Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida.
By the time that 2011 is over, Jon “Bones” Jones will have defeated all of them in less than 12 months, putting together one of the most impressive—perhaps the most impressive—year in MMA history.
To be fair, he needs to get past Machida to make this actually happen, but it’s a mere formality at this point.
While many fans have claimed that Machida has the best chance of anyone in the light heavyweight division to dethrone the current champion, we’ve heard it all before.
Thiago Alves was supposed to have the striking and takedown defense to end Georges St-Pierre’s run at welterweight.
Vitor Belfort was supposed to be able to catch Anderson Silva on the feet, as he was the only fighter able to stand a chance striking with “The Spider.”
It’s a fun argument to make, and there is always an off chance that you’ll get lucky and look like a genius, but let’s all be honest with ourselves: it’s not happening.
Jones is the most impressive all-around fighter to ever compete in the sport, showing effective striking, world class wrestling and a very good knowledge of submissions, and has literally dominated every single fighter to be unlucky enough to stand across from him in the cage.
Machida has an unorthodox style, which many believe is his key to victory, but Jones also has the best gameplanning coach in the sport in his corner, as Greg Jackson can find a way to beat any fighter in the world.
Jones is still a work in progress as far as the standup game is concerned, but you can see dramatic improvement in every single fight, so his supposed weakness against Machida won’t be as much of an issue come fight day.
Even if Machida does have a huge advantage on the feet, what’s to stop Jones from taking it away from the start with takedowns?
Machida has been put on his back before and Jones is a clinch specialist who can get someone to the mat every time he puts his hands on him, if he wants to.
Simply put, Machida is a fantastic fighter and deserves recognition for everything he has accomplished in the sport, but Jones is on a whole new level, and it will become evident rather quickly that he is the superior fighter at UFC 140.
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