He deserves the title shot way more than a 0-1 41 year old washed Stipe who hasn't fought in 2 years. Unfortunately Jon is going to take the easy route and I cannot blame him.
Too early to tell imo. He looks like a beast on his feet but does he have a decent ground game where he could at least survive if taken down by a Jon Jones etc etc. No one knows until that happens.
I get that. But it's slim pickings at HW. Ngannou is gone, and there's a good chance that both Jones and Miocic will be gone next year regardless of the outcome of their fight. Pavlovich come a Greco-Roman background, so his grappling definitely isn't the worst. Many point to the Overeem fight... But that was almost 5 years ago, a fight he took on short notice, and it was a massive step up in class from prior opponents... That being said he held his own until Overeem took over in the clinch and begun drilling him with knees to the body, before clipping him with a good shot and tripping him to the ground and finishing him with ground and pound. There's no shame in losing to Overeem in general, nevermind when you're a green prospect taking the fight on short notice. Even old Overeem could cause most of the top 10 problems on a good night. With the division opening up, and him seemingly hitting his prime while riding a ton of momentum... I think it's fair to give him the benefit of the doubt while remaining skeptical.
Pavlovich should fight Jones next. Jon hasn’t fought a younger, hungry opponent since he was chased out of 205. Don’t think he’ll want any part of it and will insist on defending against washed up Stipe.
Yeah. Jones obviously wants nothing to do with Pavlovich. All of the fawning over and praise of Jones just to show how poor public collective memory is, and how ignorant and easily swayed most sports fans are. I hope Stipe wins that fight, but he's 41 and there's no way of telling what kind of form he'll show up in. I don't think he needs to be at his best to beat Jones however, he just needs to have a good amount left in the tank. At the end of the day... he's losses(apart from a late prime JDS) have been from TKO, and Jones has never been a big punchers. a 245-250 lb Stipe on good form should have enough to beat Jones. Better boxing, more punching power, better wrestling, better conditioning. Jones only advantages are his cheap oblique kicks, eye pokes and BJJ.
