As a big Jones fan he did so in multiple rounds to catch his breath....Either his cardio was not up to par or the uppercuts he ate at the end of round 1, and during much of rounds 2 and 3 had taken their toll....
I'm gonna say it was a combo of both. Plus as soon as the fight unfolded and Jones nailed DC with some really, REALLY good body shots in the opening rounds, I just knew it was going to tire DC if the fight went into deep waters.
Those body shots were yet another weapon added to Jones' arsenal. I was very impressed by the straight punches and hooks he landed to DC's body. The fact he has such a long reach, I'm surprised he hasn't made a big focus out of body shots before now - he can get them off from much further away than most fighters.
I believe the body shots took their toll on DC (plus the pressure of being in such a big time fight in general I'm sure). When he said to his corner "I'm trying" after round 4 I think, I felt he was dejected and perhaps broken. The look on his face, his body language, and the tone of his reply truly made me believe he was spent mentally. But in that same way, I also believe the great uppercuts and pressure DC put on Jones in the first 2 and a half rounds took their toll on Jones. However, Jones kept calm to a degree and did what he had to do to win - tie DC up and out grapple him, preventing him from dirty boxing and nailing him with powerful uppercuts in the clinch, which was really DC's best weapon in the fight. Jones adjusted and did better, whereas DC did not.
Once that fourth hit, they were pretty much dead, and with such high stakes and so much to lose, neither guy took too many chances - though I must commend Jones for taking down DC in round 4 when he knew he could pull it off. But unlike Jones, I thought DC using the last 90 seconds of the fight purely to get a meaningless takedown was silly, and under wrestling rules, what he got wouldn't even have been scored.
Especially after seeing the effort Lawler had put out to go in for the kill at the end of the previous PPV... DC should have went after Jones with EVERYTHING in the closing frame of that fight if he TRULY wanted to win.. Not just tried to take him down for a pointless moral victory. I think DC mentally broke in that fight.
I say this with all due respect. I like DC as a person a hell of a lot more than I like Jones, but that means nothing to me when it comes to the fights themselves. I was just excited to see a fight with 2 high level guys, and was hoping it'd go down as an all time classic. For it to end the way it did was disappointing - Jones doing whatever he could to shut DC down and secure a decision, and DC trying for a pointless TD instead of swinging for the fences - even if he risked being knocked out, this was the biggest fight of his life and he should have at least TRIED to win at the end.
Oh and PS, Jones stopping prematurely and then hitting DC when he was not aware and thought the fight was over was classless as fuck. One of the most unprofessional and lame things I've seen in the UFC, yet no one has really talked about it much in the aftermath, I guess due to the scandal.
Anyway, sorry for the rant, thanks for reading.
