Bloody Elbow

Lauren J Darkbloom - January 5, 2012 reply

Well I'm happy too, though maybe not that happy.

Puffy sleeves? Really?

Our date is canceled.

But I don't wanna be a pirate!

alicks - January 5, 2012 reply

Seinfeld is great

I was way too young to appreciate it when it was in full swing, but I’ve been digging the show here in there over the past few years.

There's no way Jones fights four times in 2012

The UFC just doesn’t schedule its highest-profile fighters that way — they need at least three months’ turnaround time to fully promote a fight, produce the Countdown show, bring the fighter to the city when tickets go on sale, etc. Three times is the absolute most Jones could fight in 2012. I do love the fact that he wants to stay that active, though.

He fought 4 times in 2011

Once for a title and two defenses, he could definitely fight 4 times. Especially with Anderson being out for a while, GSP being out for probably the year and Brock Lesnar retiring… they would love for him to fight 4+ times

Hashmo - January 5, 2012 reply

That was mainly down to the quick turnaround after the Bader fight, though. I don’t exactly see him getting offered last-minute replacement fights as the LHW champ.

wonderfulspam - January 5, 2012 reply

Right, and Donald Cerrone fought five times last year

That doesn’t mean Frankie Edgar is going to fight five times this year. The UFC just doesn’t schedule their champions that way, and Jones wasn’t a champion when they scheduled his first two fights.

Think about it: The earliest Jones could possibly fight this year would be UFC 145 on March 24. By March 24 last year he had already fought twice. There’s no way he’s going to keep pace with what he did in 2011.

The UFC needs him to fight multiple times though

Anderson has prolonged his career by fighting twice a year and then having an ‘injury’ that needs to heal up. GSP is out fo 2012. Edgar/Aldo/Cruz don’t move the needle at all. And JDS’ first PPV defense will be following knee surgery. This is Jones’ year to shine if he can and the UFC needs him to.

Matthew Roth - January 5, 2012 reply

What do you think a realistic schedule for him would be?

About when do you think his first, second, third and fourth fights of 2012 will be?

early March, early June, early October, late December

Wrong.

He’s not fighting in early March.

he said “I was saying recently that I was going to take off four to five months but I’m starting to reconsider and come back sooner. Try and get three to four fights in this year.” which would track him to early March……..read the article.

Well, there’s on UFC on FX in early March… no way he fights on that card. There’s UFC 145 in Montreal at the end of March that badly needs a headliner, so he’d be a good fit for that card. And since Evans likely won’t be ready to fight there, it could be Jones vs Hendo…

The UFC's event in early March is already booked

They’ve already announced the fights for UFC on FX 2 in Australia. If you seriously believe that they’re going to suddenly throw Jon Jones onto that card less than two months out, you don’t understand how the UFC books its fights.

i'm fairly certain no one truly understands how the UFC books fights

except for those in the UFC who schedules and books the fights, so get over yourself.
you can amend my post to late March, late June, mid October and the end of the year/late Dec or NYE fights. all of which are perfectly feasible

UFC 145 on March 24th needs a headliner. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dana called Jones to ask him if he’s ready to go for that card.

I agree, UFC 145 on March 24 makes sense

But there’s no way he fights three more times in 2012 after that. That’s just not how the UFC does things.

Maybe they’ll have to since he’s one of their very few stars, and if Jones wants to fight 4 times in 2012, why the heck would the UFC stop him from doing that? They make millions every time he fights.

no GSP. no Brock. no Anderson for??? Edgar, Cruz, and Aldo do not draw flies. they can change the game if it helps them make money. the one thing that makes the Zuffa brass change it’s philosophy is the almighty dollar.

This is also going to be a year of big changes

Maybe they could modify the way that they do things.

Andy Anderson - January 5, 2012 reply

how the heck will UFC find him 4 match ups?

1. Hendo
2. Rashad

Gustaf and Phil still need to grow into threats and besides I am listing Rashad as 2. because i expect him to dominate Phil, and Gustaf needs to beat a big name

That leaves Gegard, who is the most frustrating fighter since he doesnt utilize training.

Sorry Jones, looks like you will be clearing the division in two fights.

