So he rejects Sonnen who needs to earn his shot. What has Vitor done to earn his? Although I am honestly intrigued by this match-up. I would've preferred Hendo-Vitor 1st.
This fight is a joke though the Sonnen fight wasn't much worse? Belfort can really cause trouble to Jones whether he gets knocked out early than not. Reach would've been an issue for either fighter but great replacement. Lets be honest, Jones is a big favorite against any fighter in lt hvy.
I think the fact Jones is so long and the fact Belfort has much better boxing fundamentals actually hurts Jones here , Belfort is particularly strong coming over or under the jab , Jones naturally paws with his jab and if he does so against Vitor he could get taken out Belfort aint getting knocked out on the feet here Edit; ive just went and watched Jones Machida :yep , its hard to see Jones not controlling this fight on the feet , regardless of what i said above ive had a slight change of heart LOL , you have to give credit where its due , this kid is super talented , i think my hearts yellin Vitor knock him out :deal
This seems to be the consensus reaction ?? im not sure why , Jones would be going over old ground with Shogun, Machida, Evans or Rampage, Henderson is out, Sonnen is slightly farcical given that he just got his ass handed to him (in iffy fashion ill add) I think Jones Belfort on paper is brilliant myself The problem at 205 is the upper tier are made up of older fighters who cannot beat Jon Jones and the middle tier arent that great , maybe barring Glover and Gustaffson , we'll see
Jon Jones ‏@jonjones "haha! The UFC fighter Jon Jones backed out of a fight and now I'm getting flooded with horrible, cruel insults because people think I'm him. " bruce armstrong ‏@JasonWright15 "**** the @jonjones worse than the jerry Sandusky mother ****er **** sucker" https://twitter.com/jonjones
I was one of the rare poster who said that Shogun vs Jones was a terrible match for...SHOGUN. Even before jones was "jones". The only person who agreed with me at the time was Scurla (i think)...And maybe a bunch of others but the consus was shogun > Jones. I was also right about the Werdum & Antonio fights (vs Fedor...) Proof http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297715 What's my point ?....I'm not pretending to be nostradamus (his predictions were bull**** anyway) and i don't want a free candy or anything....But styles make fights. Never forget that. There's a good reason why anderson is so dominant. or why Junior Dos santos , St Pierre , or any fighter...from any division...are so above the rest. The same goes with boxing , judo , greco , or any other sports. None of them have a nemesis....They rarely do. In Tennis , Federer has one in particular....Nadal (and Novak is also a problem for nadal)...But Nadal has a psychological advantage over Federer...And stylistically...he's a nightmare for Roger. In MMA , Nogueira (in his prime)...had to deal with Fedor. (a nightmare on too many levels). At the time i predicted Shogun was gonna have a hard time against Jones...Marc Coleman was in my mind. (he outwrestled Shogun on 2 occasions... And coleman wasn't even in his prime and even though he's a pretty strong fighter , he's one dimensional and his endurance is limited)...Jones was a tall version of Coleman...Only he also was a better striker and was endurant enough to last the distance... Belfort is ****ed. Maybe he could win...But that would be a major upset...On par with Douglas vs Tyson
Calm down. If Jones stands with Belfort, it's an exciting fight with at least a possibility of an upset. And I assume Win is thinking that Jones will stand with Belfort, at least for some of the time, as he did with Rua and Machida. OK, if Jones's gameplan is just relentless takedowns and GnP, then obviously Vitor is royally ****ed. But, Jones likes to prove his skills standing it seems. If he fights like that this time, of course it's an exciting fight, because even though he'll probably still win by using his reach and his kicks and his unorthodoxy/variety, Belfort is a live dog with ANYONE in the world at 185 or 205 in a standup fight. Guy has big power and is a killer finisher. What's not to be excited about here, unless you foresee Jones suddenly changing his style into a clone of Chael Sonnen?
Anyone else think Jones would outstreching his arm forward the way he baited Rashad for the elbow. But unlike Rashad who stayed stupidly idle, Vitor would instead duck under and rush forward with a barrage.
I am calm. :smoke ....And i think anything is possible. Upsets can happen in any fight. And Jones is no exception. But realistically...Belfort is a terrible choice. I'm not saying he's a **** fighter or anything. But he's past his prime (but so is Henderson) , but Belfort's wrestling is inferior to Jones...He's still fast enough on his feet , but Belfort's gas tank + wrestling + jiujitsu...aren't anything special. Vitor has a puncher's chance. I'm not hating on the guy or anything. But this guy (and especially at his stage in his career) is tailor made for Jones. Maybe Vitor can pull it off....And you guys can bump this thread after his victory. Still , Jones is more than likely to beat Belfort.I don't see this one going the distance.
Why would we bump this thread after the fight? :huh No-one is saying Belfort will beat Jones. All we're saying is that if Jones fights like he has recently (ie, standing up for the majority of the fight) then it should be an exciting fight for as long as it lasts.
Just checked the prediction league for the fight. It was 21-10 in favor of Shogun over Jones. I was shocked to see that, actually.
It's because people were reluctant to let go of the "idea of shogun" in Pride. The dominant beast. It's not that he declined. It's that Jon Jones is just that good.
