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After dominating Ryan Bader in a second-round submission win at UFC 126, Jon Jones was awarded a surprise shot at light heavyweight champ Mauricio Shogun Rua at UFC 128 in March with original challenger Rashad Evans sidelined by a knee injury.
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Rashad is such an idiot, he should have fight since ufc 114.
Sucks to be Rashad, cause if Bones wins who does Rashad fight? Personally, I would of pulled Rampage out of his next fight to rematch Shogun. Thats a better fight IMO.
how exactly is he an idiot?
I realy liked how Jon Jones represented Christ when he won his last victory. I can do all things threw Christ who strengthens me.
Much respect to Jones btw for manhandling his way to the #2 spot.
Jones has all the taent in the word I just hope at 23 this isn’t too soon for him. With his size, striking, and elusiveness the only thing that could work against him is inexperience.
“talent” “world”
I think his “L” button must not work. LOL
jones is gonna be the next anderson silva? likely.
Except he’ll actually be entertaining to watch.
Lol..this was real time live drama by the UFC..great setup..if Bone’s wins the fight they are going to give him a title shot..good job by everyone involved by not leaking it
I’m interested to see how Jones handles a top notch striker getting in his face and pressing the action. He’s never really had to deal with that before, and think it’s going to cause him some problems. I still think Jones stands a fair chance at winning the title, but not as easy as some people seem to think.
my thought exactly on the striking. i like both fighters alot, been watching shogun a long time, and been a big bones suporter since his dq to hammel. should be a great fight
How much does Jon Jones train with Rashad? cos I would’ve thought that Jon would be one of the first to know if Rashad had gotten injured before tonights fight.
^that’s a good point but I’m not going to speculate much.
Even though I might get some $hit for this comment I’ll say anyway.
Yes jones won and finished a solid fighter in ryan bader tonight. Yes he’s a hardcore talent. (here come the but..) BUT he is not ready to face SHOGUN. He’s almost in the same boat as fedor was. “who has he fought?” “he hasnt been tested” yet he keeps running through his opponents. I get it. Jones is either not being tested or he IS THAT GOOD and makes it look easy much like Anderson silva. BUT in all honest with no hatorade running through my body HE IS NOT READY and the ufc is using him to fill a spot. Keep in mind, I’m not saying he’s not deserving I’m just saying he hasn’t fought a dude like shogun and he’s one fight too soon before a title shot. He should fight Forrest winner of rampage vs thiago or even winner of machida couture but not shogun for the title. I just think it will be too soon too big and just too much for him to handle. But he’ll I’ve been wrong before so we’ll see.
you said he hasn’t been tested and i agree but i think thats the point of the title shot so that he can be tested. I mean who else is he going to fight? forest? rampage? reshad? silva? I think its hard to give him a top fighter who hasn’t already fought for the title. Because if that top fighter wins then you would end up with a rematch that maybe people might not want to see.
@jazzkok
Just out of curiosity, what good does it do to have a white hot commodity like Jon Jones fight Forrest Griffin and/or Rampage Jackson?
PROMOTIONALLY the smart move is to re-match Griffin and Jackson [assuming he beats T Silva], and have the winner of that fight face the Rua-Jones winner, who IMO will be Jon Jones.
Rua historically underperforms upon returning from medical downtime, and Jones is currently fighting at a level only previously seen in the Matrix.
I often have this problem, but we all need to remember that the UFC is a business, as well as being the engine that drives the sport here in North America.
Dana White looks at this thing and advances Jones into the challengers spot because there is more money to be made with Jones fighting for the title sooner rather than later, ESPECIALLY if he’s going to face a shaky returning titleholder.
Plus Rashad Evans is an…aquired taste, and some more time out of the spotlight will only serve to improve his sketchy popularity.
We all talk about Jon Jones’ speed, Jon Jones’ athleticism, Jon Jones’ in-cage creativity, and so on.
One thing we shouldn’t overlook is Jon Jones promotability.
Jones is a young, humble, spiritual, good looking fighter with ability previously unseen at 205, and maybe unseen anywhere in MMA.
There is no way in a slow economy that a savvy businessman like DW shelves a property like Jones in a nothing-happening fight with old faces like Griffin and Jackson.
Today’s MMA casual fanbase is always looking for “the next big thing”.
And Dana White is going to give it to them in the form of Jon Jones, mainly because there isn’t anyone else with his potential for greatness in the cage and promotional power outside of the cage…
jones could have known rashad was hurt, but not known he was being thought of as a replacement.
I completely disagree with the statement above. I believe Bones has the potential of winning the title np. yea shogun can put pressure but jones is a great wresler i think he can handle it fine. he just has to work on his striking for the next month and he stands a excellent chance. that will be such a good fight im so pumpd to see this live
I do like this fight, but I would almost rather see Griffin get the shot, or Rampage. Griffin beat Shogun, and it was a war. Shogun seems to have much better cardio now, so it would be interesting. I know Forrest has only won 1 fight in the past 14 months, but I just think Jones needs to fight a “top 3″ guy and see if he can pass that test.
Just not sure if he deserves it at this point. All that being said, I do think Bones will be a champion one day.
