UFC Light Heavyweight Jon Jones’ chin was tested a couple of times by his challenger Rashad Evans, and he remained standing—literally—all throughout the fight and again successfully defended his title.
Now, we can say that the still champion’s chin is not made of glass, but is it cut from granite? We can definitely give it a passing mark, but does it merit a grade A?
Evans valiantly fought and landed a solid head kick that flustered Jones “a bit” late in the first round. The former champion and then title challenger then managed to land a right hand in the second stanza, and a more emphatic right in the third.
The dust finally settled after five grueling rounds, with Jones getting his just reward of a unanimous decision victory and Evans truly looking like the beaten fighter with his battered and lumped face. (Did you see Jones’ almost-successful flying armbar attempt in the last seconds of the final round?! Just kidding.)
It’s true that Evans has proven KO power, stamping it over six opponents, most significantly on Chuck Liddell (Knockout of the Night, Knockout of the Year) and then on Forrest Griffin, taking away the latter’s belt.
But take into account that in his previous four straight wins after getting KO’d and dethroned himself by Lyoto Machida in May, 2009, he’s only won one by TKO, over the lately pretty vulnerable Tito Ortiz at UFC 133 last August, 2011.
It appears that after getting KO’d by Machida, Evans has lost some of the sting in his strikes, and the aging and near-retirement Ortiz is no longer a valid gauge for finishing ability.
Going back to our champion, we can also give additional credit to Jones’ chin, jaw and whole skull for surviving Machida’s assaults in UFC 140 last December, 2011, before putting his previous challenger to sleep via standing guillotine choke.
After going through a thread in a popular MMA forum this morning, I find that most comments rank Jones’ chin as “good.”
But is it really great? Well, a great test is on the way courtesy of Dan Henderson’s H-Bombs…assuming they land, even once.
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