Opinion: Why Jon Jones needs to win at UFC 232
One of the biggest news pieces of the last week in the world of Mixed Martial Arts has been the UFC moving UFC 232 from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.
The event which was scheduled to be held at the T-Mobile Arena in the Sin City will now be held at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
The last major MMA event that took place at The Forum was highly-publicized cum universally-panned ' Chuck Lidell Vs Tito Ortiz IUI by Golden Boy Promotions. Fans and MMA analysts have been highly critical of the company's decision of moving the event which is going to a huge logistical nightmare for even a promotion like the UFC.
Dana White has always been known to give preferential treatment to people he close to and no matter how he is put under the scanner for it, he doesn't care one bit.
The reason cited for this change was Jon Jones not getting cleared by the Nevada State Athletic Commission due to an abnormality in a drug test he took earlier this month. A small trace of Turinabol, a performance-enhancing drug, was found in Jones sample, the same substance for which the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion had been suspended, 15 months ago.
Due to the holiday season, the NSAC told the UFC that they didn't have enough time to investigate the matter and get Jones cleared on time for the fight on time.
The California State Athletic Commision came to the rescue of Jones and the UFC and they licensed Jones for the fight on December 29. As per the UFC, the amount of Turinabol was minuscule and wouldn't enhance Jones performance.
Jon Jones has been quite the character in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. In spite of being one of the, if not the, greatest fighter in the history of the sport. Jones has finished more great fighters than anyone in MMA history.
From Anthony Johnson to Lyoto Machida to OSP to the then-undefeated Daniel Cormier, Jones has knocked out every one of them.
But, the guy has this ability to mess things for himself in such a spectacular fashion that leaves fans shocked and numbed. His fight against Alexander Gustafsson on December 29 is going to the biggest challenge in Jones storied yet highly controversial career.
While their first fight was as close as it gets, the second meeting between the two would be an opportunity for them to cement their legacy.
While Gustaffson has a lot less to lose, come Saturday, this will be a make or break fight for Jon Jones, who has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons for the past one and a half year.
A comprehensive or even a unanimous decision loss to Gustaffson will make his critics and cynics go ' I Told You So' and more questions will be raised about Jones drug failures and how he only wins when he has a PED in his system.
While Jones can certainly bounce back from the loss, he certainly can't make excuses like he didn't train enough for the fight.
A win over the Mauler will, however, cement Jones' status as one of the greatest of all time and perhaps even the greatest to ever do it.
A win for Jones will also pave the way for ' Cormier Vs Jones III', which will in all likelihood be a super fight, thereby capping off one of the greatest rivalries in the history of Mixed Martial Arts.
This is without a doubt the biggest fight in both the fighters especially Jones, given the fact that his legacy and his reputation as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC is at stake, come Saturday.