Greg Jackson is one of the smartest coaches in mixed martial arts.
He’s a voracious reader of anything historical, and studies the intricacies of mixed martial arts like a general studies the arts and ways of war. His busy schedule means that the days of Jackson spending each and every day coaching his guys in his New Mexico gym are probably long gone, but make no mistake about it: Jackson is still the brains, the guy who comes up with the game plans and he’s the one in their corner come fight night to ensure that they execute it properly.
Jon Jones used another one of Jackson’s brilliant game plans on Saturday night. It wasn’t perfect execution by Jones; the light heavyweight champ respected Evans as a fighter, and that made him a little shaky throughout all five rounds. But Jones still did his job, and did so effectively.
After the conclusion of the fight, FuelTV’s Karyn Bryant talked to Jackson about the game plan he designed for Jones.
“It was a pretty intricate game plan because Rashad brings a lot of stuff. But underpinning it was constant forward pressure,” Jackson told Bryant. “Not letting him get a chance to establish his rhythm was a very, very important component.”
There’s almost always a moment during a Jones fight where we sit back and go, “well, I don’t know what the heck he just did there, but it was pretty awesome.” There were two such moments during Saturday’s fight: the standing elbow strikes Jones used to rock Evans and the shoulder punches he used to keep Evans from changing levels during a takedown attempt.
Jackson said that’s par for the course when dealing with Jones.
“The thing about Jon is that you don’t want to get too hyper-specific about what you exactly want him to do. He likes that, but it’s better to let him flow and be creative,” Jackson said. “We worked a lot of stuff similar to that, but you never know when he’s going to do it, and neither does his opponent.”
It’s clear as it ever was that we’re dealing with a special talent. It’s an honor to watch Jones do what he does in the cage, and that’s not hyperbole. We could very well be seeing the rapid ascension of the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.
Kudos to Jackson for having the mental clarity to seemingly know the correct thing to do with Jones each and every time out of the gate.
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