King Mo and that other dude from SF.

Jones chews Wrestlers

Like Arnold has Green Berets for breakfast

Oh, and maybe Silva comes back

Thiago could work his way in maybe, no?

probably lot but i hope he can

Earl Montclair - January 5, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Gustaf vs Thiago

book it now Joe.

I like this a lot

troyd - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

That would be a pretty BA fight

Mauler vs. Lil Nog

Thiago ain’t Top 10 after his shelved year, and Alex deserves a top 10 guy.

I'd pick Thiago against Nog.

After Silva’s “recent” performances, i’d say a win over him would be more impressive than a win over Rogerio.

Magaca - January 5, 2012 reply

Recent like...

a year ago? I hear you though, it would just be hard to assess the quality of that win without knowing what kind of Thiago we’re getting back from his layoff.

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

Recent was in quotation marks for a reason.

Judging from Ghengis Khan’s Vlogs he has been putting work in at ATT. Layoffs are always unpredictable though.

Magaca - January 5, 2012 reply

The Mauler vs the winner of Bader/Rampage

There fight is in Feb. The Swedish card is in April. It’s a bit close but if the winner of Bader/Jackson comes out pretty unscathed I think it’d be perfect for him.

Ars Nova - January 5, 2012 reply

their*

Ars Nova - January 5, 2012 reply

That's what bums me out

these guys are stuck in Strikeforce. Mo presents an interesting match up with his power wrestling and Gegard with his all around style.

Matthew Roth - January 5, 2012 reply

But Gegard trains for shit. One full training camp at this stage won't help the guy.

And Mo is older than Jones, and not as well defined all around, that we have seen.

Unabomberman - January 5, 2012 reply

With King Mo's

wrestling he is a problem for anyone at 205

everyone not named Rafael Cavalcante

polevaultking - January 5, 2012 reply

I truly believe

that if that fight happened again that King Mo has learned enough to not make the same silly mistakes and would ground and pound his ass through the ring

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

Every wrestler who loses by TKO to a striker should learn that lesson

that being said, he still got knocked out.

polevaultking - January 5, 2012 reply

wasn't he down to one working knee in that fight too?

some schmuck in texas - January 5, 2012 reply

Yep

he was seriously injured and if healthy he would smash Rafael

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

You mean he beat Feijao for 3 rounds and took him down multiple times even with a torn acl?

Mohammedini Hussein - January 6, 2012 reply

You're reaching now bro

Jones eats wrestlers for breakfast, easy match up for Jones

Mohammedini Hussein - January 6, 2012 reply

Anderson Silva?

That is if he gets past Rashad.

Tuff.Gong - January 5, 2012 reply

if they will put jones is a super fight

i would like it to be against a HW, because it would be interesting to see the odds against Jones.

Jones vs Cain
Jones vs Mir
Jones vs Kongo

id settle for anything

Kwisatz Haderach - January 5, 2012 reply

I think I’d favor Jones over Mir or Kongo.

Pantherhare - January 5, 2012 reply

Good call on Kongo

I don’t think they’d risk a higher profile HW like Mir or Cain against Jones. Kongo, on the other hand, is worth the risk like when they pitted Silva vs. Irvin or even Forrest.

LikeTheWhiskey - January 5, 2012 reply

I don't think they're going to do this,

while still trying to establish Jon as a draw and PPV buy. They also need him badly this year at LHW to drive the PPV’s, rather than risking him on a superfight at HW. If it was against Anderson that’d be one thing, but I really don’t think the Spider wants Jon at this point in his career. Jon will get to HW eventually, but this year is really rushing it IMO. HW may actually do pretty well, as the SF guys coming in should shake things up and make it a decent year for the division even without Brock.

Also

Maybe Jones could take an experimental HW fight this year — maybe against Kongo or Nelson or some upper-mid-tier gate-keeper type.

Aside from a few of us hanging on them...

We’ve never seen Jones’ nuts tested. Maybe a fight at HW against Kongo would be a good idea for one of those 4 fights.

with Kongo's knees on the horizon...

would you let go of Jones’ nuts for that fight?

lmaginary Enemy - January 5, 2012 reply

In seriousness...

