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411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Has Jon Jones Really Changed?
Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction MMA, and I’m your host, Wyatt Beougher! Last week, Jonathan Solomon took on Todd Vote, and while both guys had different things to say on a variety of topics, including Jon Jones’ reinstatement and Daniel Cormier’s chances against him, I was pretty sure it was going to end up a draw, because the only time that happens is when both participants go 6-for-6 on the statements, which happened last week, as voting closed with each man getting six votes and three additional votes being cast in favor of the fight being ruled a draw. That is the fourth draw this tournament season, so either I am going to need to do a better job with the statements, or there is just something in the water. Either way, this week sees Dino Zee again come to visit from the Wrestling Zone, and he’ll be taking on Evan Zivin, with topics like Kurt Angle perhaps finally making his MMA debut and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s future after pulling out of yet another fight due to an injury sustained training. Let’s get to the action, shall we?
TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Dino “Salad Bar” Zee
Contributor, 411 Wrestling Zone
4-0-0
VS
BLUE CORNER
Evan “White Tiger” Zivin
Contributor, 411 MMA Zone
1-2-1
Too pussy to fight at the garden but flies all the way to Albuquerque to prove he's a man #Scratchingmyhead you on your way pussy?
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) October 31, 2015
1.) The recent Twitter exchange between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, which included Jones repeated referring to the UFC Light Heavyweight champion as a “p***y”, essentially confirms the more negative segment of MMA fandom who believe that Jones has not changed at all in his time away from the sport.
Dino Zee: FICTION I think it confirms what we already knew: Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones don’t like each other. I’m not going to judge whether or not Jones has “changed” by his words towards someone with whom he does not get along. It reminds me of Brock Lesnar’s UFC run, actually. Remember how he hated Frank Mir? And how he’d go out of his way to talk trash to him? And then he did nothing of the sort with Randy Couture? Jon Jones is not a perfect human being, and he’s absolutely made some wrong choices. But I’m not writing him off for keeping a feud going against a guy that he doesn’t like. Unless, of course, we’re going to say that Cormier’s “Get your shit together!” callout after he beat Rumble in May proves that he’s not a great guy, either? It’s fighting, not Boy Scouts.
Evan Zivin: FACT Time will tell whether Jon Jones is truly a changed man, but the evidence he has presented so far on social media doesn’t make it seem like anything is different about him. Not that many people ever truly change who they are, especially when they receive relatively light punishments for serious crimes and are never given a real chance to see the effect their behavior has on themselves and those around them. Of course, Jon has screwed himself quite a bit as far as the public perception of his character goes, going from a humble guy who is confident in his abilities to becoming arrogant to name calling and crotch chopping his opponents immediately following a fight. It’s hard to know who the real Jon Jones is. Most assume the good guy persona was just that. Maybe the bad boy persona is one too, nothing more than a vain attempt to embrace the hatred that many fans have for him in the hopes it helps raise his profile (and his bank account).
All I can say for certain is, as sure as I am that I’m losing this week (because the Wrestling Zone writers always win MMA Fact or Fiction), there are always going to be people who hate Jon Jones regardless of whether Jon’s behavior on social media is genuine or just another attempt to rile up that fanbase, The man can do no wrong inside the cage and he can do no right outside it, or at least that’s how some people feel.
2.) If Kurt Angle has signed with Bellator as more than a fan ambassador and will actually fight, even an opponent like Ken Shamrock or Kimbo Slice represents a huge liability to both Angle’s health and Bellator as a whole, assuming Angle can even get licensed by a commission.
Dino Zee: FACT Yeah, that’s probably right. That doesn’t mean I won’t give Bellator all my money to see Angle/Shamrock. Hey, at least I’m honest. Angle’s neck injuries are well-documented, and add to that more recent issues with his knees, and you have a 46-year-old man who’s never fought professionally stepping into the cage. I’d still like his ability to take someone like Slice down with very little issues, but if he eats a couple rights from Slice, it could be a very bad day at the office indeed.
A fight with Shamrock, though, could prove to be a fun affair. Shamrock doesn’t have dynamite in his fists, and Angle’s wrestling should be able to neutralize a lot of Shamrock’s game, so maybe this is the fight to go for after all. Regardless, Angle’s physical condition means that anyone he gets in the cage with could theoretically injure him severely.
