Official UFC Thread - Part 3

[DoomsdayApex]

It's great to see Hector in the UFC so he can get some high level competition. Both because it's interesting to see what he can do, plus that him fighting lower level competition rhymes badly with how he has a big reputation for being a real bully in the gym.

Really? I've seen him train at Coconut Creek a couple times with Alves, Silva, Tibau, Garcia, Miller, etc and he's always been a helpful sparring partner (albeit a very aggressive one).

He did establish a nasty reputation with the Cuban National Team. He apparently was knocking out guys during sparring sessions.

 

[Shogun89]

hes built up a bad reputation for training.

Josh Barnett has said how hes an aggressive pos in the gym

 

[Paroxysm]

He'll be tested. We get to see what he's really made of.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Well, at least he doesn't fall short on aggression and tenacity. Lombard is gonna need that against the elite and top-tier of the division. The Australian Media has dubbed him 'The Middleweight version of Mike Tyson'.

It's going to be rather interesting to see him in the UFC. I've desperately wanted to see Hector fight Anderson for a long time now.

 

[Project862006]

now get gegard UFC lol what is taking so long he has no one to fight in SF

Jardine and roger gracie moved to MW
King Mo is suspended for a year
and Feijao/Kyle are fighting each other

not to mention he is the last guy to beat Lombard

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Yeah, the UFC needs to bring him over already. Gegard has some of the best boxing/striking in the sport today. He is freakin' deadly accurate and throws punches-in-bunches. Granted, lately, it appears like he's been slacking big time.

Hopefully, Mousasi has been training hard at a real gym. His TDD needs to be above average to take on Jones. If Jon can't take down Gegard, I can easily see a UD victory for The Dreamcatcher.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The Martian Manhunter's reach would negate Mousasi's striking and considering what Mo Lawal did to him, Jones, arguably the best wrestler in MMA do to his athleticism, would put him on his butt whenever he felt like it. Look what he did to Lyoto who has great TD defense.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

The Martian Manhunter's reach would negate Mousasi's striking and considering what Mo Lawal did to him, Jones, arguably the best wrestler in MMA do to his athleticism, would put him on his butt whenever he felt like it. Look what he did to Lyoto who has great TD defense.

Jones' punches are not devastatingly accurate, nor are they immensely powerful. In a stand up fight, I can't see Jones outstriking Gegard (even with his reach). Jon barely throws combinations. Alot of people hype up Jones' striking but, in reality, his stand up is mid-tier, at best. He depends on his kicks and jabs mostly to keep his opponent from getting inside -- his unorthodox strikes are his only offense.

Lyoto had great TDD, but so did Evans and Rampage. It's not impossible for Mousasi to achieve the same level of TDD. It'll just take dedication on his part.

 

[Project862006]

^that i will agree with guys like rampage have very overrated boxing and flat footed and slow and shogun is very sloppy striking outside of his leg kicks

best striker jones faced was machida and he had to take machida down since he was losing standing

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Jones' punches are not devastatingly accurate, nor are they immensely powerful. In a stand up fight, I can't see Jones outstriking Gegard (even with his reach). Jon barely throws combinations. Alot of people hype up Jones' striking but, in reality, his stand up is mid-tier, at best. He depends on his kicks and jabs mostly to keep his opponent from getting inside -- his unorthodox strikes are his only offense.

Lyoto had great TDD, but so did Evans and Rampage. It's not impossible for Mousasi to achieve the same level of TDD. It'll just take dedication on his part.

Where do you get the idea that Jones doesn't punch hard? He just nearly knocked out a man throwing jabs with his elbows. t:

Jones is no Anderson Silva, but his technique is good enough when combined with his reach and pure athleticism. His flow is very good. He transitions between techniques very well and that exposes his opponents to his strikes.

No one currently 205 and below is going to "outstrike" Jones. Not even Anderson, who'd he just put on his back anyways. JDS is probably the only hope in that regard and he is at HW.

And yes, TDD defense is nearly impossible to pick up if you didn't start at a very young age. That is why most of those who do it best have wrestling backgrounds. GSP is the big exception, but like Jones he is one of the true athletes in the sport.

Even Cro Cop, who I loved, succeed because of the limitations of his opponents. Once confronted with bigger, stronger, less one dimensional fighters, his TDD went away.

Jones also doesn't simply have one way to take his opponents down. He has at least a half a dozen different trips, tosses and TDs.

^that i will agree with guys like rampage have very overrated boxing and flat footed and slow and shogun is very sloppy striking outside of his leg kicks

best striker jones faced was machida and he had to take machida down since he was losing standing

Agree on Rampage and Shogun.

But again, this is MMA. It isn't like Jones' opponents get to decide his attack. One reason why his striking is so potent is because you can't do a thing with him in the clinch or on the mat. Once he broke Lyoto's face will, it was over.

It is the exact same reason why GSP continues to outstrike theoretically much better strikers. The threat of the TD is always there, so his opponent's live in fear or get taken down.

If you open up against Jones, he is throwing you on your behind.

 

[Mjölnir]

Really? I've seen him train at Coconut Creek a couple times with Alves, Silva, Tibau, Garcia, Miller, etc and he's always been a helpful sparring partner (albeit a very aggressive one).

He did establish a nasty reputation with the Cuban National Team. He apparently was knocking out guys during sparring sessions.

I've heard a few people say that he chooses to spar with lesser/newer guys and beats the crap out of them during training. That's one of the things Josh Barnett supposedly had against him and they have quite a history together.

It's of course impossible for me to tell how true that is but since I've heard it so many times I've come to take it as being true. It's good to hear that he's not doing that at CC though and when it comes to actual fighting his aggression will be an asset (if it's in moderation).

