It wouldn’t be crazy to say that Jon Jones‘ wrestling is what won him his fight against Daniel Cormier on Saturday. Of course, there were plenty of other things at play, like superior cardio and striking. But Cormier, a former Olympian, was supposed to outwrestle Jones. Instead, it was the other way around.
Jones said before and after UFC 182 that he believed Cormier could be broken, because of what people had told him about Cormier’s past in wrestling. Izzy Martinez, Jones’ wrestling coach, was the one who passed that onto him.
“I talked to people and people tell you, ‘Yeah you know Daniel Cormier used to do some things that not some of the other guys did,'” Martinez told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour.” “I’m not here to bash Daniel Cormier. He’s a great guy. But we found some weaknesses. I told Jon that he had weaknesses and I emphasized it. I emphasized that you can break him, because I’ve seen him break before. That was part of training camp, just explaining to Jon that he is not invincible like they’re portraying him. No one’s invincible.”
The biggest key to Jones’ victory in the wrestling aspect of Saturday’s fight was his positioning. Martinez said Jones had great hand control, shoulder position and head position. Jones used his height and reach advantages beautifully. Plus, he stymied Cormier’s explosiveness by controlling his wrist constantly.
“If you can’t slow them down by grabbing their neck, you can’t slow them down by grabbing their elbow, you slow them down by grabbing their wrist,” Martinez said.
“I don’t care how good of a shape you’re in and I don’t care how big of a grind you think you push, when you get out of your comfort zone and you start getting frustrated you, you break and we saw that. Jon did an excellent job in just doing what Jon does. He hand-fights great.”
The comments Jones made about breaking Cormier and saying that he hoped Cormier was “somewhere crying” after the loss seemed somewhat out of character — at least publicly. Martinez said he empathized with Jones and how emotional this fight was for him.
“I understand how he feels,” Martinez said. “Daniel Cormier and King Mo and those guys, his crew that he hangs out with, those guys are confident. They’re proud guys. They’re big-time wrestlers. So those guys, they would have been talking sh*t. He has a manager that would have never shut up. Those guys would have been relentless on Jon Jones. They would have been relentless on Izzy Style wrestling. Just because we come from a junior-college background and our dreams got cut short, but there’s didn’t. I get where Jon is coming from. I’m not here to bash anyone, but I don’t feel sorry for people either.”
Everyone always seems to be trying to figure out who the real Jones is. Martinez vouched for his pupil, saying that Jones is a family man and good guy. This fight, and Cormier in particular, just brought out the ire in him.
“Cormier talked a lot of trash and so did his camp and his little boxing coach,” Martinez said. “It was a lot. And we know that they would have been doing the same thing. So I think that Jon Jones was just kind of answering questions with a little more emotion than he usually does. It was emotional for him. It was a big win for him. It was a great win for our team.”
Jones said Saturday night that he hoped Cormier would earn his way back so he could “whoop him again.” Martinez reiterated that Monday. Jones would like to take Cormier on again — and win even more decisively.
“He wants to fight him again,” Martinez said. “He wants to finish guys like that. We got work to do. We’re excited to get back to work.”