Jones vs. Johnson

This is the official discussion thread for Jones vs. Johnson. Let's see what you've got.

With Aldo-McGregor reportedly being pushed to mid-summer, this one's rumored to take its place in May. I like the quick turnarounds.

I'll be rooting for Rumble, but I can't pick against Jones.  

I thought that Rumble had the potential to beat Jones when he was outside of the UFC fighting at LHW and even HW. No one in the division has power like him. He closes distance well and his blitzes are like no other. If any man in the division can finish Jones, not even knock him out, just finish him at all, it's Anthony Johnson. His power is a game changer. If Rumble can land within the first round or two and gain Jones' respect, this could be a highly competitive fight. 

Also; Rumble has very underrated cardio and takedown defense. On paper, this is one of Jones' toughest tests to date. Cannot wait for this.

Thing that impressive me with Johnson was his speed. He is very fast.  If Johnson able to land shots like cormier was able too, this fight could turn out in his favor. My issue with Johnson is he always been mentally weak. He seems mentally stronger now, but I would not favor him if this fight goes into deep rounds. I think he needs to aim for an early finish, within the first three rounds. If he lets this go into later rounds and becomes a battle of wills, he will surely lose. However I will say he does possess the tools to take Jones out and will be extremely dangerous in the early rounds. 

* Edited at 01.28.2015, 5:58 PM ET *

Anthony Johnson is going to get beat up by Jon Jones.

I mean, yea he's got a ****load of power and as he showed against Phil Davis, he's an excellent ring cutter and his sheer strength and speed allow him to shrug off takedowns from all kinds of fighters.

Against Alexander Gustafsson he demonstrated his ability to fight off the counter, which for a guy who fights as aggressive as he does, changes everything. It makes him so much more versatile as a striker.

Now what is my problem with him? I really don't like the sloppiness of his striking. That ******* high kick he throws is ugly as ****, I don't even understand how he got so many fighters to walk into it. But my major problem with Anthony Johnson is his footwork.

Yeah he was able to cut the ring off against Gustafsson, which basically makes him the best ring-cutter in the entire division. But the way he squares up when he starts to throw those bombs...it's reminiscent of Mike Tyson and the way he'd cut people off to just hammer them from both sides.

Now comparing him to Mike Tyson might sound like a good thing, and it is...just not against Jon Jones. Jones is at his best when fighters try to walk through him to get past the reach and go inside; that is just not the way to go about fighting Jones. Anthony Johnson is going to do just that, and pair that with that squared up stance and it's going to look like Jon Jones is going to have an easy time hitting Johnson.

The thing is that we've never seen Jones fight an athlete like Johnson before, which makes this a little bit more interesting than it should be. But I have faith that come fight night, Jones will walk out still champion.

I know everyone will be trying to talk themselves into why Rumble has such a great chance of beating Jones but let's be honest. He has a punchers chance and that's about it. He's not going to take Jones down. He's definitely not going to submit Jones. That leaves you pretty much one dimensional against the greatest fighter on the planet. That makes his task even more difficult then it already is. And yes Rumble has crazy power that can put down anyone if he connects. But you don't think Jones knows that? Greg Jackson? Mike Winklejohn? These guys are masters of identifying tendencies and weaknesses in other fighters. Jones will be 100% prepared going into this fight for anything Rumble does. 

People love to talk about how strong Rumble is too. And for good reason he's a beast. But let's not forget what DC a HW who's exceptionally strong himself said about Jones. "He felt much bigger and stronger then he looks once I was actually in the cage with him" so I don't think that will be much of a factor either.  

@cthulhu the sport has evolved so much since Liddell was thee guy. Jones could stand with Rumble for the whole fight and beat him just based off the fact he is a far superior striker. Power doesn't mean you have a high level of striking. 

@CthulhuJones A gameplan of sprawl and brawl against Jon Jones? Think about that for a second, do you honestly think that no one's thought of doing that against Jon before? Personally, I think Jones is a better striker than he is a wrestler to be quite honest, and that's saying something. I don't think wrestling is going to be Jones' focus; I think he'll gladly strike with Johnson.

