I am a bit disappointed by Jon tonight, but i don't believe he did what he could. He knew Cormier was watching and commentating the fight, so he didn't want to show any weaknesses. OSP is also a threat with his power, so Jon didn't took any chances and just fought smart. He didn't went for the clinch or the takedown in more than 3 rounds. He used his much better kicking and dominated a safely fought high risk fight. I think we saw in that fifth round when he walked with OSP in his arms, and smashed him down to the ground in the middle of the octagon, when he just stood up right after instead of going for a submission. He didn't show any unknown strenght or weaknesses but just won a smart fought and boring fight as a warm up for DC. Now he knows DC is next. Nothing to fear anymore. If he win that fight he is the champ, and if he lose then he lose - but he have a title fight now and that's the most important right now for Jon. He will be much better in the DC fight - no doubt.
He looked ok considering the near 1 1/2 year layoff. He won every minute of every round, you can't expect much better other than getting the stoppage.
My point is. If this was a championship fight, Jon would've fought more aggressive. Just like he did in all his title defenses. I am sure he will be way more active and aggressive when fighting DC - and he also needs to. OSP was walking backwards most of the fight. DC is walking forwards for 25 minutes.
Awful, boring and at the same time disgusting fight. Jones just kicked the knees of a short notice guy for 5 rounds straight. OSP did clock Jones the few times he was actually in range to do so. Farcical. As for the OP, your point is BS. Jones followed the gameplan, nothing more, nothing less. If you cast your mind back to the first dc vs jones fight it wasnt exactly a barn burner either, was it?
MMA fans have bad memory. Jon was always like this, he's a safety first point fighter. During this long break he got a lot of new fans who got bored with the Ronda and Conor hype so they brought up Jon Jones as this ultra-exciting fighter who's supposed to be the real star/draw of the UFC, forgetting how boring many of his fights were. The hype for his return was unreal but in reality he was no different in this fight with OSP than he was in most of his other fights. He's a point-fighter who can't finish anyone near his size or at least doesn't really go for it. I still remember his boring fights with Rashad, Glover and DC. He finished a couple of middleweights and had a war with Gus because Gus nullified his reach and brought the fight to him. Also, with stricter testing he can't use his roids anymore. He was clearly roided to the gills before as indicated by his suspicious testosterone levels. People don't appreciate Fedor enough, he's the only one of the ATGs of MMA who always went for a finish and tried to make the fights exciting. And he did it in the most dangerous division where one punch could change everything. I don't remember a boring Fedor fight.
