Last night, Jon Jones turned in arguably his most lauded performance against former champion Lyoto Machida.
The New Yorker was tested early by the Brazilian, who used his distance and timing in order to catch the Greg Jackson product on several occasions, seemingly taking home the first round. However, Jones remained patient and eventually was able to take down the wily fighter—a feat that has not been duplicated inside the Octagon.
A hard left hand dropped the challenger, which allowed Jones to cinch up a tight guillotine choke against the fence. A few moments later, Machida was dropped to the canvas after having been rendered unconscious by the hold, allowing Jones to claim the submission victory and the second defense of his light heavyweight title.
Jones has now suffered adversity in a fight, collected himself and stormed back for an emphatic finish—something that many pundits had questioned if Jones would be able to overcome, given his meteoric ascension through the ranks in just this year alone.
The Greg Jackson product’s 2011 run began in February when he was pitted against then-undefeated 205-pound powerhouse Ryan Bader, who Jones finished with his now-patented guillotine choke inside of the second round.
The win helped Jones secure a shot against then-champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua just a few weeks later, where he finished off the Chute Boxe product with a third-round TKO finish.
A subsequent battle against former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson ensued, with the 24-year-old dominating the heavy hitter with a fourth-round rear-naked choke—the first submission loss in more than 10 years for the Pride veteran.
And now with a victory over “The Dragon,” Jones has turned in four solid performances against consensus top-10 competition, claiming a world title and defending twice within a calendar year, giving him unarguably the best year of success that any mixed martial artist has cultivated.
With all of his recent accolades preceding him, it would be easy for the daunting amount of success to become an equally daunting amount of pressure, but Jones seems primed and ready to take on all comers.
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