Why did Jones look so terrible towards the end of his LHW run?

[Sean Chowdhury]

To preface I think Jones is the goat so I'm not a hater by any means, but watching back some of his fights towards the end of his LHW career, he looked really vulnerable.
In the smith fight he dominated but smith is a can, could have easily finished him considering glover finished him yet it seems like Jones was content to just win the rounds.

In the santos fight he tore his ACL early on and still was clipping Jones and landing heavy leg kicks, Jon couldn't even take him down and resorted to point fighting and skating to a win that was way closer than anyone expected it to be.

In the reyes fight he arguably lost, Joe rogan tried making the idiotic argument that championship rounds should be valued more in scoring to argue that Jones won but he should have lost round 1,2,3 as reyes put the pace on him and was landing nasty combinations. Jones did well to take all his shots and win the later rounds but it was still a bad performance.

The confusing part is that santos and reyes aren't even the cream of the crop in terms of LHW, both guys got smoked by the likes of Jan, Magomed, Hill etc. So was Jones just not motivated, past his prime, or was he figured out?

 

[MarioLemieux]

The LHW's he was fighting were in their prime and lot better than the HW's he's currently fighting.

Stipe is aged our and Gane is a kickboxer with novice grappling.

 

[Alacran]

USADA was still around

 

[HHJ]

He was slowing down, and not facing old men, or guys who could be beaten w one takedown.

Probably lack of motivation also.

Nothing left to do there.

Jiri,Poatan, Ank etc could have been interesting but Jones was gone before those were viable

 

[Leonard Haid]

Maybe he's not the GOAT after all.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

A large degree of it was probably no motivation. That and getting older means the explosion necessary to get guys like Santos and Reyes to the ground just wasn't there, so he had to be consistently wary of Santos' power, and stand up to Reyes outstriking him for 3 rounds. They weren't great as skilled opponents, but they were still young and strong guys.

Also, I'm sure constantly being under the microscope for his body becoming part turinabol at that point probably had him worried about testing positive more, so it might be safe to assume he was heavily reducing his cycles.

 

[rjmbrd]

Jon failed multiple PEDS tests for multiple PEDS and presumably had to fight clean for that period of time.

He took an extended absence from the sport for reasons we likely will never confirm, but a shadow suspension is a possibility.

 

[p4pfighters]

Anybody can look like the GOAT fighting a dude named "The Janitor" or a retired firefighter with CTE.

 

[Tweak896]

Notice how when he has a big break in between fights he looks good? When he fights a normal schedule he doesn't as much. Take that as you will.

 

[AmonTobin]

LHW guys were getting so big, could match his strength and speed, stuff TD and clinch, and on top of all that they could hit harder than him. He was probably getting dangerously close to a lifetime ban as well so likely cutting way down on the doping.

No longer enjoying any of the advantages he once had at LHW, was probably Jones motivation to move to heavyweight.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Lack of motivation, poor life style choices and USADA.

 

[RevolverOctopus]

Anybody can look like the GOAT fighting a dude named "The Janitor" or a retired firefighter with CTE.

Yeah, you cant however look like the goat fighting guys like Prime DC, Gus, Texeira, Rampage and Vitor unless you're pretty good

 

[p4pfighters]

Yeah, you cant however look like the goat fighting guys like Prime DC, Gus, Texeira, Rampage and Vitor unless you're pretty good

by that time he had T levels of a 90 year old grandma, it was quite extraordinary to beat all these guy with such a low testosterone lmao.

 

[Shaolin Alan]

Aging, body aches, bones start hurting, lingering pains, lingering habits beginning to take effects on performance, etc, etc... i.e. getting worn down!!

 

[Johnnny]

Jones was used to fighting legends of the sport like Shogun, Rampage, Machida, Vitor, and Cormier. None of them beat him or even rocked him even after years of trying. So he didn't see much less accomplished fighters like Smith, Santos, and Reyes as threats.

Jones did very little training or preparation for those opponents. They poured everything they had into their fights with Jones and still failed to rock or wobble him. So they claim they outpointed a fighter that barely trained.

 

[avenue94]

Aging, worse wrestling ability and a lot of the fighters he established himself against were on their way out.

Jones was used to fighting legends of the sport like Shogun, Rampage, Machida, Vitor, and Cormier.

Almost all of those fighters were washed by the time Jones fought them. Not to mention LHW has historically been a less talent rich division due to basic human sizes.

 

[heavy_hands]

It’s hard to wake up and do road work at 5;00 in the morning when you’re sleeping in silk pajamas.

 

[NenadRS]

Jones did very little training or preparation for those opponents. They poured everything they had into their fights with Jones and still failed to rock or wobble him. So they claim they outpointed a fighter that barely trained.

Just no - Jones prepared so carefully for every single fight, did not want to fight anyone on short notice, not even Sonnen.

He was not that old when he fought Reyes/Santos/Anthony, he was 31/32, for comparison DC was 37 in second fight, that is Jones age now.

He is very skilled and special, but he is not natural, he needs PEDs.

 

[Tornikidou]

No

 

[usernamee]

maybe cuz he was 12 years into his UFC career