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UFC 159 Results: Jon Jones Throttles Chael Sonnen, Squarely in No-Win Territory

After mauling Chael Sonnen at UFC 159, it’s clear that Jon Jones has no serious challengers at 205 pounds.This isn’t news to most fight fans, but there’s really no room for debate left.The UFC light heavyweight champion is not invincible and may very w…

After mauling Chael Sonnen at UFC 159, it’s clear that Jon Jones has no serious challengers at 205 pounds.

This isn’t news to most fight fans, but there’s really no room for debate left.

The UFC light heavyweight champion is not invincible and may very well eat a legitimate defeat in the weight class to go along with the bludgeoning of Matt Hamill that Bones technically “lost.” But if that ever happens, it’s going to be the product of the champion beating himself or some out-of-nowhere freak of nature that’s not even on the 205-pound radar at the moment.

Look at the organization’s own light heavyweight rankings. They aren’t necessarily definitive, but as they are published by the company that puts on the cards, they might easily be mistaken as such:

Jon “Bones” Jones
Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida
Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson
Dan “Hendo” Henderson
Glover Teixeira
Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira
“Suga” Rashad Evans
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis
Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi
Ryan Bader

You’ll recall that Bones dispatched the current top challenger with extreme prejudice at UFC 140. It’s true that the Dragon gave him issues in the first round and managed to touch the champ a few times. But Jon eventually found his range, bloodied the Brazilian and ultimately left him in a heap at the base of the cage courtesy of a nasty standing guillotine.

Neither Evans nor Rua nor Bader fared any better than Machida. Alhough, Suga Rashad does get a star in the moral-victory column for being the first man to ever go a full five rounds with the UFC’s version of the bogeyman.

Gustafsson and Teixeira would both be interesting if they could place the 25-year-old champion in stasis and improve while Jones was unable to do so himself. Unfortunately for both up-and-comers, Jon seems to be improving as fast as, if not faster than, anyone else in the division.

Possibly even the company.

He didn’t have much of a chance to demonstrate his latest upgrades, but even in the roughly five minutes it took to dismantle Sonnen, Jones proved he had something every all-time great must have: poise enough to navigate a no-win situation smoothly.

And he has it at a relatively young age.

Bones has arguably reached that rarest level of dominance where anything short of a spectacular performance against a sincere challenger will leave the audience grumbling: “What’s the big fuss?”

That means the great majority of his bouts will be lose-lose propositions from now on because most of the men on that list of light heavyweight contenders won’t be seen as sincere challengers.

Anderson Silva reached that point somewhere around Patrick Cote and Thales Leites.

Things were heading in an ugly direction if the Demian Maia Incident at UFC 112 was any indication, but Sonnen‘s arch-villain routine and near-upset at UFC 117 changed the game on the Spider. One could even argue Chael saved Anderson from himself by providing Silva with a “worthy” foil or at least one the UFC middleweight champion had to take seriously.

Regardless, Silva showed that, even at well-seasoned 34 years of age (at the time of the debacle in Abu Dhabi), the psychological weight of being the top dog can be as dangerous as any opponent. The stakes are, almost by definition, higher for the one holding the belt than for the one trying to take it.

Sometimes unfairly so, which tips the scales of pressure even more dramatically toward the title-holder.

UFC 159’s main event—featuring arguably the greatest 205-pounder of all time against a dude who hadn’t fought at the weight in almost a decade and got blasted in his last bout at 185 pounds—was a perfect example of the phenomenon.

If Jones had walked across the cage and knocked Sonnen out in 12 seconds, the Prudential Center crowd would’ve roared politely and then returned to talking about Alan Belcher’s eye or Roy Nelson’s nuclear right hand.

Jon Jones had nothing to gain, everything to lose and sailed through the ordeal unscathed.

He could’ve toyed with his adversary, he could’ve trash-talked him or tried to make an example of him. Bones could’ve insisted on beating Sonnen with his own head games, but instead chose the better part of valor and beat Chael with his own fight game.

The light heavyweight champion bullied the much smaller challenger, landed a couple punishing takedowns and pulped Sonnen until the referee had seen enough. Sure, the stoppage looked a tad premature, but only because Chael was still conscious, not because he had any chance of rallying.

So chalk up another impressive, though unsurprising performance for Jones and yet another mental weapon to go with the resolve he showed against Vitor Belfort’s infamous armbar at UFC 152.