I think Kongo would be a huge challenge for Jones. Maybe his toughest fight to date.

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

Feed him the Reem

and his dreams of fighting at heavyweight should die pretty quick

you don't think he could put AO on his back?

I do.

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

nope i truly think

Demolition Man would stop most of his takedowns and just fucking murder him on the feet

how many takedowns defended...

until AO gasses? I would love to see it, only because I want to see Jones in a fight in which he does not have every physical advantage.

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

It would be a really cool fight to watch

fuck i miss Pride the place where pretty much anything could happen lol

I think the UFC ought to give guys fights when they're ready to fight

If Jones blasts Hendo and Rashad, just figure out whoever’s next in line, and make the fight. Even if Davis hasn’t built up quite the quality of resume you’d like to see in a challenger at that point, if he’s ready and the best option, make the fight happen.

Damnatio Memoriae - January 5, 2012 reply

Yes this is exactly right.

There is one way of marketing a champion that is very easy to do. It may not be the best way, but it sure comes naturally to the UFC.

Market him as an unstoppable, dominating machine. If Jones runs out of top-tier challengers, who cares. Let him thrash whoever is next.

Lauren J Darkbloom - January 5, 2012 reply

Yeah, but then you’ve got the issue when you run out of everybody else who’s concievably top 10 at LHW by 2014, and then have to start trucking in anybody who shows anywhere near a glimmer of ability anywhere.

Gugabe - January 5, 2012 reply

I can see them giving Machida another shot at the end of the year

if he can string together two impressive wins. (Which I’m sure he can.) With Lyoto’s success in the first round against Jones, you already know the marketing angle.

Jeflee - January 5, 2012 reply

Why Machida again? Has he even woken up from his fight with Jones in december?

all i see as a possibility is

Rashad or Davis
Hendo
Thiago Silva or Gus late in the year if either can win convincingly (Thiago needs two wins and Gus needs one against a top 5 or 10)
having said that i think Zuffa can “manufacture” another contender if Jones is willing to fight.

I’d like to see Jones give a try to HW somewhere in there… someone suggested Kongo above, that’d be a fun fight to watch, and would tell us how much Jones could handle the bigger guys at HW.

too soon

let him grow. literally and figuratively. the man should bask in his own successes. he is going to help the UFC out by fighting more than he initially thought he would. oh and he feels this will make him a better fighter/athlete as well.

Sure, that’s fine, but I just don’t see 4 viable contenders for him at LHW at this very moment. They could ask him to take a shot at HW against a gatekeeper up there…

nothing in the UFC’s history makes me think they can not manufacture a contender if needed. they did it w/ Machida after 1 win…..against Randy.

Oh ok, manufacture in that sense. I missed the quotes you put around it. Well, yeah, definitely, the UFC is really good at “manufacturing” challengers.

Between Rashad, Davis, Hendo, Thiago Silva and Gustafsson, there’s at least 3 good fights for Jones in 2012. I just hope we don’t get another Shogun or Machida in a title fight anytime soon… these two need to learn a few skills before they fight Jones again.

It will be Rashad AND Phil Davis

No matter who wins, the loser will get two fights and then the title-shot.

If Rashad loses to Davis, there’s no way he has the time to win another fight and then face Jones in 2012, no way. Davis, maybe, but doubtful. All the LHW’s see to get injured in their fights… except Jones, of course.

Damnatio Memoriae - January 5, 2012 reply

yeah the only way that works is if he blasts throguh someone and takes a late replacemtn hw fight or something.

it takes a while to build 4 contenders

hewsdaddy - January 5, 2012 reply

Damn you Jon Jones!

Stop trying to do the right things to make me like you! I see your plan, you are just trying to get some fans, huh? HUH?!

Unabomberman - January 5, 2012 reply

Is this all it takes for you to start liking him? Sheesh, jump off the Jon Jones hate wagon, we need room for new recruits.

andrew861 - January 5, 2012 reply

HAHAHAHA!

I am sorry I do not fill the requirements for the full-on rage mode club. My time going forward shall be so, so, so lonely and shameful.

