“The only person who can beat Jon Jones at this point in time is Jon Jones.”
Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin spoke very highly of current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones when asked if he thought there was anyone who could dethrone the UFC’s youngest ever champion.
Franklin seems to feel that, given Jones’ physical gifts and his natural talent, there is no one in the light heavyweight division right now who could take him out as long as he stays focused.
“He’s a young guy. The world is coming at him fast and I think his game is going to be whether or not he can maintain focus,” Franklin said.
From there, Franklin went on to talk about Jones’ size, communicating how unusual it is for a light heavyweight to be that big.
“I remember the first time that I met Jon in person. I was down in Miami doing some Super Bowl promotions for the UFC. There were a group of fighters standing in a group and I was walking up to the group and Jon’s back was to me. As I walked up to him, I was looking at him and I thought, ‘Who is this heavyweight?’. I kept walking around and then I was like, ‘Oh my word, he’s enormous’.”
To give fans a better idea of just how big Jones is, Franklin compared him to former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.
“He [Jones] has an 84-inch reach. Tim Sylvia, who is four inches taller than him, has an 80-inch reach and I’ve sparred with Tim many times and to deal with that kind of reach is just insane, so I think if he can keep his head straight, he’ll be able to run that division for a while.”
We’ll find out how accurate Franklin’s forecast for Jones’ career is on September 24, when Jones defends his light heavyweight championship for the first time against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
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