Is Jones past his prime?

[MCS]

Doesn't look like his reaction time, chin or speed (not that he was ever the fastest) have gone. Looked great against Gus 2 fights ago. Choosing to stand with kickboxers to prove a point has been the biggest thing in recent fights.

 

[Nightgunner05]

Once you hit 30 it’s all downhill from there. It’s no different for Jones, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is one of the greatest ever.

 

[sonofjay817]

Discuss. He has been at this for long and been in tons of five rounds fight but I don't think he has taken much damage, aside from gus 1 but it wasn't too much either.
He's pretty old in fight years I think and might be sort of out of his prime.
Inb4 roids and pulsing.

IMO, he certainly seems less athletic. Whether in or out of prime becomes more tricky when one factors in fight IQ which usually increases with more experience. It seems to me that he fights much safer than he use to and he doesn't cause as much damage to his opponent as when he was younger. Dare I say that his fighting style has become rather boring in the last few years.
It seems to me that even when factoring in his Octagon wiliness and craftiness, he's not as dominating as he use to be, and thus, out of his prime. Of course, its possible that the level of competition has gone up and that's the reason for his apparent decline.
I expect him to lose within the next three or four fights. I doubt Reyes is the guy to do it though.

 

[TheToqueville]

no
3 fights in the span of a year
1 domination + finish
1 utter domination
1 close fight that he clearly won

he'll dispatch of reyes in 3 and everyone will be back to regarding him as the goat (as they should)

This. Shertards back on his nuts next weekend, Haters will be running through kleenex.

 

[PIИKBLIИK]

He doesnt looks to

What the hell is a "thread Bare div"

Fixed it my mistake.

 

[KING BONES]

In all honesty, Jones is beginning to enter his prime.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

I don't think so.. But he needs a great performance with Reyes after the Santos fight. Use all your skills. Grapple this time. Stop standing for 25 minutes.. Jones has great submission skills that need to be utilized..

 

[r-harper-1]

Yes he’s past his best

 

[No Skill Gap]

Once you hit 30 it’s all downhill from there. It’s no different for Jones, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is one of the greatest ever.

That's definitely not true at all. Specifically when we are talking MMA.

Some of the most demanding positions in all of sports athletically are CB / WR in the NFL and PG in the NBA. Plenty of guys have played at peak levels at age 28-33 and there have been guys playing at high levels at age 34-35+, Terrence Newman on the Vikings for example or CP3 and Steph Curry right now for example.

You're sort of right but "Age is just a number" applies to this. The athletic prime isn't just "30" for a cutoff, it's more like 33-34 is the last stretch for most athletic primes, especially MMA where running extremely fast and cutting on a dime isn't a requisite.

 

[kflo]

Reality of steroid abuse too harsh for you?

Want to pretend that he hasn't failed more tests than any athlete in any sport ever?

Or that he failed more tests than Anderson, Chael and Barnett combined.

How about I write something like let's talk about Jon's record, inb4 wins...

Funny the experts aren’t calling them failed tests. Only shertards.

 

[akimbo187]

Yes. He's past his prime and has been for a three or four years.

But Sherdog thinks that if you are still winning that's proof that you are still in your prime so that when you inevitably lose as you get older and get further and further away from your prime it's because you ran into better competition.

There are people around here who still believe that Weidman was a better fighter than Anderson or that Johny was a better fighter than GSP.

Experience counts for something bro. There’s a mental prime and physical prime. People hit those at different stages. Until Jon shows that he’s slowed down, it’s safe to assume he’s still in his prime. He doesn’t have to lose, he just has to show that he’s missing a step, in his last 3-4 fights and then it’s safe to assume he’s out of it.

 

[Fight Professor]

Most likely. But he is not on the decline yet.

 

[jeremyemilio]

Experience counts for something bro. There’s a mental prime and physical prime. People hit those at different stages. Until Jon shows that he’s slowed down, it’s safe to assume he’s still in his prime. He doesn’t have to lose, he just has to show that he’s missing a step, in his last 3-4 fights and then it’s safe to assume he’s out of it.

He has showed that he's slowed down. Just like GSP and Anderson both slowed down significantly and noticeably several fights before they fought Hendricks and Weidman.

The Gus and DC that JJ fought in the rematch have slowed even more, which causes some confusion... but it shouldn't. It's not like Jones hasn't had some other fights mixed in there that tell the story.