Jon Jones vs. Shogun I really thought that Shogun had too much experience for the young man but once again youth and a indominatble spirit dominated. I though that Shogun could threaten and get him in trouble on the ground and felt that Shogun's stand up was cleaner. BUt Jones beat him at every layer of the game, so unpredictable and capable of attacking anyway and any where. At 23 yrs old he is the Man and the Champion, I really don't think that Rasheed can beat him, but anythings possible. As Jon Bones Jones showed the season Champion Shogun. Great fight ended with a body shot and a knee to the head.

Take Silva's build and prodigious talent, add greater focus and an actual desire to fight, not play with, an oponent, and then sprinkle on a touch of magic. Bring to the boil and you have Jon Jones.

Lets not belittle what he did this weekend - he didnt just beat Rua, he negated his existance. Rua was no paper champion, he is not past his prime, there was no 'angle' to exploit, or excuse to be made. Jones just blew him away.

Unless their closeness as training partners/friends has betrayed an as yet unseen weakness to Rashad, I cant see him seeing round 2, because he is just too meat and potatoes to hang with a super-freak who I feel will be spoken about in P4P terms within 12 months.

I knew Jones was going to win; he is just a complete fighter. He is not one dimensional; heck he isn't even 3 dimensional. He changes things up and you don't know what he is going to throw at you next.

Rua is not that old but it is my belief that he has peaked as a fighter and has seen better days. Having come to the UFC he has lost to Forrest Griffin by submission, something that should never have happened. He looked horrible against an aged Mark Coleman and barely won it putting his cardio and skills into question. He TKO'd Chuck Liddel; a one dimensional fighter who's jaw has proven to be not what it was plus Chuck was on the down slope. Lyoto Machida in my mind was an over hyped fighter; not a fan. Their first meeting was liking watching a Karate tournament; fight re-set up, fight re-set up, fight re-set up. Second meeting Machida's own fighting style of kicking with his hands down cost him the fight. Now meeting Jones, there was no doubt Rua was going to lose.

I don't dislike Rua, he was a great Pride fighter but he was not a great UFC fighter.

Jones exceeded my expectations with this fight. I was fairly sure he would win, but I really thought Shogun was going to be more competitive than he was. Jones absolutely mauled him everywhere - Jones was punching him in the face at will, right past Shogun's raised hands! Incredible, in light of Shogun's considerable Muay Thai skills, and cage-experience as a multi-organizational champion. And Jones' speed with those spinning elbows was frightening. I knew Jones would own him on the ground, and wasn't disappointed.

I don't see Rashad offering anything at all. Machida and Phil Davis are probably the only people that could possibly bring any kind of challenge to Jones - aside from Anderson Silva, that is.

Shogun's post fight interview he stated that the plan was to fight Jones wherever the fight went, almost as if he thought he was better at every range. WRONG!!! Sometimes thinking you are better then the opponent can be a problem. Especially when you are wrong I never thought that Jones would have given out hat a$$ whipping. I thought Shogun's clear advantage was his stand up (after seeing what he did to Machida) but I was even wrong about that. The difference in us being wrong is that I didn't take butt whipping for being wrong this time.

Shogun stated afterwards thte he/Jones is better then me. This doesn't take any of the glitter off Shoguns accomplishment, when you are a gunslinger you will eventually find someone better then you and a a$$ whipping better then that conclusion.

Shogun is still a two times MMA champion, in Pride and UFC not many can say that. Bones is just a bad man.

Fight? What fight? THAT was just an A$$ whoopin.

I think we are witnessing a changing of the guard. The next generation of fighters are different. First we had fighters. Then we had Athletes who became fighters. Then we had Fighters who became Athletes. Now, we are seeing Fighters who don't have to make a transition. They are Fighters and Athletes and on another level performance wise.

Plus, they are younger, healthier and hungrier.

Keep in mind Jones has the longest reach in the UFC and just throws crazy unpredictable stuff. He's not a technically more skilled fighter neccesarily (stand up wise anyway), sometimes the better fighter loses because the other guy is just more creative. I mean, I suppose that makes them a better fighter in some ways but not more skilled or a better technician. A guy in the combatives tournament I recently competed in caught me in a straight ankle lock out of nowhere and tapped me. I know far more then he does about BJJ and I have more epxerience but he pulled out somethign that I didn't expect a guy at his level to use. I've tapped much better guys just because I happend to go for something they didn't often see and didn't expect.

That's where the difference between being a martial artist and a fighter comes into play.

Knowledge and application are two different things.

If a guy can read an opponent, find their weakness, and use it to gain victory, it doesnt matter if he only knows a Jab/Cross combo - he is the better fighter.

Dont fear the man who practices 10,000 techniques once, fear the man who practices one technique 10,000 times.

I don't think that anyone can truely master every technique that he is shown, but will master a handful of them that he feels comfortable with, and will tend to use those tried and true techniques more often.
Some techniques that I am shown only once seem to become embedded in my brain instantly, while others that I am shown many times take more time to get down pat.