Jones beat fighters past their prime.... Myth

[acannxr]

actually LOL'd at the goalposts gif. Well played.

People are saying that the wins weren't impressive because these fighters weren't in their primes. MAchida, Rua and Rampage were all close to their primes and had all either won the title (which to date is the peak of their careers) fairly recently.

Re Aldo, I don't think he would have beaten Holloway or Volk he faced, at any point in his career. Conor hard to tell because it ended so quickly. Aldo looked just as impressive beating Edgar in 2013 as he did in 2016. The comp just stepped up, IMO and he had never fought guys that had the skills and the gas tank Volk and Max have. He used to gas in the 4th and 5th every now and then. If he had a Holloway on him back then he'd have lost earlier. I recall Hominick giving him real problems later in the fight, but he just didn't have the skills to take advantage of it.

that aside, weight classes age differently. Heavier classes can fight on for longer (look at HW), whereas the younger weight classes tend to peak earlier. There aren't too many sub LW fighters that are still doing it at the top in their mid 30's, so it's a bit different.

The whole premise of your thread is that prime is based on age, which is flawed across all weight classes.

Rua and Rampage for example, were past their primes due to injuries, they just happened to be good enough (and/or the division weak enough) for them to still string some wins together.

Not only is it not a myth that Jones defeated a lot of fighters who were past their prime, he fought a lot of former/current Middleweights too (over 50% of his title defenses, in fact).

The Light Heavyweight division itself has been past its prime since 2007-2008 (Rua, for example, earned a title shot by defeating Liddell/Coleman, who were both far past their primes).

 

[Juice]

Have you ever broken a bone in your foot it henders shots dramatically going forward especially if it’s your lead leg. Not as fast or as swift as before. Shooting can become a thing of the past at that point he’s have to rely on setting up all his take downs or trying to take down your opponent up against the cage because of how slow the shot becomes JOns toe twisted and damn near broke off you can’t tell me that toe healed to be exactly the way it was prior.

And Jon also did an interview where he said his arm couldn’t extend all the way anymore because of the Vitor fight.

Exactly, I been saying this for years. Jones broken toe has affected his ability to defend the take down and take his opponents down at will like he use too. Jones now wears tape wrapped around that injured toe in every fight.

 

[Clear Winner]

The whole premise of your thread is that prime is based on age, which is flawed across all weight classes.

Rua and Rampage for example, were past their primes due to injuries, they just happened to be good enough (and/or the division weak enough) for them to still string some wins together.

Not only is it not a myth that Jones defeated a lot of fighters who were past their prime, he fought a lot of former/current Middleweights too (over 50% of his title defenses, in fact).

The Light Heavyweight division itself has been past its prime since 2007-2008 (Rua, for example, earned a title shot by defeating Liddell/Coleman, who were both far past their primes).

The fact is that Jones has never ducked a fight at LHW and has, at points, cleaned the division out so they had to find people for him to fight because he had beaten all of the top contenders. You can't discredit him for other fighters dropping to MW after or discredit him for fighting MWs who moved up and knocked out LHWs to earn a shot. I'll give you the MWs like Vitor and Chael, but those were special cases and people wanted to see those fights at the time. trhere were also no other clear LHW contenders because he had cleaned out the division.

Like I asked another poster, who has a title reign that can match his? I can see people's point on Rua being past it, but the others were bang in it or very close to their primes and his Resume is one of the most impressive (if not the most) in MMA history.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Why do people say this?

Because they're giving their opinion just like you are based on their observations and the evidence at hand.

Again, all opinion just like your point.

 

[Clear Winner]

Because they're giving their opinion just like you are based on their observations and the evidence at hand.

Again, all opinion just like your point.

 

[NoContest]

I can agree that Bader isn't great.

Can you tell me a fighter that has a better run of defending his belt than Jones? One with better names that are also in their primes.

It's a good run but it's undeniable most of those guys were past their prime. Then you throw in PEDs and eye pokes and his legacy gets murkier and murkier, especially the eye pokes.

Every time an opponent comes in he sticks them out aimed at their eyes. And he gets 3 warnings in his last fight in spite of doing it repeatedly and an entire career doing it? By now refs should talk to him before the fight and tell him he's gonna get deducted the very first time he does it and DQ'ed the second. That shit needs to stop.

 

[lawrencel2]

I think Bader improved the overt the years, he wasn't past his prime, he was before his prime

Id agree with that