"Even Paddy can win against Lebron" - Claims of LeBron James beating prime Jon Jones break MMA Twitter
MMA fans can never tolerate it when the accolades of their favorite fighters, like Jon Jones, are brought into question. That’s exactly what happened when MMA Twitter came across a post that claimed NBA legend LeBron James would beat UFC legend Jon Jones in a fight.
A Twitter handle named @DovySimuMMA, recently posted a graphic that contained images of Jones and LeBron James. Funnily enough, LeBron’s image was photoshopped to give the impression that he was standing in the UFC octagon, wearing a UFC belt around his waist!
"Let’s be honest, Lebron would knock out & contain a Prime Jon Jones if he was a UFC fighter," text on the graphic read.
@DovySimuMMA underlined the absurdity of the claim in their tweet. You can watch the graphic below:
mma facebook back at it again. https://t.co/OFmf6MWupB
“mma facebook back at it again,” the Tweet read.
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is hailed as one of the greatest mixed martial artists in history. After ruling the UFC light heavyweight division for nearly a decade, Jones vacated the title to extend his dominance over the heavyweight division.
After taking his own sweet time to make a smooth transition between the divisions, Jones made his comeback in 2023. 'Bones' won the UFC heavyweight title by defeating Ciryl Gane in a quick fashion at UFC 285 and also reclaimed the top spot in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings. He is a highly decorated athlete, and it was obvious for MMA fans to register their protest when his capabilities were questioned.
Therefore, Twitter soon broke out as fans chimed in with their thoughts on the claim made in the tweet.
@killakylekover opined that LeBron would probably have nothing more than a puncher’s chance against Jon Jones and wrote:
“Nope bron would be like woodley. He would just wait for that one punch.”
@mikimikeee questioned if LeBron James can even beat the UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, who is probably 120 lbs lighter than him, and wrote:
“Question is does lebron beat brandon moreno??”
@ArmandoWaltson counter-argued the claim and questioned:
“Would Jon Jones be an nba champion vice versa?”
The post intended to engage MMA fans and draw reactions out of them. @King232Marcy outlined this and tweeted:
“I'm not rising to the bait”
@DosDeusesHODL argued by stating that even Paddy Pimblett would prevail over LeBron James.
“Even Paddy can win against Lebron lol”
@DovySimuMMA Even Paddy can win against Lebron lol
@PeddroRamirez31 took the opportunity to draw attention to 'Bones’ greatness and tweeted:
“Jon literally learned from like YouTube and VHS tapes and in about a year he was already fighting and finishing people viciously. He was just a true natural fighter, it's not really something that comes to everyone.”
@hasbybets stood for LeBron James fans to state:
“Tbh if Lebron James trained his entire life in combat sports he’d be the champion…. There’s levels to athletes…. Bones is the worst athlete in his family”
@912ZAVALA cautioned Jon Jones fans for looking down upon LeBron James and wrote:
“be careful that’s king james you’re talking about”
@ysmworld_ tried to rationalize the argument and stated that an athlete with LeBron James’ attributes, when trained in different aspects of martial arts could probably be too much for Jones.
“If LeBron started training as a kid, then probably. he's 6'9" 250lbs with the same reach as 6'4" 220lb Jones. Jones usually struggled the most against people the same height as him, so this would be his toughest test.”