I know you are probably tired of hearing the name Jon Jones, but it’s one that we could be hearing for a very long time. Then maybe we won’t. I did this same type of post when everyone was crowning Lyoto Machida as the next unbeatable light heavyweight, naming three fighters that could give him problems. I went one for two in choosing Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. I still think Evans had the tools to beat Machida, just chose a horrible game-plan back at UFC 98. We all saw Jackson beat Machida a few months back.* Which brings me to the title of this piece.Who in the UFC light heavyweight division is a significant threat to beat Jon Jones?
We all saw how Jones destroyed Shogun Rua at UFC 128 this past weekend. I don’t think it would matter if Shogun was 200% healthy, it was just a bad fight stylistically for him. So now the talk will be centered around Jones defending his title. He’ll be defending against Rashad Evans later this year in his first title defense.
Let’s look at some potential opponents for Jones:
Rashad Evans-We already know that they will be fighting next. The odds-makers are basically giving Evans little to no chance in beating Jones. I think Jones wins that fight simply because he’s bigger, has a huge reach advantage, and a similar skill-set to Evans. However, Evans has trained with Jones in the past and may be aware of certain areas where Jones is vulnerable. If Evans were a little bigger, I’d definitely give him a better shot of winning this fight.*He has good hand speed and is a solid wrestler himself with a decent top game. He may be able to strike his way inside and change levels for the take-down similar to his game-plan against Thiago Silva last year, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to get inside or stop Jones from taking him down. We’ll find out soon enough.
Rampage Jackson-IF Rampage Jackson is in shape, I’ll give him a shot to beat anyone in the world. He has an iron chin, good KO power, and solid wrestling skills when he chooses to use it. He also has great striking defense. I think Jones would have a tough time rag-dolling Rampage the way he has done everyone else. Jones would could not afford to make any mistakes in regards to the flashy strikes he throws at times. Jones actually put himself in a couple of bad positions against Shogun this past weekend, but Shogun just wasn’t able to capitalize when the opportunities presented themselves. For example, one of his spinning back kicks missed badly leaving him open. Also, he missed another strike and Shogun wound up behind him, but decided to drop down for a leg lock instead of striking. He couldn’t afford to do that against someone like Rampage.
Thiago Silva-Can he pass his drug tests? Silva has power, good size, and a ground game to match. I think his only shot would be to take Jones down and get top position though. He could do damage from there possibly. However, he would get picked apart if he couldn’t get Jones down, and he probably couldn’t take him down to be honest.
That’s pretty much it right now. I think Lyoto Machida’s too small to pose a threat to Jones. I think Jones would eventually take him down and pound him out or win a decision. Griffin would probably get crushed because he would get taken down at will. Ryan Bader has already been dismantled. Randy Couture is too old, yep I said that. Phil Davis may be able to challenge Jones in a few more fights. Now THAT would be interesting because Davis has great wrestling, he’s big,*and an evolving submission game. You can watch Davis in action this weekend against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. However, Davis may be the dark-horse to keep an eye on in the future.
I still think Jones is a wrestler at heart even though he doesn’t mind striking.*I still believe in the statement that wrestlers don’t like being on their backs. I think that’s where the hole is in Jon Jones game right now. He might surprise me, but I don’t see him pulling off arm-bars, triangle chokes, or sweeping guys with jiu-jitsu. Of course, someone has to have the skills to put him on his back, or just take advantage of the opportunities when he puts himself in bad spots with wreck-less striking.
That’s the beauty of MMA though, leaving one era while going to another in this every evolving sport. I love it.
So who has the best chance at dethroning Jones?
Filed Under: UFC
Tags: featured, Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Mixed Martial-Arts, Rampage Jackson, rashad evans, Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua, Thiago Silva, UFC
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