With the most recent defense of his title, Jon Jones is starting to pop up in GOAT arguments and other "best of all time" conversations. While it might be a little soon to start crowning Jones the greatest of anything yet, there is no denying, despite peoples vein attempts, that he is quickly collecting the wins needed to be given said titles.

With his success Jones has been faced with a large group of people who choose to dislike him for one reason or another. As i go through a news article about Jones i can see anything from a valid argument to plain ole hate. Being a Sonnen fan i have picked up my sword and shield many-a-time to defend Sonnen so i know what the Jones fans are going through. Granted Sonnen tends to give some major ammo for haters to shoot, but there is still some silly things out there. Personally i dislike Jones and the purpose of writing this piece is to see where my dislike stands, Is it blind hate, or logical?

Before i move on let it be known that while i dislike Jones i don't believe he is overrated or any of the other silly reasons people find to dislike him. My dislike for Jones started in the Hammill fight when he started to throw 12-6 elbows and earned himself the first and only loss of his career. At first he stated that he deserved the loss and that he would rebound. So i wrote it off as a fighter who made a mistake and he will learn. However, as he started to make his way through the rankings and started to face stiffer competition i noticed that he tends to use questionable tactics in the cage.

In the Shogun fight Jones griped Rua around the forehead and was dangerously close to his eyes. While it is a legal move to grasp someone around the mouth there is no reason for Jones to have grabbed Shogun around the forehead and risking the eye pokes. At one point in this fight he elbows Shogun in the throat two times and had his forearm or elbow been on Shogun's chin when he tried, then yeah he missed and hit the throat, but that was not the case. Jones was trying to get distance and was pushing on the throat and when Rua would not let go he elbowed him.

Now moving on to the Rampage fight Jones kept his fingers in Jackson's face and a number of times in his eyes. At one point Rampage looked at the referee in order to get Jones to stop extending his fingers in Jackson's face. This was a tactic that he also used in the Machida fight. I would chalk it up to trying to maintain distance, but Jones keeps his fingers fully extended while in someones face shows that he does not care about a possible eye poke. It is a dirty move that he uses to maintain distance and the danger to the other fighters sight shows lack of respect on his part.. Many will argue it is a sport where you are trying to hurt the other person, but very few MMA fighters wish to cause permanent damage to the other.

The last major tactic he uses which i consider questionable is a legal technique so i cannot say he is breaking the rules, but i still consider this to be dirty. The technique in question is a front kick to the knee. In the opening round of the Evans fight Jones attempted a jumping front kick/stomp on Rashad's lead leg. The reason i consider this technique dirty is because it serves no other purpose but to hyper extend the joint and cause major damage. I have taught this technique and have also been kicked by it and the only way this technique can cause any meaningful damage is if it hyper extends the joint and tears it to pieces. Jones tried this a number of times on Rua who was coming off his third knee surgery. It is dangerous and also disgusting to use such a career ending technique on another professional fighter. To me it points to Jones feeling he needs to cause a major injury to the fighter because his skills cannot do the job. Now he isn't the only fighter that uses this as Condit tried to use it a number of times against Rory Macdonald, and of course the terrifying gif that shows Keith Jardene nearly have his knee blown out by Brandon Vera.

Jones has a wide range of skills and dirty tactics like eye poking and knee smashing are not needed yet he still uses them. I dislike Jones because of his lack of in cage respect for the other fighters career. Now i am no fool and know he cannot care for the guys well being as he needs to do some damage, but to throw things that can cause major, and in some cases, career ending damage is just disgusting. I don't care about how he carries himself during interviews because the guy is young and is still trying to get his media legs under him. I am roughly the same age as him and at this point in life we are still trying to find out who we are, so expect him to act a little odd or "fake" om times. A lot of how he acts is him trying to be like head trainer Greg Jackson and until he realizes he is a little cocky and runs with it he will keep coming off as odd and fake. I take issue with some of his actions in the cage, now with my piece said i ask can we all get past the blind hate and look for logical reasons?