Unabomberman - January 5, 2012 reply

Indeed, it will be. What’s is there to life without being apart of a full-on rage mode club? ;)

andrew861 - January 5, 2012 reply

he might as well

He has taken virtually zero damage over the course of his career. He is young and has serious natural advantages. I bet he fights 3 times this year though, which is still very good.

Earl Montclair - January 5, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Barring any medical suspensions, I think 4 fights is about right

12 week training camp, fight, take a week off, repeat.

Even under your extremely optimistic timeframe

That would only be three fights in 2012. If the UFC announced today that he’s taking a fight 12 weeks from now, then gave him another fight 13 weeks after that and another 13 weeks after that, his third fight would be less than 13 weeks before 1/1/13. Four fights this year is just not going to happen.

Damnatio Memoriae - January 5, 2012 reply

Okay, well maybe not 4 fights in calender year 2012

But roughly a fight ever 3 months. If he has 3 fights in 2012 and another in early 2013, that’s just as good in my mind. I just like to see champions stay busy rather than sitting around waiting for challengers to emerge, or “#1 contenders” who get injured, etc.

Totally agree with you there

Obviously, if a guy is injured he should take the time he needs to recover. But if a guy is healthy he should stay as active as possible. I’d love to see Jones stay on a schedule of regularly fighting every 3-4 months, especially while he’s young and his body recuperates quickly.

It was a super impressive year...

…but calling him “the best fighter of all time” may be slightly premature.

jaileer - January 5, 2012 reply

Like super premature

Talking week 2 miscarriage here.

Paulo Filho's Psychiatrist - January 5, 2012 reply

Rec'd for making a joke I'd hesitate to make.

Ballsy but funny.

My wife just had one recently (oh shit getting personal here)

And we joke about our trauma because that’s our style.

I respect the fuck outta that shit.

You bad motherfucker

Cunny - January 5, 2012 reply

I always joked that if I got my woman pregnant

It was helmet, elbow and knee pads, and a long trip down the stairs the hard way; then she got pregnant and for some reason I didn’t go through with it.

Paulo Filho's Psychiatrist - January 5, 2012 reply

All talk, and no walk, uh?

Shnak - January 6, 2012 reply

Cojones muy grande.

And my condolences and prayers to both of you.

OH SHIZZ I SAID THE P-WORD SOMEONE LIGHT THE FAGANSIGNAL

Paulo Filho's Psychiatrist - January 5, 2012 reply

...

LOL I loved that line, you knew he just threw that in there to get the haters worked up into a froth

Hutchy - January 5, 2012 reply

obviously

Lauren J Darkbloom - January 5, 2012 reply

I think he was saying if he finished 4 more people this year

Then it would be hard to say he isn’t LHW GoaT since he would have basically cleaned out the division and finished everyone.

HaterSlayer - January 5, 2012 reply

Good hustle, Bones!

ODBasyoucansee - January 5, 2012 reply

Jones vs Hendo next, please

Strike while the iron is hot.

fuck the squash match.

Bones would roll through Hendo… we need to see him vs. Rashad ASAP.

Mark Colemans Takedown coach - January 5, 2012 reply

I want to see both fights

but i would not go as far as saying that Hendo has no chance in hell

just don't see how a MW...

gets to the biggest LHW’s chin. And Hendo can still be wrestled up- Shogun took him down.

IMO, his only chance would be random striking. I don’t think Hendo has anything that could actually beat Jones except with hay makers and a lucky random strike :/

hells yeah

I totally agree. Hendo is great, but he’s old and slow… his game has no chance against Jones… just a punchers chance at the very best. Rashad vs Jones would be GREAT to see soon.

clearly Bones is dodging Rashad

He now wants to fight quickly because he is scared
obviously….
Duh….

troyd - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

smash Rashad..

get yourself some fans!

ODBasyoucansee - January 5, 2012 reply

Wouldn’t count out Davis just yet. Evans has been rocked in alot of his fights. His fights with Machida (who finished him off), Rampage and Thiago Silva. If Davis can find that right combo or throw a punch at the right time he can defeat Evans. Then it would be Hendo and Davis in line for a title shot while Evans works his way back up. By the end of the year it could be Jones vs. Evans finally.

