If anyone ever tells you that ground fighting is for ‘pussies,’ or that ‘sh-t never happens’ on the mat (you know, the kind of dude that starts booing two seconds after a fight hits the floor), feel free to introduce them to footage of Jon “Bones” Jones’ savage elbow to Brandon Vera last night. We’re thinking that the sound of Jones’ elbow smashing Vera’s face alone, should be enough to shut them up for a while. And when we say ‘smash’ are we exaggerating? Maybe not, as unfortunately there are early reports stating that Vera’s face is broken…yeah, there wasn’t even any blood and it still was a cringe for 2 minutes afterwards strike (the replay added an additional 3 minutes for us).
Speaking to UFC.com, Jones was quick to credit MMA guru Greg Jackson, for teaching him how to best batter an opponent’s face with an elbow from the top position.
“That elbow, that’s all Greg Jackson, he has a very distint ground-and-pound system; I realized Georges St. Pierre does the same style of elbow. It’s a Greg Jackson thing. I found my home. Everything is working.”
So, as many in the MMA world are falling over themselves to say today, yes, Jones is clearly the real dealio. We’ve been singing the praises of Jones for sometime now, and certainly last night’s ground-and-break peformance, did nothing to diminish our predictions that the light-heavyweight is going to do big things in the sport.
Here’s hoping that Vera has a speedy recovery. As for Jones, really, he’s probably what, one win away from a title shot?