Did Jon Jones fight most of his opponents out of their prime during his title reign?

[PIИKBLIИK]

Some yes some no, but overall I would say no.

You could argue shogun was in his prime since he was champ' but I think most know his best days were in his mid-late 20's and he was just leaving his prime when Jones beat him. I also don't think anyone would say Jackson, Lyoto or potentially Evans, tho he had only one big loss at the time so that is debatable. I would also argue possibly Reyes(who beat him anyway imho) may not have entered his prime yet but that too is up for debate.

I don't like Jones and believe his record is largely bullshit anyway due to multiple violations, but for like OSP, Smith, Gus, Vitor, Bader and DC were all looking pretty good, some even great at the time they stepped in against Jones.

 

[Fatback96]

Doesn’t matter Jones was on steroids.

 

[Hauptstoss]

Oh this thread again. Good ol sherdog.

 

[GreenGorilla]

Gus? stop it lol.. dudes best win is losing to Jones and DC.. imagine your best win being a loss lol.. Anthony Smith subbed him lol

Gus is a can? Now I have seen it all lmao.

 

[Huligani]

Nope, and anyone who says otherwise is a moron. Shogun was coming off of the best performances in his career, Machida and Rashad were smack in the middle of their primes (some of Machida's best performances would come later at MW), Rampage was still in his prime which he has been maintaining since that fight happened, he fought fucking TRT Vitor, Glover was at his most dangerous, Gus was young and in his prime, DC was at his very best both times.

 

[JAL]

I don't really like Gus but it's ridiculous to say Gus wasn't a good win. Look at how close the fights were with Jones and DC. They were very close losses and could have gone either way.

Glover, Shogun, Jan, Manuwa, Thiago were all solid wins at the time.

Gus doesnt have good wins.. thats like saying Al is good win because he went to decision with Khabib

 

[JAL]

Gus is a can? Now I have seen it all lmao.

he was aways a can.. he was only talked about because he had a close fight with Jones... as i said his career highlight is losing to Jones

 

[nebulousned]

Most of them are still fighting in the top 15 nearly half a decade later.

They were hardly cans and Jon > Khabib

 

[sampuncher]

Gus doesnt have good wins.. thats like saying Al is good win because he went to decision with Khabib

I just mentioned Gus's good wins.

Al isnt comparable because he lost.

 

[theleerygoose]

Everyone except Shogun was in their prime. Shogun was definitely screwed up from surgeries.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Nope, and anyone who says otherwise is a moron. Shogun was coming off of the best performances in his career, Machida and Rashad were smack in the middle of their primes (some of Machida's best performances would come later at MW), Rampage was still in his prime which he has been maintaining since that fight happened, he fought fucking TRT Vitor, Glover was at his most dangerous, Gus was young and in his prime, DC was at his very best both times.

Lyoto was a MW and was 1-3 in his last 4 considering Shogun robbery

That Shogun performance wasn't better than his Rampage or Arona performance. Shogun also had another ACL injury and burst appendix surgery after the Lyoto KO

LOL @ movie star Rampage being purimed. He got shut out by Bader and Glover b2b right after. Purime Rampage finishes both

Vitor another MW.

Gus was never that good. His resume is ass and he wasn't better than Phil Davis or Rumble who both finished him and who Bones never fought

Glover was a good win. First Daniel fight too. 2nd fight he was on steroids and it literally got overturned so it's irrelevant

 

[Huligani]

Lyoto was a MW and was 1-3 in his last 4 considering Shogun robbery

That Shogun performance wasn't better than his Rampage or Arona performance. Shogun also had another ACL injury and burst appendix surgery after the Lyoto KO

LOL @ movie star Rampage being purimed. He got shut out by Bader and Glover b2b right after. Purime Rampage finishes both

Vitor another MW.

Gus was never that good. His resume is ass and he wasn't better than Phil Davis or Rumble who both finished him and who Bones never fought

Glover was a good win. First Daniel fight too. 2nd fight he was on steroids and it literally got overturned so it's irrelevant

You seem confused about the subject, which is just whether or not his opponents were in their primes, not what you think of the wins.

Machida being 1-3 in his previous 4 means he was past his prime in his early 30s despite not having taken much damage in his career at that point? Typical Sherdog logic: once a fighter loses, that means he's past his prime. No, Machida was clearly in his prime, not looking any worse than before those losses and he'd go on to show some improvements later in his career at MW. Prime Machida was on a 1-3 skid at that time because Shogun was better than him, because he came on too late against prime Rampage (although Machida should've gotten that decision anyway), and because Jon Jones is better than him.

