Randy Couture was a really dirty fighter but still one of the most loved guys around. Most notably he would try and make his head land on faces when he would do waistlock takedowns. I maybe a bit of a hypocrite when I do agree on bending the rules as much as possible to win though. What is the difference between Randy and Jones is that Randy is very open and honest as to who he is. (Unless in 20yrs we find out he's uber evil). Jones like what PAS says tho, big old mean streak whilst trying to hide it with a certain personality. If you watch the post fight (i usually post it but Cerrone is constantly swearing)...Jones is just kinda creepy with the way he speaks. Here's another post fight interview : UFC 182: Jon Jones Backstage Interview: http://youtu.be/i-Gcmtvz03g
I think the difference there is a that Couture was an older guy often fighting younger or bigger men (Vitor, Timmy, Lesnar). Whereas Jones is quite literally in his prime and often fighting older men and smaller (not in weight obviously) men (Shogun, Hendo etc). The dynamic seems different. And I think it's the nature of Jones' dirty tactics that rub people up the wrong way. A sneaky headbutt during transition or takedown just isn't he same as putting your finger in people's eyes or stamping on joints. Especially if you are clearly the more physically gifted fighter already. The potential effects aren't as bad and career changing/ending.
Back to the other fights, Cerrone reminded everyone that he has great submission game, which he show cased more in WEC. He wasn't happy with Miles Jury's reluctance to engage hence the harsh leg kicks. Fury on his back, knees up and Cerrone just doing big wind up kicks. Reminded me of Pride when this was widely used tactic. Its was widely used in general but I haven't seen it for a while. When in that position, people tend to go for a guard pass, instead of kicking the legs about. Saying that, Jury didn't seem to bothered about them.
The Cerrone fight was fun as always, but I expect we'll see more of those grounded leg kicks now. You could keep someone there for a while and the referee isn't going to let them up if you're hammering them. I bet they hurt a lot.
I think Cerrone probably felt some as much as Jury. He just didn't give a monkey's where he was landing those kicks. Shin to shin, knees, hips, etc. Good vid of it. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUmeS-JoJbg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUmeS-JoJbg[/ame] Really like how much Cerrone used his head in the kick to get power and momentum. Not many people get that little detail in a hard kick.
Yeah, but he's scoring and Jury isn't and I'd bet Cerrone has better conditioned shins than Jury. It also looks impressive.
Agreed. I am not a fan of Jones and this is one of the reasons why. But I acknowledge he is a darn excellent fighter.
Agree with people saying the most likely way to beat Jones seems to be pressure. Good as he is, his boxing defence isn't very good. If they can find someone who isn't going to get too flustered by the reach while still being a technical striker it could be interesting.
To be fair to Jones- and I'm not his biggest fan- that 12-6 elbow rule is ridiculous- put in because when they were sanctioning MMA in the states some idiots saw videos of people breaking cinder blocks with downward elbow strikes and decided the move was too deadly for the sport. The fight was also early in his career and he didn't seem to know it was illegal. On top of that, when the ref asked Hammil if he could continue, he said no due to an injured shoulder from the throw that put him on the ground, not quite understanding the question due to the fact that he is deaf. That quite ineffective 12-6 elbow Jones threw should have resulted in a point deduction at worst. Not DQ. The whole thing was a cluster due to a number of factors. I'm not saying Jones doesn't have issues. The eyepoke thing is clearly a problem, but the criticism should be fair.
The DQ was by the rules. The fight was finished (ie, the ref stopped it) due to an illegal blow. That's a NC at best and a DQ at worst and Jones shot himself in the foot by seemingly not knowing it was a foul which means he deliberately threw it which is a DQ. The fact Hamil was beat anyway is an unfortunate but ultimately irrelevant point.
I agree it's ridiculous, but that's not where the rule came from: http://mmajunkie.com/2014/01/the-strange-story-of-mmas-most-misunderstood-illegal-elbow-strike Not knowing the rules is not an excuse. The referee can only base his decisions on the information available to him. If Hammil couldn't continue because of his shoulder, he should have made that clear - he knew exactly why the question was being asked.
Fact is- recordwise - he was DQ'd in that fight due to that elbow. Someone asked if he had been DQ'd - not if I thought it was justified or not. Although, the rules are the rules and he broke them, so I think I support the decision.
Hammil later said he did not know exactly the question being asked. Also, I agree that not knowing the rules is not an excuse... But again, I don't think that elbow should have resulted in a DQ. Adding to that, had Hammil not been deaf, and understood the question better, then the ruling probably would not happened. In fact there have been plenty of occasions in the UFC where one fighter is hitting another with 12-6 elbows and the ref just says 'no 12-6.' No threat of DQ, not even a threat of a point being deducted, just more of a casual reminder. Don't get me wrong, it's a DQ, it's legit... but saying "Jones is a dirty fighter, he's already been DQ once for fighting dirty," completely ignores the facts of his disqualification. I think he needs to clean up the eyepokes. I don't think they are intentional but he needs to work on not extending his fingers when he uses that lead hand to check range. I think Herb Dean did a good job saying if there was another eye poke he would deduct a point. That kind of thing will force Jones to clean up his game, especially in hard fought fights like his previous one with Gus.
The eye pokes absolutely are intentional. Jones is a precise and accurate striker. He doesn't suddenly get all clumsy and clueless when his fingers are out. He sticks his fingers out knowing full well doing so makes his opponents reluctant to close distance. He simply doesn't care one way or the other whether they end up in someone's eye socket. I don't know why more fighters don't just hoof him in the pods when he does it. See how intentional they really are when there's some actual repercussions for doing it.
This is exactly what I'm thinking. They've happened so much during his career that it goes beyond accidental. It's not like a fighter of his calibre couldn't avoid them either. I'd wager he does it because he knows he can get away with it and not get penalised. I know it's draconian but based on the sheer number of times he's done that during his career, I would not lose any sleep at all if he was DQed in the next match he does it first time.
