The Sunday Junkie: Sept. 22 edition

Jon Jones has won over every MMA fan, he posted a clear-cut decision victory, no conspiracies are in place, and UFC 165 was a controversy-free event that featured a headlining bout that every fan can appreciate.

Well, one of those things is true, anyway.

After Jones’ narrow unanimous-decision victory in Toronto on Saturday night, the MMA world was abuzz with every conceivable feeling. While outrage seemed to be the emotion du jour, there was no doubt that MMA fans were treated to one of the greatest and most unexpected fights in recent history.

This week’s winner of The Sunday Junkie, our weekly reader-feedback feature, was England’s Stephen Gleeson, who thinks that regardless of how you scored the memorable bout, Jones has undoubtedly earned our respect.

For his winning entry, Stephen wins a free one-year subscription to “Fighters Only” magazine, the world’s leading MMA and lifestyle magazine.

Want to submit to next week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie? Scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions.

Also, as a reminder, please be sure to include your hometown and stick within the 150-word limit (and include your submission in the body of an email, not in an attachment). Many quality submissions this week didn’t meet those minimum guidelines and couldn’t be considered for publication.

(Pictured: Jon Jones)

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WITH JON JONES, RESPECT IS DUE

Saturday’s fight ended with Jon Jones winning something more valuable in most peoples eyes than the belt: respect. The champ has been a polarizing figure during his meteoric rise through the ranks during his UFC tenure. Some cite his perceived arrogance or that he has benefitted from fighting fighters on the downside of their career or that he has size advantages over them. On Saturday he fought a game opponent at the peak of his power who dragged him into deep water, and Jones managed to surface still breathing. Joe Rogan has a habit of distorting perceptions of fights by cheerleading for underdogs who show signs of being able to pull off an upset. Even factoring in this, I felt Jones was the clear victor thanks to his championship rounds turning of the screw. The champ has heart, and that’s the most frightening thing for the division. Respect is due.

Stephen Gleeson
Walsall, England

JONES DIDN’T DESERVE THE WIN

The light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson was by far an excellent and one of the most memorable fights in the light heavyweight division. Besides all the excitement, that was also another ridiculous decision made by the judges. It was obvious that the first three rounds were Gustafsson’s with effective striking and wrestling, and only the fourth and fifth belonged to Jones. Gustafsson was excellent on his feet and took Jones down more than anybody has ever been able to do so in his career, and this is a fighter who is not even a wrestler. I do not see whatsoever how Jones ended up with the victory, which leads me to think that judging in MMA needs a major overhaul, especially in championship fights. Jones definitely did not deserve the win with scorecards of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46. If anything, that scorecard belonged in favor to Gustafsson, who should have been the light heavyweight champion.

Ray Garza
Laredo, Texas

JON JONES PROVES HUMAN, AFTER ALL

Entering UFC 165, Jon Jones was MMA’s version of Superman. Jones had every enviable tool imaginable: We’re talking 84.5-inch reach, spinning elbows, 100-percent takedown defense, heat vision, flight – you get the point. You can’t blame the man for wearing a Nike “Not Quite Human” T-shirt. Like Superman, you respect both for their amazing abilities, but they’re virtually impossible to relate to, as evidenced by Jones’ legion of “haters.” Well, Jones met his equal in Alexander Gustafsson, an opponent matching the champ in size (thanks UFC promo team), yet more importantly, equaling him in skill and heart (as we found out after five rounds). Just like when the character Doomsday stood toe-to-toe with Superman in a fight to the death, Alex made Jones look quite human when the dust eventually settled. It’s exactly what we fans desire: a champion who faces adversity yet finds the heart to come out on top.

“Munabear”
San Francisco, Calif.

CONSPIRACY THEORISTS GIVEN A SHOT OF CREDIBILITY DUE TO UFC 165

I’ve witnessed many close decisions go the other way. I’ve seen many decisions appear one sided only to go to the other fighter. I’ve often found justification in the eventual winners of theses battles, be it octagon control or the FightMetric stats. UFC 165 was a landmark moment for me. It was the first time that I absolutely thought a fight was inexplicably judged wrong, and I cannot find justification for Jon Jones over Alexander Gustafsson. Gustafsson clearly won all rounds, with the third being the only one in question. In the moment that it was revealed that all the conspiracy theorists were given credibility when it was discovered that mass surveillance of American citizens was taking place, so too was the sense of panic felt when I suspiciously saw Jones highlights after rounds he clearly lost. When Bruce Buffer announced the decision, all MMA conspiracy theorists were suddenly given a shot of credibility.

Matt Sigers
Austin, Texas

SHUT UP, UFC 165 CRYBABIES

OK, we get it: You wanted Alexander Gustafsson to win. Yes, he did far, far better than anyone expected him to. He got in Jon Jones’ head, he made the champ look tentative and cautious for the first time in his career, and he proved that true hard work can shore up even the biggest hole in your fight game. But every time one of Gustafsson’s fans complains about a fixed fight or a conspiracy, it makes the whole sport look stupid. If you watched UFC 165's main event and walked away thinking either guy definitely, without a doubt, unequivocally won the fight, go take a long walk off a short off a short pier. You’re either full of it, or you don’t have the first clue about MMA and scoring. And here’s the kicker: I actually scored it 48-47 for Gustafsson.