Meek Mill - January 5, 2012 reply

Machida, Rampage, Thiago Silva, Phil Davis

which one of these does not belong?

Our Bovine Public - January 5, 2012 reply

Phil Davis' striking blows

I mean I can’t think of a single time he hurt any opponent. Did he hurt Gustafsson to set up the choke win? Because that’s the only thing I can think of.

SSreporters - January 5, 2012 reply

Is offensive striking isn't to good yet

But his defensive striking is pretty great. Dude rarely ever gets hit.

discoandherpes - January 5, 2012 reply

As a fan of Hendo, the last thing I want is for him to fight Jones. He literally has a punchers chance and that’s it, and were that fight to happen I would bank on Jones via annihilation. I want Dan to fight Anderson because I think it would be somewhat less of a brutal beatdown. Rashad has no chance as far as I’m concerned, and I’m still skeptical as to whether he can get past Davis. Either way, Jones will clear out the division by the end of this year.

savik - January 5, 2012 reply

If anyone can take Jon Jones down

I think it’s Rashad. Rashad knows how to set up his takedowns with his strikes pretty fantastically.

That said, we’re assuming he can deal with Jon’s length.

discoandherpes - January 5, 2012 reply

Rashad has always had shitty top control, and he can be susceptible to being taken down himself. Also, he’s gonna have to deal with the reach and distance of Jones if he hopes to get inside and land a double, which is something I don’t think he’ll be able to do. I’m somewhat intrigued by the match up but not enough so to give Rashad any realistic chance of winning

savik - January 5, 2012 reply

Even if it's just three fights

in 2012, I would be perfectly happy with that. Having watched boxing for years and hoping a title holder would get into the ring just once or twice in a single year, knowing Jones is physically capable and mentally willing to face that many challengers and go down like catalina wine mixer is awesome

rzor - January 5, 2012 reply

yup

HeadKickOfDoom - January 5, 2012 reply

Fuckin catalina wine mixer

Matt Hamill's Ears - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

It's a smart move on his part.

Considering Brock is gone, GSP is out for most of the year, Anderson is gone til June at the earliest, & Dos Santos vs Overeem won’t happen til around June also. The opportunity is ripe for him to come in, keep smashing fools in amazing fashion, & keep making his name.

If all these other main event fighters are on the shelf til at least the halfway point of the year, a healthy Bones could probably be pushed to the moon, once the public realizes this kid is amazing in a Michael Jordan “holy shit, you gotta see this guy!” kinda way.

The Hamburger Pimp - January 5, 2012 reply

Yeah, you know my goal is to finish every fight in 2012.

What an arrogant ass, setting goals and all. HOW DARE HE!!!!!!

Rashad
Hendo
Davis
Lil Nog

Ubernoober - January 5, 2012 reply

By the 3rd or 4th fight, I can see Gustaffson challenging

as long as he keeps winning as well. If Davis loses to Rashad, he’ll move back a few fights and may be a 4th/5th fight for Jones.

Of course, this all assumes Jones keeps winning and doesn’t take too much damage in the fights and doesn’t injure himself in training. Still, for business and marketing reasons, I really see Jones only fighting 3 times this year.

Cocytus - January 5, 2012 reply

lol

Gustaffson has nothing on Jones.

Kid Kimura - January 5, 2012 reply

Who do you see Lil Nog beating to get a title shot in 2012? He can’t be fighting Tito all the time, you know…

I call it the Thales Leites effect. Jones will have butchered most of the LHW top 10 at that point. The UFC will need someone who:

can be relied upon to fight for a title without shitting the bed,
hasn’t lost recently,
has a highlight reel of him knocking people silly.

I don’t expect Gustafsson to fight Jones in 2012. He will probably be in a kick ass fight for title contention by late fall 2012 and challenge in 2013.

Ubernoober - January 5, 2012 reply

Hendo and winner of Rashad/Davis are the only two legitimate guys to put in there against Jones at the moment. I suppose they could do Gustafsson vs Lil Nog and have the winner fight Jones later in the year… but it’d be pretty sad to see Lil Nog in there considering how bad he looked against Brilz, Bader and Davis not too long ago.

