Jon Jones is in the UFC to win fights, not impress Dana White.
The UFC light heavyweight champ is widely regarded as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. His resume includes wins over some of the greatest fighters in MMA history. Other than a …
The UFC light heavyweight champ is widely regarded as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. His resume includes wins over some of the greatest fighters in MMA history. Other than a single blemish from a mere technicality, he is unbeaten in his professional career.
Despite all of his accomplishments, Jones still can’t seem to get any love from the UFC President.
According to MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, White was recently making a “strong case” that UFC bantamweight champ RenanBarao was truly the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Helwani caught up with Jones a couple of days out from his UFC title fight with Glover Teixeira to get his thoughts on being snubbed by the boss:
I can’t argue with what Dana says. Ultimately, Dana’s not a fighter, he’s a promoter. I can’t always speak for his logic when he says certain things. His word really doesn’t change anything. I mean, he’s our boss and everything, but he’s no sensei, so whatever.
Jones may be a polarizing figure in MMA, but his reality in the UFC appears to be that of an average working American punching in a timesheet. He isn’t feeling the love from the UFC on the promotional side of things, especially in comparison to fighters like Ronda Rousey and former light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell:
I would like to have a great relationship with [Dana], Jones said. I don’t really want to comment on it too much, but I think it’s apparent where I rank with him. I’ll just say I’ll never be Chuck Liddell, but it’s all cool. As long as we respect each other and I do the best I can do for the company, everything will be cool.
To be fair, White has had several great things to say about Jones in the past. During an interview with the Brazilian media (h/t Sexto Round), the UFC President admitted Jones had surpassed Liddell as the most accomplished light heavyweight in UFC history.
There is still no denying the growing rift between White and the 26-year-old champ. Jones is obviously not a happy camper in the UFC right now. If left unsettled, this could become a real problem for the UFC down the road.
Instead of hyping a hypothetical fight between Rousey and Floyd Mayweather, perhaps White should be more focused on patching things up with Jones.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson couldn’t have drawn a worse matchup in his return to the UFC. “Mr. Wonderful” Phil Davis’ style seems certain to give Johnson fits at UFC 172 in Baltimore Saturday.MMA vlogger Kyle Delaney sees it the same way:For Johnson’s sak…
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson couldn’t have drawn a worse matchup in his return to the UFC. “Mr. Wonderful” Phil Davis‘ style seems certain to give Johnson fits at UFC 172 in Baltimore Saturday.
For Johnson’s sake, let’s hope UFC head man Dana White doesn’t have him on a short leash.
After battering opponents in his stay with the World Series of Fighting, Johnson is back in the UFC after a two-year absence.
He’s a powerful man, but styles make fights.
Great Wrestling Beats Good Wrestling
Johnson did win a National Junior College Association wrestling championship with Lassen College in 2004 at 174 pounds, but Phil Davis was an All-American wrestler at Penn State from 2005-2008.
We are obviously looking at two different levels of expertise.
In their MMA careers, it’s been clear who the more skilled wrestler is. Davis has used his ground game to dominate in almost every win he’s had in the UFC.
Johnson has showed off his brute power while proving to be susceptible to submissions. In this interview with Inside MMA, Johnson doesn’t seem to think there’s anything that needs to be changed in preparation for meeting Davis.
Rumble’s last two defeats in the UFC came via rear-naked chokes. If the fight goes to the ground, there’s nothing shaking for Rumble.
Johnson Won’t Be Able to Keep the Fight Standing
Per Fight Metric, Johnson’s takedown defense rating is 75 percent. That’s not too shabby, but those numbers weren’t compiled against wrestlers as skilled and as strong as Davis.
If Johnson can somehow keep the fight standing, he has a good chance to, but that’s unlikely.
As the light heavyweight champion and one of the most dominant stars in the business, Jon Jones (19-1) will defend his title against Glover Teixeira (22-2) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 172 pay-per-view.
Jones is the pound-for-pound king of…
As the light heavyweight champion and one of the most dominant stars in the business, Jon Jones (19-1) will defend his title against Glover Teixeira (22-2) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 172 pay-per-view.
Jones is the pound-for-pound king of MMA right now, and he will be the heavy favorite against an unproven talent like Teixeira. While many casual fans don’t know much about the Brazilian fighter, his 20 consecutive wins are nothing to scoff at.
Here is all the vital viewing information for UFC 172, a full fight card and a preview of the main event.
Jones vs. Teixeira Main Event Preview and Prediction
Jon Jones has won 10 consecutive fights in his career. That includes six straight title defenses against the toughest the light heavyweight division has to offer.
While beating the likes of Rashad Evans, VitorBelfort and Alexander Gustafsson proved how great Jones is as a champion, he is squaring off with a challenger that has the raw power and skill in the Octagon to pry the belt away from him.
Glover Teixeira has won 20 fights in a row (five in the UFC) and will be looking to cement his status as one of the best in the sport by cashing in on his shot at the light heavyweight title.
