Coming down from HW, I just feel he is so much stronger than Jones. Maybe I'm crazy. Striking wise he is less versatile but I think more powerful. Jones is more athletic. Thoughts ?
The odds are relatively short. Jones is a less than 2-1 favourite and DC only a 1.5-to-1 dog. The oddsmakers don't really know how this fight will go so they are slanting it towards the champ. Jones will have a 12" reach advantage and is eight years younger. I can see why he'd be the favourite.
I agree. Cormier has the mental edge too IMHO. I think what's gonna happen is Cormier is gonna push the whole fight, dirty boxing inside and a lot of Takedown attempts. Jones hasn't fought a guy like Cormier before.
Jones has gone through quite the gauntlet in the lhw division. I think Cormier has a good shot, but I think Jones beats him. Jones reach advantage, age difference, and cardio advantage lean me towards him. But you have to think Jones will eventually lose. Everyone does. The Matt hamill fight doesnt count People say it's a different world when you're in the octagon with Jones. I thought rashad Evans could have fought him better than anyone with his speed and wrestling, but once he got in the cage with him he seemed scared to get close to him.
Reach and age are great advantages, don't get me wrong. I'll expand a little more on my train of thought here now that I'm posting from a computer and not my phone. Cormier is a very big, very strong man. Just because he is fighting at LHW now doesn't mean that he's lost much strength. We saw him absolutely rag doll some huge HW's and we saw him rag doll Hendo, who even though is a small LHW and a natural MW, is known as on of the strongest P4P fighters in the history of the sport. Now Jones is no easy fight and has deserved the title as the LHW king right now, but I just see DC being able to push Jones around, close the distance because Jones doesn't have 1 punch KO power, clinch, dirty box (nasty uppercuts) and ultimately grind out a decision victory or late TKO victory. Maybe I am overrating DC's strength.
As long as Jones uses his reach advantage, his cardio will take care of Cormier. I don't see Cormier being able to take Jones down.
Cormier did as well as anyone has thus far at getting inside of JJ. He did well dirty boxing early but was also taking his share of damage. DC wasn't able to finish him though and Jones separated himself in rounds 4/5. Hell of a win for JJ and it shouldn't be overlooked. DC is an incredible fighter and a load for anyone to deal with. Jones won the wrestling battle decisively which is insane considering DC's background and body type. The rest of the card was awful.
Well...I thought wrong, lol. DC took too many body shots and I think it slowed him down. He had Jones in a dog fight but gassed out.
This wasn't a wolf tickets fight. DC stood a chance. The obvious difference between Gusto and JJ's other opponents is size. The playing field is much more even when Jones isn't the bigger man.
Jones said he wanted to beat DC at his style of fighting and he obliged DC by not fighting from distance. I think he could have used the jab a lot more if he wanted to. It's quite impressive (and arrogant) that Jones wants to beat opponents at their style of fighting.
GSP boxed Diaz and grappled Penn. When you get to a certain level just winning isn't enough. Letting the opponent use his best weapons and shutting him down in his game is more satisfying.
