Good call on this btw. Jones was too much for him anywhere. The ground, the clinch, whatever. It hurt to see Shogun crushed, but Jones is a monster and that belt and victory are well deserved.
Hey thanks. I wasn't trying to sound like a smart ass so I hope it didn't come off that way. I have been a Bonner fan since TUF1 and for Jones to basically toy with him and cause that much trouble opened my eyes. People may crap on Bonner but he's never been stopped and it looked like Jones could have ended that fight at will.
Then Jones obliterated Matt Hamil, who will never be confused for a contender but is also pretty durable, in what seemed like a quantum leap forward in skill (downward elbows aside). After he completely walked through Brandon Vera, I was a total believer. I know Shogun was a world beater in Pride, but I watched him get systematicly dominated by Forrest. That made me think that Jones, who manhandled Bader, would be able to fight Rua where ever he wanted to.
As far as future goes:
I would love to see Jones fight Loyoto. I think Machida's awkwardness and elusiveness would make that an interesting fight. Jones would crush Evans. For some reason KOing Salmon and Liddell made Rashad think he can strike with people. All that is going to lead to with Jones is 15 minutes of listening to his chick screaming "get up Rashad!" as they try to revive him after the fight. I love the way Thiago Silva brings it, but he won't be able to brawl with Jones. I don't think anyone knows if we will ever see the real Rampage again so he's not a factor. And I don't think Franklin, Henderson or Griffin have much of a chance with him either.
To beat a freak like Jones, I think you're going to need to be either a Damien Maia type and catch him in something slick from the guard or hit a flash KO.
I think that Jones' biggest opponent will be himself. Complacency and cockiness are the only things separating him from a lengthy title reign for the foreseeable future.