Why do people say this? Jones beat these guys when he was still fairly new to the sport and they were in their early 30's Rampage was 33 Machida was 33 Shogun was 29 Rashad was 32, Bader was in his 20's, Glover 34, TRT Vitor 34 and the list goes on. Seems to me like people just can't accept that their favourites got beaten and they'd rather call them past their prime than admit that he was just a phenom. He's definitely slowed down recently and lost his killer instinct, but stop making shit up about the past.
People whose favorite fighters are either Shogun, Rampage or Machida. Or people who weren't around at the time. Jones was doubted by many here (including me) when he fought some of these killers. Those wins are as legit as they get.
I recall a lot of "one kick to those chicken legs from Shogun and Jones is done" talk before the fight. After the fight, he was past it and "old shogun" would have beaten him.
Yup these guys were “past their prime” only after jones destroyed them. before shogun fight everybody was saying how he’s finally gonna get exposed I remember after his Hamill or Vera fight I said nobody gonna beat him at lhw n his only true challenge would be at hw
If you think Rampage was in his prime at 33, you might be legally retarded. Prime is not just based on age, buddeh.
Jones fanbase in full defence mode these days. And somehow peds never appear in their posts. It’s laughable.
Rampage was 4-1, only losing to Rashaad when he fought Jon Jones...Machida beat Mousasi and Bader after his lost to Jones. Shogun just ko'd Machida before he fought Jon Jones... Whats goood.... Then wtf is Rampage prime then....Only when he wins right. lol
I'm not saying there were all "past prime" but Rampage's record of 32-9 says a lot about mileage and fight wear, don't you think? But if you wanna focus on age alone - Jones is now 32 and CONSIDERABLY slower than before. So why is it impossible to assume that his opponents aged 32+ were also CONSIDERABLY slower?
Imagine thinking age = prime Shogun and Rampage weren't near the primes during their early 30's, but a guy like Romero peaks at 40. When your prime is has far more to do with how many fights you've had rather than your age
Rampage wasn't in his prime when he could no longer wrestle, his prime ended with the Hendo fight, after that he couldn't wrestle cause of back and knee problems. Machida I will say was in his prime due to lack of injuries and wear and tear. Shogun had blown out his knees multiple times by the time he fought Jones and he was a kick heavy fighter. Just cause guys are still winning more than losing doesn't mean they are in their primes, you have to watch how they perform, not just the results.
He was still incredibly hard to take down, just asked Rashaad. Wtf are you smoking....Jon Jones would beat any version of Rampage, hes too flat footed.
People were saying that Matyushenko and Vera were going to expose him too. The unique hatred he got was partly because it just kept snowballing as he rolled over one fighter after the other in dominant fashion.
I didn't say he wasn't hard to takedown, I said he wasn't in his prime anymore cause he didn't wrestle anymore cause of back and knee injuries. I never said that prime Rampage would beat Jones, don't use straw man arguments, it's the tell tale sign of someone that can't argue their point without misrepresenting the other person's opinions.
Jones' wrestling has clearly been affected by his toe almost falling off against Chael. Don't hear many talking about that. It just seems that people are clutching at straws to denigrate those wins
Rampage's prime started after his loss to Sakuraba(his sub defense improved a lot after this fight) and ended with his fight with Hendo. After that fight he didn't wrestle offensively anymore and threw even less kicks and knees than he used to.
LMAO, you say i'm clutching at straws, that's exactly what you're doing here. There is no proof whatsoever that Jones toe injury has impacted him after it healed.
In the last 15 years, only 2 people have finished Rampage and one of those was another GOAT who finished a fat Rampage. It was an extremely impressive win.