UFC 232: Jones vs Gustafsson 2

[ColinBollocks]

Cheers, Ebb.

Good on Mendes. If more fighters had the smarts to set up outside interests we'd see a lot more of this going on. I'd guess the vast majority of fighters don't like most of what goes into what they do. 

This isn't a knock, but Mendes has his place in history secured because he's part of the Conor story - the exciting rise part everyone but racist David likes.

[David]

I tried to clue all of you in about MacGee yonks ago. Now some of you are finally catching up. 

And yes, it does get tiresome being ahead of the curve all the time. Once Bones crushes two or three fools in 2019 I fully expect all of you to join me on that wagon as well. Give me a shout, I'll help you up and into a comfy seat.

DC will just be a tear-stained, fat memory of the past.

[BigJag]

The story isn't over yet. The rise has been fun and interesting. With good grace it should be a plateau rather than a dramatic plummet. The same goes for Jones. Nobody wants to see either of them to go down in flames. A realisation and pleasant future to them.

[ColinBollocks]

9 minutes ago, David said:

And yes, it does get tiresome being ahead of the curve all the time

[David]

Look at that fucking hair, the berk.

[Rey_Piste]

42 minutes ago, David said:

Once Bones crushes two or three fools in 2019 I fully expect all of you to join me on that wagon as well. Give me a shout, I'll help you up and into a comfy seat.

DC will just be a tear-stained, fat memory of the past.

I've always liked Jones as a fighter, his natural ability and how he uses his long limbs to keep out opponents is great. As well as a fantastic level of MMA wrestling. I still wish he wouldn't fucking stick his fingers out and eye poking all the fucking time whilst trying to find his range though. The thing is if he stays clean then that will happen, I am just waiting for him to popped for something or end up doing something dumb and end up in the clink.

[WeeAl]

Thanks for mentioning about Mendes ebb, I had missed that, and wouldn't have likely realised for ages. Fair play to him, he made a return, still looking damn good and relevant, but yet decided he didn't need it anymore while getting out with his marbles all still in one place.

[wandshogun09]

I saw something about Mendes retiring but forgot all about it with all the other talking points coming out of this one. 

Never was a big fan of Mendes (most of the Alpha Male team are fighters I’ve never warmed to) but he was a top fighter and I absolutely love his second fight with Aldo. Think that was my FOTY whichever year it happened. Hopefully he has got other ventures lined up. Doesn’t seem a stupid guy and it’s good to see him getting out kind of on his terms and, I assume, relatively unscathed. If you look at his last few years I think it’s clear the battles might’ve been catching up to him. He fought Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor and Frankie Edgar in about a 12 month span. That’s one rough paper round. Aldo was 5 rounds of brutality, McGregor stopped him and then Edgar (not known for KO power) put him out in a round. Now this war with Volkanovski, who is basically the younger and more advanced and updated version of him. For a young guy Mendes has some miles on him. Seems he’s recognised that and if he’s in a position to walk away then fair play to him. 

[Chunk]

Fair play to Mendes. Difficult to see where he goes from here if he stays fighting - always seems to fall short at the very highest level. He's got that hunting company Finz & Featherz, hasn't he? I'm sure he'll make that profitable.

[David]

26 minutes ago, Chunk said:

Fair play to Mendes. Difficult to see where he goes from here if he stays fighting - always seems to fall short at the very highest level. He's got that hunting company Finz & Featherz, hasn't he? I'm sure he'll make that profitable.

Yeah, he's really loving that from the interviews I've heard with him. 

[David]

So, we see a good conclusion to the whole debacle as Jones passes all the tests required;

Quote

 

After clearing his first drug testing hurdle since becoming UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones is pretty pleased with himself.

Jones, 31, did a verbal victory lap on his two-time opponent, Alexander Gustafsson, who called him a cheater prior to a third-round submission loss at UFC 232.

“Absolutely no jet fuel found,” the newly minted UFC light heavyweight champ wrote on Twitter. 

There was also a defiant message for future opponents, first among them Anthony Smith, who’s also made clear his feelings about Jones’ repeated issues with doping.

“Interested to hear the excuses of my next few victims,” Jones said.

Today, the California State Athletic Commission announced Jones passed multiple fight-night drug tests conducted by the commission and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Most notable about Jones’ negative was the absence of M3 metabolite in oral turinabol, which was the catalyst for the last-minute move of UFC 232 from Nevada to California.