 

[Mjölnir]

Where do you get the idea that Jones doesn't punch hard? He just nearly knocked out a man throwing jabs with his elbows. t:

Jones is no Anderson Silva, but his technique is good enough when combined with his reach and pure athleticism. His flow is very good. He transitions between techniques very well and that exposes his opponents to his strikes.

No one currently 205 and below is going to "outstrike" Jones. Not even Anderson, who'd he just put on his back anyways. JDS is probably the only hope in that regard and he is at HW.

And yes, TDD defense is nearly impossible to pick up if you didn't start at a very young age. That is why most of those who do it best have wrestling backgrounds. GSP is the big exception, but like Jones he is one of the true athletes in the sport.

Even Cro Cop, who I loved, succeed because of the limitations of his opponents. Once confronted with bigger, stronger, less one dimensional fighters, his TDD went away.

Jones also doesn't simply have one way to take his opponents down. He has at least a half a dozen different trips, tosses and TDs.

Yes, Jones is really good at setting up his strikes and using his reach and that's where his great success comes from in my opinion. His individual techniques aren't that impressive, seen in context of what level he fights at, but it's certainly enough.

As for TDD, there are a few other guys that have shown talent without training since early days. Alexander Gustafsson still has work to do but he stopped all the takedowns from Phil Davis (it hit the ground when Alex tried to take Phil down and he got reversed) and back then he had hardly trained any wrestling at all. A big part of having good TDD, when you're not a wrestler, is to have good movement when you're striking. I hope he continues to develop since he has the biggest potential in the division when it comes to boxing, and he's tall, so he could be a threat to Jones even though no one will be a favorite against him.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Where do you get the idea that Jones doesn't punch hard? He just nearly knocked out a man throwing jabs with his elbows. t:

Elbows aren't punches though.

His elbow strikes are apart of his unorthodox arsenal (which is now limited, in my opinion -- considering I haven't seen anything new in three bouts).

Jones is no Anderson Silva, but his technique is good enough when combined with his reach and pure athleticism. His flow is very good. He transitions between techniques very well and that exposes his opponents to his strikes.

Precisely. Mixed in with his reach, it's the only reason why Jones can get away with a large portion of his strikes. If he were a smaller fighter, he'd probably already been knocked out. He leaves himself way too open after an exchange.

No one currently 205 and below is going to "outstrike" Jones. Not even Anderson, who'd he just put on his back anyways. JDS is probably the only hope in that regard and he is at HW.

Oh, Jones would never go for that. JDS would kill him. I am quite confident in that. KO in the second round.

As for Anderson, not true. Ando's head movement, speed, timing and technique would prove to be too much Jon. His only hope would be his wrestling.

In the LHW division, there are two prospects to watch out for -- Gegard and Alexander. I, myself, am leaning on Gegard simply because The Armenian Assassin/Dreamcatcher has some of best boxing in the sport. He doesn't just headhunt. Mousasi seeks to pick apart his opponents (similar to the Diaz Bros).

However, Gegard needs more improvement in his TDD before taking on Jones. Working out with former Olympians is a great start. I would prefer he join AKA in a year though. Koscheck, Velasquez and Fitch would work him like a dog in the wrestling department. Learning from Dave Camarillo is also a plus since Gegard has a Judo/Sambo/BJJ background.

And yes, TDD defense is nearly impossible to pick up if you didn't start at a very young age. That is why most of those who do it best have wrestling backgrounds. GSP is the big exception, but like Jones he is one of the true athletes in the sport.

Even Cro Cop, who I loved, succeed because of the limitations of his opponents. Once confronted with bigger, stronger, less one dimensional fighters, his TDD went away.

Not true. Take a look at Anderson Silva, Thiago Alves, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone. Some of these guys showed improvements in the wrestling department as early as their following bout.

Acheiving top-level TDD is not impossible. JDS himself had never wrestled once in his life prior to training in MMA in his early 20s. His only defeat is further proof of that (taken down and armbarred).

 

[Project862006]

to be fair rashad does'nt have the best chin thiago silva and rampage both rocked him and we saw what lyoto did who dropped him 2 times before the KO

 

[CrypticOne]

I think Evans should drop down to 185.

 

[Project862006]

^ anderson would actually ko him imo lol

he has more power with better striking than jones and just as dynamic

 

[CrypticOne]

Or they should set up Shogun/Evans.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Yeah, Shogun vs Evans makes sense.

 

[Project862006]

that is a perfect match up

that was the original match that was being set before jones took evans spot

 

[E-Man]

I figured that Shogun was fighting Bader, but I'm too lazy to look it up. If he's not fighting Rashad makes sense. It keeps them from potentially knocking a young guy out of the title picture, and since Jones is wrecking everyone it gives one a better case for another title shot next year if Jones blows through all challengers or moves up.

 

[TheVileOne]

Jones doesn't have tremendous pure punching power but he's still pretty dangerous standing up due to his unpredictable and unorthodox technique that actually works. His reach gives him very good defense and he hits you with elbows from all sorts of crazy angles.

Unlike Keith Jardine its orthodox technique that actually works.

 

[Project862006]

Awesome Fan Made - JDS vs Mir Promo

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Good background sound effects, especially 0:43.

 

[brainchild81]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All female MMA card @8pm EST. at invictafc.com.



Jones hits hard enough. He socked the **** outta Machida before he choked him.

I wanna see Machida fight a Rashad w/a good gameplan
[/FONT]

 

[Project862006]

anyone see the bloodbath on invicta FC !!

Spoiler

also double knockdown