Good for him

The top guys just aren’t fighting enough. 2 fights a year for pretty much everyone is BS.

taptomyarmbar - January 5, 2012 reply

word

If Jon Jones fights 4 times this year

there will be no one left for him to fight the next year.

I don't know

I think people should back away from this reasoning. Someone always emerges. It’s the natural order of these things.

Yeah, like this year where we’ve seen Jones against former champions mostly on their way down… Please. Jones is emptying the LHW division twice as fast as GSP did in the WW division.

Marginalizing great fighters is one way to look at it

A terrible way, but a way nonetheless. Never mind the cadre of challengers that have seemingly appeared out of the ether for GSP. Or the not-at-all-stretching scenario that would pose Jones against a Rashad-Hendo-Mousasi-Mo-(rematch)-Gustaffson series of challengers over the next 18-24 months. Maybe pepper in Anderson. Or Feijao. Or any other number of fighters that could get hot, since someone inevitably will (Lil Nog, Bader, Rampage, et al).

Please, indeed.

Didn’t Mousasi sign a 7 fight contract with SF just before his fight with King Mo? He’s got at least 3, if not 4, fights left in SF. As for Mo, no clue, but before he fights a few known guys in the UFC, we just don’t know how good he is.

But we’re talking about finding 4 suitable opponents for Jones within the next 12 months… most of those you listed can’t happen in 2012. That leaves Rashad/Davis, Hendo and possibly someone like Gustafsson, Lil Nog or Thiago Silva, who aren’t ready right now, but might be towards the end of the year, who knows.

And when I said former champions mostly on their way down, I meant Rampage who clearly doesn’t like fighting anymore, and to a lesser extent Machida who hasn’t shown a glimpse of used to make him great since beating Evans like 3 years ago.

I guess we'll see

I am of the opinion that LHW is more self-replenishing than many divisions that, themselves, wouldn’t have a problem manufacturing challengers if need be. I think they can do four just fine. Not today, but in six months— the world doesn’t stand still and these guys will be out there whacking away at each other, no matter what Jon Jones is doing.

The problem will be

if the former champions can still beat the up and comers, then we’ll be faced with uninteresting rematches for Jones. What if Machida wins his next 3 fights, and takes out away the momentum of would-be challengers? Or Rampage, or Shogun? Fresh contenders may not make it to the top for awhile. Right now, to get to Jones, a future contender would have to get through a few of those guys, and may very well lose. What then? Plus, since none of us want to see those rematches, who will the next 4 guys be? There’s hopefully Rashad and Hendo, or Phil Davis, but either Rashad or Davis will lose on January 28, so there’s one option eliminated. So that’s 2 fights, who would the other two be against? Who will a fresh contender prove themselves against? Will someone be able to take out Machida, Rampage, or Shogun in a more impressive fashion to legitimize their shot? I doubt it.

You wouldn't want to see a re-tooled Machida against Jones again??

I know he ended him in stunning fashion, but Machida looked great in that first round. I definitely want them to fight again in the future.

I think Jones will have the answer the second time around.

A man after my own heart

Nothing I love more than a fighter that gets after it. I even took a shine to Kos when he fought five times in a year. It’s gonna be hard to hate Jones if he keeps fighting at this pace.

If Davis beats Rashad, who does Jones fight first… Hendo or Davis? I say Hendo. He’s getting old by the minute and needs to get in there before he’s got absolutely nothing left.

absolutely Hendo

age and entitlement. all he has to do is reming Dana he beat Fedor.

Fedor… hmm… what if they brought him in to fight Jones at a catchweight of 220 lbs? That’d be a fun fight!

i would love that in an ironic sort of way. especially if Fedor took an arm home w/ him….ha

Hendo
Evans
King Mo
Gustafsson

Easy.

You do know that King Mo isn’t signed to the UFC, right?

If Davis wins, does he get a shot at Jones? And what happens if Davis wins? And who does Gustafsson beat while Jones goes through the others on your list?

Also, if Evans wins, do you still think Hendo fights Jones before him?

