Jones was a JuCo national champion, and he was offered scholarships to D-1 programs. He had the option to pursue amateur wrestling at higher levels, but he chose to compete in MMA instead. As I understand it, he beat Max Askren, younger brother of Ben, who went on to become a D-1 national champ, as a freshman in JuCo. He's also made guys who have much better wrestling pedigrees like Bader and Matyushenko look like jokes in the grappling department in MMA. I honestly don't see what's so ridiculous about calling him a world class athlete.
Athlete, not just as a wrestler. He is the best athlete in MMA and if he is not world class, what does this say about MMA.
Simple. Because he ISNT a proven WORLD CLASS athlete like some other fighters are. I dont care what he MAY have done or whos friends cousin he may have wrestled after practice in a high school gym. Facts are facts.
Difference in opinions. I happen to think MMA fighters are athletes, some great, some ok, some bad (but they have good technique). Jones is arguably the best MMA fighter in the world. And if MMA fighters are athletes (which I believe) and he is the best in the world, then he is a World class athlete.
He is a proven world class athlete. He makes other proven athletes look like little boys in the cage on regular basis at the world level in MMA. If you want to say that he wasn't a proven world class wrestler because he didn't compete on that level, that I agree with. Don't sit here and pretend that it's ridiculous for anyone to assume that he would have excelled at the highest levels of amateur wrestling if he'd chosen to take that route.