Jon was already slowing down before his break...

[krelianx]

I think it is safe to say that the last three Jones fights were overall his worst performances in the octagon, against not necessarily the best competition he had. He had an underwhelming if dominant performance against a very passive Smith, a passive and controversial split decision win against a former MW in Santos who had also two knees shot, and another controversial decision win against Reyes, who most think won the decision.

Whether it be wear and tear, age, or not being on the juice, I think it is clear Jones wasn't performing as well or looking nearly as imposing as he had previous years, particularly before his last suspension. One egregious thing is that since the second Gustaffson fight, his wrestling seems to be appearing less and less.

With this in mind, the question is: why do people think he would be successful at HW? Granted, HW is populated by older, and non-well rounded fighters like Tuivasa, Lewis, Gane, or even Ngannou. But they are a lot bigger, and Jones is now older, heavier, and hasn't fought in years. He also will not have the same reach advantage he usually enjoys at LHW, and the two fighters that had long reach at LHW gave him notorious trouble in Gus and Reyes.

Many think his skillset, even factoring rust and deterioration, is enough to compensate in a very weak division like HW. But if Jones was performing like that against Smith three years ago... why would anyone think he will perform well agianst someone like Ngannou?

 

[Marko Polo]

People say soon as Jon fought equally tall fighters he come unstuck, which is sort of true, but I think there’s more to it than that. His last few fights just looked like he didn’t wanna be there, whereas before he was playful, throwing odd techniques, mixing things up better than anyone.

Maybe he just doesn’t like hurting people like he used too. Maybe he resents the fans because he’s pretty much universally hated despite being one of the best fighters ever. I don’t think his decline is purely physical because he’s not that old.

 

[HatKick]

He is not the same off the juice.

Reyes beat Jones, then proceeded to get destroyed by Jan, Jiri, and Ryan Spann.
Smith got dominated by Jon but didn't take much damage apart from the illegal knee. He then got absolutely obliterated by old man Glover and has only had mixed success.
Santos went toe to toe with Jones on broken legs and has looked very mediocre since.
Jon's only great performance in recent memory was Gustafsson II but that doesn't look good either since Gus completely fell off a cliff.

Jon is watching his performances age like milk and knows he doesn't have it anymore. I'm not even a Jones hater but it's just obvious.

 

[cyanogen]

That's why he retired.

 

[Midget Boxer]

Jones was pretty good at beating middleweights while being juiced up

 

[reviv4l]

Jones was pretty good at beating middleweights while being juiced up

You mean the mUrDeReRs RoW?

 

[ferrisjso]

You mean the mUrDeReRs RoW?

I feel like you just mUrDeReD my childhood.

Are you seriously disputing the idea that Bader, Shogun, Rampage, Machida, Evans, Trtor, Chael, Gus, Glover and DC was a murderers row? The first 5 of whom he fought in like 1 year. Are we really doing this?

 

[ferrisjso]

He is not the same off the juice.

Reyes beat Jones, then proceeded to get destroyed by Jan, Jiri, and Ryan Spann.
Smith got dominated by Jon but didn't take much damage apart from the illegal knee. He then got absolutely obliterated by old man Glover and has only had mixed success.
Santos went toe to toe with Jones on broken legs and has looked very mediocre since.
Jon's only great performance in recent memory was Gustafsson II but that doesn't look good either since Gus completely fell off a cliff.

Jon is watching his performances age like milk and knows he doesn't have it anymore. I'm not even a Jones hater but it's just obvious.

Reyes did not beat Jones, yall lying to him about that is a big part of Reyes decline.

Smith did not deserve a title shot and he's extremely overrated but he almost beat old man Glover. It was actually more impressive than any of Smiths wins save maybe the Volkan one. Yes the Glover fight ended ugly but Smith really doesn't have anything to be ashamed of there. What he has to be ashamed of is fighting 3 straight unranked opponents while he was ranked in the top 5 then acting confused why people don't take him seriously.

 

[HHJ]

its pretty clear he was losing a step and thats why he gave up the belt.

 

[reviv4l]

I feel like you just attacked my childhood.

Are you seriously disputing the idea that Bader, Shogun, Rampage, Machida, Evans, Trtor, Chael, Gus, Glover and DC was a murderers row? The first 5 of whom he fought in like 1 year. Are we really doing this?

Half of them were natural middleweights and Jon was most likely juiced up while having a great frame for LHW, that murderers row thing was an exaggeration which is what I implied.

 

[ferrisjso]

Half of them were natural middleweights and Jon was most likely juiced up while having a great frame for LHW, that murderers row thing was an exaggeration which is what I implied.

Y'all know the smallest of those opponents DC was the HW champ right?

 

[The-AxeMurderer]

I think Jon fighting an Ngannou or Gane type fighter will be his undoing.

Maybe even Stipe, but he might be a bit long in the tooth at this point.

 

[The Last King]

If you have your hands full with Reyes imagine what Ngannou, Pavlovich or Gane would do to you.

Jones is cooked and has been cooked for years.

 

[pick999]

reyes was 12-0 coming off that 1st round ko over weidman and look how hard he fell off after that fight

 

[StonedLemur]

Jones was pretty good at beating middleweights while being juiced up

That fuckin AV kills sir lmao.

 

[StonedLemur]

Reyes did not beat Jones, yall lying to him about that is a big part of Reyes decline.

Smith did not deserve a title shot and he's extremely overrated but he almost beat old man Glover. It was actually more impressive than any of Smiths wins save maybe the Volkan one. Yes the Glover fight ended ugly but Smith really doesn't have anything to be ashamed of there. What he has to be ashamed of is fighting 3 straight unranked opponents while he was ranked in the top 5 then acting confused why people don't take him seriously.

Gotta be honest sir, I had Reyes the first 3 rounds.

 

[Deleted member 504083]

I feel like you just attacked my childhood.

Are you seriously disputing the idea that Bader, Shogun, Rampage, Machida, Evans, Trtor, Chael, Gus, Glover and DC was a murderers row? The first 5 of whom he fought in like 1 year. Are we really doing this?

Past prime Tito beat Bader faster than Jones, past prime one dimensional MW Chael beat Shogun faster than Jones, past prime Rampage was at the end only in it for the money at that point, barely beat Gus, on steroids for both DC fights, and Chael, Vitor, Machida, Evans were all MW sized opponents.

Sry but your whole childhood was a sham

 

[ferrisjso]

Past prime Tito beat Bader faster than Jones, past prime one dimensional MW Chael beat Shogun faster than Jones, past prime Rampage was at the end only in it for the money at that point, barely beat Gus, on steroids for both DC fights, and Chael, Vitor, Machida, Evans were all MW sized opponents.

Sry but your whole childhood was a sham

Prime Fedor was a MW sized opponent.

 

[Deleted member 504083]

Prime Fedor was a MW sized opponent.

yes

 

[ferrisjso]

Gotta be honest sir, I had Reyes the first 3 rounds.

There's an argument for that. But if all 3 first rounds are close and the last 2 are clearly Jones it's much easier for Jones to get to 3 than Reyes who only has only 1 path. That's why Jones is such a genius at winning decisions.