I really don't like this ducking talk.
Jon Jones got in that cage with EVERYONE they put in front of him. For over 15 years, despite injuries and court cases, Jones made the walk and beat everyone. Now, people hear his name and they have the legend of Jones in their minds. They still try to think of him as that 24-30 year old phenom. He's not that guy anymore. Time is undefeated and Jones is pushing 40! The injuries have caught up to him and it's taking more and more time for him to recover. Even BEFORE Tom was a twinkle in every "hater's" eye, Jon was dealing with this stuff. Now it comes time for Jon to retire, and people are throwing shyt at him because he never lost.
I been watching UFC for 20 years. I've seen this shyt with all the top dudes. People love them then they get beat and suddenly that fickle fan syndrome kicks in. With all these guys there's always gonna be one more fight that the fans "demand" that they have or suddenly their legacy is questionable. And then they take the fight. And if they lose, it's "well I told you so" and if they win it's "well what about other fighter X". It's the fukking cycle.
We got people on this board and others saying Ronda was never good. That Demetrious Johnson was never the best. That forget that Aldo was a motherfukker before Conor got him. That Cyborg was routinely killing women before Amanda beat her.
I know this is gonna sound grim but if it weren't for the pandemic and his dad passing away, people would feel the same way about Khabib. They'd keep trying to add names to the list to catch him. Be honest, tell me you've never read comments about Khabib needing to go to 170! And all this was just 5 years ago.