From what I see, this possibility is slowly gaining momentum too, and it's becoming less one sided for Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall.
I feel it, I think you fans are actually making JJ undefeated path easier by having him face Tom Aspinall. Maybe he's been playing reverse psychology all the time to get the perceived toughest match and retire winning.
I just feel that Alex Pereira would be the one to take JJ's invincibility and it wouldn't go to decision most likely if Alex Poatan won. Nothing about Alex Poatan makes sense... Started kickboxing as 20 yo, at 30 was already a double champion of glory if I'm not mistaken... The one and only Glory double champion that arguably won the last fight against Arthur but from many ppl's perspective he didn't get the W because he was leaving kickboxing already...
Then his saga with Adesanya, no one knew who was Pereira, ppl were like "Why does Adesanya keep talking about this Alex Pereira guy?"... Then he was the first there to defeat Adesanya, the third time, being one of the very few who had defeated Adesanya in kickboxing. He lost the second fight.
But then he moved up as he was dying to make 185, that was absolute far, far from his natural weight... And beat a top contender who had defeated Reyes, Adesanya and many great fighters in his debut --- Jan Blackowski... Then Jiri was the one who had the belt, ppl said he was an ominous presence when he KO's Reyes, it seemed to me at that time that he was a Viking warrior kinda possessed, that he'd just walk through the opponents to take the W... Alex Poatan's gets it done but there's controversy on the stoppage. Then for some reason Alex Poatan seems to look even more stoic Stone face, headlines 300 and like a boss one hit KO Hill, another former champion and another guy who had defeated Glover... And his celebration was the coldest ever, like "was it that guy had to offer? That was it...?" ... He seems increasingly more comfortable with the fights, celebrating less...
... Then he accepts a rematch vs Jiri Prochazka who always did well in rematches on short notice, has the most epic stare down before the fight... Jiri that seemed like a guy that couldn't be affected or intimidated in any way, felt intimidated to the point he really thought Alex Pereira was using some dirty tactics or some magical ritual... Which is crazy coming from a guy that believes so much in himself like Jiri. It's like he was getting broken down mentally, like Adesanya kinda became when Alex came and defeated him, kinda how Jamahal Hill became obsessed and hung up and started to live rent free in Alex's head... Even Jiri in his was got affected. Jiri had said that after seeing the 300 Poatan vs Hill, that he would start taking Alex Poatan 100% seriously... And he was the most serious and intense he has been in a fight, he was totally locked in, but it seems Alex got a boost ever since defeating Jiri the first time and dominated and brutally KO'd Jiri in a way I couldn't see happening with Jiri... Jiri trying to stand up and falling after looking to Alex Pereira looked like.... Damn....
Then Alex Pereira accepts a fight on short notice against a very, very dangerous striker who got a boost ever since he trained years on Thailand, wasn't in his best condition, took hard shots from a fighter who hits very, very hard, but showed no signs of being close to lose, even the headkick he had the reflexes tuned so much he did what he could to minimize the impact... And then he beat up Khalil brutally, it seemed even hard to watch, it was almost gore violence, seemed like he was literally hunting Khalil little by little... The crowd was mostly in silence, it was kinda... It was rough to watch that... Khalil was known as the warehouse or something since he would beat his opponents so badly it seemed like there was always a personal beef, but he'd go there to destroy them... But I couldn't even celebrate the W seeing Khalil so roughed up. I remember a commentator saying Alex Poatan may be the most violent fighter in the whole MMA after that.
He has a weakness, his wrestling, but he has been working years on that, and he is a very quick learner, he just is, like how JJ learned so quickly, Alex Pereira seems to adapt and learn easily, like he was born for that, a genius... And every fighter has a weakness that can be exploited, no one is exempt from weaknesses.
And JJ is the other guy active that beat up Glover when Glover was in an impressive win streak. And Alex Poatan seems to have that code of "avenging" his master or his old rival like when he wanted to fight DDP...
Well, that's most feel and legacy stuff, but these moments are the ones who generally define how tough a fighter can be when pushed through deep waters. Ppl say Tom has better Jiu Jitsu since he's been practicing it, but Alex Poatan has got way more fights if counting kickboxing and more experience in turning the tides in MMA, so in a way, he has more tools despite being less dynamic. Izzy also said how it seemed there was something like a presence helping Alex Poatan, like, Alex Poatan had spiritual help but not in a literal sense, just that his belief was so big, his faith was so big, that it'd give him an extra motivation to do the grind work and flip the switch in the decisive moment, he could be losing 99% of the time, it's like there was a "it's now!!" moment for him that he'd find something and kill the opponent...
If JJ decides to drop to LHW, IMO that'd be the biggest fight ever. JJ wouldn't keep the belt, he would give it to Tom and fight in LHW... That'd be massive...