Dane Simmons
Atlanta, Ga.

UFC’S LATEST PROBLEM IS ITS OWN SOLUTION In the immediate aftermath of one the greatest light heavyweight fights in UFC history, Dana White has to be a happy man. In 25 minutes, he went from having a dominant champion running out of challengers to a controversy on who gets the next shot at the title. Glover Teixeira is the rightful No. 1 contender, but his latest win left enough doubt in fans minds that many believe he stands little chance against champ Jon Jones. The UFC can let Alexander Gustafsson rematch Jones, and provide Glover a No. 1 contender’s match that gives him a chance to erase any lingering doubt about his abilities.

Matt Sigers
Austin, Texas

TEAM JONES? NEVER!

Facts: I am not a Jon Jones fan. I do not know if I am open to becoming a Jones fan. I once was a fan of Jones – before he became the champion. Is my distaste for Jones simply because “Haters are gonna hate,” or is it deserved? Is it because of the erroneous use of his past tense form of the verb fight each time he says “foughten” when referring to past fights? The reason I don’t think highly of Jones is because I think you can be undeniably great and consistently humble, and I don’t think he’s found that balance. No one can deny that Jones is talented and most likely not going to be beaten anytime soon. However, for his own sake and for mine, I hope someone hands him his first true defeat (preferably sooner than later). We could all stand to be more humble.

Joshua Garriott
Westerville, Ohio

FANS WERE THE REAL WINNERS WITH UFC 165

Social media and MMA sites exploded with controversy Saturday night after the final decision was announced at UFC 165. With all the attention on the controversial decision nod Jon Jones received, I couldn’t help but realize the fans were the real winners. Jones was right that we’ve been begging for a dog fight, and ib Saturday, both fighters delivered and left it all in the cage. It was clearly one of the best fights in recent memory. We can only hope that these two will meet again in the future. Jones proved to be the resilient champion we all knew he was capable of being, and Alexander Gustafsson proved to be a real contender and a class act even in defeat. This is the why we all love MMA.

Wade Stinson
Richmond, Ind.

TIME TO SWITCH TO FULL-FIGHT SCORING

After the close decision between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, a great battle that could be the best fight in UFC history is once again overshadowed by a debate on questionable judging. As everyone wonders in combat sports how this can be fixed, I believe there may be one answer: full0fight scoring. Round-by-round has been the norm for so many years, but as we saw in the main event of UFC 165, when fighter A seems to have squeaked by in three rounds while another easily takes two and does more damage, it makes for lots of confusion. This could all be a thing of the past by going to judging fights as a whole like they do in Japan, where the guy who won the fight overall will indeed be the one who takes it despite in which five-minute stint who “squeaked it out.”

Ryan Platt
Gladstone, Ore.

JONES AND MMA’S NEXT-LEVEL SPONSORSHIP

With the recent announcement of Gatorade sponsoring Jon Jones, along with his recent Nike partnership, it appears that the sport is becoming more and more mainstream to the world. As a guy who had trained and enjoyed MMA for the past 20 years, I as a fan want to thank the sponsors for taking the chance on these athletes, and this sport deserves all the recognition it is getting. Thanks to diehard fans and athletes, along with great outlets like the “Junkie,” this sport has no ceiling and continues to climb to its rightful place among the top of the sports world. Thank you, from a lifer in the MMA community.

Joseph G. “Tapdaddy77? Page
Kingsport, Tenn.

RENAN BARAO IS NO. 1

Renan Barao is the world’s top bantamweight fighter. I don’t say this because I hate Dominick Cruz or think he’s faking injuries. I’m not going to hate on a guy simply because he had surgery and can’t fight. However, with Cruz not fighting for two years, Barao has absolutely run through the 135-pound division and beaten some really big names, including Eddie Wineland, Urijah Faber, Michael McDonald and Scott Jorgensen. Just because Cruz is the “regular” champion, it doesn’t make him the automatic top guy. Barao has proven it’s really him, not only at bantamweight, but pound-for-pound.

Andy Freeze
Sunrise, Fla.

ONE REF WHO NEEDS TO GO

Jason Herzog’s reputation as “one of the best referees” in MMA has not gone unnoticed by me for a long time. This is because while he has that stature, his actions in the cage are quite the opposite. A further example was at Bellator 100. Not only should have the co-main event between War Machine and Vaughn Anderson been stood up before it mercifully ended, the Ben Saunders vs. Douglas Lima headliner went on long after it should have. Lima’s right hand early in the second round caused Saunders to take nine unanswered shots before pulling guard, and should have been stopped long before he finally went down via head kick. It is not the first time Herzog’s style has made him look amateur, and Bellator needs to correct blunders like his if it has any chance to match the UFC in fans’ eyes in terms of quality.

Edward “MMArmaggedon” Hitchins
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

IS THE UFC PUNISHING NIK LENTZ?

Recently Nik Lentz criticized Conor McGregor and his special treatment, and I don’t think the UFC liked that. So instead of bringing up a confrontation, they feed Lentz to No. 2 featherweight Chad Mendes. I don’t think it’s a matchup that makes sense for Mendes (at least Clay Guida had a name value). Lentz is barely top 10 and will now fall down a couple spots after Mendes wins by whichever way he wants.

Abraham Ruvalcaba
Oklahoma City, Okla.