[rivethead]

If they fight within a year, Anderson has the ability to pick him apart with more fluid striking, experience and the ability to execute a game plan.

If Jones is given time to mature, he's an enormous threat to Anderson at LHW. He's bigger, he's more explosive, he's unorthodox and--something Anderson hasn't seen in his entire career--he's got a significant size advantage over Silva.

I'm not happy Jones is facing Shogun--not only because I really like both fighters and don't want to see either lose--but because I think it's too early in Jon's career for such a huge step up in competition. Even if he beats Shogun--and anything can happen in MMA--I don't see him holding the belt for more than a defense or two simply because he's not a seasoned fighter at this point, and I'd like to see him with another year of experience before he's fighting at the championship level.

I'm not going to take Tatame's word for unabated truth, but if rampage actually did turn down a title shot, fuck him. Why is he fighting if he doesn't want to get the belt back? He's getting paid at the elite level, he should be fighting at the level he's paid at.

rh