The perceived devolution of Jon Jones.

The aura of invincibility that once encapsulated the success of Jon Jones has waned somewhat quite considerably; with only the actuality of his almost perfect record being his ‘redeemer’.

Regardless of their positive outcomes (officially), a shift in how we perceive an athlete’s capabilities is usually a great precursor for an established reality. Jon Jones’ most recent bouts have been far from all conquering, finding himself on the bittersweet end of favourable judging decisions whilst putting in performances that were objectively a far cry from the his past dominance.

Notwithstanding the obvious conclusions I.e age, abstained PED use. What are the more nuanced symptoms we can identify as to why Jones’ isn’t the same as once was?

Glaring for me, is his lack of evolution pertaining to his offensive stand-up. It’s always been a methodological approach, but has since become a solely mitigated, defensive philosophy with no new established techniques or method of attacks (ways of finding openings) added to his arsenal. He’s greatly devolved in this area whilst his contemporaries have innovated to some degree.

What is your opinion of this decline, what factors do you put it down towards, anything new from the more obvious reasonings?
Steroids and other performance enhancing substances, which he probably take less of now, is the single reason for his decline.

I am convinced that Jon has been drugged the fuck up since his early teens. I base that on the fact that his older brothers were in the NFL, making millions, and both popping for steroids. Do you really think a guy with the mentality of Jon Jones would not do as his brothers did? We know that Jones is a habitual cheater so there is no doubt in my mind. Just look at how he fights now compared to back then. night and day.
 
He has abandoned a lot of the tools that helped him dominate: wrestling, clinch fighting, elbows and knees. He now fights almost exclusively on the outside, relying on his reach and footwork to outpoint guys. To his credit, it's worked thus far, but he hasn't been the dominate force he once was in his past several fights.
 
He knows in a close fight the judges will always be on his side, and it shows in his performances ngl
 
Yep, totally washed. The way he gets KO'd viciously, fight after fight, you wish his confidants or Dana would urge him to hang it up.
 
What is your opinion of this decline, what factors do you put it down towards, anything new from the more obvious reasonings?
PEDs helped his performance and aggression, without them he became increasingly passive and defensive.

Technique-wise he's stagnated because he still trains at Wink.
 
He peaked in 2015. It's 2021 and he's unable to get flashy finishes without steroids.
 
Jones remains dangerous game -- but, dominating? That becomes more doubtful with each passing day without a committed fight to focus on. IMHO
 
So you’re of the firm belief that his offensive stand-up has garnered layers of sophistication over the past few years? It’s hard to believe when his output is so limited.
He is product of his coaching. They add small facets to his overall game every fight. How is he limited? You have to elaborate on that. You mean volume limited or actual skill progression? He went from spamming knee stomps and stretched out hand over and over again in a fight to slowly adding a kicking game. He can also fight orthodox and southpaw. He switches when he feels like it.

He always had a standing elbow game. You don't think catching a kick and throwing a spinning elbow after that isn't improvement? He throws them from long range stepping or jumping in, spinning, different angles including the ongbak anderson silva styled elbow.
His knee game isn't his high point but he is not slacking either. He chains them after his combinations and even uses flying knees to cover ground.

He added more conventional Thai kicks now. Who else has a headkick victory over the DC. There was no tell or fluff in that kick. He just threw low most of the fight and finished with a high kick. Now he has learned to disrupt the front leg with inner low kick and switch to high or body. He has used spinning kicks and side kicks in his fights too.

In terms of boxing, that is his weakest part of his striking game. It is still serviceable. His hands are very defensive minded. He throws a good left hook to the body but I don't like that straight right to the stomach that he seems to favor a lot. Most of his work is done with his right hand in terms of a cross or uppercut. He almost never uses a jab offensively. Seriously what more do you want from him? He is a dirty steroid cheat but he has one of the highest fight IQs in the sport. I always root against him but to pretend he is some talentless hack is really ignorant.
 
He is product of his coaching. They add small facets to his overall game every fight. How is he limited? You have to elaborate on that. You mean volume limited or actual skill progression? He went from spamming knee stomps and stretched out hand over and over again in a fight to slowly adding a kicking game. He can also fight orthodox and southpaw. He switches when he feels like it.

He always had a standing elbow game. You don't think catching a kick and throwing a spinning elbow after that isn't improvement? He throws them from long range stepping or jumping in, spinning, different angles including the ongbak anderson silva styled elbow.
His knee game isn't his high point but he is not slacking either. He chains them after his combinations and even uses flying knees to cover ground.