Which brings us back to that list of so-called challengers.

The Mauler and Teixeira are impressive in their own rights, but neither has the physical tools that Jones’ possesses and Jon is proving up to the mental hurdles as well.

Both deserve and will most likely get their shots, but neither will be a terrific bet to unseat the 205-pound kingpin unless one or both can find a way to close on the champ between now and then.

Hendo and Minotoro Nogueira might’ve given Jones’ a run for his hardware in their primes, but despite my man-crush on Dangerous Dan and my respect for anyone named Nogueira, you’re talking about 42 and 36. Age isn’t the end-all-be-all of fight variables, but adding it to all of Jones’ other advantages doesn’t help.

That leaves Davis and Mousasi.

Mr. Wonderful just picked apart Vinny Magalhaes, but well, it was Vinny Magalhaes. Davis falls into the “needs more improvement” camp along with Gustafsson and Teixeira, he just appears to need more of it.

As for the Dreamcatcher, who knows what to make of him at this point? He’s looked like a world-beater at times and then looked like the guy who battled Keith Jardine to a draw in 2011. Either way, Mousasi‘s about the same size as Sonnen, but not nearly as physical, so it’s hard to see him offering Jones much resistance.

As for the mythical warrior from beyond the horizon, the only name I can think of is Daniel Cormier, but have you seen DC lately?

If he’s set on trimming down to 205 safely (as he should be), it’s going to be a while before we see Cormier at light heavyweight and that’s if he even decides that’s where he wants to go.

Until then, Dana White and Joe Silva are going to have to get creative because, after five eye-opening title defenses and 10 consecutive victories at 205 pounds with nine coming via stoppage, the UFC light heavyweight champion has little left to prove and even less competition against which to prove it.

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UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez Delivers on Considerable Promise

UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez could’ve been a disaster. Instead, it was a face-smashing success complete with an in-Octagon marriage proposal.The seventh installment of UFC on Fox had built up quite a reputation in the days and weeks preceding the…

UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez could’ve been a disaster. Instead, it was a face-smashing success complete with an in-Octagon marriage proposal.

The seventh installment of UFC on Fox had built up quite a reputation in the days and weeks preceding the event.

The headliner was a title bout between UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson and top-ranked challenger Gilbert Melendez, but it was the depth of the card that really had the mixed martial arts world buzzing. For the first time since UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis (aka UFC on Fox 2) and the second time since the two parties inked their seven-year contract for broadcasting rights, the powers that be had stacked the card with compelling matchups.

More importantly, Lady Luck cooperated, the injury bug stayed away and the matchups remained intact.

Talented UFC newcomer Daniel Cormier and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir shared the spotlight with the champ and El Nino in the co-main event. There was a clash between elite lightweights Josh Thomson and Nate Diaz, as well as a sneaky-good pairing of middleweights Matt Brown and Jordan Mein. To boot, the undercard featured several interesting names facing legitimate competition.

So people were excited simply by the bare bones of the card.

Just in case they weren’t, UFC president Dana White and Co. were promoting it with their typical understated touch.

Observers were expecting a thrilling afternoon/evening of fights, which made the stakes high enough.

You also had the lackluster feel to last four cards on Fox (here, here, here and here)—which wasn’t necessarily fair, but nevertheless existed—and the fact that it was all happening on network television, a phenomenon to which the UFC is still relatively new. So you had more than a few chips on the table.

Deliver on the hype and much of the Fox-related grousing would be forgotten while the UFC added another win to an already triumphant 2013 schedule. Fail to deliver and the ironic grumbling about vanilla-but-still-free cards starts up again, putting a damper on the year’s good vibe.

Fortunately for all involved, the athletes held up their end of the bargain, and Benson Henderson even added a heart-warming wild card.

Four of the 12 fights went to decisions and two of those were the co-main events, which were entertaining affairs even if they weren’t completely satisfying. Only one of the decisions was a true dog—Francis Carmont over Lorenz Larkin—as the fourth, Jorge Masvidal over Tim Means, heated up toward the end.

All eight of the other tilts ended in knockouts, and more than a few of those were of the spectacular variety.

Yoel Romero kicked things off almost literally, ending the card’s first bout with a flying knee to the jaw of Clifford Starks before finishing him off with punches. Anthony Njokuani shut the lights on Roger Bowling with a beautiful left hook that landed on the button, Joseph Benavidez stopped Darren Uyenoyama with a punishing left hook to the body and Thomson became the first man to knock out Nate Diaz, doing so with a savage head kick.