It is common knowledge that many of the greatest MMA fighters are from other countries that do not sport English as a first language. From Russia to Brazil, legends have come and gone leaving behind them an amazing career, but yet they never truly connected with fans. Much of it for Fedor was the fact he was never in a UFC cage and Dana White took every chance to curve casuals from ever considering how good he was. Anderson Silva however is a different story.

Anderson was never a huge success until he hit the UFC. Sure he was a talented fighter, but he never hit his stride until he stepped into the octagon. So why is it that so many fans are give or take on such an amazing fighter? It's simple, neither Anderson or Fedor speak English and every piece of literature that is printed with their name on it has a quote that has been stated my management, or translated by a management hired translator. 

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It was a little under a week ago one of the most talked about mixed martial artists made his return to the octagon, and not only did he return but gave one of the best post fight interviews in the history of the sport. Chael Sonnen walked into UFC 136 and ran through Brian Stann as though the ex military man was a subway gate. Chael wasted no time in calling out the man who he nearly dethroned for the title a little over a year ago.

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Very few people draw the ire of MMA fans like Chael Sonnen, from his attack on Brazil to his TRT antics, he always seems to gain a new fan or linch mob member. As i was skimming down the live thread comments one member asked an interesting question, why do people love Chael? Being a Chael fan i first thought about why i liked him. That was simple, I find him funny, I like his skill set, and he always comes to fight. Simple answer to a simple question right? Wrong i believe people who follow Chael love him for deeper more meaningful reasons. Much of it is the same reasons why Tito Ortiz and Matt Hughes had such a band of lovers and haters. I believe it boils down to three things: consistency, personality, and backing it up.

 

Will elaborate on each after the jump

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Remember when you were a kid flying a kite? Watching it glide around in the air in any way you wished to pull it. Then that gets boring so you give it a little more string and watch the kite as it climbs higher. As you feed the kite more string the more the kite fights back until you realize that you are no longer in control and your dollar store prize is about to burst off the string and fly freely until it hits power lines or a tree. All you are left with is the regret of giving the kite too much string and knowing it was that mistake that led to the loss.

October 8, 2011 will be a date forever burned into Gray Maynard's brain as the day his kite got away, only his kite took the form of a solid gold belt and the title of best in the world at what he does. Maynard walked into UFC 136 with his confidence soaring and for good reason. Gray was about the face a man who he beat once already and tooled in their last fight before burning himself out.

With the last fight fresh on his mind, Gray opened up the first round exactly the same way he did in the last fight, sending the champion flopping around the cage like a wounded deer. Edgar once again lasted the round, but one thing was different this time, Maynard was fresh going into the second round and it looked to be his fight to win. That's when it all went wrong.

Gray came out and gift wrapped the second round for Edgar by allowing him to jump in and out landing shots at will. In their first meeting for the title Gray could be given a pass because of the high volume of punches he threw in the first round, but not this time. As the second round came to a close i was left thinking "what the fuck just happened, did he fall to sleep?"

Having the fight knotted up going into the third i though "ok time to tighten that line back up and reel in this win?. Little did i know it was already to late. By the time the third rolled around Edgar was a free flying kite swooping in and beating the fuck out of one of my favorite fighter. Every punch landed was one step closer to the finality that was going to come in the 4th round. Edgar is an amazing champion and to ever think he was out of the fight was foolish, sadly Maynard did just that.

Gray GAVE the second round to Edgar, but the 3rd and 4th Edgar took by force. Gray gave Edgar a little too much line and Frankie hung him with it. This should be a lesson to any fighter who steps into that cage, once you give a fighter a foot he may take a mile. Frankie was given the second round to clear any cob webs and to also get his timing, rhythm, distance, and most importantly his confidence back.

Frankie will go on to the next fight flying high and free from his smashing of Maynard, while Gray will still be standing there with the string in his hand wondering, what the fuck happened.

