UFC 140 is in the books and the Jon Jones freight train continues to gather speed as he took care of that Lyoto Machida business in emphatic submission fashion.
Jones went into UFC 140 aware that the equally unorthodox Machida posed the biggest threat yet to his reign as the 205-lb king.
And as it transpired, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the champ, as he was rocked by “The Dragon” in the opening round.
Nonetheless, he came back stronger in the second and busted up Machida before executing a standing guillotine choke, which rendered the karate exponent unconscious.
Jones has now added The Dragon to his list of casualties for the year 2011.
Here’s a quick look at the others…
At UFC 126, Jones defeated the once-thought-of future of the light heavyweight division in the guise of Ryan “Darth” Bader, via guillotine choke.
In Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was a former Pride legend, a devastating striker with even more devastating Muay Thai at his disposal.
What did the young phenom do? Jones destroyed Shogun en route to capturing the UFC light heavyweight championship.
Then along came Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, a former Pride middleweight and former UFC light heavyweight champion with knockout power in both hands, and a fighter who on any given day could send an opponent to sleep, power bombs included.
Still, the confident Bones Jones went on to hand Rampage his first ever stoppage defeat (via rear naked choke) in 10 fights for the Zuffa-based company.
This year has been an overly exemplary year for Jones—four fights, four wins, three submissions, one knockout and two title defenses.
And in the process, he has now defeated the division’s present and former triumvirates.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
His next opponents are likely to be the winner of the Rashad “Suga Shad” Evans vs. Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis match taking place at UFC on Fox 2, or former Strikeforce light heavyweight titlist Dan “H-Bomb” Henderson.
All three have some serious wrestling pedigree, whilst Henderson and Rashad are by far the more superior strikers.
Do they pose a threat? Every fighter competing in the UFC is a threat.
Still, should Jones be concerned? Not in the least, because whichever combatant shows up on fight night, the result will be same—a Jones victory.
Like Anderson “The Spider” Silva, the Greg Jackson-trained fighter has now become something of an abstruse enigma.
Needless to say, he surpasses the latter in that he has almost everything in his arsenal that should be the official prototype for all MMA fighters who want to compete at the highest level, as well as succeed in this ever-evolving sport.
For one, Jones has that 84-inch reach which has proved a nightmare for his adversaries, and it will continue to pose problems as long as Jones can utilize it to the best of his abilities.
He’s unpredictable—delivering strikes with accurate and devastating precision, and also from unfathomable angles.
There’s the wrestling background—free styling, Greco-Roman pedigree—that Jones also bring to the table.
Add his Muay Thai to the equation and his ever-improving stand up and jiu-jitsu, and what you have is the Ultimate Fighting (machine) Champion.
And if that isn’t enough to whet the appetite of the MMA purist, then consider the fact that he’s still only 24 years old, which means he can only get better.
Apropos Jones’ chin—Machida tested it, so we can safely say he can take a hit and remain standing.
Hype trains have been derailed in the past, with the Machida era being a perfect example.
Be that as it may, against The Dragon at UFC 140, Jones proved once and for all that he’s more than just hype—he proved to the MMA world that he’s in true essence the Real Deal.
For the light heavyweight and even the heavyweight assemblage, it’s now a prerequisite to be on high alert—there’s most definitely a new sheriff in town, and he goes by the appellation of Jon Bones Jones.
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