To start, I think Jon is the best fighter…not just ever, but currently. I think his issue lately isn’t that he’s lost a step, it’s that he gets a little too comfortable in there and fights at the pace of his opponents.
So if someone keeps it at kickboxing range and they’re trading shots but Jon isn’t taking damage, he’ll stay at that range, and fight the pace the opponent is fighting. He assumes he’s winning, and if he’s not taking damage or being pushed really hard, he coasts. He always has a wrestling advantage, but rarely uses it lately. His ground and pound and BJJ is excellent as well, but he rarely uses either lately.
So when I say he should take note of how Jan fought…the first 3 rounds were close, and all took place at kickboxing range. Jan probably felt pretty good, and was up on the judges cards 2-1. If he kept doing what he was doing, he might have won…but as we saw, Izzy was the fresher fighter late, has gone 5 rounds before (Jan hasn’t) and it’s not crazy to think Jan would fade, and Izzy takes the last two rounds if it was fought standing up.
Jan did the smart thing, took Izzy down, and grinded out the clear, obvious win…and made it look easy. Izzy never came close to getting out from underneath him, and Jan isn’t close to as good on the mat as Jon. With the way Jon has been fighting lately, he would have kept that fight standing and likely squeaked out a decision that everyone bitched about.
Or he just wrestle fucks Izzy into oblivion from the jump....
Izzy, or anyone he runs into at HWT. Seems like he’s fighting the winner of Stipe and Francis…if it’s Stipe, don’t kickbox with him for 5 rounds and hope to win a close decision. Push him into the fence, take him down, grind on him, and make sure you’re banking rounds, or working for a finish…and if it’s Francis, don’t stand with him at all. He’s shown he can be taken down easily by guys who wrestle him, and if Jon gets the positions Stipe did, he’ll get a choke and get him out of there. Fuck trying to stand with that guy.
Jones and Yzzy can’t be in the same sentence, Jones would finish him and quickly, and most of us fall in the hype tittrain, even DC could stop commentating for a second by leaving his table and still would clean the Octogon’s floor with Isreal without a much effort
Jones and Yzzy can’t be in the same sentence, Jones would finish him and quickly, and most of us fall in the hype tittrain, even DC could stop commentating for a second by leaving his table and still would clean the Octogon’s floor with Isreal without a much effort
I should have clarified in my OP, it’s not about Izzy. It’s about the way Jon has been fighting in general, and how he should approach HWT. The way he fought Reyes, Smith and Santos was fucking stupid, and if there are guys he’s doing a little better than in the standup, but he knows he’s miles better on the mat, don’t risk losing a close decision by keeping it standing. Take a guy down and either get him out of there, or dominate enough to make the decision obvious.