Not a day has passed since the "hype train" of Anthony Pettis came to a screeching halt, and the passengers are not happy. They came out in droves to slay the evil caveman who removed the tracks from the front of the train. One barb after another trying to discredit what was a clear cut win for the one they call the Carpenter. The fight consisted of Guida taking Pettis down and fending of sloppy submission attempts while trying to pass guard. Sure, it wasn't the FOTY that Guida vs Sanchez was, but then again very few ever will be. There is one lingering question remaining, why did Pettis get a train on the tracks to begin with?

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Since UFC 129 the hot topic has been GSP and his inability to finish a fight. Some blame GSP for not wanting it bad enough and that he fears losing so bad that it causes him to play safe to ensure a W. Others claim that the loss of one eye due to a Jake Shields eye poke was the cause. Issues such as this will come and go as the next event aproaches much like the Dan Henderson hulk smash and the Nashville brawl. Each event will become nothing more than a footnote that can only be remembered by the people who watched it at the time or those who care to go back and look. One problemthat seems to keep rearing its ugly head is MMA judging.

Sure many of the bad decisions serve nothing more than a fun fact too throw in someones face when looking for the upper hand in an argument (Machida/Rua 1). This is a problem that will pop up again and MMA fans will come to arms with gifs, pictures, and a rich history to back up his or her point, but the problem is that the judges decision is questionable, who gives a shit about the details of it. The decision will not change, and the fighter will still have the loss on his record.

The problem with MMA judging is the "must" in a 10 point must system. No one MMA fighter has scored a point in modern MMA history, just fought well enough to not get one taken away. The idea that a fighter is scoring points is wrong, he or she starts with 10 and hopes to sway the judges into taking one of the other fighters points away.  Mod on here have said the 10 point must system is fine, it just needs to be used correctly. Thats the problem, the judges do not use it correctly. Much of the problem lies in gray areas of scoring criteria such as aggression and octagon control.

More after the jump

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The idea of the WEC being used as a feeder system has been beaten to death and yet here i am about to invest time writing another post about it. I am going to propose a structure to in which will be the best use of the WEC as a feeder system. As we have seen in the UFC, Zuffa are known to give title shots as they please and many times leave fans and champions alike scratching thier heads wondering why such a fighter earned the shot. Its this type of thing that makes it necessary for the system to be clear cut thus giving the fighters a clear goal to reach.

The breakdown of the system i have thought up after the jump

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MMAunkie breaks the news

World Extreme Cagefighting has partnered with Image Entertainment, Inc., for a "long-term" DVD distribution agreement.

The first release is set for this summer.

According to an official release issued by the companies today, the agreement calls only for the release of "select" WEC events, the first of which will be April's wildly successful "WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber" event, which is set for a July 20 release.

Image Entertainment Inc. also annouced that other select title will be released.

Information on additional WEC DVD titles will be made available in the coming months.

This is great news, being a DVD collector i was hoping that they would start to release  With the release of WEC events it will be a great way to expose casuals to the product. This is also a way to show where current UFC fighters Carlos Condit, Cheal Sonnen, and Brian Stann.

If they package the DVD's with a UFC coat it will serve well for DVD sales and thus boost the stock of the WEC. The light weight classes have been under the radar for quite some time and the Aldo vs Faber was a great step in bringing them to the surface.  Now with the release of some older events it will help the WEC in its future PPV ventures.

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well here i am again with a truck load of numbers to throw into the BE community pit. This set of research was set in motion by Mr Luke Thomas and hisspeech about Boxing. What Luke said hit the nail on many levels such as value in technique, kick boxing being a better comparison to MMA, but what got the gears in my head turning was what he said about stoppages. Luck said this such as number of weapons available, and number of methods to end the fight. What got me thinking was the lengh of rounds. In boxing the rounds last 3 minutes while in MMA they last 5. I set out to find out if those extra two minutes would have any impact on number of stoppages.

