Jon was already slowing down before his break...

Jon could look impressive against a number of HW's, but none that are relevant in the title picture. Jon could do the tackle and hug against some of these guys that don't have much grappling.

Jon is older, the picos are down, and I see Jon falling off a cliff soon and losing a lot if he fights a lot. He may never come back to avoid that from happening.
 
The Last King said:
I thought he looked very good in the DC rematch and thus he tested positive. His work rate, chin, endurance and strength in the clinch were absurd in that fight. Also his adrenaline dump finish of DC was brutal and intense af. Pure steroid fueled performance.

The win over Gus in the rematch wasn't exciting but it was pretty dominant but its hard to fully measure Jones by that fight because Gus fell off a cliff after that fight while DC continued to look strong.
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I disagree. I think a lot of people gave the first round to dc and his clinch fighting looked weaker than ever at that poin. his leg kicks were pure money, as they always have been. This shows in the Gus fight too where Gus looked awful Jones didn’t look his best. But post osp I’d agree dc rematch was his best performance. He looked way more dominant in the first matchup
 
krelianx said:
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?
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Don't think he slowed down as such (as in past his prime), he just went to fighting at his natural unenhanced level
 
Been on a downhill for a long time before the pause.. Bulking up in gym won't really do magic and he will probably gas and lose, not sure if it's going to be Ngannou or another HW.
 
TS has it right.

Jones was still really really good the last few times we saw him but not the wrecking machine he had been at his peak. We can argue the reasons as to why that happened but the end result was clear.

It has been so long since he has fought. I have no idea what to expect if and when he ever fights again.
 
HatKick said:
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.
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Reyes didn’t beat Jones, Jon won a pretty clear 3-2. Santos arguably beat Jones.
 
ferrisjso said:
Reyes did not beat Jones, yall lying to him about that is a big part of Reyes decline.
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This. Reyes fights like he's the uncrowned king who has the best win in MMA history in Jones when he doesn't.

"Your fighting style reeks of arrogance. Ego infects your techniques and makes them impure. You think you're entitled to greatness".



And just like here, all this arrogance does is get him (and his legitimate talent) in trouble.
 
krelianx said:
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?
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This is an indefinite hiatus at this point. Hardly a break.
 
ferrisjso said:
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.
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You may feel Jones won the fight, that's a fair opinion, but you're in the minority. But you can't blame the fans for Reyes' decline. All they did was praise him for his performance and give him credit for (arguably) beating the long reigning champ. If Reyes let that get to his head and performed poorly because of it, that's his own fault, harsh but true. Many a great fighter has fallen victim to drinking too much of his own kool aid. That's why terms like professionalism and champ mentality exist in combat sports. You can't blame the fans for praising and giving Reyes credit where it was due.
 
HatKick said:
You may feel Jones won the fight, that's a fair opinion, but you're in the minority. But you can't blame the fans for Reyes' decline. All they did was praise him for his performance and give him credit for (arguably) beating the long reigning champ. If Reyes let that get to his head and performed poorly because of it, that's his own fault, harsh but true. Many a great fighter has fallen victim to drinking too much of his own kool aid. That's why terms like professionalism and champ mentality exist in combat sports. You can't blame the fans for praising and giving Reyes credit where it was due.
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Santos actually won a judges card against Jones, Jones beat Reyes unanimous
 
I've said this in other threads & Jones fans accuse me of hating on him. Its not hating on him at all, I think prime Jones would've finished all 3 of those guys, instead of eeking out controversial split decisions. It will be 3 yrs or more by the time he supposedly fights HW, luckily HW is full of old guys too or guys who are not as well rounded so maybe he will still do well
 
He was. To be fair, he also looked like he wasn't trying real hard. But probably he was just slowing down
 
HHJ said:
its pretty clear he was losing a step and thats why he gave up the belt.
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Yeah, he gave up the belt when the division had noticeably thinned and yet he was having far closer fights than earlier in his career. I think it was a legacy move
 
Come February, it will be three (3) years since Jon Jones last fought.

Good grief.
 
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