I have kind of mixed feelings about Jon Jones already talking about retiring again after 1-goddamn fight in a return. The guy frustrates the heck out of me, and I don't like him too much as a person to begin with. If he retires after fighting and beating Stipe, who hasn't fought in like 5 decades and is older and has seen his better days behind him, he is a drama queen. NOW, maybe he says all this to create a better contract in the future for big fights, I don't know. He beat some good guys in the 205# division, but many were not all that great, and many, like Shogun, were way past their prime years already. Anyway....
Why do I mention or rant the above?
Well, like i mentioned, Stipe is older and past his prime, who knows how he will move after being gone for so long once he is in the cage, and what the heck does that prove? Jon beat Gane, whose ground game is horrendous. He did exactly what I knew he was going to do. I think it would be the same if he ever fought Ngannou. Jones is very well-rounded, both on the feet and ground. His ground game is WAYYY under-rated. It's like most guys snooze on that part because a lot of his fights seem to stay standing because of his height and reach advantage he's had over opponents.
So there are 3 people in the HW division coming up, who I think he needs to fight, at least 2 of the 3. Those are Pavlovich, ASPINALL, and maybe Jailton Almeida, assuming he is still winning after everybody else. Those are fights people want to see. I don't mind the Stipe fight, but unless Stipe is even close to his prior self, which may or may not have even beat Jon, he will get creamed if he is not at least back to those standards. I mean, he has to perform better than what Gane did, that was a joke, but I guess we'll have to see.
I'm not sure how Pavlovich is on the ground, if he is even subpar, he will lose to Jones. I think Jon will go immediately to the ground with this guy instead of taking a risk of getting hit by those cannons, but he has a long reach and is tall, so maybe he can nullify it all with his style.
Okay...i'm getting there.
So Aspinall, at least looking at his last couple of fights, looks like the most complete fighter in the division from stand-up to the ground. If he wins another fight against the top 2-5, I want to see Jones fight this guy. Aspinall is a beast for sure, and from what he says, he's healthier now than prior to his injury, and with a better campo and mind game. We'll see. All I know is that he looks very dominant against a lot of these guys, so I hope it continues so we can hopefully see Jon fight more than a 1-dimensional fighter.
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Okay, rant or whatever over, lol.
The Wood/Fili fight was really good. I feel Fili got the nod in that 3rd round, as he was more active, but it was close.
Davey Grant got completely ripped off from the judges from what I seen. I mean, unless I missed something, this was a horrendous call! Did anybody else see this fight? Thoughts?
The Craig/Muniz fight was decent as well. Muniz is under-rated as well, and he is well-rounded. Craig did a great job to beat him. I think he should stay in the 185# division, personally. If he can overcome the quickness of the fighters at that weight, he should be able to have a better chance than the larger guys at 205#.....well, maybe. That is my arm-chair opinion, LOL!
