Jon Jones: Dominant but at His Weakest!
By JM “Shade” Daguio
MMA is a relatively young sport compared to other major sports all of whom had been existing for decades and like most sports MMA has its heroes, dominators, conquerors and misfits. Boxing has a long line of greats spanning a century with the likes of Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran to name a few, MMA may not have the same amount of greats but it does have it’s own pantheon; Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko, BJ Penn, Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. Looking at this list though only one is essentially retired, that’s Randy Couture. All others are either potentially competing or in active competition, that’s the result of the MMA in it’s relative youth.
As I was examining the all-time greats of MMA and their profiles, all have their bid as the greatest but only one has really has the chance to set that bar higher: Jon “Bones” Jones.
The former light heavyweight champion is considered to be the best pound for pound fighter in planet earth, and why not? He’s beaten everly single living organism put in front of him. His record stands at 21-1 but that one loss wasn’t due to his inability to win, it was due to a foul. Jones was dominating Matt Hamill during a lopsided match when Jones proceeded to elbow Hamill using the banned 12 to 6 elbows (elbowing the opponent directly from top to bottom hence it was named 12 to 6 taken from the traditional clock), the referee stopped the fight and awarded Hamill the win via disqualification.
As for Jones’ title, he is now the FORMER light heavyweight champion (205-pound limit) not because he lost but because he was stripped of his title due to his behavior outside of the cage. Despite all the accolades denied him, Jon Jones is still currently the best fighter alive having yielded to no one, for proof just look at Jones resume, he has defeated former champions, future hall of famers and even has a win versus the current light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier. The list goes:
Brandon Vera (current ONEFC heavyweight champ) via TKO
Vladimir Matyushenko (former IFL light heavyweight champ) via TKO
Ryan Bader (top-10 light heavyweight) via submission
Shogun Rua (former Light heavyweight champ) via TKO
Rampage Jackson (former light heavyweight champ) via submission
Lyoto Machida (former light heavyweight champ) via technical submission
Rashad Evans (former light heavyweight champ) unanimous decision
Vitor Belfort (former light heavyweight champ/current top-10 middleweight) via sub
Chael Sonnen (former middleweight contender) via TKO
Alexander Gustafsson (current top-10 light heavyweight) unanimous decision
Glover Teixeira (current top-10 light heavyweight) unanimous decision
Daniel Cormier (former Strikeforce heavyweight champion and current UFC light heavyweight champion) via unanimous decision.
As the list describes, Jones is a dominant monster but because of his legal woes, “Bones” has to fulfill his sentence of community service and fine, the UFC however, reinstated Jones and have been slated to fight on April 23.
As usual, Jones is predicted to win but this fight will be his most vulnerable. Jones will be fighting the ever dangerous heavy hitter Ovince St-Preux in Las Vegas, this is a replacement fight but it is by no means a tune-up fight, St-Preux will clearly bring it and Jones has not fought in a year and 3 months, no matter what other fighters say ring rust is real, some are conquered but some are not, Jon Jones needs to focus on this fight and come up with a strategy to stifle St-Preux, bring him to the ground and dominate from there.
We are sure of what Jones is capable of but with his long layoff we’re not really sure what type of Jon Jones will show up come April 23, the Jon Jones with all the legal problems, substance abuse and distraction? Or the pound for pound fighter?
For St-Preux, this is the opportunity of a lifetime, just like Holly Holm, TJ Dillashaw, Chris Weidman and Nate Diaz, all of whom seized the moment and rose to the occasion and beat the unbeatable. St-Preux has the tools, all he has to do is put them together and never get caught up with all the hype, do not put his opponent in a pedestal, once St-Preux gets past that he will be able to pierce the aura of invincibility and with St-Preux’s undeniable power he maybe able to, just maybe, beat Jon Jones at his weakest.
UFC 197 Jones vs. St-Preux for the interim light heavyweight title. (April 23)
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