But i’m excited for anyone they put in there with Shogun. Should be a great fight!
i felt bad for franklin in that fight, in this fight he was obviously to small. Griffen just man handle his way to a victory.
jones doesnt deserve a shot plain and simple Rampage and Griffin must be pissed
Maybe Jackson and Griffin will re-match in a big money fight for the right to face the Rua-Jones winner…
Assuming of course that Jackson beats Thiago Silva, and assuming that fight doesn’t get scrapped in the process of the 205 divisional “re-ordering”…
Why doesn’t a dominant young fighter with a 12-1 record deserve a title shot? Should we wait until he’s 14-1, in your opinion? What magic number of fights does he need to win in order to be considered worthy? Everyone agrees he’s got talent through the roof- put him in with the champ, should make for an exciting fight.
Yeah I don’t think Bones Jones deserves it at this point, he’s really only beaten Ryan Bader.
Honestly, I think Bones Jones may come up on the short end here, but pull a GSP and take it, learn from it, and one day perhaps get another shot and win that title.
Then again, anything can happen in the octagon.
I have to disagree that Bader is the only person Jones has beaten. Although his former victims in the UFC (Bonner, Hammil, Vera, Matyushanko)weren’t elite compotition, they certainly weren’t pushovers, even though Jones made it look like such. Any one of those guys would be top notch compotion in any other organization. I don’t disagree that Jones isn’t ready for/deserves the title shot just yet. I think He needs a big win over a top 5 fighter, which he has yet to face, before being thrown to wolves. As I stated earlier, I still think Jones will do well against Shogun, an could potentially win the fight, but I think he’s going to have a tough time dealing with a world class striker getting in his face and pressing the action.
So happy for Jones with this one :) He deserves it pureley on his talent and the scope of what will be a legendary career… Was gob smacked he got it. The way he carries himself and the head of steam he has going into any fight pushes him in to challenge shogun.
I honestly do not care who wins because no matter what this will make Jones!!!
Maybe its all part of Dana’s evil plan to get people from the same camps fighting each other…JK. If Bones wins, where does that put Rashad, will Jackson’s camp fight themselves? It would be very interesting to see the pecking order of contenders once Rashad is back and if Bones wins.
shogun vs JJ.
matrix vs matrix.
@jcohl
couldn’t agree more with you. this fight makes total sense at this time. I like the rampage/griffin rematch idea that maybe should’ve already happened by now. I understand the questions as to whether Jones is ready now or not, he’s fought some tough guys, and no disrespect to Bader, but this was Baders toughest fight, and he got worked, but make no mistake, Bader is no Shogun at this time. How will Jones react when he gets hit with a nasty leg kick like no other, and someone who hits as hard as shogun? We’ll see, but this fight is perfect and perfect time to start really promoting Jones!
Sugar Rashad is fck3d! He made a foolish move. Now he have to sacrifice a ton of $$. He was waiting for Rua for long time and by this time he can fight at least one match and pocket some money. His title fight dream is gone for the time being. Now end up paying the medical fees and insurance etc BS. Then recovery and train from the beginning. Once he comes back we don’t know whether he will be give the opportunity to fight for the title again! He is in a total loss-loss situation. Seriously Rashad if u think u r the best in the world then u shouldn’t have problem fighting anyone anytime rather than waiting greedily for the gold.
unfortunately for Rashad your right. by the time he gets back he will have not fought for at least 2 years, and by then he’ll have to fight a big fight to get back at title shot, and 2 years and ring rust isn’t a good combination. He made huge mistake not taking another fight a while back when it was offered. He’s got a long ways to go to come back, and i think he’s in for a rude awakening when he returns. to early to predict who he’ll fight but it won’t be a title shot, and it won’t be somebody that he can just walk through. Rashad was so arrogant about fighting shogun and fighting his title fight that something like this was bound to happen to him.
I love jones with a passion. i understand the situation and why they gave bones the shot at the title. I think he has beaten great fighters (bonnar, practically beat Hammil) and beating Bader was beating someone on the same tearing pace as him. However, i wish that he had gotten to fight a former champion kinda guy before getting this shot, but again i see the need to give him his shot
Jones will run through Shogun exactly like he did Bader. He’s in too good of a camp and too smart to try and stand with Rua. He will get him to the ground and choke him out guarantee it. I think Couture would ne the biggest threat stylistically to Jones although I don’t see that fight happening.
ur correct, except i think Rampage would be the biggest threat against Jones, but i understand ur point of view.
I see a dialled in Machida posing big problems for Jones…
Shogun definitely is a major jump in calibre of fighters for jones. jones-rua will be a defining fight for both guys. Personally I’ll always root for shogun. he’s an amazing fighter and such a great ambassador for the sport.
Dont know about the couture thing but I agree with u 100%.
Honestly, i thought his fight with Matt Hammill was good enough to get a title shot. Who else could do to Matt Hammill wat Jones did to him. Nobody. but then he backed it up against his next three opponents.
Personally i think Shogun isn’t ready for Jones, because his biggest win is probably Rampage, who couldn’t beat Forrest, who barely beat Franklin, who barely beat Hammill, who got destroyed by Jones.