T.J. Dillashaw, Myles Jury, Chad Mendes and Brown each scored impressive knockouts in their own right.

Even better, the vast majority showcased fast-paced, action-packed scraps between aggressive opponents.

The Punk harried Diaz for six relentless minutes before forcing Nate’s corner to toss in the towel, literally. DC did pretty much whatever he wanted with Mir, but not for lack of effort or heart on Frank’s part. The ex-champ earned his warrior stripes by taking what Cormier dished out and returning fire with whatever he had left.

Smooth and Melendez battled in a razor-close, back-and-forth affair that ended in a split decision for Henderson and a very displeased HP Pavilion in San Jose, but only because the local favorite lost.

The actual title fight left little to be desired.

Of course, the Fight of the Night was Brown’s aforementioned TKO of the young prospect Mein. The Immortal, who seemed to have been set up for against the 23-year-old Canadian, set a scorching pace form the outset and had Mein on the defensive for much of the first round.

Young Gun turned the tide with less than two minutes to go, however, crumpling Brown to the canvas with a heavy shot and then threatening to pound his adversary out.

Brown managed to recover and snap on a tight triangle choke, imperiling Mein for a few seconds before the youngster wriggled free.

And that was all in Round 1.

The second round started much the same way, but Mein couldn’t withstand the second onslaught and The Immortal had his victory.

Granted, the event wasn’t perfect.

Cormier‘s performance against Mir left even the fighter, himself, saying it “didn’t warrant a title shot.” That might’ve been DC posturing because he doesn’t want to face his teammate, friend and UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. But it was also the truth.

Thus the victory sheds less light on DC as a serious threat at 265 pounds, or to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (should Cormier drop down a weight class), than most had hoped.

Most glaringly was the ill-received split decision that kept the UFC lightweight strap around Henderson’s waist.

Many in the cageside media scored the main event three rounds to two for the challenger Melendez, and the partisan crowd obviously felt like its boy had done enough to take the title. Personally, I thought El Nino had taken it 48-47 (three rounds to two), but I was also tweeting that each of the rounds could’ve justifiably gone to either fighter.

The thing was this close to being a certifiable tossup.

Consequently, you can understand everyone’s disappointment, especially that of a “heart-broken” Gil Melendez, but the split decision was far from a robbery. It should not and cannot detract from what was a highly competitive championship collision.

I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t love a marriage proposal?

Nor should/can it detract from the overall success of UFC on Fox 7.

With a ton riding on its lofty expectations, the card came through like the champ, which means Dana White and Benson Henderson both had reason to smile.

But the biggest winners were the fans, who got a night of free fights they’ll not soon forget.

*All quotes acquired first-hand unless otherwise noted.

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Jose Aldo Is UFC’s Most Underrated Champion and Its Most Dangerous

When the main event at UFC 156 was over, featherweight champion Jose Aldo was paraded around the Octagon on his cornermen’s shoulders, as has become his custom. The reaction from the Mandalay Bay Events Center was tepid, if not downright hostile, and the official announcement of Junior’s unanimous decision over challenger Frankie Edgar was met with more of the same.

That’s become a custom, too.

Which is odd.

You’d think the most dangerous mixed martial artist currently plying his trade would be appreciated, if not revered.

For whatever reason, the 26-year-old Brazilian’s tenure in the sport’s premier organization has been received coolly by the average fan. It’s true that Aldo has only finished one of his opponents since migrating over from the WEC, but that one finish was epic. It came at UFC 142, and Chad Mendes was the unfortunate victim, catching a vicious knee and flurry of punches before being saved by the ref with one second left in the first round.

That would be the previously undefeated Chad Mendes, who boasts wins over Cub Swanson, Michihiro Omigawa and Erik Koch. That might not be the most impressive 145-pound resume, but it’s nothing to sneeze at.

Ultimately, that’s really what sets Aldo apart from the rest of the gilded group: his competition.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is unquestionably the greatest belt-holder in Dana White‘s considerable stables. Meanwhile, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is widely expected to be the Spider’s heir-apparent, but neither warrior is firing on all cylinders like the featherweight kingpin currently is.

