Ben Fowlkes of MMAFighting wrote an article today exposing Jon “Bones” Jones newfound obsession with his UFC 126 opponent, Ryan Bader. He says he has not only obtained the usual training visual aids like Bader’s previous fight footage, but he’s acquired interviews with Bader and a recent fan Q and A session that he’s been watching […]
Ben Fowlkes of MMAFighting wrote an article today exposing Jon “Bones” Jones newfound obsession with his UFC 126 opponent, Ryan Bader. He says he has not only obtained the usual training visual aids like Bader’s previous fight footage, but he’s acquired interviews with Bader and a recent fan Q and A session that he’s been watching around the clock in order to calculate Bader’s mental state coming into their fight. Oddly enough, the Greg Jackson camp which Jones is apart of, just released this video of him via Twitter showing his current mental state, which seems to be on par with the mentally stable, Diego Sanchez.
In the video below, Jones performs the famous “Sanchez Cartwheel” and gives his version of the “Yes” chant which Sanchez says he adopted from Self-Help Guru, Tony Robbins.
Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader is just a few weeks away, taking place in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay on February 5th.
Dana White recently targeted beloved coach, Greg Jackson of Jackson’s MMA as a contributor to boring fights in the UFC. Though Jackson holds prestige as the trainer to names like Georges St. Pierre, Jon “Bones” Jones, Rashad Evans, Clay Guida and Carlos Condit to name a few, White believes that Jackson’s lead-with-caution approach is […]
Dana White recently targeted beloved coach, Greg Jackson of Jackson’s MMA as a contributor to boring fights in the UFC. Though Jackson holds prestige as the trainer to names like Georges St. Pierre, Jon “Bones” Jones, Rashad Evans, Clay Guida and Carlos Condit to name a few, White believes that Jackson’s lead-with-caution approach is hindering the excitement that the fighters should be bringing into the octagon that helps the viewers feel their $49.95 pay-per-view was money well spent. White had a mouthful to say in regard to Greg Jackson’s training methods including that he has respect for Jackson yet his game plans and corner work are “weird”. White summed up his thoughts by saying:
You’ll see guys who are traditionally exciting fighters, but when they go to the Greg Jackson camp they become safety first fighters. Why wouldn’t you tell him ‘go for broke in this third round? This is a close fight.
Greg Jackson had an opportunity to fire back to White’s criticisms earlier today via a phone interview with MMAFighting’s Ben Fowlkes:
Here’s a quick stat for you. So there’s been 22 [UFC events] this year? We had 12 bonuses so far this year, so one out of every two, one of my fighters got Submission of the Night, Knockout of the Night, or Fight of the Night.
Jackson went on to list that Jon Jones had finished every single fight under the Jackson training camp save for a Disqualification against Matt Hamill for an illegal elbow. He also mention’s Carlos Condit’s recent Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night honors with his victory over Dan Hardy at UFC 120.
The comments made by White were after a disappointing performance by Nate Marquardt who lost via Unanimous Decision to Yushin Okami earlier this month at UFC 122. White felt Marquardt had ample opportunity to try and finish Okami in the 3rd round but didn’t feel his corner was urging Marquardt to go for it.
Despite criticism, Greg Jackson remains a favorite MMA coach and is up for Coach of the Year at the 2010 World MMA Awards this Wednesday night. Jackson took top honors last year, so it doesn’t look like you, the fans would have agreed with White in 2009. We’ll see if you’ve had a change of heart this year.
You have to admit, if we end up going through 2010 without seeing Forrest Griffin throw down, this year’s MMA campaign will be somewhat incomplete no? After all, whether it’s been through getting his ass handed to him by Anderson Silva, shocking the world by tapping out “Shogun” Rua, or thrilling fans in his classic tilts […]
You have to admit, if we end up going through 2010 without seeing Forrest Griffin throw down, this year’s MMA campaign will be somewhat incomplete no? After all, whether it’s been through getting his ass handed to him by Anderson Silva, shocking the world by tapping out “Shogun” Rua, or thrilling fans in his classic tilts with Stephen Bonnar, Griffin ranks right up there on the ‘got your money’s worth’ index. Plus it doesn’t hurt that the former TUF winner is extremely gifted in the fine art of sarcasm…which is something we’ve always enjoyed (no…seriously).
Of course, Griffin has been on the shelf since earlier this year, due to a shoulder injury which prevented him from fighting Antonio Rogerio Noegueira at UFC 114 on May 29th. With September well underway and no bouts yet announced, the light-heavyweight is running out of time to fight in 2010. Well, speaking on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani recently, Griffin confirmed that his shoulder is at “70ish” percent , and that “My goal right now is to win a fight before the end of the year.” So maybe in December then?
When asked about the possibility of facing Jon Jones, a name which has consistently come up in the ‘who’s next for Forrest’ online discussion, Griffin stated:
“That’s a great fight to take a year layoff with injury fighting a guy coming off like a hot three-fight win streak.”
