ROUNDTABLE: Staff predictions for Jon Jones vs. Anthony Smith

By Michael Hiscoe, Managing Editor

Dec 29, 2018; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Jon Jones (red gloves) exits the octogon after his victory over Alexander Gustafsson (not pictured) during UFC 232 at The Forum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Who wins the UFC 235 main event between Jon Jones and Anthony Smith?

Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 

I think the only way Smith wins this is if Jones beats himself. If he tries to toy with Smith or doesn’t train enough, there’s a chance Smith wins. If Jones is his usual self, he should destroy Smith. He’ll probably beat in the later part of the 2nd round or beginning of the 3rd round. I’m hoping for a competitive fight, but Jones is one of the best ever. This is like a real-life Rocky situation. This isn’t the movies, though, so I think Jones comes out motivated and lays a whipping on Smith.

Christian Moore, MMATorch Contributor

I believe Jon Jones has a pretty easy time against Anthony Smith. Jones is a technical wizard on the feet, and even if Smith is able to hang, Jones is debatably one of the best grapplers in the UFC. I think Jones wins by TKO in Round 2. I mean, let’s think about this. If Jones easily handled Daniel Cormier twice, Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort on roids, Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua in their primes, Rampage, Alexander Gustafsson x2, and so on, so how could Anthony Smith, a guy who beat 2 has-beens, and an overhyped fighter in Volkan Oezdemir. So Jones wins with ease.

Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner

Anthony Smith rushes in and is finished early; that’s my prediction. Smith won’t have a game plan for his game plan will be so bad that it’s as if he didn’t have one. Anything less than staying close to Jones but out of the clinch means that Jones will pick him apart from a distance and it’s only a matter of time before he goes in for the kill. Smith has one chance; stay close and take some risk shots Jones is going to hit you, you just have to take them and make sure your shots are harder.


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Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor

I refuse to pick against Jon Jones right now. He did just about everything right against Alexander Gustafsson only nine weeks ago, so I’m expecting him to look even better on Saturday night. Smith is on a pretty good run, but he also has a lot of losses on his record. We haven’t seen enough of his defensive wrestling to think that he’ll give Jones any trouble there. I think Jones takes it easy for a round or two before taking Smith down in the third to get a TKO win.

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