Anderson will be 38 the next time he steps foot in the cage. He’s still an unpleasant ordeal for any adversary, but he is on the back nine of his career. Furthermore, there are legitimate rumblings that his reign of terror has been artificially padded by lackluster competition. I don’t completely buy the argument, but take a look at his hit list, and you have to admit it has some merit.

Dan Henderson is probably the most well-rounded prey caught in the Spider’s web, and he was 37 years old at the time.

Stephan Bonnar? Chael Sonnen? Yushin Okami? Vitor Belfort? Demian Maia? Forrest Griffin? Rich Franklin? Those are all fantastic talents, but each has at least one glaring flaw, and that’s game over when you’re facing arguably the greatest gladiator in the history of the sport.

As for Jones, we are admittedly splitting even finer hairs.

That said, I can’t shake the feeling that we haven’t seen everything we need to see from him quite yet.

For instance, we’ve only really seen him win using one primary weapon: that gargantuan reach. Granted, when you walk around with an 84.5-inch reach and possess mutant athleticism like Bones, that one weapon might be the only one you ever need.

Regardless, we’ve never seen what happens to Jones when (if) his go-to well runs dry.

Does he have the capacity to adapt if his striking is neutralized? What sort of resolve does he have if things start going against him in a bout? Many observers point to the champ’s tilt with Lyoto Machida as evidence of Jon’s toughness and determination, but he ate, what, two or three solid punches in that matchup?

It’s a testament to Jones’ utter dominance that a few pops in the mouth qualify as “pushing him,” but it does leave the possibility that the 25-year-old is an extreme front-runner a la Brock Lesnar. The big fella was a force of nature when he was riding the wave, but turned into Buster Bluth if it crashed on top of him.

Take a look at the pelts on Bones’ wall and you can see a similar phenomenon at work as we saw with Silva. Jon hasn’t beaten any pushovers, but he hasn’t beaten any supremely versatile antagonists, either. He’s basically faced a steady diet of strikers-only since entering the division’s deepest waters: Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort.

All of the above can roll effectively—or so we’re told—but they sure don’t make a habit of it.

Rashad Evans, on the other hand, is a devastating wrestler so he is the one exception, but he seems to have abandoned the discipline of late and such was the case when he met his former sparring partner.

Of course, Jones is toting around his own decorated wrestling chops because he’s Jon Jones and all those other superlative assets weren’t enough, apparently.

The point remains, though, until someone makes a point of dragging Jon Jones under (like, say, a Chael Sonnen-type) and either succeeds or fails, a whiff of a question remains about the 205-pounder’s game.

The other five title-holders are non-starters for a variety of reasons—hasn’t ruled as long (Cain Velasquez, Benson Henderson, Dominick Cruz, Demetrious Johnson), isn’t much of a finisher (Georges St-Pierre) or both.

Which brings us back to Jose Aldo.

We already know the Brazilian beast is a finisher—he splattered Mendes, authored the infamous double-flying knee that floored Swanson in a mere eight seconds and has tallied 15 of his 22 overall victories by stoppage. We also know he features a versatile game, able to out-snipe other accomplished strikers and stuff even the most intent takedown artist or finish on the ground if it goes there.

But it’s the level of competition that sets Junior apart.

Swanson was a top challenger for the WEC featherweight championship when he was rudely dispatched by Jose. Mike Brown was the WEC champ at 145 when he got obliterated in less than seven minutes. Urijah Faber was supposed to be the class of the division when Aldo almost literally chopped his legs out from underneath him.

Manny Gamburyan was a hard-headed, muscular dynamo whose strength was supposed to be a problem. Nope, he, too, got overwhelmed by the current UFC champ. Having exhausted the WEC supply of cannon fodder, Jose moved on over to the UFC.

His first scrap did not go according to script as Mark Hominick gave an ailing Aldo a stiff test in front of a partisan Canadian crowd in the Machine’s backyard. Despite all that and the pressure of his UFC debut, Junior battered Hominick for four rounds before surviving a rugged fifth by the skin of his teeth.

His two most impressive victories, however, have come over Kenny Florian and Edgar.

KenFlo is a crazy athlete who played Division I soccer at Boston College. He’s a tireless worker who possesses a dangerous all-round game predicated on fight-ending elbows and a submission game that’s delivered nine stoppages in 14 career victories. He’s also a man who’s competed successfully in the middleweight, welterweight, lightweight and featherweight divisions. In other words, he’s a big boy with the tools and gas tank to give Aldo fits.