See—there’s that sarcasm—nicely done. It would be a damn entertaining fight, but yeah; Jones is not exactly an ideal opponent to get back into the swing of things with….
So if you decided yesterday that the MMA pundits were morons for having Jon Jones as such a heavy favorite, and consequently, threw some dough down on Vladimir Matyushenko pulling off the upset last night in San Diego…look at this way, at least it’s Monday and you can get back to earning some cash right?
Yes, […]
So if you decided yesterday that the MMA pundits were morons for having Jon Jones as such a heavy favorite, and consequently, threw some dough down on Vladimir Matyushenko pulling off the upset last night in San Diego…look at this way, at least it’s Monday and you can get back to earning some cash right?
Yes, if you missed the fight last night on Versus you likely know by now, that Jones quickly took “The Janitor” to the mat and promptly began cleaning the floor with his head via a flurry of elbows. As most expected, Jones cruised to victory over the accomplished decade plus vet, and today the hype spotlight is more scalding bright than ever before. Case in point, everyone wants to know who Jones wants to fight next, and speaking after the bout he reportedly stated (thanks to MMA Weekly for the quote):
“There’s the champion. He’s the toughest guy right now. He’s very well-rounded and is a great striker. Just the top three contenders that I really want to push myself against,” said Jones. “I really feel that needs to happen.”
The report furthered that Jones was referring to Shogun Rua (obviously), Lyoto Machida and “Rampage” Jackson. What about Rashad Evans? Jones trains with “Sugar” so that’s apparently in the ‘don’t go there’ category. What did Dana White have to say? After the “dust settles” in the upcoming schedule, Jones will reportedly take on someone in the top eight. Cool beans. And oh yeah, Jon, the post-fight “stay classy San Diego” bit was gold…
Depending on your opinion, which as your elders always reminded you as a child–that’s all it is, Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko is just hours away from becoming the latest victim of Jon “Bones” Jones. As we all know Jones is a huge favorite heading into tonight’s UFC on Versus card, despite the fact that by […]
Depending on your opinion, which as your elders always reminded you as a child–that’s all it is, Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko is just hours away from becoming the latest victim of Jon “Bones” Jones. As we all know Jones is a huge favorite heading into tonight’s UFC on Versus card, despite the fact that by the time the walking highlight reel made his pro debut in 2008, Matyushenko already had 20 bouts under his belt (one would think a tool belt could come in handy for a janitor no?).
If you’re someone who thinks Matyushenko will give Jones a run for his money, the argument could sound like this: the former IFL champ will look to use his extensive wrestling abilities, control Jones against the cage or on the mat, and grind out the win. Jones’ thoughts on this? Well in a recent interview with MMA Weekly he dismissed that line of thinking, stating that people said similar things about Jake O’Brien and Matt Hamill. True, neither dude made out that well (unless you think Hamill’s DQ win by eating illegal elbows is cause for celebration). Jones also offered this:
“What I’m most excited about with this fight is Vladimir’s not really great at anything,” said Jones. “He’s a good wrestler, he’s a powerful puncher, he’s decent at jiu-jitsu, but he’s not known for being great at anything. This is going to be a fight where I can display how well rounded I am right now.”
Not a bad breakdown really, although Vladimir would disagree, particularly about the wrestling part. But that’s just Jon’s opinion. To bet on the fight head here.
We’ve tried (as best we can) to keep our readers up to speed on the ‘what will he say next’ watch for James Toney, as the renowned boxer continues to prepare for his MMA debut against Randy Couture, August 28th. If you’ve followed Mr. Toney’s pugilistic career to date, then you know that the boxing […]
We’ve tried (as best we can) to keep our readers up to speed on the ‘what will he say next’ watch for James Toney, as the renowned boxer continues to prepare for his MMA debut against Randy Couture, August 28th. If you’ve followed Mr. Toney’s pugilistic career to date, then you know that the boxing champ isn’t exactly known for clamming up when a mic is around, and not much has changed on that front as he prepares to face Couture. If you’re a MMA loyalist then you’ve likely either laughed hysterically, or perhaps even tried to tear up your wasting time / working on the computer bib, while reading comments like this.
Well, it seems like Jon Jones has also been monitoring Toney’s rhetoric heading into his Octagon debut at UFC 118, as according to a report on MMA Bay, the rising prospect was recently quoted saying on Tapout radio:
“Do you really think you’re going to uppercut a collegiate wrestler when he’s coming full force into a double leg dive? I think he [James Toney] is just really naive to think that with hand combinations alone he’s going to be able to defend takedowns from the clinch and double leg dives. So I think he’s just ignorant in a way and I don’t really have a hard time calling him ignorant because of some of the statements he’s made about our sport.”
You’ll find no disagreements here Jon (not that we would necessarily have the balls to tell you otherwise even if we thought otherwise…). If Toney does find a way to KO Couture…wow…you think Toney is pissing off some MMA fans now?
