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Kinda the same. I dont see how anyone could beat JJ in lhvw or hvw. He is in a very confortable spot. He can easily outwrestle all the strikers and outstrike all the wrestlers that could potentially give him a run for his money. Basically he can dictate where the fight takes place, pretty much at will.
a
I mean, someoine like Ngannou probably had a shot but he's off the table now. Stipe? Could be, but i do not see it. I always have this feeling that Jon Jones is a bit like Salvador Sanchez in boxing. The kind of fighter that faces a 5, beats him performing like a 6 etc. You watch the fight and think ' he's not that good, XYZ could probably take him'. But then you see him face a 10 and see how he puts on an 11 (!) performance and realize he is just regulating his effort, so to speak. The level of the opponent he faces determines, way more than for others, what he does.
That's one of the things i kinda 'hate' about some of my favourite fighters, namely GSP, Khabib and JJ. It's as if we'll never be able to see their true peak because in order to do so you would need to see them fail. Friend of mine did some amateur rally back in the day. He told me something i'll never forget: ' in some curves order to know how fast i can take a curve i need to be willing to pass that limit and that means crashing the car at least once. In order to know the limit i need to cross the limit first (in training/under controller circumstances, whatever). Otherwise i would never know. I could guess, but i wouldnt know. Passing the limit and failing is precisely what determines the limit'. Not always, but i thought the argument had a lot of merit in many situations.
kinda the same principle applies here.
All of them (AV, GSP, JJ) dominated their weightclass but could have jumped up categories. And did not. Let me repeat that. They could have done that and chose not to. At their peak, they chose not to.
They wanted their legacy things. Please dont mention Bisping and GSP. Please, dont.
You couldnt say the same about, dunno, Volk, Anderson Silva, BJ Penn or Fedor (Fedor was already at hw, but he never showed any signs of having issues facing bigger/heavier opponents). These guys looked for challanges that seemed somewhat ridiculous and they faced them head on.
They all faced defeat, went back to the drawing board and came back. They were not afraid to lose, they took chances. I have to give them credit for that.
Basically the difference between the first group and the second group is the question 'what could have been'. The ones in the second group made a geniune and sincere effort, AT THEIR PEAKS, to answer that question. GSP could have tried to face Anderson. Khabib could have tried to face Usman. Jones could have gone after dos Santos or Velasquez.
They didnt. Not saying there is anythign wrong with their legacy. The problem is the guys in the second list actually tried to do that. If there is some worth in that then they deserve credit.
I always wondered why journos never cornered them with that question. When a fighter says 'who is gonna beat me? I've cleared the division' reply, quickly and loudly 'if you are that dominant and want a challenge move up a weight class'. Pound that until it hurts. Relentlessly.
And again, there are precedents. Tons. And it's not as if i am asking mighty mouse to fight Ngannou. One weightclass champ to move up on division, ffs.
Just picture it for a second, the fights: usman vs khabib, gsp vs anderson, etc. Could have been the best fights ever. That's why, in my book, going for the starts like Anderson or AV has to be credited, even when they fail.
And again, Khabib and GSP are arguably two of my fav fighters ever, but people like anderson and alex have this, which they don't. It'd be disingenuous for me to say otherwise
Not sure where would i put Islam in this respect. Part of me wants to put him in the second group but he needs to move up a weight class to earn that. At least in my book.
a
I mean, someoine like Ngannou probably had a shot but he's off the table now. Stipe? Could be, but i do not see it. I always have this feeling that Jon Jones is a bit like Salvador Sanchez in boxing. The kind of fighter that faces a 5, beats him performing like a 6 etc. You watch the fight and think ' he's not that good, XYZ could probably take him'. But then you see him face a 10 and see how he puts on an 11 (!) performance and realize he is just regulating his effort, so to speak. The level of the opponent he faces determines, way more than for others, what he does.
That's one of the things i kinda 'hate' about some of my favourite fighters, namely GSP, Khabib and JJ. It's as if we'll never be able to see their true peak because in order to do so you would need to see them fail. Friend of mine did some amateur rally back in the day. He told me something i'll never forget: ' in some curves order to know how fast i can take a curve i need to be willing to pass that limit and that means crashing the car at least once. In order to know the limit i need to cross the limit first (in training/under controller circumstances, whatever). Otherwise i would never know. I could guess, but i wouldnt know. Passing the limit and failing is precisely what determines the limit'. Not always, but i thought the argument had a lot of merit in many situations.
kinda the same principle applies here.
All of them (AV, GSP, JJ) dominated their weightclass but could have jumped up categories. And did not. Let me repeat that. They could have done that and chose not to. At their peak, they chose not to.
They wanted their legacy things. Please dont mention Bisping and GSP. Please, dont.
You couldnt say the same about, dunno, Volk, Anderson Silva, BJ Penn or Fedor (Fedor was already at hw, but he never showed any signs of having issues facing bigger/heavier opponents). These guys looked for challanges that seemed somewhat ridiculous and they faced them head on.
They all faced defeat, went back to the drawing board and came back. They were not afraid to lose, they took chances. I have to give them credit for that.
Basically the difference between the first group and the second group is the question 'what could have been'. The ones in the second group made a geniune and sincere effort, AT THEIR PEAKS, to answer that question. GSP could have tried to face Anderson. Khabib could have tried to face Usman. Jones could have gone after dos Santos or Velasquez.
They didnt. Not saying there is anythign wrong with their legacy. The problem is the guys in the second list actually tried to do that. If there is some worth in that then they deserve credit.
I always wondered why journos never cornered them with that question. When a fighter says 'who is gonna beat me? I've cleared the division' reply, quickly and loudly 'if you are that dominant and want a challenge move up a weight class'. Pound that until it hurts. Relentlessly.
And again, there are precedents. Tons. And it's not as if i am asking mighty mouse to fight Ngannou. One weightclass champ to move up on division, ffs.
Just picture it for a second, the fights: usman vs khabib, gsp vs anderson, etc. Could have been the best fights ever. That's why, in my book, going for the starts like Anderson or AV has to be credited, even when they fail.
And again, Khabib and GSP are arguably two of my fav fighters ever, but people like anderson and alex have this, which they don't. It'd be disingenuous for me to say otherwise
Not sure where would i put Islam in this respect. Part of me wants to put him in the second group but he needs to move up a weight class to earn that. At least in my book.
I was much more "for" him
