Tag: greatness

Can we call Bones the greatest yet?

Image: UFC on Instagram

Jon Bones Jones has again proven to the world that he is the greatest MMA fighter ever on this planet. That is not even up for discussion anymore and the topic has now changed to him being the greatest sportsman on the planet. The win over Dominick Reyes has just added more conviction to that argument.

The internet blew up on Sunday about how the decision to award the win to Jon Jones was unfair and the judges made mistakes. Initially, because I woke up after the fight and watched the highlights on Blitz I also thought that Dominick Reyes won that fight until I watched the full fight about 3 times and there’s nowhere I can see why people think Jones lost that fight. Those highlights were like a soccer game where they show nutmegs and one team dribbling the other team ragged and yet still lose. Just as in soccer, you have to score to win and in MMA you have to do takedowns, octagon control and beat up your opponent. That’s what Jon Jones did for most of that fight. He didn’t completely dominate it but he did what he needed to do to win and that’s what counts.

Jon Bones Jones now holds the record for the most championship fights and at age 23 he was the youngest champion in the history of the UFC, a record that he still has. There has not been complete domination in any UFC weight like what Jon Jones is doing in the light heavyweight division. This man has stomped past champions, next-generation superstars and just about everyone they have put in front of him. The only blemish on his record is a disqualification where the rules of the UFC were still questionable and obviously his behavior outside of the octagon leaves a lot to be desired.

His record will, however, be tainted by two failed drug tests. No athlete will ever admit that they intentionally doped.

Which elite sportsman in any sports who has dominated like Jon Jones doesn’t have off the job incidents?

Ronaldinho was the greatest soccer player of our generation without a doubt and his career was stalled by off the field incidents. Partying and beautiful Spanish girls were irresistible to the man and he couldn’t stay at the top for long.

Barry Bonds was arguably the best baseball ⚾️ player ever, a seven time MVP could not resist using steroids to stay on top. He got caught and now he can’t make it to the Hall of Fame.

Tom Brady who is considered to be the best quarterback of all time had controversies too. The deflate-gate scandal will always be a blemish on his record.

Mike Tyson was biting people and even spent time in jail. He was never the same after spending time on the joint.

Marion Jones and Justin Gatling in athletics also got caught doping.

There was a time Lance Armstrong was considered the best cyclist 🚴 ever until he too admitted to doping.

Steve Smith arguably the greatest 🏏 batsmen was also involved in the sandpaper gate. His will to win made him ignore the fact that his teammates were willing to cheat to win a cricket game

It’s highly unlikely they will name Tiger Woods the greatest golfer ⛳ ever because he still hasn’t broken Jack Nicklaus’s number of golf majors win record and it is unlikely he will . It also happened that he was a serial womanizer. All he will get is the greatest comeback of all time for winning the Masters.

Michael Phelps 🏊 was also once seen smoking marijuana which is also considered a performance-enhancing drug. Swimming genetically favors one race anyway.

I remember one time in grade 11 all my focus was on maths at school because that’s how they judge us. I never took the other subjects seriously but I still wanted to do well in them so one day I had forgotten we were writing an Agriculture test. I knew I couldn’t bullshit my way into passing that test and everyone I was competing with at school at that time was bragging about how they covered everything and couldn’t wait for that test. It ate me up so much that when my desk mate told me we must copy during the test I didn’t hesitate even one bit. Pity we got caught and I didn’t snitch and said my desk mate made me do it, I just accepted and made sure I worked harder for next time and not find myself in the same situation. That’s what Jon Jones did and still does up to this day.

Being at the top comes with pressures and a lot of voices telling you what you need to do to win and stay on top. It’s an addiction even stronger than heroin.

A lot of athletes including the ones I’ve mentioned have at some stage of their careers been the top dogs and they entangled themselves in one controversy or the other and whole most rehabilitated and came back they didn’t quite reach the peak level they were at. Barring Tom Brady and Steve Smith, none of these people came back from their controversies and still dominated their respective sports fields and mind you MMA is an individual sport and not a team sports. In team sports, you can have an off day and your team can still win and with your little contribution, you can still be revered as being great. In individual sports, there is nowhere to hide, it’s just you! Jon Jones took his suspensions and came back and continued doing what he does best which is whip anyone that challenges him for his throne.

I purposely left out Roger Federer out of this conversation because then you have to mention Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. We all have our different opinions on who is best there.

Ronaldo and Messi are still arguing with each other and we might never conclude that debacle.

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are also great sportsmen but their sport is exclusive. It’s mostly for rich people or people from the first world. Who do you know who has come from poverty has been a formula 1 🏎 champion?