There were plenty of one dimensional fighters back in the day when Chuck fought, but Chuck was the champ 10 years ago. Look at all the MALE (not female because WMMA hasn't grown to that level yet, it just hasn't been around long enough) champions today and tell me how many of them are one dimensional fighters.

Mighty Mouse? Nope, he's an elite wrestler but he's arguably a better striker.
TJ Dillashaw? Nope, same story with him.
Jose Aldo? Nope, he has some of the best wrestling in the division by far.
Anthony Pettis? Nope, he's arguably the best striker in the world but all of his championship fights have been won by submission so far.
Robbie Lawler? He is arguably the best counter-striker in the division but his background is as a wrestler.
Chris Weidman? He's arguably the best striker AND the best grappler in his division, which is quite the accomplishment considering that Lyoto Machida, Jacare Souza and Gegard Mousasi are all there with him.



You get the point. "Sprawl n' brawl" is not the way to go against the most intelligent fighter in the world.

@p4pgoat True.  But also keep in mind that Johnson is will be working with a guy who fought Jones for the title in Rashad Evans. He will certainly be helping out Johnson in his training camp.  Now does that guarantee Johnson wining the title?  No.  However, it will help when planning out a strategy for the fight; as Johnson can see what areas of the fight he needs focus on and do better at than Evans when he fought Jones.

I agree having Rashad helps Rumble quite a bit. Rashad knows Jones and is a very intelligent fighter in his own right. However one of the most unique things about Jon is from one fight to the next how much he evolves. Different techniques, different subtle changes in his style. He's always got his opponent guessing. Is he going to take me down? What strike is he going to throw next? Rumble is going to see Jones do at least a couple things he's never done before. Besides for his freakish athletic gifts his unpredictability makes it so difficult to prepare for. Because of this Jones dictates everything about the fight and his opponent becomes totally reactionary. 

@cthulhu asking how you are supposed to fight Jones is a question everyone has asked and nobody has the answer to. Sprawl and brawl would indicate that Jones would even go for a TD and there is no guarantee of that. Brawling with him has proven not to work. Guys that do that get picked apart or choked unconscious. My opinion on how you fight Jones is to be as close to being as well rounded as he is. You can't be a specialist and expect to beat guys like Jon Jones or GSP who are elite everywhere. Pressure and mixing it up is your best bet. Don't let him get comfortable for even a second. Look at how Gus fought him. He put constant pressure on Jones and didn't let him breathe. He was unpredictable and went for TD's when nobody including Jones thought that would happen. He knew even if he didn't get one he put the threat of a TD in Jones' head. Gus threw a multitude of strikes and Jones was always guessing what the next one would be. I don't know if Rumble has the ability to do the same but I can't wait to find out.

I don't think Rumble can beat Jones twice, which he'll have to do because of Jones' long reign. I can see him catching Jones though. Maybe not finish him, but at least put him in some kind of danger. If it goes the full 5, Johnson will probably get him at least once similar to GSP/Condit or Moraga/Mighty Mouse.

* Edited at 01.28.2015, 9:22 PM ET *

I wonder, should Johnson lose this fight, if Dana would try and convince Dos Santos to come down to 205 and face Jones for the title?

Jones has beaten most of the contenders at 205, and since Dos Santos' career is somewhat stagnant at 265 right now, I wonder if Dos Santos would be interested fighting for a title in 205 against an elite fighter like Jones while he still has a decent chin (as I doubt Dos Santos will ever get another shot at Velasquez for the belt at 265).

* Edited at 01.28.2015, 9:31 PM ET *

Yeah, I'm not sure he could make that. He doesn't have a lot of extra baggage. If you look at his legs, elbows and neck, he has a really big frame. Makes more sense for Rumble to fight JDS at HW (since Rumble already has a HW win over a UFC fighter) That would be a fun fight.