Comparing the "Jones Era" to the "Machida Era"

Recent history is making us all a bit cautious in claiming this the start of a new era at lhw. and rightfully so. we all know that in this sport in general, and the lhw division in particular, things can change quickly.

And I for one was on the Machida hype train, so I should no better, however.

Im thinking Jones will roll for a while. And there are some striking differences I see between the current situation with Jones, and the previous situation with Machida.

1st being the physical makeup of the 2 fighters. Machida is not a physically impressive fighter. Certainly not a ripped guy, he is a bit soft actually. No Jones is not an adonis either, but he does walk into every fight with a monstrous reach adv over his opponent. And he uses that reach, and height(see the early leaping knee). Yet unlike other taller rangy fighters Jones is not prone to getting bullied. In fact the opposite has been the case, the dude straight bullies everyone, even the type of fighters that usually give longer fighters trouble, namely wrestlers. And that leads me to.....



#2 The wrestling base is widely considered the best base in MMA, and Jones's wrestling has been top notch in this arena. Where as karate is not a background that has proven very successful in MMA, and was considered a bit a puzzle, one in which at least one guy was able to solve. And Machida's style, for it to be it's most successful, needed the opponent to fight aggressively, if the opponent wanted to survive(not win but survive) a fight with Machida, all he had to do was fight cautiously. But fighting cautiously with Jones means nothing, the dude will bring the fight right to you. It's his call. And this again leads me to next point.

#3 Machida had 2 uber impressive performances, but prior to that, he was seen as bit of a dullard, elusiveness was his trademark, yes he was seen as very talented, yes he was winning fights easily, but not a dominant guy per se, where as Jones has been straight dominant for numerous fights. I thought Hamill was brain dead at the end of that fight. Vera's face was broken. The Janitor, Bader, and now Shogun finished with ease. The Jones path of destruction has been much more pronounced then Machida's ever was.

#4 I just see Jones's game as being more varied. Yes Machida proved very effective at keeping the fight on the feet, and I don't want to say he was lacking on the ground, cause he obviously has the credentials that say otherwise, but he had an obvious strength, and that was standing. Jones imo has the better 2 way game. His standup is electric, his reach will give anyone problems, his wrestling is overpowering.


#5. Age, Jones is 23, the Machida era dawned during his prime years, he'll be 32 in 2 months. Not old, but not 23. Jones will still be young in MMA terms 5 years from now. Dude still has so much room to grow. I've talked about how useful a nice strong jab could be if implemented into his game, and that is just one obvious wrinkle that he could add to his game. Where as Machida was more of a finished product, Jones game is no where near that, he will continue to get stronger(his man strength ain't fully developed at 23) his bjj will continue to improve, his striking will continue to improve etc etc

So that is where I am at on this. No doubt he needs to go out there and defend that title a couple times so as to make the "Jones Era" label stick, and of coarse, getting caught, or injury can always happen, but I def think this guy hangs on to that belt for awhile.

Good points, I'll still put my money on a new champ by next year at this time. Someone who doesn't respect or fear Jon Jones is going to come along and take his belt. It might even be Rashad who does it. He knows Jones better than most and probably has more motivation than anyone to dish out an ass whooping to the new champ. Hell I could see Page putting one on Jones' chin as well.

I just think the LHW division is super stacked. The belt never stays in the same place for long.

Point 2 is wrong. Rua being aggressive is what destroyed Machida.

The ultimate laugher would be if Machida took the belt from Jones here in the next couple fights...not a far-fetched possibility either

Machida will school Jones.




...maybe.

Machida had beaten a better level of competition before both guys received Title shots. He dominated with his own style. He still is one of the best LHWs in the World, but simply was beaten by a better Shogun then Bones fought and on the wrong end of a questionable decision with Rampage. Bones looks set to dominate (I actually said if he beat Shogun he end up going down as the best LHW ever), but a couple guys can give him a fight, one of which is Machida. He has excellent takedown defense and can give Bones trouble on the feet, Bones still leaves openings.

I'd also say temper thoughts on Bones based of his fight with Shogun. He obviously dominated and probably would have beaten a 100% Shogun. That said Gun gased after 1 Rd, looked very off, slow and sluggish. Anything Bones did to him on the feet after the 1st Rd many guys probably could have. I said last night, Rashad would have beaten Shogun tonight too.

Machida was much older but also much more accomplished when his "Era" began. But both men were equally as dominate. From the first fight in the UFC to when they took the belt. They dominated everyone that was in the cage with them.
Scary thing is Machida was at his peak, Jones appears to be far from it. I also don't think Jones will be able to stay at LHW for too much longer. Here in a couple years he will be a HW.

Machida's road was harder imo but he was not more impressive at all. He was good at not getting touched though.

lets hold up on the "eras", as we've witnessed time and time again everyone is beatable. even though jones hasn't shown many weaknesses, theyre out there

GDPofDRC wrote:

Machida's road was harder imo but he was not more impressive at all. He was good at not getting touched though.

Yeah you might be right. But he did beat Fat BJ,Ace and Bonnar before getting into the UFC. His KOs of Thiago and Rashad was a pretty dominating way to become UFC Champion.

Jones has great talent and we may have not seen the extent of it yet, but let him fight a few more fights, defend the belt once at least and then you can start talking about the Jones Era

cascade_run wrote:

Jones has great talent and we may have not seen the extent of it yet, but let him fight a few more fights, defend the belt once at least and then you can start talking about the Jones Era

If he loses soon, it would be that much more comparable to "The Machida Era".