Would DC be a atg if Jones never got suspended

[Deleted member 504083]

You're still dancing around the question. As far as I know, DC was always heavier than Jones in the cage, and that "depleted version" was good enough to win the title and defend three times - not to mention win all seven of his LHW fights that weren't against Jones.

At the end of the day, DC would have outweighed Jones no matter where they fought, but Jones was perfectly reasonable in not wanting to fight at HW while he still had a LHW frame and body mass. That absolutely doesn't mean he somehow had a weight ADVANTAGE against DC when they fought at LHW, though.

DC and Jones have basically the same walk around weight, but it's much easier for Jones to make 205. Higher in cage weight means DC had to cut more weight, which means he was more depleted at 205. Jones needed it at LHW in order to have that advantage, otherwise DC's chance goes way up fighting at his preferred weight.

It's unfortunate we didn't get to see how the fight would've went at HW where they both walk around the same weight. DC should be much stronger there like Jones admits

DC even missed weight once

Heck, even the claim of DC's optimal weight being HW is suspect. In the UFC, he had far more success at LHW (and nearly twice as many wins) as he did at HW. And what would you even consider to be DC's best HW wins? Bigfoot was on his way out, going 3-11 after their fight. Mir went 3-6. Nelson went 5-10. The Stipe win is obviously suspect, and DC lost their next two fights. Maybe Josh Barnett? Back in 2012?

He only moved down because Cain was the champ, and never even lost a round at HW until he was a washed up 40 year old fighting Stipe.

FWIW he fought a prime TRT Bigfoot who was good until he had to stop taking TRT after the draw with Mark Hunt.....