Hmmm, not so much.

All three judges at UFC 136 gave Jose four of the five rounds and the unanimous decision.

Yet his most recent win is the jewel in the crown.

Edgar enjoyed a nice run as the UFC lightweight champion even though 145 is a much better fit for the undersized Answer. Additionally, he can flash elite boxing or wrestling and the next time he slows down in the Octagon will be the first. So you had a well-rounded fighter, one strong enough to summit a larger division and with reserves to exploit Aldo’s only perceived frailty (endurance).

Again, not so much.

Junior butchered the Answer and easily avoided or snuffed his normally relentless takedown attempts for three rounds. Two of the cageside judges gave Aldo either the fourth or the fifth, as well. That seemed overly charitable, but dominating three rounds against a slab of granite like Frankie is eye-opening even if you already believed in Jose’s legend.

Or it was reason to boo, depending on whom you ask.

Just another night at the office for the UFC’s most dangerous and least appreciated champion.

Anderson Silva owns the past and Jon Jones might have a good claim on the future, but Jose Aldo is the man right now and until further notice.

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UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones Is Beyond the Realm of Rational Thought

UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been something of a divisive figure ever since his hype train left the station in the winter of 2009-10. After the UFC 151-cancellation-turned-organizational-nightmare and yet another successful defense of his title at UFC 152, however, the reactionary world around Bones can no longer be described as one of reason.

Shoot, it’s not even clinging to a semblance of objectivity.

Instead, it is one of insanity driven by bias.

Jon Jones has become the Bill Clinton of the mixed-martial-arts universe—hero or goat with nothing in between and neither side making much of an effort to remain tethered to reality.

Either Bones is invincible or he’s a phony bum.

His tougher-than-expected victory at UFC 152 over undersized challenger Vitor Belfort either proved that his vulnerabilities have been exposed and will be exploited by legitimate competition or that nobody can beat the 25-year-old champion.

The truth, as is usually the case, can be found in between.

First, let’s dispense with the obvious—the scrap with Belfort, in which the Brazilian challenger snapped on a tight armbar in the first round that had Jon slamming his adversary around the canvas in sheer panic, did not prove that the 205-pound kingpin can be defeated.

To make that argument shows extreme MMA naivete, whether sincere or intentional to facilitate a lazy angle.

As any fight fan worth his or her six-ounce gloves will tell you, every fighter can be defeated on a given night. Nobody is unbeatable. That is the lesson taught by the Ryo Chonans, Matt Serras and Chael Sonnens of the sport.

But let’s pretend all this “not invincible” talk is hyperbole, that “not invincible” is just a figure of speech used to mean “he’s not as dominant as we thought.”

Even from that angle, how can anyone make the argument, point to UFC 152 as evidence and hope to retain credibility?

Let me get this straight—Jones survived a brutal submission by a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in which his limb was bent at an ugly and unnatural angle, then went on to win by stoppage despite an obvious injury, and that proves he’s vulnerable?!?!

Look, Belfort is not Demian Maia.

He’s a noted striker for a reason—it’s his preferred means of attack and he’s very good at it, as his 14 knockouts in 21 career wins indicate. But Vitor is not a chump when it comes to the art of submissions, having received his black belt from the legendary Carlson Gracie.

The 35-year-old has grappling game.

Make no mistake; Belfort knew exactly what he was doing when he was wrenching the champion’s arm. I can’t vouch for his technique since I’m no BJJ practitioner, but I’ve seen enough of them to know Vitor didn’t make any glaring errors. Furthermore, I’ve got to assume any technical deficiency had to do with the monstrosity he was trying to make concede, as opposed to incompetence on Vitor‘s part.

And let’s not forget that timing wasn’t on Jones’ side.

The sub attempt came so early in the opening round that neither gladiator had yet worked up a lather that would’ve made the hold more difficult to maintain. All in all, Jon was in a precarious position.

An observation validated by the revelation that Bones didn’t escape the armbar unscathed.

Whether he suffered nerve damage to his bicep is neither here nor there. The key takeaway is that the armbar did its job. It inflicted some measure of carnage on its victim and left him at a disadvantage for the rest of the back-and-forth.

What it didn’t do was break said victim’s arm, and that’s really the most important lesson learned from the entire battle.