Shogun said his knees were fine in the Jones fight, so bringing that up and contradicting the man himself is just weak tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. Shogun's striking technique continued to improve after the Rampage and Arona fights, and his conditioning was as good as ever in that first Machida fight hence why he didn't tire after 25 minutes.

Rampage was injured going into the Bader and Glover fights, but not for the Jones fight. He gassed early against Bader and Glover, and was slow and visibly out of shape in both of those fights, but he was visibly in shape against Jones, not slow at all and not gassing at all. It's like you people don't actually watch the fights, instead only looking at fighter records.

 

[The Schmoop]

All years removed from titles or middleweights. DC win* is solid. Rashad win was solid. Every other former champion was way outside their prime. People saying shogun or rampage were anywhere remotely close to their prime don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Steady diet of MWs and has beens.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Some slightly past like Shogun and Rampage but NONE beat him at any age..

Zero.. He tools them all..

 

[Bouboumaster]

Some were past their primes, a lot were truly middleweights and the real LWH, he either cheat to win, or lost (Gus 1, Santos, Reyes).

 

[ticho123]

Only reason yes no are even close is because how hated Jones is. Most if not all of his noteworthy opponents were in their prime when Jones beat them and before his reign LHW was known as a competitive division where the belt changed hands every few fights.

 

[Fergelmince]

Gus is a can? Now I have seen it all lmao.

pfft, everyone takes cormier to a 5 round decision.

 

[DesiredUserName]

Doesn’t matter Jones was on steroids.

 

[Lights Out 101]

Gus? stop it lol.. dudes best win is losing to Jones and DC.. imagine your best win being a loss lol.. Anthony Smith subbed him lol

It’s not even 9am yet and this is already the dumbest shit I’ll read on Sherdog today. Throw some respek on Gus’s name.

 

[kenetics]

Let me start by saying, Jon Jones is not P4P best fighter right now. That honor goes to Khabib or even Adesanaya. The fighter who I consider the P4P the best is based on "what have you done for me lately?" And that's why I believe Khabib and Adesanya is higher than Jones in P4P rankings.

Now lets look at Jones title reign.

Shogun - When Jones fought him for the title, Shogun was 29 years old had a 19-4 record. Just around his prime. Had a very impressive win over Machida going into the Jones fight. In fact some people believe Shogun won both of their fights.

Rampage - When he fought Jones he was 33 years old had a 32-8 record. And probably out of his prime due to fight mileage. However just recently Rampage said he was at his best shape when he fought Jones. So who knows really.

Machida - When he fought Jones he was 33 years old had a 17-2 record. He was still in his prime. Also he just highlight reel KO on Couture in his last fight before Jones.

Rashad - When he fought Jones he was 32 years old, had a 17-1-1 record. He was still in his prime.

Belfort - When he fought Jones he was 35 years old, had a 21-9 record. He had 7-1 record in his last 8 fights before Jones. Hard to say if he was out of his prime with that record going into that fight.

Sonnen - When he fought Jones he was around 36 years old, had a 28-12-1 record. Also just had a title fight with Anderson Silva which he lost. He could very well be out of his prime.

Gus - When he fought Jones he was 26 year old, had a 15-1 record. Probably just reaching or was in his prime at that point.

Glover - When he fought Jones he was around 34 years old, had a 22-2 record. Had a 20 fight win streak heading to the Jones fight. With that streak I don't think he was out of his prime. Considering Glover is still competitive today and could get a title shot in the near future.

Cormier - When he fought Jones he was around 36 years old, had a 15-0 record. Even with his age most of if not all you think he was still in his prime.

Ovince Saint Preux - When he fought Jones he was 33 years old, had a 19-7 record. He was in his prime.

Gus rematch - When he fought Jones he was 31 years old, had a 18-4 record. Still in his prime.

Anthony Smith - When he fought Jones he was 31 years old, had a 32-13 record. In his prime.

Thiago Santos - When he fought Jones he was 35 years old, had a 21-6 record. Also he was 9-1 in his last 10 fights going into the Jones fight. Even at 35, I think he was in his prime.

Reyes - When he fought Jones he was 30 years old, had a 12-0 record. In his prime.

So out of 14 fights only 3 you can say were out of his prime. Well that's my perspective of it.

Most of them were out of there prime. Context matters when you really break down his wins.