The best and worst from UFC 235: Jones vs. Smith

#2 Worst: Jones plays with his food

Anthony Smith surprisingly went the distance with Jon Jones

Over the course of his UFC career, fans and analysts could accuse Jon Jones of a lot of things, but one thing that he could never really be accused of was not putting overmatched opponents away.

Vicious finishes were almost always part of his regular arsenal, but for some reason last night, despite clearly outclassing Anthony Smith, it felt like Jones never had a lot of urgency in looking for a finish.

Whether he felt like he needed more time in the Octagon or whether he injured himself during the fight is anyone’s guess, but really it wasn’t even like Smith survived a ton of punishment. He was clearly beaten, but was never close to being finished – outside of the illegal knee Jones landed in the 4th round, a move that cost him two points on the scorecard, not that it mattered.

Most fans recognised that Smith was probably overmatched going in and a violent finish for Jones probably would’ve helped him to regain some of the fans he lost through his various PED issues in 2017/18. In the end though, due to a listless performance that felt like a predator playing with its food, this was a missed opportunity for Jones – and made for a forgettable main event.