I’m aware Mo isn’t in the UFC, but I think his contract with SF is up after his next(?) fight, and I really think we need to get over that shit anyway, we’ve seen HOW many fighters get poached from SF to the UFC. It is a non-factor, if they want him, they’ll have him.

I’m assuming Evans beats Davis, if Davis wins, he gets Evans’ slot. Gustafsson beats Thiago Silva and Little Nog in some order.

If Evans wins, depending on damage, I think Hendo gets Jones first, due to his age and standing with the UFC.

There was a report that said part of the extended Strikeforce-Deal with Showtime was, that the poaching stops.

They're two separate organizations, anyone whose contract is up can skip.

Ahh ok I didn’t know Mo only had one fight left… in that case, I can see him being brought over to the UFC as soon as possible, giving him one fight to prove himself, and then get a fight against Jones, mostly because he’s a legit wrestler and because he’d be fresh meat for Jones to grind.

Shnak - January 6, 2012 reply

So

Mo and Gustaffson will potentially have to sit out for two title defenses before they even get another fight (IF Mo beats Larkin and IF he can get out of his SF contract)? That would be a mighty long layoff for Gustaffson going into the toughest fight of his career…

When did I say they wouldn't fight until their title shot? That's really stupid to assume.

Then what if they lose? That’s the point; it’s not like the division stands still for Jones. There may be no viable contenders if a few upsets occur.

So then we should hold out everyone that has a minor chance of losing? That’s absolutely fucking retarded.

I can see him doing it ... unless...

At some point somebody is going to solve him. Just like Machida and Shogun… Shogun solved Machida and now he takes damage. Until the Shogun fight, Machida could have fought every weekend because nobody really hit him.

Once JBJ starts taking damage we’ll see how he feels about fighting again in 12 weeks ;)

There's nothing to solve.

It’s going to take freakish athleticism combined with exception skills to defeat him — or a well-timed strike from a KO artist.

Well timed strikes seems most likely. Everybody has weaknesses, we just need some smart fighter to come along and show us the holes in Jones’ game IMO ;)

Machida did that -- he hit Jones in the face.

The problem is, with Jones’ athleticism, capitalizing on those holes is tough.

Sheesh

he’s not wasting anytime to get his ass kicked by JDS, Cain, Reem, or Mir is he?

I can see JDS knocking Jones to Mars, Cain either TKO’ing or decisioning him, Reem destroying him and Mir EASILY snapping his ankle in two.

wut?

um… that’s a different weight division. I’m pretty sure Mir would beat the crap out of Jose Aldo too… but he out weighs him by over 100 pounds :p

I think he’s implying that Jones is cleaning out the LHW division so quickly that he’s speeding up the necessity of a move to HW.

Think he could go down? Because I agree, he stands no chance with the big boys.. he doesn’t have the frame that Reem has to put on the kind of weight he would need to compete up there :/

I think he could gain the muscle in his upper body. It’s those tiny legs that would be his undoing at HW.

Yeah

a few chopping leg kicks from some hw’s probably wouldn’t feel too good to Jones’ thin legs.

not to mention getting into a BJJ competition with skilled and STRONG guys like Mir….

Yep

I read that Jones cut’s from 220+ pounds to make 205, that’s similar to what Reem said he used to cut from back when he was in Pride fighting at lhw. I highly doubt that he could drop an additional 20 pounds to make mw. I’m sure that Jones could easily put on at least 8-10 pounds of muscle and weigh in at 230-238 if he fully decided to fight at hw. After a couple fights at hw and with a good strength/bulk increasing program, I’d say that a solid 240-245 hw Jones could do some real damage in that division. JDS is right at 240…now that I’m thinking about it, AO is gonna outweigh JDS by 25 pounds.

Who knows what that increased bulk would do to his technique though… adding 10 or 20% of your body weight has huge affects. It would be interesting to see him go up but I just can’t imagine him fighting guys the size of Reem, MIr, and Carwin :/

Agreed

That extra weight could very well have an adverse effect on his abilities as a fighter. I also think that most of the top 6-8 hw’s can beat him, the top 3-4 would definitely beat him imo.

Wut?

