Jon Jones. His rise to stardom has been nothing less than awe inspiring. Devastating victories over all of his opponents, with convincing finishes over each of them. Only one loss marks an otherwise perfect record – the DQ to Matt Hamill (whom he was dominating before being called for an illegal elbow). With all of that said, how can you really argue that the guy isn’t going to be king for awhile?
A couple of things come into question…
- Arguably, Shogun is the only top level competitor that Jones faced.
- Jones’ chin has really not yet been tested – one lucky “Matt Serra-esque”hayday could be the end of a very short reign.
- The Light Heavyweight division is still considered one of the deepest in the UFC.
- Second to the previous point, Rampage was the last champion to successfully defend his title (I still don’t consider the Machida defence legit) – it’s a revolving door title.
- Nerves. Jones is going to be facing his first defence and that can be a tough mental obstacle for any fighter to overcome.
My opinion? I think Jones is here to stay. In a lot of ways he reminds me of a bigger Georges St. Pierre; crisp stand-up, fantastic ground game, bigger than most guys in the division. He poses a lot of problems for most of the fighters in that division.
Let’s look at his upcoming fight against Rampage. Rampage has that one knock-out punch power that can ruin anyone’s night, and is always considered one of the top fighters in the division – his problem? He needs to get inside the massive reach of Jones; getting inside that 84.5″ reach is no easy task. His other problem? Rampage has zero ground game off his back – and Jones is almost guaranteed to put him there.
Despite my opinion, I think Jones faces a crossroads. It’s either his chance to become the next face of the UFC (which he is well on his way to becoming), or become the next Houston Alexander… well, maybe not that bad.
…And that is the last word.
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