Experts said a Dec. 9 positive for M3 was the result of a “pulsing effect” that could potentially see Jones vacilate between positives and negatives for an undefined timeframe. Jones has denied all alongknowingly taking any banned substances, and UFC President Dana White and UFC executive Jeff Novitzky have backed a USADA decision not to rule another anti-doping violation.

Jones’ two-time opponent and former dual champ Daniel Cormier recently questioned whether steroid metabolities are now “part of the deal” in fighting the light heavyweight champ. Smith has said he doesn’t care whether Jones is clean or not.

Later this month, Jones is scheduled to go before the Nevada State Athletic Commission on his Dec. 9 test to “provide an opportunity” for the commission “to determine the appropriate path forward for him in Nevada.”

 

Let's hope we can move past all the shit and see a run of Jones actually making headlines in the cage instead. The Smith fight should be good.

[wandshogun09]

I’m not sure how good Jones vs Smith will be. I really like Anthony Smith but I don’t think he’s got anything for Jones. Granted, no-one seems to but I think Smith’s getting completely destroyed here. This is a man who’s had to come back from the brink against the likes of Andrew Sanchez and a 2017, flaccid, post-USADA version of Hector Lombard. He was also having fits with Oezdemir on the ground last time out. His only straight forward wins in recent times have been washed up Shogun and Rashad Evans. I really think Jones is going to absolutely fucking annihilate him. It’ll probably look like what we saw from early UFC Jon Jones vs Vera and Matyushenko. Like an early 90s WCW Sid squash match. 

Not complaining. That can be fun too. Like when Mighty Mouse was just pissing through the flyweight division with ease because he was so much better than them. It’s not even Jones’ fault. He’s decisively beat all the guys who could’ve or were competitive with him. He can only fight who’s there and Smith has earned a crack. I just think he’s going to Goldberg him. If Smith somehow pulled this off, to me it would be a bigger upset than Matt Serra beating GSP. He’s a good fighter but he’s several levels below Cormier and Gustafsson. And we’ve seen they’re a level or two below Jones. It’s going to get ugly for Smith quick, I reckon. Still, he’ll be game if nothing else. I’d rather Jones vs Smith than Jones vs Corey Anderson. Although we might see that as well this year. 

[ColinBollocks]

Things can happen and that, but I agree with Corey Anderson that, realistically, Smith only had one good win last year. As wand says, Rashad and Shogun, while names, are so past it that you can't be taking those victories all that seriously. 'No Time' was properly exposed against DC, so the shine is off him for the moment as well.

You fully understand why Jones is trying to bate DC into another fight because he's got no real competition at the moment; no one that draws too. I can see Jones cashing in at LHW for at least the year (after all, he's needs that championship coin after throwing all his potential money away) before considering HW. Thing is, are his fights going to do any bigger business if he moves up? Only really DC and Brock will move the needle with him. The die hards would be into them doing a GOAT match v Stipe/Cain, but we know Stipe doesn't do business and Cain has been so inactive that you have no idea if he's still relevant.

He must be praying Handsome Luke doesn't bugger it up. It's not breaking records that fight, but it's something.

Talking of business, the chatter is this show did around 700,000 buys.

[weevil]

On 1/11/2019 at 4:32 PM, ColinBollocks said:

Things can happen and that, but I agree with Corey Anderson that, realistically, Smith only had one good win last year.

Wait. Anderson doesn't consider Rua, who was on a three fight win streak that includes beating Anderson, to be a good win? Sure he's past his prime, but apart from Smith he hasn't lost since 2014, and I think I'm right in saying that everyone else who beat him has at least fought for the title.

[ColinBollocks]

Shogun isn't the Shogun, though, is he. Shogun beat Anderson nearly three years ago now. Since then, Shogun has had three fights and his record is 2-1, he's ranked no. 13 in a fairly shallow LHW division. We all love Shogun but he's not a top 10 fighter anymore and, again, this is during a bit of a lifeless period for the division. When Shogun steps up a level he gets butchered, which is what happened with Smith.

Corey Anderson had a bit of a ropey 16-17, as he lost to Shogun, Manuwa and OSP. However, to his credit, he's 3-0 in 2018. Beating some good top 10 talent along the way. It's why he's annoyed because he thinks overall he's got the better win record in 2018.