Anderson Silva vs Jones, @ LHW
 

Who wins?

What do you guys think?

This fight is a bad idea. Shogun has the best transitions on the ground in MMA and has vicious stand up. I know Bones has creative stand up and good wrestling, but he's extremely raw. He will get it to the ground, get swept and knocked unconscious imo. Shogun is a completely different animal than Bader. Jones is too young and not ready.


Edit: damn I'm retarded.

Anderson destroys Jones as well.

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

Da Silva by reaping theep to the face...oh wait

This

Yeah, I just read this this morning, and was disappointed. It makes a lot more sense for Rampage/Shogun to happen than Jones/Shogun. Oh well, Jones is smart enough not to turn down such a huge opportunity, although I agree, he could use more experience and maturity. Will be a fight I look forward to.

I actually think Bones has a better chance against Shogun than rampage does...but I don't know if he can consistently perform at the elite level yet. But for the record, I do not believe rampage can consistently perform at the elite level. At least, not more than once or twice a year, apparently.

rh

I don't see anything wrong with turning down a title fight when you're already 45 pounds over weight with only 6 weeks to prepare, and the fight is against a guy you already have a haunting loss against. Not to mention Rampage took the first fight injured. I think it was very smart of Rampage to not accept the fight so he can get ready for Thiago. If he runs through Thiago I could see him campaigning for a title shot.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be stupid for him to fight Shogun [in general] or to take a fight six weeks out when he's closer to SHW than LHW.

I have an issue with him only fighting 6 times in the 4 years since he KO'd Chuck, and being--I think he is, anyway--the highest paid LHW while he's cherrypicking fights.

He'll be the first one to complain if he's taken out of contention due to inactivity and given a hungry B level opponent, but he's not doing anything to keep himself in shape if something comes up and the UFC needs to rely on him to produce at the level at which they're paying him.

rh