I have never, ever been more 100% completely and utterly certain of an outcome than I am now in saying that Shogun is going to knock Rashad Evans out cold, probably in the first round. I would also expect Jones to beat the winner of the Bader-L'il Nog fight, because I think Jones is a better fighter than Bader, and because I think L'il Nog's decline is coinciding with that of his brother, the L'il Nog who fought Brilz was not the Pride L'il Nog. Thus, it seems likely that Rua will face Jones soon. Who would you back to win that fight? I'm picking Shogun, but I'm interested to hear peoples' thoughts on the fight. :good
You are assuming too much to assume that this fight is going to go down. Shogun has another surgery coming up and we all saw how well he performed against Griffin coming off of surgery. Also, Rashad beat Rampage nearly every second of their fight with his wrestling and we all saw how Shogun whithered against Coleman. I am still not convinced that Shogun has the cardio to grapple constantly in a fight. Sure he destroyed Machida and Chuck but that required no cardio killing grappling at all. Bader is good but it isn't a sure thing that he is going to beat Nog, who probably represents the biggest challenge of his young career. All of that said it is too early to tell. Jon Jones might be the GSP of the LHW division one day (he certainly resembles him athletically) but only if he continues to be dedicated and focues on improving the way GSP does. If they fought tomorrow, and Shogun was 100%, I would pick Shogun if the fight stays standing and a big question mark if the fight goes to the ground (assuming, of course, that Bones is on top, as he would likely be.) Jones is definitely, absolutely, for real though.
Rashad did win every second vs Rampage... except for the seconds which ticked past as he got spaghetti legs then almost KO'd by an innocuous, grazing punch. Even if Shogun's cardio is not as strong as it could be, he is 100% tapping Rashad's weak chin and knocking him the **** out at some point. Take that to the bank. I hear what you're saying about Jones though. He looks the business.
Shogun but it should be an interesting fight. Jon Jones has look good lately but let's see how he does when he face one of the top light heavyweight today. I really want to see him vs thiago silva.
Surely Jones's wrestling would see him beat Silva pretty easily? I'd much rather see Jones fight Bader.
Rashad is the type of fighter that can smother, lnp or wall n stall a guy like Rua. Rua can easily catch him too, but a lot depends on whether Rua can remain standing. This is a 50/50 fight imo, the matchup isn't great due to Rua's bum knees.
It's still too early to tell. We need to see how Jones performs against top tier oppostition first. Let's see how he does against Forest Griffin or Lil Nog, then we can make that call.
I'd love to have your confidence in a Shogun win, he's one of my favourite fighters but I don't know how he's going to come back from this surgery, hopefully it will be the same Shogun we saw against Machida but long lay offs don't tend to go well. Against Jones, I'm not sure, there are still questions to be answered on Jones that haven't been asked by guys like Bonnar, Vera and Matyushenko. When he was in Vera's guard he left his arms in a dangerous position, something that you might expect Shogun to capitalise on, but then when you watch how vicious his ground and pound is you realise it's a lot more difficult to capitalise on Jon Jones mistakes than it is most peoples.
Hard to say right now. What is Jon Jones standup like ? We have barely seen it ? What is Jones like when he has to deal with adversity ? Can he easily pass and pound out someone with the active ground game of Shogun ? Lets have Jones beat a real contender like Forrest Griffin first.
nothing is certain in mma. It can make mma exiting but also very frustrating. if I had to pick now, I would pick shogun rua. But then who knows where jones skill level will be at when/if he faces shogun. your right but I wouldnt say 50/50 rashad can stall and lay and pray, but shogun is very dangerous on the ground. Remember rampage does not have the dimensions on the ground that shogun has.
shogun on the ground will always be questionable stamina wise, styles make fights and rashad could take it, rua as far as im concerned is ****ed, or should i say his knee is ****ed, the lad aint got long left