Evan Zivin: FACT Of course it’s a liability. Kurt is about to turn 47 and, not only does he have no MMA experience, he’s riddled with injuries from all that wrasslin’ stuff he’s been doing the last 16 years (yep, I’m definitely losing…). While the odds of a serious injury are fairly low in an MMA fight, especially in a battle with Ken or Kimbo, where everyone will be standing in front of each other, huffing and puffing, within the first 2 minutes of the fight, the risk is still there and it wouldn’t look good to bring in the Olympic gold medalist as a special attraction only for him to get badly hurt in a sport he’s never competed in before.
But, as big of a risk as it would be to have Kurt fight, assuming Bellator is even considering it, I think it could be a risk worth taking. If the goal is to attract casual viewers to the product, they could do a lot worse than thrusting the former WWE and TNA champion into the spotlight. Not only can the man talk and promote a fight, he’s an athletic freak, still putting on good matches after almost half a century of life. If he dedicates himself to MMA the way he did pro wrestling, I won’t say he’ll become a champion or anything (although I could see Bellator giving him a title fight if he performs well) but he could provide a few good moments inside that Bellator cage. Whichever direction Kurt’s MMA career goes in, I know I’ll be watching.
3.) While a two-year suspension and forty thousand dollar fine was the absolute minimum the NSAC should have instituted for Rousimar Palhares after his latest incident of not releasing a submission hold after the fight was waved off, Palhares’ history has shown it will do little to change the fighter’s ways in the cage.
Dino Zee: FACT As opposed to the Jon Jones question earlier, this is an example of a man who has not changed his WAYS at all, no matter what he says. Jones simply hasn’t changed his words, but we have no idea about his actions yet. Palhares, on the other hand, earned all of this. I actually defended him after both the Steve Carl and Fitch fights, feeling that the MMA Community was calling foul if he didn’t release a hold after 0.0008 seconds of an opponent tapping out. I believed the witch hunt hype.
But the Shields fight saw him do it again, in very obvious fashion, after fighting dirty the whole time. He did it to an opponent in Shields that had publicly called him a dirty fighter, and even threatened to hurt Palhares. So, it came as no surprise to me to see Palhares do what he did, and if being cut from the UFC did little to change him, then I don’t see the NSAC suspension doing much more about it. Hopefully he’s working on it, but his time as a top-level fighter may very well be done by the time he returns, and he only has himself to blame for it.
Evan Zivin: FACT We already know the fine and suspension won’t do a thing to change Palhares’ perception of his abilities and status as a dirty fighter. Rousimar and his manager have been busy pointing the finger elsewhere and refusing to take responsibility for his own actions since the first time someone accused him of holding onto a submission too long, and it’s carried him all the way through the commission hearing and into the immediate aftermath of the ruling of his punishment. I mean, how can you say Palhares did anything wrong when he didn’t feel the tap and the referee was out of position and he got really excited from using a male enhancement product some dude in Thailand sold him? C’mon guys, be real about this…
All it comes down to is this: if the man doesn’t feel he did anything wrong, then how can he possibly change? If Palhares feels he did nothing wrong, then he won’t change, plain and simple. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for him to return to World Series of Fighting in two years to see him rip another limb to shreds (we all know it’s gonna happen…).
SWITCH!
4.) The UFC replacing an injured Joanne Calderwood with Rose Namajunas as Paige VanZant’s next opponent is a high-risk, low-reward scenario for the promotion.
Evan Zivin: FICTION It’s definitely a high risk situation for Paige, going from a lower ranked opponent to a higher one, but I wouldn’t say this is a “low-reward scenario.” Quite the opposite. If Paige can defeat Rose, who is not only the #3 ranked strawweight in the UFC but a former title challenger, it raises Paige’s profile significantly. The highest ranked opponent Paige has beaten so far is Felice Herrig, who is barely in the top 15 right now. While a win against #8 Joanne Calderwood would be enough to justify her place in the Top 10, a win against Rose would be enough to justify a title shot. Paige is still very young and we know UFC has been trying to bring her up slowly but if she can put herself in a position where a title fight makes sense, you better believe UFC is booking it. Sure, a loss sets Paige back a bit, but UFC’s efforts to make her a major asset to the 115 weight class has been working, so people will still want to see her fight and it won’t take much to get herself another title opportunity, especially in a division as wide open as the strawweight division.
That being said, Joanna Champion will beat all of them by FATALITY!!!!! Or TKO.
Dino Zee: FICTION From where I sit, absolutely not. Rose had quite a bit of fanfare heading into her TUF finale against Carla Esparza, but lost much of that after falling short against her, and then sitting out for nearly a year afterwards. Her win over Angela Hill helps to regain some momentum, but a fight against UFC’s new project in Paige VanZant is only good for her.