I feel it, I think you fans are actually making JJ undefeated path easier by having him face Tom Aspinall. Maybe he's been playing reverse psychology all the time to get the perceived toughest match and retire winning.
I just feel that Alex Pereira would be the one to take JJ's invincibility and it wouldn't go to decision most likely if Alex Poatan won. Nothing about Alex Poatan makes sense... Started kickboxing as 20 yo, at 30 was already a double champion of glory if I'm not mistaken... The one and only Glory double champion that arguably won the last fight against Arthur but from many ppl's perspective he didn't get the W because he was leaving kickboxing already...
Then his saga with Adesanya, no one knew who was Pereira, ppl were like "Why does Adesanya keep talking about this Alex Pereira guy?"... Then he was the first there to defeat Adesanya, the third time, being one of the very few who had defeated Adesanya in kickboxing. He lost the second fight.
But then he moved up as he was dying to make 185, that was absolute far, far from his natural weight... And beat a top contender who had defeated Reyes, Adesanya and many great fighters in his debut --- Jan Blackowski... Then Jiri was the one who had the belt, ppl said he was an ominous presence when he KO's Reyes, it seemed to me at that time that he was a Viking warrior kinda possessed, that he'd just walk through the opponents to take the W... Alex Poatan's gets it done but there's controversy on the stoppage. Then for some reason Alex Poatan seems to look even more stoic Stone face, headlines 300 and like a boss one hit KO Hill, another former champion and another guy who had defeated Glover... And his celebration was the coldest ever, like "was it that guy had to offer? That was it...?" ... He seems increasingly more comfortable with the fights, celebrating less...
... Then he accepts a rematch vs Jiri Prochazka who always did well in rematches on short notice, has the most epic stare down before the fight... Jiri that seemed like a guy that couldn't be affected or intimidated in any way, felt intimidated to the point he really thought Alex Pereira was using some dirty tactics or some magical ritual... Which is crazy coming from a guy that believes so much in himself like Jiri. It's like he was getting broken down mentally, like Adesanya kinda became when Alex came and defeated him, kinda how Jamahal Hill became obsessed and hung up and started to live rent free in Alex's head... Even Jiri in his was got affected. Jiri had said that after seeing the 300 Poatan vs Hill, that he would start taking Alex Poatan 100% seriously... And he was the most serious and intense he has been in a fight, he was totally locked in, but it seems Alex got a boost ever since defeating Jiri the first time and dominated and brutally KO'd Jiri in a way I couldn't see happening with Jiri... Jiri trying to stand up and falling after looking to Alex Pereira looked like.... Damn....
Then Alex Pereira accepts a fight on short notice against a very, very dangerous striker who got a boost ever since he trained years on Thailand, wasn't in his best condition, took hard shots from a fighter who hits very, very hard, but showed no signs of being close to lose, even the headkick he had the reflexes tuned so much he did what he could to minimize the impact... And then he beat up Khalil brutally, it seemed even hard to watch, it was almost gore violence, seemed like he was literally hunting Khalil little by little... The crowd was mostly in silence, it was kinda... It was rough to watch that... Khalil was known as the warehouse or something since he would beat his opponents so badly it seemed like there was always a personal beef, but he'd go there to destroy them... But I couldn't even celebrate the W seeing Khalil so roughed up. I remember a commentator saying Alex Poatan may be the most violent fighter in the whole MMA after that.
He has a weakness, his wrestling, but he has been working years on that, and he is a very quick learner, he just is, like how JJ learned so quickly, Alex Pereira seems to adapt and learn easily, like he was born for that, a genius... And every fighter has a weakness that can be exploited, no one is exempt from weaknesses.
And JJ is the other guy active that beat up Glover when Glover was in an impressive win streak. And Alex Poatan seems to have that code of "avenging" his master or his old rival like when he wanted to fight DDP...
Well, that's most feel and legacy stuff, but these moments are the ones who generally define how tough a fighter can be when pushed through deep waters. Ppl say Tom has better Jiu Jitsu since he's been practicing it, but Alex Poatan has got way more fights if counting kickboxing and more experience in turning the tides in MMA, so in a way, he has more tools despite being less dynamic. Izzy also said how it seemed there was something like a presence helping Alex Poatan, like, Alex Poatan had spiritual help but not in a literal sense, just that his belief was so big, his faith was so big, that it'd give him an extra motivation to do the grind work and flip the switch in the decisive moment, he could be losing 99% of the time, it's like there was a "it's now!!" moment for him that he'd find something and kill the opponent...
If JJ decides to drop to LHW, IMO that'd be the biggest fight ever. JJ wouldn't keep the belt, he would give it to Tom and fight in LHW... That'd be massive...
