Sure, not many expected Jon Jones to pick up right were he left off after 16 months on the sidelines, but the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion did dominate his fight against Ovince Saint Preux at last night’s (Sat. April 23, 2016) UFC 197 pay-per-view (PPV) event.
But, when you’ve raised such a high bar for yourself, anything short of a spectacular output will earn you some criticism.
That’s why Chael Sonnen didn’t hold back when assessing Jon’s fight against “OSP,” by absolutely slaying “Bones” and dubbing his performance — which you can see here — as garbage.
His words on ESPN (via Fancy MMA):
“This was garbage. This was Jon Jones’s worst performance by light years. Now, he won, he dominated the wrestling, the striking and he won a championship tonight. But for the high bar Jon has set, this is his single worst performance in the Octagon. His timing was off, his output wasn’t there, his wrestling largely failed him aside from getting him against the cage and that’s my assessment.”
Though not as harsh as “The American Gangster,” UFC president Dana White was also not too impressed with Jon.
That said, Jones himself acknowledges he could have done better despite earning a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. However, he also admitted during the post-fight press conference that he did play it a bit cautious, as he made sure not to get tagged by a one-hitter quitter from a man who had nothing to lose.
Furthermore, Jones is adamant he will hit the gym early this coming week in order to up his game ahead of his much-anticipated rematch against Daniel Cormier, which is expected to go down at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
What say you, Maniacs, was Sonnen a bit too harsh in his assessment?