that he had some time now to adapt to a HW frame. He might be around Gane's size actually.
Those two factors might about cancel each other out.
Striking wise Gane will probably have an edge. But Gane doesn't really carry that one punch KO power, which would be helpful in keeping Jon away from him to stop him from wrestling.

If I had to give a wild prediction, I would say Gane styles one round on Jon, gets an easy 10-9, round 2 Jon takes him down effortless, Gane has the illusion he would be able to snatch a heelhook or some fancy leglock, commits to that and ends up getting his guard passed easily, then gets gnpd and Jon finishes him up with a submission late into round 2.
(Don't call me out on this, this is just a bluff to look cool if it comes true)

Is 35 or 36 year old Jon Jones still that great of a wrestler or are people just assuming mid to late 30s Jon at 265 can do what 23 year old Jon did at 205?

If you think about the entire history of MMA wrestlers almost to a T every one of them stops wrestling as their 30s progress. It's just too taxing on the body.