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Most of them weren't actually relevant at the time they fought Jon Jones, but were still regarded as huge celebrities in the MMA community. If you look at their performances and records leading up to / and after their fight with Jon Jones I think it's pretty obvious that a lot of the Jon Jones hype came from the fact that he was beating guys with 'big names' but hardly the toughest competition at the time.
IMHO Jose Aldo has faced a lot tougher competition than Jon Jones, yet most of you couldn't even name a single super star other than him in the entire FW division, so it diminishes his accomplishments a lot.
But to call LHW "murderer's row" in the current MMA world is just silly. Back in the Pride days when you had Wanderlei, Vitor, Shogun, Liddell, Rampage, Rashad etc. LHW was the true "murderer's row." But in modern day MMA it's really not. If you look at the top 10 in LHW division the skill gap between the #10 and #5 guys is huge.
Yet if you look at Middle Weight, the top 10 division is absolutely stacked. Every single fighter looks like they could be the next MW champion.
TL;DR LHW division hasn't been murderer's row for years (like pre Machida era), and most of Jon Jones hype comes from the fact that he fought and beat guys who had star status years before he even got into this sport, but who were / are no longer relevant to the sport anymore.
IMHO Jose Aldo has faced a lot tougher competition than Jon Jones, yet most of you couldn't even name a single super star other than him in the entire FW division, so it diminishes his accomplishments a lot.
But to call LHW "murderer's row" in the current MMA world is just silly. Back in the Pride days when you had Wanderlei, Vitor, Shogun, Liddell, Rampage, Rashad etc. LHW was the true "murderer's row." But in modern day MMA it's really not. If you look at the top 10 in LHW division the skill gap between the #10 and #5 guys is huge.
Yet if you look at Middle Weight, the top 10 division is absolutely stacked. Every single fighter looks like they could be the next MW champion.
TL;DR LHW division hasn't been murderer's row for years (like pre Machida era), and most of Jon Jones hype comes from the fact that he fought and beat guys who had star status years before he even got into this sport, but who were / are no longer relevant to the sport anymore.