- Josh Thomson shared an interesting take on why Jon Jones isn’t the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world
- “The Punk” emphasized that “Bones” is likely to be a great heavyweight because of his wrestling
Josh Thomson made it clear that Jon Jones was once the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world but contrary to what Dana White said, that was not the case when he moved up to heavyweight.
Jones’ wrestling got the job done
Speaking on his Weighing In podcast, “The Punk” refuted White’s claim that “Bones” has become the pound-for-pound No. 1 after he dominated the light heavyweight division and beat the best heavyweight in the promotion in Ciryl Gane.
For Thomson, that was not true as Gane was not even better than Francis Ngannou. Moreover, Jones has only got one fight at heavyweight and history proves that good wrestlers usually find success in the heavyweight division. That said, Thomson suggests that there is nothing astronomical with Jones’ heavyweight run at least at this point.
“No [Jones didn’t beat the best heavyweight in the world],” Thomson said. “We could bring the fact checkers out on that. Whoever runs Instagram, whoever runs the YouTube fact checking, let’s bring the fact checkers out because let’s be honest, I like Ciryl Gane, I think he’s great for the heavyweight division, he’s super athletic, not the best. Let’s just remember he got taken down by Francis Ngannou multiple times. Look, he’s a great fighter but he’s not even Francis Ngannou’s level.”
“Look, I’m not going to give as much credence to him going to heavyweight and beating heavyweight guys and I’ve said forever and I’m not just knocking Jon, I’m simply saying, wrestlers in the heavyweight division have always had the most success. Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, DC, now Jon Jones. It’s pretty simple, Stipe, like if you have mediocre wrestling in the heavyweight division… you’re gonna do alright, you’re gonna be pretty good,” he added.
Fedor did the same thing
Thomson further backed his analysis by citing Fedor Emelianenko as a prime example. According to “The Punk,” Emelianenko had a legendary heavyweight career mostly because of his ground game, which could also be the case for a tremendous wrestler like Jones.
“Think about Fedor Emelianenko, not the biggest heavyweight, he didn’t try to cut weight… Cuz you want to know why? he knew in the heavyweight division, my foot sweeps, my hip tosses, my wrestling, he’s going to beat all these heavyweights that’s why he had such a successful career is because he knew he had the submission game off of his back. He knew he had vicious ground and pound, he had big dogs in his hands but look, he was not a big heavyweight, he had success because of those things,” Thomson pointed out.
Jones has yet to be cleared after tearing his pectoral ahead of his title fight with Stipe Miocic. Nevertheless, White has already confirmed that “Bones” would still take on Miocic as soon as he recovered fully.
Watch Thomson’s full podcast below:
