What a win/win for Jones. No shame in getting knocked out by Francis, he can always go back down the LHW (with a fat sack of cash) and say he gave it a shot. Or, he could win and walk right into a title shot (another huge payday), maybe even a third fight with DC (biggest payday) if the cards fall right.
Another card where I was killing it with all of my picks but then ended up picking the wrong way in a one-sided main event. haha. I want to have faith that Anthony wasn't gassed because of his corner instructing him to throw at pace that was way too fast but....it kind of seemed to be the case. He didn't look good even by the end of the second round which was about when Glover took over. But also, props to Glover for his fight IQ. If that had been a fighter with less experience, they probably would have unleashed on Smith the second he started to appear hurt. Glover seemed to recognize that he is extremely tough to put away so it was best to just keep fighting at a smart pace and not over-exert himself.
Dana said Glover/Reyes is next. So either Jones/Jan or Jones is going to get his soul taken from Francis
Hate to say it but Jones’ reach and ability to lean far out and counter would make it a fight. If Ngannou lands more than one clean shot on anyone though, they’re in trouble.
Yeah, I agree. Ngannou is a tough one to really gauge because the hype meter is either at 100 or 0. As we saw with Stipe fight, if he doesn’t get a chance to use that freaky “touch of death” power, he doesn’t have much else to fall back on (unless he’s improved since and we just haven’t seen it). Similar to Rumble, in a way. I wouldn’t doubt if Jon was crafty enough to get him to miss for a while until he actually looks human. Haha.
Yeah I believe that Jones would pull as much as he could from the Stipe fight to drain his energy like he has to others. But I’ll be honest, this morning I revisited a bunch of Ngannou’s fights and wow. Despite it looking like him swinging for the fences against Jairzinho, he actually is quite an accurate striker. If he lands clean, the impact is incomparable to anyone else in the Heavyweight division. The only person trying to act like they weren’t shook and still shitting on him is dos Santos. And he submitted Hamilton, while he was pressed against the cage, with a Kimura in good form. Brought him to the mat and pinned him within seconds. His strength is absurd. Bent the arm back like it was a straw. I really don’t know what caused him to be so overly cautious against Lewis, but had he done the same to him I think we would’ve seen him back in a title fight already.
Lewis was the only one that really matched him power for power. It was one of those fights that, on paper, seemed like such a good idea. But when neither guy really has notable wrestling capabilities, it turned into a standoff. I think Jones could keep distance well. Same height, and Jones actually has a longer reach (as much as those matter). Think he'd find success with his kicks, and has funky striking with elbows that could really make things interesting. I'm very confident he could take Ngannou down as well. Ngannou, has that nuclear strength though. I'd for sure be interested in watching it. Beats having Ngannou wait around (if he doesn't want to) and is more interesting for Jon (sorry Dom/Jan).
Happy that we have another fight card tonight that should be a lot of fun. I've realized I don't really like Paul Felder on commentary. He adds very little and doesn't sound confident on the Mic. Would much prefer to just have Anik/Rogan and/or Cormier and Fitzgerald/Bisping as the two teams.
Glad its not just me. Thankfully Bisping dominates most of the color commentary so his contributions are kept to a minimum lol