UFC 197: Jones vs OSP

[wandshogun09]

Well this one changed...

 

 

PPV MAIN CARD

Jon Jones vs Ovince St Preux - Interim Light Heavyweight Title

Demetrious Johnson vs Henry Cejudo - Flyweight Title

Anthony Pettis vs Edson Barboza

Robert Whittaker vs Rafael Natal

Yair Rodriguez vs Andre Fili

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Sergio Pettis vs Chris Kelades

Carla Esparza vs Juliana Lima

Danny Roberts vs Dominique Steele

Glaico Franca vs James Vick

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Clint Hester vs Marcos Rogerio De Lima

Efrain Escudero vs Kevin Lee

 

 

Cormier vs Jones 2 is a monster fight. A huge rematch of one of the most heated grudge matches in MMA history. For anyone who wants their memory refreshing on how the feud started, I covered all that in the opening post of the UFC 182 thread...

 

https://ukff.com/topic/135492-ufc-182-jones-vs-cormier/

 

After all that hype and build up, they finally fought on January 3rd 2015;

 

 

And Jones won a competitive but convincing decision. Needless to say, Cormier was completely crushed emotionally after the loss. It was the first defeat of his MMA career, plus all the bad blood going in then add to that he'd fallen at the last hurdle again after previously not making the Olympics in his wrestling days. People were questioning whether DC was always going to be the ultimate 'nearly man'.

 

After the fight, Jones gave not one single fuck about Cormier's tears...

 

"I don't like Daniel Cormier. I don't respect Daniel Cormier. I hope he's somewhere crying right now" - Jon Jones

 

The talk about Jones after the fight was a mixture of frustration (that he was seemingly never going to lose), amazement and excitement for the future (Rumble, a Gus rematch then off to heavyweight). He'd conquered his arch nemesis and was going to continue his domination.

 

 

Then the wally went into self destruct mode. Crashed his car, allegedly injuring some woman in the process, then fled the scene. Before coming back, grabbing his money from the car (not checking on the woman he injured), then fucking off again. He'd left weed in the car, he failed a drug test for cocaine, his UFC 187 fight with Rumble Johnson was cancelled and he was suspended indefinitely and stripped of his UFC title.

 

 

He then disappeared off the face of the earth for a bit. Only resurfacing in the form of old Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee quotes on his twitter account and hints that he was turning his life around and would be back better than ever.

 

In his absence, Daniel Cormier got well and truly back on track. He stepped into Jones' spot at UFC 187 and survived an early knockdown to beat Rumble by submission. He finally became the UFC champion with that win but the first words out of his mouth were to his old pal...

 

"Jon Jones, get your shit together, I'm waiting" - Daniel Cormier

 

 

Then in October he beat Alexander Gustafsson on points in a tremendous back and forth war. One of the best fights of 2015. Despite not beating 'the man', Cormier now had wins over the two toughest available contenders at 205. He'd done as well as anyone could hope to do with Jones still out of commission.

 

It was around that time that we started seeing shit like this...

 

 

It seems Jones has discovered a love for powerlifting in his downtime. Or maybe he just ditched the trips to Greggs in favour of a diet of chicken and broccoli. Whatever he did, and I hope he's not adding a PED scandal to his rap sheet, it seemed to work for him.

 

The talk was that throughout his career, Jones never took training that seriously. Which is a crazy and scary thought. This is a guy with wins over Cormier, Gustafsson, Teixeira, Machida, Shogun, Rampage, Rashad and so on. Yet for a big chunk of his career, he's apparently been doing the bare minimum in the gym and relying on his natural talent to do the rest.

 

The pictures of him all ripped plus his own comments over the last few months seemed to indicate that he's found a new dedication to training and is now determined to come back bigger and better than ever. If he does, they're all fucked. But there's already cracks appearing if his team mate Andrei Arlovski's recent comments are anything to go on...

 

"You know, I don't particularly like certain aspects of Jon's behaviour, he rarely comes for training. But you can't underestimate his fighting abilities, he's very strong and smart fighter. He has a great desire to return to the UFC and become the champion again."

This was from an interview in February so it's after the comments Jones made about being rejuvenated to train full-time now. Fuck knows. Arlovski is one of Jones' main sparring partners and they're friends. He has no axe to grind with Jones, and he's not known to bullshit. Jones is stubborn as fuck at the best of times. If he feels he's done enough in the gym, who's going to tell him otherwise? He never learns. And up to now, whatever he's been doing in training HAS been enough, so you can't argue with results. Just a shame this cunt could be even better than he is yet seems hell bent on squandering it.