In order to defeat Jon Jones, you will have to knock him out or dole out such grievous bodily injury that someone else will stop the fight. Neither sounds like an easy task.

So add that considerable weapon to Jones’ already bristling arsenal.

Of course, we’ve reached the point where the other side, the pro-Jones people, start taking leave of their good senses.

Because the aforementioned lessons still hold: Nobody in mixed martial arts is unbeatable.

Fedor Emelianenko is the closest thing I’ve seen to invincible in a cage (or its proxy), and we all know how that turned out.

Anderson Silva is undefeated in 15 trips to the Octagon, but he has four losses on his resume and almost wore a fifth at UFC 117 in Oakland.

Cain Velasquez was supposed to have a constitution that would make him impervious to defeat at heavyweight…until current UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos blasted him in 64 seconds.

Yes, Jones has incredible athleticism. Yes, Jones has a freakish 84.5-inch reach that is the closest thing to a trump card as you’ll find in the sport. Yes, Jones actually has that you-must-destroy-me-to-beat-me mentality that virtually every warrior claims to have, but so few do. Yes, Jones seems to have a natural gift for MMA—a fluid, accurate striker with a competent submission game and an excellent wrestling base who fights intellectually (i.e. to a game plan).

Yes, Bones appears to be as mentally tough as he is physically.

I repeat, he is not invincible.

It won’t be easy and I wouldn’t bet on it happening anytime soon, but the man is human and that means Jon Jones can be beaten.

Now, will he be beaten?

Well, that’s a different question and a more interesting one.

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Jon Jones: Bloom Is Officially off the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion’s Rose

There was a time not too long ago when Jon Jones was the perfect UFC star.Those days are, most definitely, over.Back then, Bones said all the right things, did all the right things, flashed a thousand-watt smile with ease, gave thoughtful, articulate a…

There was a time not too long ago when Jon Jones was the perfect UFC star.

Those days are, most definitely, over.

Back then, Bones said all the right things, did all the right things, flashed a thousand-watt smile with ease, gave thoughtful, articulate answers and basically did everything you would want the face of an organization to do. He even moonlighted as a crime-fighting superhero, complete with comic-book muscles, but lacking the cape.

He seemed a lead-pipe lock to be the antidote to an affliction that plagues most (if not all) other professional sports: the spoiled, petulant, arrogant superstar.

The baddest man in the sport yet someone for whom you could root without reservation.

This is a man who, at the age of 22 or 23, was asked how he stayed so grounded and responded: “My mom always said, ‘God doesn’t like ugly, Jonathan.'” When I watched him deliver that line after stopping Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC Live: Jones v. Matyushenko, I was a true believer.

Or maybe it was during the UFC Live: Jones v. Vera post-fight presser…

Whatever, the point is, when he said it, Bones’ greatest sin was being too good.

He breezed through opponent after opponent on his way to becoming the youngest champion in organizational history at UFC 128.

Of course, that was enough of a sin in an increasingly you-can-be-good-but-not-too-good sports world to plant the seeds for a banner crop of skeptics and detractors. Almost immediately, the lunatic fringe dubbed Jones arrogant and insincere before there was any objective evidence to support such claims.

Maybe that camp took its cue from Rashad Evans. Maybe it latched onto Bones’ obvious confidence and ran wild with it.

Whatever the case, a fair assessment of the situation revealed a lot of anti-Jones smoke, but no real fire.

Yes, the man was and continues to be confident, possibly even cocky. But in a world where every ignoramus with a gym membership and a spray-on tan thinks he’s God’s gift to mankind, I can accept a little arrogance from a man-child who can physically destroy 99.9 percent of the planet that walks around on two legs.

And it’s not like Jon was channeling his inner-Floyd Mayweather.

So when venom was spewed at the UFC Light Heavyweight champ, most reasonable observers just rolled their eyes and waited for the tempest in a teacup to pass.

Then, the No. 1 challenger at 205 pounds, Dan Henderson, had to withdraw from his main-event date with Bones at UFC 151.

As UFC president Dana White and company scrambled to salvage the card, Chael Sonnen offered to step in on short notice to fight the champ. The champ demurred and the rest is history.

Hard words flew left and right, but none carried more condemnation than White’s stinging criticism of Jones and his manager, Greg Jackson. Amongst other gems, DW called UFC 151 “the event that Jon Jones and Greg Jackson murdered” and pointed out how selfish the decision was in light of what it mean to other fighters, UFC personnel, etc.

