I'm inclined to disagree. Shogun was in top form in his fights before and after the Jones fight (lay-off and injury excuses aside), we've had no reason to think Machida isn't still in his prime. Rampage has been toothless for a while, but it doesn't mean he's not a solid win (and under the circumstances, there were few other options), Rashad has only lost twice in his career, the other time to Machida.
Not disagreeing that their solid wins and represent alot of name value. But Shogun has been shot since the PRIDE days. He's really not relevant any more despite what UFC fan boys would have you believe. That list doesn't represent a good enough body of work to place him above a prime Chuck or Wand who had GREAT runs against top competition.
Have to give Fedor the nod. A couple of years may change that if Jones keeps dominating. Still, Fedor was an absolute animal in his younger years.
I would agree with this. I wouldn't necessarily say Shogun is 'shot' but he's past his prime and very inconsistent. To me 205Ibs had a lot of deadwood in the former of fighters who's reputations were inflated by past achievements. Shogun came into his fight against Jones recovering from injury which is never good for him while Jackson and Machida had zero momentum having both looked far from their best in recent matches. To me Evans was Jones toughest opponent yet and given how cautious he was you could tell he agreed. Which made it deathly boring even if Jones controlled the fight (btw wasn't these the same tactics that had everyone attacking Silva back in 2008 or 2009), Don't really rate the Henderson fight either - Dan hasn't shown the ability to be competitive past the third round in years and if Evans is too small then Dan is smaller. Jones has enough wherewithal to fight from range and wait for Dan to tire.
Youre being hard on Jones. Shogun literally RUINED Machida, who up til then had looked pretty invincible, and H2H Jones would have little problems with a prime Liddel Shogun Jones 2 is the only other fight i want to see Jones in at LHW - just to see how a more cautious Shogun handles things in there
Machida never looked anything close to invincible. That was the UFC hype machine and fans in full tilt bandwagoning the next big thing. Its not possible to say Jones would have no problem with a prime Chuck. Chuck fought in a different era under PRIDE/UFC and Vale Tudo rules. Jones Shogun 2 does not need to happen. You'd have to be a masochist to want to see that again. Either way Shogun is long spent. He's not the same figher as he was in ChuteBoxe/PRIDE/PRIDE GP. Find me that version of Shogun under PRIDE rules and Jones has a serious fight on his hands.....
Regardless of the Zuffa hype machine, Machida looked awesome long before he stepped foot in the UFC Would you pick a prime Chuck over Jones right now? And i believe Shogun when he says it was that flying knee in the opening seconds of the fight which ****ed him up. After the savage Hendo fight, Shogun may be well and truly finished, but it he's not, he's the only guy out there (outside Anderson of course) who could gives Jones a real fight at 205
No he didn't. I remember him from the K-1 (HERO) days and never thought much of his style. And yes i would pick Chuck over Jones. Chuck had fight changing power and was a great fighter in his prime in the old UFC and prior to that when there was no unified ruleset.
Agree on Shogun TBH It's incredible following his injuries he was able to capture the UFC strap. On to Jones I do think Jones Is that good but the question mark for me is the Top guys like Evans, Rampage, Machida, Shogun & co (indecently all on Jones's resume) are all in there 30's on the downside of their career. IMO there is no real young talent aside from maybe Gustafsson at 205 that is coming through that could be any kind of threat to him.
So we should start talking endless **** about how Jones is fighting cans when he should be mixing it with the heavies. One more at 205 - Anderson - then move up. Dana might want to keep Jones fighting cans as long as he can, but if theres enough of an outcry the bald ***** will be forced into doing something bout it
Jones is open to the right hand. Fedor is agile enough to land it and hits much harder than Rashad and Machida. Jones holds a shot pretty well from what we've seen IMO. At this stage I'll go with Fedor. Still the best HW I've ever seen.
I was analysing the fight again last night and saw the same thing. Which makes me think Henderson might be the dude to knock him out. His chin seems ok but i don't think he's been truly chin checked yet as no ones hit him cleanly. Which says alot about his defence.
