If Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight contender, Anthony Smith, was able to dispose of fellow 205-pound bruiser, Volkan Oezdemir, then former division kingpin, Jon Jones, should be even easier to dispatch.
That’s because the “hittable” Jones doesn’t have the same knockout power as “No Time,” so the streaking “Lionheart” will merely have to compensate for his disadvantage in reach, and perhaps fight I.Q., should the “Bones” fight come to fruition in the middle of 2019.
“I think that Jon Jones is less dangerous than Volkan is — Jon Jones isn’t one-punch knocking out anybody,” Smith told The MMA Hour. “He’s super crafty, he’s dynamic, I think he has a high fight IQ, but I think that he’s hittable, and I think that I match up with him size-wise pretty well. Obviously he’s got a longer reach than everybody in the entire UFC, but I think that Jon Jones beats a lot of people in that short range with the elbows and stuff, and I think that I’m just as dangerous in that elbow fighting range as anybody in the division.”
That’s a fight that won’t be under consideration until Jones finishes his business with longtime rival, Alexander Gustafsson, in the upcoming UFC 232 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, going down Dec. 29, 2018 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, assuming current titleholder Daniel Cormier doesn’t interfere.
As for Smith (31-13), he’s now the winner of three straight with three violent finishes, including last weekend’s submission over Oezdemir (video). While “Lionheart” is currently ranked No. 10 at the time of this writing, his trail of carnage and ability to take out the No. 2 contender should get him title consideration in a division that is currently up for grabs.