Before we take a blowtorch to Jon Jones over the canceled card, it bears mentioning that the reality is not as neat and clean as one side to the dispute would have you believe.

There is nothing in Jones’ contract that says he must fight whomever and whenever the organization says. Nothing that says his to-fight-or-not-to-fight calculus must take the best interests of his fellow fighters into account. Nothing that says he must strive to be well-liked by the masses.

At the end of the day, Bones and his camp didn’t think the potential costs were worth the potential benefits when viewed in the harsh light of a business decision.

From that perspective and that perspective alone, it was the right call and (frankly) a no-brainer.

Sonnen is a hell of a talker, but a mediocre prospect if we’re talking about viable championship contenders.

He’s bumping up to 205 pounds from 185 after two failed cracks at UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, both resulting in stoppages for the Spider. Most people feel Jones is a younger, bigger, faster Spider except with a wrestling pedigree, which means the one hole that Sonnen almost exploited in the pair of Silva bouts would be theoretically closed.

On paper, the self-styled American Gangsta was (and remains) hopelessly outgunned.

Toss in the lack of profile at 205 pounds and the proposal was the definition of lose-lose for Bones’ fight career—win and everyone yawns, lose and all hell breaks loose.

It also bears mentioning that Dana White probably went on the uber-offensive because of that old adage: The best defense is a good offense.

Before heaping the aborted card in Jones’ lap, the most obvious target for fan scorn was DW and the organization itself.

After all, a card so weak that it can’t survive if it loses its main event is a clear recipe for disaster and no year evidences this fact as conclusively as 2012.

Think of all the tantalizing matchups that have fallen prey to the injury bug (or some other last-minute wrench in the works)—UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre v. Nick Diaz, Mark Munoz v. Sonnen, UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos v. Alistair Overeem, Vitor Belfort v. Wanderlei Silva, UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz v. Urijah Faber and the list keeps going.

Even if the tilt between Josh Koscheck and Jake Ellenberger hadn’t been lost to injury as well, UFC 151 was the ultimate house of cards built next to an open window.

Consequently, it’s a bit of a stretch to place the blame squarely and exclusively on Jon Jones’ broad shoulders.

BUT…

The light heavyweight kingpin does deserve some legitimate scorn for the first time in his career.

In this sprawling interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Jones sounds like a man making stuff up as he goes. At various points, Sonnen is either such a chump, he doesn’t deserve to be in the cage with Jon or he is far too dangerous to fight on short notice. You can make either argument to different persuasive effect, but you cannot make both.

Additionally, there’s merit to the idea that a champion should never retreat from a bout, especially one he wins 99 times out of 100. Especially when that champion goes on The Abe Kanan Show and says he’d take the very fight now offered “in a heartbeat.”

And what of his fellow gladiators?

He didn’t have to take their plights into consideration, but he didn’t have to ignore them, either.

If you add the warm, fuzzy considerations that get ignored when the decision-makers put on their business suits, the issue gets much more complicated. It’s no longer an obvious lose-lose proposition; Jon had much to gain from taking (and winning) the bout with Chael Sonnen.

He could’ve saved UFC 151 while giving his colleagues and the fans exactly what they wanted. He could’ve been the knight in shining armor, riding to the rescue. Best of all, he could’ve throttled Sonnen, pushing the latter ever closer to MMA relevance.

Instead, the 205 champ and his team chose discretion as the better part of valor, and they are still dealing with the fallout from that choice.

Whether you agree or disagree with it, one thing is certain: Jon Jones’ has shown his critics the first legitimate chink in his armor.

And man, are they having a field day exploiting it.

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UFC 145 Results: Jon Jones Pummels Rashad Evans, Shows He’s Unbeatable at 205

Jon Jones wears many flattering descriptions—UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, the youngest champion in the organization’s history and the biggest, brightest star in the mixed martial arts constellation to name a few.As of his throttling of No. 1 c…

As of his throttling of No. 1 contender and former training partner Rashad Evans, you can add another one: unbeatable.

At least by another 205-pounder.

That’s not to say Bones can’t possibly lose as a light heavyweight. As we’ve seen proven over and over and over again in the fight game, anyone can lose to anyone else on any given occasion. However, if Jonny’s ever going to eat a legitimate loss at 205—forget the disqualification versus Matt Hamill—the culprit will be his own arrogance, his own laziness and/or his own boredom.

