Will Jon Jones get into the top 5 all time greats?

What do you reckon lads, if he can get past Gus or Machida next, id give him a couple more fights before he hits Heavyweight. A 205lbs fight with Cormier, Machida, Gus/Mousasi winner. 3 good fights for him and if he is winning or even if he looses and is filling out he will move up id say.

He will likely be 28 when that happens. The 4 Years of a Hw's prime id say are 28-32. After that who knows what 25 year old 265lbs Freak Hw's will be in the sport. I think people are calling for him to do great things but he has a long way to climb looking at rankings. Say he has got to make his mark by 32, thats 7 years overall and maby 4 as a heavy.

He needs to keep impressing, I mean Hendo is a Mw who beat Fedor and Nog at Hw and held 2 belts at once! He needs to be going up to Hw and busting heads to be a great IMO.

Get the predictions in lads and lets look at it in 7 years again! lol.

Fightmatrix for reference has the top 5 of all time as,

Anderson
GSP
Fedor
Hughes
Big Nog

Wouldnt be many arguements about those id say? Big Nog and Anderson are still active and putting distance between them, they are too big a name for UFC to let go out on 4 losses back to back so they will retire with a record relativley intact id guess.

Aldo is statistically better than him. Theres one id bet not maby of you would agree with but there it is, Aldo is also going for a place in history no doubt about it. He is just as likely to be a 2 weight champ as Jones IMO so Jones isnt the only one in shooting distance of greatness.

Jones right now also has ahead of him,

Penn
Hendo
Couture
Wanderlei
Faber
Aldo
Rampage
Liddell
Marquardt

With

Melendez
Machida
Shogun
Edgar

Behind him.

Its hard to imagine the ones behind him doing enough to surpass him because they are all older. (Though Edgar being a 2 weight champ or Machida KOing him could change that!!) I think a lot of how Jones goes down in history will be decided on how he does at Hw.

If he makes it to Hw in say 2015 he will be be 27/28. Thats a good 6 years at a Hw's Prime. To think Jones maby 10 years ahead of him in the sport realistically I wonder how many of them he will stay on top or if he will stick around after the losses come. A few Hard knockouts but JDS or Cain and he might think about hanging his gloves up earlier, fighter on the top so early rarely keep it going.

Ill be interested to see how many people think he can make it right to the top by the time he retires.

I think even if he makes an unsuccessful attempt at fighting at heavyweight, he'll still be a top 5 atg. He'll still annihilate everyone at 205 for a long time, and he fights smart, can't see him burning out too fast.

You say a long time, You see him staying at 205 long? by The end of 2015 he will be 28, Decent enough time to Hw I think.

Who you think is next for him? I think Machida has been told he has the shot but Gus is making a lot of noise about one too, a Stoppage of Mousasi and he will make a good case having never had his chance.

Hopefully both. Glover, Feijao, Rumble Johnson, Lil Nog even! Who knows who will challenge down the line. The figths are there for him at 205.

He seems interested in going to Hw, Imagine a fight with Big Nog coming off a Werdum loss, Hunt, Bigfoot someone like that I could see him wanting to test the waters against.

I'm still to be convinced that he will make the move to HW. Guessing at this stage in his career, is really difficult, there's so much that he needs to achieve, before he can be mentioned in the same breathe as Big Nog, Anderson or Fedor, and as you say Ben, Aldo has to be right alongside him P4P-wise. If I were to be pressed, I'd say no, I think that he will eventually be pushed into a HW fight, and then find out, that his major attribute, is his size advantage. I really don't see him being able to challenge the Cain's or JDS's of this world.

rudeboyben84 wrote:You say a long time, You see him staying at 205 long? by The end of 2015 he will be 28, Decent enough time to Hw I think.

Who you think is next for him? I think Machida has been told he has the shot but Gus is making a lot of noise about one too, a Stoppage of Mousasi and he will make a good case having never had his chance.

Hopefully both. Glover, Feijao, Rumble Johnson, Lil Nog even! Who knows who will challenge down the line. The figths are there for him at 205.

He seems interested in going to Hw, Imagine a fight with Big Nog coming off a Werdum loss, Hunt, Bigfoot someone like that I could see him wanting to test the waters against.

He's definitely right to at least attempt fighting at heavyweight. The main concerns I'd have about Jones at that weight centre around his striking power and if he'd retain the same ability to keep his opponents at range the way he does at 205. I'd be extremely interested in seeing whether he could keep an Overeem/Dos Santos/Velasquez off him in a striking match, given that he may not be able to be as dominant with his wrestling at that weight class.

Not too concerned about future opponents, there are obvious fights there for him, all the fighters you mentioned, especially given the way the UFC never really writes contenders off if they lose, they can still fight for the title with the appropriate improvements to their games and wins.

Beyond the obvious opponents for him, it seems inconceivable to me that in two years or so there won't be some exciting newcomers to light heavyweight, especially with the growing profile of MMA.

Know what you mean about Stopping power, he doesnt have a lot of it in his hands and Id say with the reach gap being closer so more of his opponents shots landing Jones would likely be backed up by hard hitting Hw's.

He is probabally better to come in as a big Heavy. Take time off and properly make the move. Id worry about him with Carwin Charging forward trying to get him into the fence and do what he did to Mir.

Id say better for his career if he doesnt test the waters too soon. Like GSP said about Anderson and moving to 185 he would want to take time off and build the weight up propperly. Probabally same should go for Jones.

A superfight with Anderson would be a great Idea. At this age Anderson wouldnt look bad for loosing to the current monster of a 205, 25year old champ and if Jones lost no one would really count it as a set back if it wasnt for the belt. Dana still seems mad keen on it but I see Anderson going after GSP more.

When he goes and fights at his natural weight class, this might be a conversation worth having. Until then, it's not.

Although I'm no fan of the man I think he will be a shoe in for an ATG It's really scary the man is only 25 he's going to keep improving. I do think a lot will depend on If he moves up though.