On the other side, here is a fight for VanZant against a popular commodity, and against a fighter who isn’t either a) not well known or b) over the hill. Fans have been accusing UFC of pampering Paige on her rise to the top, and while Calderwood represented a tough opponent in her own right, the UFC replacing her with another tough out shows that it’s committed to stepping up the competition for Paige. No matter who wins, we should have a new name to throw into the contender’s hat. There’s definitely a risk in losing the PVZ Hype Train, but I wouldn’t say there’s “low-reward” in this at all.
5.) After sustaining yet another training injury that kept him from a fight with Tony Ferguson at the finale for The Ultimate Fighter season twenty-two, which will likely bring his total time out of action to nearly two years, there is little chance Khabib Nurmagomedov receives a lightweight title shot without putting together a handful of wins and avoiding injury for at least a year.
Evan Zivin: FICTION It depends on the state of the lightweight division when he’s ready to return, which, assuming his rib injury isn’t too bad, will only be a few more months. Khabib has done a great job of keeping his name in the title conversation while he’s been out and, as long as Rafael dos Anjos remains champion, which is certainly possible, Khabib will always have a claim to a title shot, since he has a fairly dominant win over RDA. Even if dos Anjos loses the belt, whether it be to Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Eddie “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Alvarez, or Giblert Melendez (misspelling intentional), Khabib still has a strong case for a title shot and I could see him getting it after just one win.
And he won’t need to stay injury-free for a year to get a shot. The threat of a potential injury in the lead-up to the fight is not enough to deter UFC from booking Khabib in a title fight if that’s what makes sense for the company and for the fans. I mean, if that wasn’t the case, Jose Aldo would have been stripped and cut from the company years ago…
Dino Zee: FACT He’s got that win over Dos Anjos to constantly show off, but at some point, you have to get back in line. I wouldn’t expect TJ Grant to receive a title shot if he came back at this point, and the same goes for Khabib. Cerrone’s getting his shot, and if Eddie Alvarez beats Pettis, I wouldn’t have a problem with him receiving a shot, either. Add Tony Ferguson’s name to the mix if he wins, too. Khabib’s just, quite frankly, in the wrong division to sit out 2 years and still expect a title shot upon return. He’ll have to win one fight at least (and that’s all I’d have him do) before he gets that title shot again. You just can’t hold entire divisions hostage for one guy, no matter how many times UFC wants to fight that line of reason.
6.) If UFC 192 really did do a meager 250,000 buys, there is no question that Jon Jones’ first fight back with the promotion will be a title fight against Cormier, who headlined the event in question.
Evan Zivin: FACT Jones’ first fight back in the UFC was always going to be against whoever was holding the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, which, right now, is still Cormier. It has nothing to do with how poorly UFC 192 may have done on pay-per-view. The fact is that Jones never lost the belt and, as far as we can tell, is still the best fighter on the planet. Plus, it’s been less than a year since his last fight so it’s not like he’s been gone that long. As useful as a tune-up fight would be in promoting an eventual title clash, especially if it served as co-main to Cormier’s next title defense and involved an in-cage face-off between the two (shoe throwing and Sholler chucking will be left to the discretion of the fighters), we all know the money is in Jones getting his belt back so there’s no reason to delay it if Jones is ready to go right now.
Just make sure the belt doesn’t end up being decided in a dance-off. That may be a battle Greg Jackson can’t help him win.
Dino Zee: FACT For me, it’s irrelevant what UFC 192 did in buys: Jon Jones’ first fight back was always going to be the Cormier fight (or against whomever had the belt). Ryan Bader is the deserving contender based on wins, but we all know that the UFC would basically prefer to shut down operations than attempt to sell us on a Ryan Bader title fight. So, lucky for them, Jones got reinstated just in the nick of time. It was only about ten months ago, and it wasn’t as competitive as many thought it would be, but with the change in circumstances, Jones/Cormier 2 is the fight they’re going to do, and it’s going to do do gangbusters.
So who won? Was Evan able to derail Dino, or did the undefeated Wrestling Zone writer roll onward? You’ve got until midnight eastern on Saturday to vote, so make sure you make your voice heard!
And that’s it for today, but we’ll be back next week with another contest! As always, if there’s anything you’d like to see featured in a future edition, leave your statement in the comments and I’ll add it in. Let me know what you thought in the comments or on Twitter. And please, be sure to vote!
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