 

 

We'll see. I still think Jones wins. Even with all the distractions, even with the year plus of inactivity and even though DC is a beast who's been active while Jones has been sidelined. I still can't really see past a Jones win. The good news is I've been utterly shite at predicting fights recently so this probably means DC is going to smash him to bits in two minutes.

 

DC vs JJ 2 promo...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=g8OWtixlnQY

 

Doesn't feel like this is just a few weeks away, does it? We've all been so distracted with the McGregor vs Diaz thing that we didn't even really notice this one was creeping up right behind it.

 

 

Mighty Mouse vs Cejudo co-headlines this one. It's an interesting fight but it's dwarved (pun intended) by the main event. Again, I've been especially woeful at calling fights lately but I just can't see how Cejudo dethrones Mouse. Cejudo is an Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, but I don't think that's going to do him fuck all good if he can't grab a hold of DJ. And I think that's going to be the crux of the whole thing. DJ's speed. I think he'll run rings around Cejudo and win a lopsided decision. Cejudo's very good but DJ's great. It's really that simple for me.

 

 

Pettis vs Barboza is a hell of a fight on paper. Both have ridiculous striking and they're easily two of the best kickers in the sport. Pettis has had a nightmare last couple of fights, getting dominated, demoralised and dethroned by Dos Anjos then stifled to a frustrating decision loss by Alvarez. Barboza is a different kettle of fish to those guys. His style is much more up Pettis' alley. Problem for Pettis is, if he loses this one things are really not looking good for him. It's one thing being shut down with suffocating grappling. That was always thought the best way to beat Pettis. If he goes in there to strike and Barboza beats him at his own game, then you wonder how Pettis comes back from that. And Barboza is good enough to do just that, I think. Great fight. The pressure is on Pettis though.

 

The rest of the card drops off big time for me here.

 

Whittaker vs Natal I'm not that into. I like watching Whittaker fight but can't really warm to him. And Natal I'm neither here nor there on.

 

Rodriguez vs Fili could be a fantastic PPV opener. So they'll probably fuck it off to Fight Pass. Good fight though. Two lanky scrappy bastards. Yair Rodriguez is awesome to watch. Really slick BJJ and creative striking. He's one of my favourite fighters to watch of the newer breed coming up.

 

Not much else of note really. Kevin Lee has looked good from what I've seen of him. Hopefully he continues that against Escudero, who's been one of the most disappointing TUF winners ever. Clint Hester is usually fun. Still waiting for Sergio Pettis to live up to his potential but he's been a bit of a letdown in the UFC so far.

 

 

Oh and it feels like Groundhog Day but there's this BJ Penn thing again as well. He was originally going to fight at UFC 196 (according to him anyway), then there wasn't enough time to get it sorted for that show so the UFC were going to re-schedule is fight for 197 instead. The rumour was he'd be fighting Dennis Siver at featherweight. Since then though, there's been all sorts of mad rumours going around that he sexually assaulted a woman in Hawaii or something. With an accusation that serious, I wouldn't expect him to be fighting anytime soon, maybe ever, but we'll see what happens.

 

That's your lot.

[d-d-d-dAz]

WHO'S OUR FUCKING BATMAN? (This made sense once, but I'm a cunt)

 

Though, after Cormiers babbling, whingey performance at the press conference I'm not as wedded to his defence as I was.

[wandshogun09]

Though, after Cormiers babbling, whingey performance at the press conference I'm not as wedded to his defence as I was.

I am. Cormier would have to take a dump on my mum's face, right in front of me bold as brass, to make me be OK with Jon The Cunt going 2-0 over him.

[seanz25]

Not Jones biggest fan but slightly more relaxed tone after the moaning from Cormier at unstoppable. Unfortunately you know Jones is probably gonna spend 5 rounds fucking Daniel up. Only hope I think Cormier has is Jones gets as emotionally invested and gets caught trying to KO Cormier.

[jimufctna24]

Jones will get caught out eventually. Sadly, I don't think it will be Cormier who does it.  I see a rinse and repeat of last time with Jones taking a clear-cut decision. I just can't see Cormier getting inside enough, or getting much going in the grappling stakes. It's a bad style match-up for him.

 

Even if Cormier has turned into a bit of a crybaby, I just can't get behind Jones. On the face to face preview they showed at UFC 196, he was his usually twatish self. Unlike other MMA personalities who ramp it up, there's just no charm to him. Although, he's arguably more bearable now then he was when he was trying to convince you he was a nice guy. 

