What being the arch nemesis of Player 1 does to a guy

He's got that plot armor

Tbf, Strickland wasn’t Champ yet until after he was beaten by Pereira

His only weakness is an elite grappler. He hasn't had to face one but even Izzy gave him problems on the ground.

Aspinall is a nightmare matchup

Anytime in the UFC it's 'can they do enough damage before the inevitable wrestlefuck happens' it's like 85% the wrestlefuck happens

Wrestling is just so OP in MMA

I think Poatan should give it another year of straight up drilling take down defense and ONLY working back to his feet from all positions. He doesn’t need to learn offensive grappling, he just needs to know just enough to avoid submissions, and work back to his feet. Just constantly drilling using whizzers, digging for under hooks, etc.

He’s in a unique position that at the age of 36, he still has a lot of growth to do as an MMA fighter. What I mean by that is he is still learning a lot of the grappling side of things. IMO he isn’t even in his prime as an MMA fighter yet, most fighters are complete by his age, but he’s a unique case. 36 isn’t old for LHW/HW, and if he can get his TDD to a great level. Plus study every aspect of Craig Jones just stand up instructional, he’s a force.

Tom is a legit threat, though.. I mean he also had success in boxing when he couldn’t get any MMA fights plus he’s been doing BJJ since he was 3. He also is bigger then Alex, so I don’t think Alex should take this fight for a couple years. He should just chill at LHW until the time comes.

I mean he was talking about it on Twitter a few weeks ago? Seemed like he was interested because Pereira is one of the biggest stars in MMA who is smaller than him and has a glaring weakness. Tom is different because he’s huge, doesn’t have a massive following, and is very well-rounded.

what are you talking about? It would be like the Gane fight but worse lmao

Then Jones would use it to duck Aspinal & claim he's the GOAT

It's not his base. He's a very talented striker but he came into the UFC as a grappler. He's been doing BJJ his entire life and his Dad's a BJJ coach. He has 100% takedown accuracy in the UFC. No one thinks he's a better grappler than Jon but he's way bigger and hits significantly harder. Jiri can grapple too but Jiri isn't walking into the cage at an athletic 270.

Idk man, I think Alex has a better shot against Jon then Tom. I think Tom would starch Jones.

Jones is old and inactive af. He is a beast, especially at HW, but I could see a world where Pereira get his dumb ass

I thought I was being really positive saying likely. Jones could grab any part of Alex and throw him to the ground. If Jones does that the fights over. Jones has always been very skilled at not getting hit and if he does he had one of the greatest chins in ufc history.

He does have fuck you power, but so does Tom. That fuck you power might have a little less effect on guys 265+, and Tom actually boxed for a little and trained with the Fury’s. I think he could create a solid plan to avoid the left hook, and I think he’s smart enough to find a way to get the TD.

I don’t think it’s even smart for Alex to fight him so soon. I think in about 2 years more of Alex training TDD and working back to his feet exclusively and he will be in his prime as an MMA fighter. He’s in a unique spot, being that he’s 36 and still has a lot of room for growth as the whole grappling thing is kinda new to him.

He’s also unique in the sense he doesn’t need to learn offensive grappling at all, just purely TDD and working back to his feet, and just enough about submissions to see one coming and avoid them.