He added more conventional Thai kicks now. Who else has a headkick victory over the DC. There was no tell or fluff in that kick. He just threw low most of the fight and finished with a high kick. Now he has learned to disrupt the front leg with inner low kick and switch to high or body. He has used spinning kicks and side kicks in his fights too.

In terms of boxing, that is his weakest part of his striking game. It is still serviceable. His hands are very defensive minded. He throws a good left hook to the body but I don't like that straight right to the stomach that he seems to favor a lot. Most of his work is done with his right hand in terms of a cross or uppercut. He almost never uses a jab offensively. Seriously what more do you want from him? He is a dirty steroid cheat but he has one of the highest fight IQs in the sport. I always root against him but to pretend he is some talentless hack is really ignorant.

His last great performance was arguably the second fight against DC. You're taking my criticism of his recent career performances as a criticism in totality. Jon Jones' is arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, I'm not attempting to refute this. I could argue his current lack of techniques such as the oblique kick as evidence of devolution, but it's not a productive back and forth. Let's disregard specific techniques for a moment and discuss what my original post was claiming.

Objectively, his last three performances have been limited in volume and variety comparative to earlier iterations of Jon. My criticism is that this pragmatic, defensive approach is arguably a by-product of his lack of an evolved offensive-striking game against his current contemporaries. I find that to be a much more reasonable explanation than lack of PEDs or age in regards to this specific criticism. Do you disagree with this?
 
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The aura of invincibility that once encapsulated the success of Jon Jones has waned somewhat quite considerably; with only the actuality of his almost perfect record being his ‘redeemer’.

Regardless of their positive outcomes (officially), a shift in how we perceive an athlete’s capabilities is usually a great precursor for an established reality. Jon Jones’ most recent bouts have been far from all conquering, finding himself on the bittersweet end of favourable judging decisions whilst putting in performances that were objectively a far cry from the his past dominance.

Notwithstanding the obvious conclusions I.e age, abstained PED use. What are the more nuanced symptoms we can identify as to why Jones’ isn’t the same as once was?

Glaring for me, is his lack of evolution pertaining to his offensive stand-up. It’s always been a methodological approach, but has since become a solely mitigated, defensive philosophy with no new established techniques or method of attacks (ways of finding openings) added to his arsenal. He’s greatly devolved in this area whilst his contemporaries have innovated to some degree.

What is your opinion of this decline, what factors do you put it down towards, anything new from the more obvious reasonings?
Really. Steroids provide a big advantage. Jones cheated as he knew he would likely lose if clean. End of story.
 
he beat on feet they guy who tko ed the current champ who just beat who was percived by many to be the best current striker on the ufc roster on the feet and beat and take the sould of a former unbeaten figther in his worst nigth were as guys as gsp anderson or fedor got ko ed or submited in their worst nigths the aura is still burning hot

i might be too high to understand this or maybe it’s making me feel high. can’t tell. can someone translate?
 
It is widely believed that he lost to the last two LHWs he fought, and they don't even seem to be in the top 3 of the division. You think that's just a result of Jones being bored? Nothing to do with restrictions on his chemical supplementation, etc.?
He didn't lose, though. And of course picos play a role, too, on top of boredom. But even a pico-starved Jones is still better than Dom going 110%.
 
Although I think its partly that the legend of Jones the destoryer was built up beating down a gassed Shogun and fighting Sonnen, fights like Rashad and Rampage really weren't "destroyer" performances that were Jones picking away from range.
 
He lost his physicality but imo the worse loss is his creativity
 
I am convinced that Jon has been drugged the fuck up since his early teens. I base that on the fact that his older brothers were in the NFL, making millions, and both popping for steroids.

Not to mention his own failed drug tests.
 
Nothing nuanced made much of a difference. It was the T.
 
The aura of invincibility that once encapsulated the success of Jon Jones has waned somewhat quite considerably; with only the actuality of his almost perfect record being his ‘redeemer’.

Regardless of their positive outcomes (officially), a shift in how we perceive an athlete’s capabilities is usually a great precursor for an established reality. Jon Jones’ most recent bouts have been far from all conquering, finding himself on the bittersweet end of favourable judging decisions whilst putting in performances that were objectively a far cry from the his past dominance.

Notwithstanding the obvious conclusions I.e age, abstained PED use. What are the more nuanced symptoms we can identify as to why Jones’ isn’t the same as once was?

Glaring for me, is his lack of evolution pertaining to his offensive stand-up. It’s always been a methodological approach, but has since become a solely mitigated, defensive philosophy with no new established techniques or method of attacks (ways of finding openings) added to his arsenal. He’s greatly devolved in this area whilst his contemporaries have innovated to some degree.

What is your opinion of this decline, what factors do you put it down towards, anything new from the more obvious reasonings?

Who dis?

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