Ever since Jon ‘Bones’ Jones won the UFC light heavyweight title from ‘Shogun’ Rua, at UFC 128, fans have wondered who would win in a superfight—Jon Jones or UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva?
Each fighter has their own strengths that they would bring to the table for this fight.
Jon Jones has an outstanding wrestling background, fantastic ground-and-pound, a huge size advantage, and some of the most unorthodox strikes in MMA.
Anderson Silva would likely have the edge in striking, jiu-jitsu, and overall speed.
On paper, this would appear to be a pretty even match-up.
Unfortunately for Silva, there’s one area where he lacks skill, and Jones excels.
Anderson Silva has had one fight in the UFC where he was clearly in danger of losing for the first time in his UFC career, and that was when he faced off against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117.
Sonnen laid the groundwork, and showed the world how to beat Anderson Silva—you take him down and you beat him up.
Jon Jones just so happens to be a master of that craft.
Jones has won two fights by using ground-and-pound, with another two coming indirectly from ground-and-pound.
In the fights against Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko, Jones was able to take down the fighters and TKO them with elbows and punches, in 3:19 and 1:52 respectively.
In the fights against Ryan Bader and Mauricio Rua, he beat them up on the ground and was able to finish them via other methods.
Many would agree that Jones has better ground-and-pound than Chael Sonnen, who generally goes to a decision. So does Jones have the ability to beat Anderson Silva?
Yes, Jones has every tool available, and all the right skills to beat Anderson Silva.
He has one thing that’s working against him though, and that is his relative inexperience in the sport.
Anderson Silva has been around for years, and it is well known amongst hardcore fans that Silva takes the first few minutes of a fight to get the timing of his opponent, and figure out when to strike.
If Jones makes any mistakes or shows any weaknesses, Silva could easily exploit them, and capitalize.
Jones has the skills to beat Anderson, but Anderson has the experience to beat Jones.
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