Jon Jones only hope is for the champ to not be 100%... otherwise he faces this....

Shogun hasn't looked great against wrestlers lately. I would have backed him against Rashad, because Rashad has a suspect chin and Shogun is an amazing finisher. Bones doesn't seem to have a suspect chin and is even more of a specimen than Rashad is. It's 55/45 Bones for me, though I hope I'm wrong. I thought Bader would be tough, but he just blew through him like he was nothing.

 

Its an even fight...either guy could win. I favour Jones just because Shogun has in the past shown himself to be someone who struggles to fight straight off a lengthy absence as shown by both Coleman fights and the Griffin fight. He's also someone who has become prone to be outmuscled by wrestlers. On the other hand Jones is very inexperienced, has never really been taken into deep water and so we have no idea how he'd handle being put under sustained pressure let alone if he was behind in the fight.

 

Agreed!

The kicking he gave Rampage was painful to watch. The UFC ain't ready for that level of ferocity. :nono

 

Not sure I've ever seen someone actually have a proper street fight in the cage/ring so scientifically.

 

Rua is gonna walk Jones down, quick and brutal i have no doubts.

 

Rua's deadly, high-level Muay Thai is going to make Jones's "unorthodox" striking look sloppy. When Jones realizes he is outgunned on the feet, he'll try to grapple his way through the fight. Unfortunately for him, he will get caught coming in at one point and KTFO.


Take that to the bank.

 

Honestly the level of nuthugging in this thread are incredible. It is a fact that the three times Rua has come back after a lenthy absence he's performed at nowhere near his best. It is a fact that he has recently struggled against bigger, stronger opponents who can outwrestle him. It is a fact that other than two good performances against Machida he has not looked at his best in a long time.

Now I'm not saying I'm sure Jones has won...it would be idiotic to say that given his lack of experience and Rua's skills but its equally idiotic to say that this is going to be an easy night for Rua. Its even more idiotic to cite matches from 2006 as evidence for this after all the medical problem's Rua has had since then. You don't have two knee surgeries unless there's a serious problem with your knee.

 

He has not looked good/at his best, other than in his last two fights... :rofl

 

Sigh...again as Scru said...ever heard of the phrase 'styles make fights'.

 

Sigh... what does that have to do with your statement that Rua has not looked good since his most recent two fights.

 

QFT ^^^ Everyone knows im a HUGE PRIDE fan. But this post my friend is the reality. And for the record his had 3 major knee surgery's and reconstructions.

 

Book mark this post and be prepared to eat some serious crow come fight night.

 

Rua will be too much for jones.

 

Because both matches were against the same opponent and so his convincing performances may have been the result of a favourable stylistic matchup.

 

Physically diminished, or not, Jones is a tough fight for Rua. I don't think any version of Rua can stay off the ground against Jones in the first couple of rounds. That may change later in the fight, and it's not impossible for Rua to win from their either. I'm looking forward to this fight.