In MMA it’s Jon Jones then the rest. This guy has beaten his closest rival Daniel Carter not once but twice . I remember seeing DC crying after the first fight and it was evident that he was not crying because he lost but because he knew he had given his best and more and it was still not enough. For some people no matter how hard you try you can never derail them from their destiny. Jon Jones has two brothers who both have NFL 🏈 championship rings and for different teams at that time. So the man could have played NFL and still be a champion.

Let’s leave out the negatives and just admit that Jon Bones Jones is the greatest combat athlete off all time and possibly the greatest athlete of our time.

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Let the boys play rugby

SA Rugby is one of the few sport bodies in the country that know how to make money. Getting a black player that can actually play and making him captain was a calculated profit generating move.

Making Siya Kolisi the captain was not all down to the fact that he was a natural leader or the one best suited for the job. You had your Duane Vermeulen, Handre Pollard , Frans Malherbe , Eben Etzebeth , Steven Kitshoff . These are all guys that have been leading rugby teams from their primary school days and even at Craven Week. Siya Kolisi was captain of the Stormers for less than 3 seasons before he was named the Bok captain. Siya Kolisi is a gem of a rugby player that plays his skin out for any Jersey he puts on but circumstances made him captain and he is now imprinted in the highest echelons of the black society.

Jurie Roux and Rassie Erasmus are both smart men . They both know what they are doing . There are less than 5 million white South Africa over 44 million blacks South Africans , add that with almost the whole of black Africa which follows the trends of South Africa. South Africa provides essential services like Television, Media , Communication and Entertainment from Cape to Cairo. Almost every African that has access to these services knows about South Africa and now the Springboks. The Springboks winning the World Cup has probably multiplied their support base by 100. The Springboks are now probably the biggest national sporting brand in the whole continent. People now support the Boks even if they don’t know what rugby is about. Even the Nigerian pastor accused of rape was seen wearing a Bok jersey and attire when he recently went to court. Springbok merchandise is flying off the shelves. Even the Super Rugby teams are getting a piece of the cake continent wide.

Jurie Roux is an astute business administrator, you can even ask them at the University of Stellenbosch they know that. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the first rugby game of the season was held at Soweto at a 90 000 seat stadium. The cheapest ticket will be sold at 60 and its recorded that 50000 people flocked in to watch both games. The games didn’t disappoint and they were a hit with fans especially children. Not factoring television sales and or other revenue generating mechanisms SA Rugby used there they made a minimum of 3 million rand just by gate takings. White peoples and black attended that game, while many watched on releve because it gave us pride to be world champions and even those who don’t understand the game were there just to see Siya Kolisi. From SA Rugby’s part it is genius.

It’s concerning to note that amidst all this positivity and talk about rugby already being transformed we find that all 9 Varsity captains are white and Afrikaaner. It might be a coincidence but it’s impossible that from all the many rugby schools in the country we can’t even produce one black captain for a varsity cup. Is it because it is not an international tournament where the world doesn’t pay attention to or perhaps they just deserve it. Whatever it maybe but too many top black talented rugby players get lost in the system. Those who manage to don the springbok emblem have to move through even and earth to get where they are. A guy like Lukhanyo Am was a high school prodigy in his position but none of unions took him and he had to grind his way up to be recognized while you have other mediocre players sitting on hefty contracts. It is also worth mentioning that out of the 4 Super Rugby teams , 3 (Lukhanyo Am at the Sharks , Siya Kolisi at the Stormers and Elton Jantjies at the Lions) of them are captained by players of color.

Let’s hope SA Rugby is not blinding us by making ceremonial leaders out of our players and implement transformation at all age levels and not only in the big leagues because this has the potential to make us struggle like we are struggling in the cricket. The cricket authorities demanded a certain number of players of color must be selected at franchise and national level but that doesn’t make total sense .

Cricket unlike other sports is quite an expensive sports because you need be in a certain school just to play it and a kit sets you back about 2000 rand and most black parents cannot afford to pay that as they are barely making enough to pay tuition for that school. Those who make it in cricket either have full scholarships or their parents can afford it. The average family cannot.Rugby on the underhand is played barefoot in primary school and you just buy boots in high school. High schools must stop using talented black players for their selfish populism and actually give them a proper foundation to go professional. After the sensational winning of the World Cup there was an outcry about the exodus of top players to the Japanese, French and English leagues but how many of them were black? Racism or apartheid in paper is a thing of the past and should be left there.

Rugby has grown in leaps and bounds in this country and it’s time we have a proper league like the English Premiership but investments has to be made in conjunction with the Department of Education so that all the schools in the country can be afforded the opportunity to play. Tournaments, facilities and grass should be high on their list. Rugby has now become our pride as South Africans and we seek continuation and to spread the game. Congratulations to Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi on making a nation proud let us all in our respective fields adopt a sense of patriotism to make it a better country.

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