[Carbomb]

I've got this nagging feeling that Jones has taken up permanent residence in Cormier's head. During their match, he seemed to have the measure of Jones, and then, all of a sudden, straight after they restarted from the eye poke, he just crumbled, completely inexplicably.

 

Fast forward to the press conference recently, and he's doing something similar in promotional terms. I wonder if Jones has said or done something that just plays on Cormier's mind every time they're in the same room with each other now. I suspect it was Jones deliberately targeting DC's main weapon, his wrestling, to beat him at it so frequently.

 

It really is depressing to think there's no-one around to put Jones' head into the canvas and his bollocks up into his belly; DC seemed to be the first guy in ages to do that, but clearly not. I'd hoped that the wins against Rumble and Gustafsson would've helped, especially when people were touting Rumble as the guy to take Jones' head off (which is almost as infuriating a thought when you consider that Rumble's a cunt too), but if Unstoppable was anything to go by, DC hasn't got past whatever Jones did to him mentally. We can only hope he might finally twig, and put his fist through that shit-stain's face.

[Gooner]

d-d-d-dAz, anyway you can edit the first part of your post? As it's spoiled the main event from last night for me, before it spoils it for anyone else.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Apologies.

 

I genuinely didn't even think about it. Soz

[ColinBollocks]

I very much hope I'm wrong, but I can't see this ending well for DC. Carbomb nailed it with "Jones has taken up permanent residence in Cormier's head". Two of the biggest factors DC listed for him crumbling during their last fight was no Velasquez to push him in training (currently sidelined due to training like a knob) and that he was too emotional in the cage. DC can try as hard as he likes, Jones seems to have an incredible ability to completely head fuck poor DC.

 

If DC can somehow keep his focus and not fold when Jones gets the better of him, then maybe, but it ain't looking good so far.

[David]

I'm hoping Jones stops Cormier in convincing fashion. For some reason I just can't get behind Cormier, and the fact that he's acting as though he actually is the light heavyweight champion despite losing to the champion previously is a bit cringey.

[seanz25]

David blatantly wants Trump to win the US election to. Loves a heel

[wandshogun09]

Jones quote from last night on Cormier and the Unstoppable press conference;

 

"Oh, Daniel can't hang with me. I've had a lot of mental battles with every opponent. Chael Sonnen, Chael was a great talker but I don't feel like I've ever lost the mental warfare battle with any opponent. Daniel just, if you really watch him, he crumbles. He crumbles when he's around me. It's funny. He turns into a total baby. Just, he loses his shit. Its funny."

As much as I don't want to agree with him, on anything, I think he's right. I just keep thinking back to that post-fight press conference after Jones vs Cormier 1 and how emotional Cormier was. He was in tears and looked about as devastated as I've ever seen any fighter after a loss. And I think a big part of that is, like Carbomb says, Jones was able to wrestle with him. It sounds trivial because it's MMA, it's not all about one aspect of MMA, your wrestling doesn't have be better than your opponent's to win the wrestling battle, as long as you can tie everything together well enough to cause enough confusion in the opponent's head, you can have success. But I get the impression Cormier was so fixated and convinced he'd have a huge advantage in the wrestling in the first fight that it broke him when he found out he was wrong. He's had over a year now to come to terms with that and come up with a strategy but I think Jones is already too much in DC's head now. He's planted doubt there that I don't think Cormier can overcome.

 

I hope this is another case of me reading it completely wrong but I've got a bad feeling this is going to look like the first fight...but worse for Cormier.

[David]

Cormier has lost the mental battle with Jones, that's for certain. I don't see him winning.

[Egg Shen]

that Counterstrike thing they previewed at 196 looks a good watch, looking forward to the full thing.

 

Despite some appearing to turn against DC in the last couple of days, i'll still be rooting for him fight night. I don't think he's gonna win the fight, but i'll be hoping he does.

[METAL ON METAL]

I'm hoping Jones stops Cormier in convincing fashion. For some reason I just can't get behind Cormier, and the fact that he's acting as though he actually is the light heavyweight champion despite losing to the champion previously is a bit cringey.

Yeah I have similar feelings. While Cormier can be alright in small doses and often talks sense on UFC Tonight, I always get a massive feeling of twatness from most of team AKA (not helped by Javier Mendes). I have major indifference to Cormier, his personality is the definitely of 'meh'.

 

As much as Jones is a dickhead and terrible person (and he is), the guy is an amazing mixed martial artist and a joy to watch. So for that reason and for the desire to see him fulfill his undoubted potential as an all time great, I want a Jones win.