Jones probably submits Francis on ground with first takedown...

[Zaar]

If I'm being completely honest, I'm hoping for something like Overeem VS Ngannou, only Jones in Reem's place.

 

[djacobox372]

Jon has had awful takedowns for several years now, his only way to victory is gas him out and pitterpatter on the feet.

Which is exactly what he'll do. Although I think Francis will gas so badly that Jones will easily finish him in the 4th or 5th.

 

[FlowchartRog]

Big cage. Jones moves away all the time. Somehow oblique kick's his way to a judge's decision is Jones's path

Lots of this

Note he said "current Jones".

The Jones you posted is not current Jones. In fact, current Jones is not even close to the guy you posted.

Current Jones is slow as fuck, sloppy, low workrate, doesn't wrestle much, and just resorts to lazy potshots with his big reach advantage. Current Jones scraped by Santos, and got beaten by Reyes. The same Reyes who just got destroyed by Jan.

And Jones can supposedly move up to HW and beat the current, peak Ngannou? lol, he'd get absolutely wrecked by Ngannou.

 

[Claude]

Jones is a far better, far superior fighter than Ngannou. It's not even close.

BUT

Jones is high mileage and has more wear and tear. High mileage fighters can go down at any time. Timing is on Francis' side.

 

[Kos Fan]

Jones hasn’t subbed anyone in 8 years and that was against a MW.

 

[CashMoney1991]

it's possible Jones has an awesome submission game, we all knew francis vs stipe 2 would not end in submission neither guy poses that threat

 

[AmericanUppercut]

yea just like he did to reyes

 

[mjoln]

Jones is great and tough fighter who can use reach advantage like no-one else but he is not ko-artist with godlike takedowns.

He is goat lhw...lhw...ngannou is something else.

 

[jayo2k]

I don't see how current Jones beats current Ngannou. It'd have to be a series of unfortunate events for Ngannou to lose(things that make MMA unpredictable). But I don't see how Jones reliably beats him.

Jones does not have a KO power AT ALL... Stipe has Ko power and yet during 4 round against a VERY TIRED Nganou he could not even wooble him... Jones pose pretty much no threat to Francis... Maybe this is one Jones is not so sure about fighting Francis (he asked his release from the UFC)... Maybe it is a negociation technic but he sure is acting like a frightened man.

He is trapped between a rock (Francis) and a hard place... He can not go back to LHW (I am sure he would like to) but can not fight anyone other than Francis. I am sure he though Stipe would win

 

[morrisondafalln]

Jon has a high chance of submitting a tainted urine sample. Then he does have submitting Franics.

 

[Genisys]

I mean from off his back. Like, actually grounded. I ain’t talking about defending and sprawling. If Jones was in Francis’ guard he’d fucking smash him still cause Francis can’t do any of that. What does Francis know about all that? Nothing.

To be fair, we haven't seen Francis on his back since he got with his new coaches. His takedown defense has improved, so it's possible his ability to get back up has improved too. We really don't know. That's something we'll have to find out if anyone is successful at taking him down. It doesn't look like taking him down will be so easy though.

 

[karatefoo]

Jones would still have to deal with an additional 30 lbs that Ngannou would have over him. Jones is maybe 235ish without cutting and wouldn't have the strength to take Ngannou down.

 

[djason1988]

A younger hungry Jones, I might favor, but the version of Jones we've seen lately is very passive, content to edge rounds utilizing his reach. And that's become his go to style. That Jones won't get it done.

 

[ThunderStruck]

Superior wrestling and fight IQ

Jones got Cormier down. He can get Francis down.

Why are we convinced that Francis has anything on the ground? He doesn’t.

Francis isn’t defending against any Jones submission lol

Jones taking down a gassed Cormier down got to be the most overrated feat in all mma.

 

[ikite103]

No.

Jones loses in all instances to Ngannou.

And that's why Jones will never fight Ngannou.

Pay the man his damn money and find out then he absolutely will fight are you kidding the man has never been beaten

 

[TriangleMonkey]

There is pat h to victory for sure with Jon using a bit of chain wrestling and using that to get maybe a back-take of Franks scramble. But he needs to latch his long ass legs in tight and dig for rnc’s and soften’em up blows.


Jon is slick though too, he could possibly side-kick Franks lead lead all night and evade the the windmills. When Francis tires later, Jon can really begin to munch him up with his different attacks and continuous chipping of the leg and a couple eye pokes to boot.

 

[HuMz]

Yes, Jones takes Francis down easily and subs him or elbow him till he taps out

 

[chiefwiggum]

I don't see how current Jones beats current Ngannou. It'd have to be a series of unfortunate events for Ngannou to lose(things that make MMA unpredictable). But I don't see how Jones reliably beats him.

nganou was breathing from his mouth after the first wrestling exchange. He’s never won a fight after round 2.
Jones does everything better but the power.

jones has great defense and chin. To be so confident in a guy who only wins in a few mins or he doesn’t isn’t a solid choice against the best guy ever. Who is as tall with longer reach.

nganou didn’t have to do much in that fight. He was still breathing heavy.

Sure nganou has a punchers chance. But that’s literally it.