And woe be to the man who knocks him from the throne because the unseating will be temporary and the rematch will be ugly.

Jones is simply that much better than any and all light heavyweights out there.

Seriously, take a look at the UFC’s light heavyweight roster and you’ll see Jon’s already dispatched the best names on the list. What’s more, he’s done so with extreme prejudice and zero mercy—Suga Rashad got decimated at UFC 145, Mauricio Rua got his at UFC 128, Lyoto Machida went nighty-night at UFC 140, Quinton Jackson cried uncle at UFC 135 and Ryan Bader fell victim to Jones’ meteoric rise at UFC 126.

All of the above save for Evans got stopped by the champ, as did Vladimir Matyushenko and Brandon Vera.

The kid is already threatening to clean out the division with only the ageless and surging Dan Henderson standing in his way. I say already because the 24-year-old is still relatively raw and getting better quickly.

Which is the problem for all the up-and-comers out there.

Give fellow youngsters like Phil Davis (27) or Alexander Gustafsson (25) some time in a vacuum and they might be able to catch up to Jonny’s current level. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works—Jones will also be improving, so his colleagues will constantly be chasing him.

Let’s consider what we just saw in Atlanta.

Rashad Evans is an abnormally quick, abnormally strong, abnormally well-conditioned light heavyweight. He also had a psychological advantage over Jones that no other fighter could possibly have—he was his training partner when Jon was first starting to climb the learning curve, so I’m sure there were training sessions in which the seasoned Suga put Bones on the receiving end of a thrashing or two. Regardless, he wasn’t held hostage by the champion’s intimidating aura thanks to that familiarity.

Yet Evans never had a chance.

Jones used his trump card, that 84.5-inch reach, to stay out of harm’s way while figuring novel methods of pulping his opponent’s face. This time, it was elbows thrown as if they were jabs that knock the sense either out of or into Suga Rashad. Once they started landing, the challenger adopted a mostly defensive posture and, though he did land a couple decent shots in the following rounds, they were merely cosmetic—reminding the audience that Evans was still trying and hopelessly outgunned.

Toss in the customary arsenal of leg kicks that only exacerbate the reach issue for Jones’ adversaries and you get the picture.

As Joe Rogan said during the pay-per-view telecast, the pride of Greg Jackson’s stable enjoys the biggest advantage in the UFC when he steps in the Octagon with that reach. To put it in (some) perspective, heavyweight Stefan Struve is the tallest man in the organization at 6’11” and he’s got an 84-inch reach.

Who’s reach is truly longer is irrelevant for our purposes because we’re talking about the current Jon Jones, and he’s a light heavyweight. The future Jon Jones might be a heavyweight, but until then, he’ll have at least a six-inch reach advantage against whomever is standing opposite him.

The difference will be over a foot when Hendo squares off with Jonny.

Yikes.

Of course, let’s not oversimplify this too much; Jon Jones is much more than just a guy with freakishly long arms. Take that reach advantage away, and he’s still a handful beyond the capacity of most gladiators. To get an idea, just check out the UFC 145 fight card and the two mini-Jon Joneses.

Bantamweight Michael McDonald and the welterweight Rory MacDonald pretty good approximations for what the light heavyweight kingpin might look like if you shaved half a foot off that reach. By all accounts, they are young (21 and 22, respectively), insanely athletic, uncanny strikers and tireless workers with steady-ish heads on their shoulders.

Both came up in the modern era of MMA, just like Jones, so they’re also well rounded.

And as anyone who watched the festivities on Saturday can also attest, they are bound for glory in their weight classes.

Jonny has all those things—the youth, the athleticism, the virtuoso striking, the work ethic, the well-roundedness—but he also has that freakin’ reach. Which is a bit like granting Usain Bolt a head start whenever he enters a race.

Whatever Chael Sonnen is smoking notwithstanding (at the 2:35 mark), 205 still is one of the best divisions in the UFC, but Bones is marauding through it, and he’s barely breaking a sweat.

It’s fitting that his latest triumph came in Atlanta, the starting point for General Sherman’s famous rampage through the South. That literal declaration of total warfare is widely credited with severely crippling the Confederacy’s physical and psychological ability to fight.

Jon Jones most impressive victory to date may have the same effect on the rest of the division.

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