Before i get into my research i realize that the 10 second count used in boxing which in many cases allow a fighter enough time to get his head straight enough to stand and go back to battle. In MMA if a fighter is rocked the other fighter is allowed to finish the job. I also realize that in boxing they fight shorter rounds, but normally there are more rounds. What i hope to uncover is the extra 2 minutes give fighters that extra bit of time needed to finish the fight.

I handles things like DQ's and no contests as the minute the fight stopped. The three catorgies i split my data into were Decisions, Under 3 minutes (standred boxing round), and after 3 minutes. Also i considered a fighter not coming out of his corner as after the 3 minutes. So with that said off to my numbers.

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A question i have asked myself a number of times when Overeems name has popped up has been "what is more important to climb rankings, losing in a main event, or winning in a prelim?"  Overeem has found his way into the top ten in the world and basically got there by fighting guys like James Thompson (who lost to kimbo) Paul Buentello (who lost to Stefan Struve, while being a prospect still isnt nothing special yet) and Fujita who is best known for rocking Fedor and having a extra thick skull. Such a list of guys begs the question what is more important. 

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It was during a discussion over the use of stomps and soccer kicks me and another poster engaged in a friendly argument over the use of elbows vs stomps and the frequency on how each stop fights on in what manner they do so. The major sticking point was that elbows are the cause of many fight ending cuts and they do not end fights via TKO.  With this argument in my mind i went about collecting data to find out for myself are elbows really only good for cutting people to stop fights and if elbows really do cause most fight ending cuts.

I started at UFC 36 which is when the first cut stoppage in the Zuffa era happened and then went through until today. I recorded each cut stoppage and each TKO via elbows. After recording the stoppages i went to my DVD collection to pin point what strike caused each cut and to get an idea of what kind of manner the elbows were used in. By that i mean weather the person who caused the cut was in trouble looking for a way to stop the fight or was in a part of the persons ground and pound in which would have kept going cut or not. I only recorded the numbered events but also looked at the fight nights and TUF finales and will give the amount of cut stoppages. my findings are as follows.

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It seemed as though Cro Cop pull a fast one on Dana White and took the money and ran strioght to dream and a fight against Might Mo.  MMAWeekly is reporting that Cro Cop has dropped out of the Dream fight and has accepted a fight with UFC Prospect Junior Dos Santos.

Following is from the MMAweekyl article

"In a Tuesday report on graciemag.com, up-and-comer Junior Dos Santos says it is, by way of a fight with the Croatian MMA star at UFC 103. The bout would headline the Sept. 19 event hosted by the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Dos Santos was originally scheduled to face Justin McCully at UFC 102 before being removed from the card.

"To me it's incredible," said the Brazilian. "When they asked me if they could change the fight date I was a bit bothered, because I wanted to fight right away. I've been away for some time now. But the Fertitta brothers asked me and I accepted. After that I found out it would be against Cro Cop and was overjoyed. It’ll be a big opportunity in my career. Lots of good things have happened in my life and this is one more. I'm going to make the most of it."

According to MMAWeekly.com's sources, Cro Cop has dropped out of an announced fight with Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga at Dream 10 on July 20.

Though it's conceivable that Cro Cop could make both fights, it appears he has chosen to remain inside the Octagon. "

As reported early last week Lorenzo Ferttitta flew to meet with the famed striker at his home. If this report is ture it is a great pick up for the UFC. With Cro Cop its its a win/win for the UFC. If Cro Cop does indeed start to show his old self and hand out left leg kicks of death again he will get a title shot which will make for a great drawing PPV fight but if he loses to some of the UFC's up and coming talent it helps build up the prospects.

Weather Cro Cop is the same as his old self or not a win over him still carries some weight. If this report is correct this could make for a more interesting UFC heavy weight division.

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As MMA fans we have all seen our fair share of questionable decisions and it has been a great beacon of discussion lately about how the judging system must be fixed to fit MMA. This debate does hold water due but this issue is just a matter of a fighter losing a fight. The bigger problem that needs to be addressed is some of the reffing where a mistake can end a fighters life.

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