Jones has a bigger frame than Overeem. He is similarly sized to his brothers and one of them is 270 pounds and the other is like 310.

HaterSlayer - January 5, 2012 reply

Yep

Just think about it

If jones fights and defends the belt 4 times this year (I don’t think he’ll fight that many times though), that’d be EIGHT men in 24 months slain by Bones. That’s a feat that took GSP 4 years to accomplish, 5 if you consider the fact that GSP may very well not fight at all this year! Also, if Bones fights and defends his belt 4 times this year, he’ll have the exact same number of title defenses as GSP…at the age of 25! Crazy shit if it was to happen.

Exciting times indeed!

AND, Jones has spectacular fights! GSP (since Sera) has been playing too safe, boring technical fights that are hard to watch more than once.

I actually enjoy GSP's fights

not as much as the other champs though. I re-watched a few rounds of his fight with Koscheck just last night, and that jab that he CONSTANTLY landed was pretty damn sweet. I just wished that he would’ve went for broke and really tried to stop Kos in rounds 4 or 5, but oh well. I haven’t seen the Shields fight yet.

I was at the GSP/Shields fight so I didn’t see it as well as I would have on PPV… I’ll check it out again. Maybe I’m being too hard on GSP :p

You probably aren’t lol, he gets a good bit of hate here.

Don’t tell my wife… she got me a signed portrait of him for Christmas… now I have to pretend to be a huge GSP fan still :D

Man fan or not, that’s a cool ass gift! Sounds like a thoughtful wife! I got my gf a Nook Tablet amongst other things and I got…a few shirts :/

Jones is not going to HW anytime soon

He will just keep hammering the division.

I’m assuming that if Jones goes on a Silva-like winning streak over the course of the next 2-3 years, we’ll start to get talks of how weak the lhw division always has been.

Hmmmmm...

Someone needs to smoke this fool’s ass… soon, or there won’t be any interest left at LHW.
Davis and Gustaffson need to be specifically corn-fed to beat Jones, but that prob won’t be at least until the end of 2012.
I think Gegard Moose-Sauce is too small for Jones.
Hendo has a striker’s chance, but that reach is gonna hurt him so no chance.
Still, Jones main weakness is his lack of KO power… that gives most LHW a bit of time to do something until they’re GNP’d or subbed.

PrideFCmr - January 5, 2012 reply

Dana White has said before that he likes guys that fight more often

He throws out all of those ‘You only have so long to build your legacy’ type arguments.

The crazy thing is that if Jones defens his belt 4 times this year…then he has the most consecutive title defenses of any UFC LHW champion ever, beating Tito’s 5.

I mean, I love this about Jones….I’d much rather see this than guys like GSP and Silva fighting 1-2 times a year. I know injury and etc comes in….but if they didn’t have 6-8 months between sheduled defenses…then it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

If you fight twice and the 3rd time you pull out with injury, so be it. If you fight 1 and for the 2nd fight you pull out with injury, that’s big.

I think if the champions were more open about wanting fights, then the UFC would give them more fights….I mean, Rampage and Machida hadn’t really torn through a slew of guys to get their shot, but they were given it because Jones needed fights, or because they needed headliners.

So this is great news….he’s young and needs to fight as often as he can to build his legacy.

Could you imagine a continued reign of 4-5 years with 3-4 defenses a year? That’s huge.

Chris Groves - January 5, 2012 reply

Frankie is the guy I want to see fighting most frequently

Since all of these superb contenders are out there sniping one another. I’d rather he fight four times a year (should he emerge from each of those fights still champ) and be the guy to knock off some of these credible challengers, instead of their losing value at the hands of one another and never getting that shot.

I know what you mean

I mean, it’s a fine line…on one hand, you want every challenger to be credible and to have a solid win streak and as few losses as possible.

On the other hand, you want the champ to fight often…which means he needs more guys and you have less time to get someone a win streak.

Then on top of that, timing and injuries sometimes results in guys who are ALREADY on good win streaks to take more fights and get knocked off by other guys.

Chris Groves - January 5, 2012 reply

He’d have to alter his recent gameplan of letting his opponent stampede his head in the first for that!