I think people forget that Francis took the Stipe fight on roughly 6 weeks notice and unfortunately he used that time to visit Paris instead of train... I would really like to see a fully prepared Ngannou in a title fight.
JDS has all of the problems you DONT want to have against Francis. I knew he’d get clobbered the second he turned his back and ran like he’s done in every other fight haha.
JDS was like “not to take anything away from Francis, but I sort of gave him the fight.” Uh, that’s one way to say I missed a really not smart punch then did a really not smart turn and then got punched really hard in the face for it.
DC's new show is incredible. A perfect tool to show new fans who don't understand technique. Just a home run from ESPN.
Assuming there's none of the traditional fight week fuckery, I'm going with Jones/Nunes/Masvidal/Rockhold/Chiesa this weekend. Hope Gil can get a win and retire on top.
We're landing on opposite ends of the strip here for the most part. I'm going with Jones, Holm, Askren, Blachowicz, and Sanchez. I will say that I am just openly a huge fan of Holly and would love to see her take the belt one more time, but I recognize that Nunes will be a super tough opponent. Sanchez is up against the wall with Chiesa. He's lanky, could be smart with his technique and wear Diego down, but I think Diego is the most entertaining when he's under pressure. All around an excellent fight card. I am likely going to be watching this on my phone whilst also attending Have Heart's reunion show this weekend.
Never say never! I refuse to ever go into any fight saying somebody is 100% going to win. Santos is no pushover, he could very well catch Jones with something big. The real question is will he show up with the level changes he's shown against his last handful of opponents at LHW, or will he go in guns blazing and get shut down lol.
I do think Santos will be a lot more aggressive than Smith was or most of Jones’ previous opponents. But with that said: he probably gets finished lol Did put a few bucks on Santos though so hoping he can shock the world
Jones' last few opponents haven't fought him smart though. He's beatable, we've seen him under pressure before. He's just very good at everything so you have to come to the table with more than just one game plan. Feel like the closest we've ever seen him to losing was against Vitor (who was seconds away from breaking his arm) and Jon miraculously figured out how to prevent more pressure being added.
Santos is dangerous, but of course Jones should be the obvious pick here. He can always get caught and it's probably bound to happen eventually, but man, the guy is just so good that I don't think anyone can beat him twice. If Santos happens to land something big, I would still favor Jones in the rematch. haha. I hope we just at least get an exciting fight from Jones. Smith fought him almost completely defensively. He successfully shut down most of Jon's offense, but it forced him to pretty much just fight not to lose. I don't see that being the case with this fight.
Definitely not. I don't think Santos enjoys the long fight game plan. I don't see us watching outside 3 rounds.