The No. 1 contender was asked about what he would do with the belt, and without skipping a beat, Teixeira proved he still had his sense of humor as the fight approached:
Jones understands the magnitude of the situation because he has been to the top of the mountain and currently resides there. The best have not been able to take him down, and he has developed a serious chip on his shoulder.
When asked about his unwavering confidence in and out of the Octagon, Jones told Mike Chiappetta of Fox Sports that he doesn’t mind being a bit arrogant as long as it helps him win fights:
I think I am. I think I am a little arrogant. I think it’s really important. The thing about me I say all the time is, I notice that I’m full of myself and I am arrogant to some degree, but it’s obviously only when it comes to talking about MMA, where literally, I do the wildest stuff. I don’t think I live like a celebrity at all. All my friends are normal people, normal dudes who do the most normal stuff all the time. But when it comes to MMA, there is a big chip on my shoulder. There is a way that I look at myself, and I think it’s really, really important. It’s something I’m not really apologetic for. As I get older and as I win more, I start to embrace it even more. The biggest thing is not to be apologetic for it. I realize it’s a big part of the reason I’m able to perform out there. The moment I let fear seep is the moment the fights start getting closer and closer. So yeah, I think it’s important to be an absolute believer and have that confidence.
It is clear that Jones has supreme confidence in himself. Even NBA analyst Reggie Miller is backing the defending champion:
Jones will need that confidence because Teixeira will not show fear in the main event. He has proven time after time that he is a smart fighter who is willing to take educated risks while pushing the tempo.
Teixeira has a great grasp of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and will counteract much of the wrestling skill that Jones possesses. There is no way to prepare for the unpredictable striking of the champion, but Teixeira has the power in his own hands and feet to devastate Jones standing up.
These two men are extremely well matched, but it will be the experience of Jones in the main event spotlight that gives him the edge. While both men have an incredible amount to prove on Saturday night, Alexander Gustafsson is waiting for them in the next bout, according to Heidi Fang of MMA Fight Corner:
Regardless of who wins the fight, it is clear that the light heavyweight division is the deepest and most entertaining in the sport right now.
Jones has led the resurgence, and he will not lose the title Saturday.
The UFC hits Baltimore for the first time on Saturday night, offering up a headliner between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira at UFC 172.
While the days of Omar making his way on the streets and Hamsterdam offering a safe haven for the downtrodden are beh…
The UFC hits Baltimore for the first time on Saturday night, offering up a headliner between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira at UFC 172.
While the days of Omar making his way on the streets and Hamsterdam offering a safe haven for the downtrodden are behind us, there are still plenty of reasons to pay attention to Maryland’s largest city this weekend.
One of the biggest reasons is that there’s plenty on the line for the fighters of the Octagon. Here are four guys who stand to gain the most of those on the card.
It doesn’t take long when you sit down for your first Jon Jones fight to realize he’s a little bit different than your average UFC fighter. While others mean-mug, flex, scream and smirk their way into the cage, Jones chooses a simple, yet decidedly unm…
It doesn’t take long when you sit down for your first Jon Jones fight to realize he’s a little bit different than your average UFC fighter. While others mean-mug, flex, scream and smirk their way into the cage, Jones chooses a simple, yet decidedly unmasculine, cartwheel.
At first glance, it seems soft. You might ask yourself: What’s wrong with this guy? Does he even want to bang? Is this a fight or a gymnastics recital?
Of course, when you think about it a bit, it’s the most primal entrance of all. Jones is laying out to the world, and especially his opponent, the very attributes that make him special. From fingertip to toes, his enormous wingspan and height advantage are displayed with an arrogance so subtle and blase that we don’t even question it anymore.
It’s this reach, a physical gift Jones uses to his utmost advantage, that has allowed the champion to win seven consecutive UFC title fights. Jones, simply put, can reach out and touch his opponent with his feet and his hands while his foe is still swinging at nothing but air.
As you can imagine, this works to Jones’ advantage. He dictates where he and his opponent are going to engage. If an opponent, like Saturday’s victim Glover Teixeira, is able to get inside and muscle Jones up against the cage, he has some tricks up his sleeve there too, most impressively a pair of razor-sharp elbows and a host of judo- and Greco Roman-inspired trips and takedowns. And if an opponent is going to shoot for a takedown of his own, he better not miss. Jones’ guillotine choke is deadly.
And if he ends up on top of you?
His ground-and-pound is the best the sport has ever seen, elbows coming so hard and fast that sometimes even he can’t quite control the carnage.
With each subsequent fight, they disappear as Jones soaks in knowledge and experience. As Sports On Earth’s Tomas Rios writes, it’s hard to even find a weakness to begin game-planning against:
Step inside the pocket and he stakes out precise obtuse and acute angles that align with his optimal striking range. Sit back on a counter and Jones’ sense of distance and timing is enhanced by his unmatched range. Move in for a takedown and finish on the ass-end of a physics equation that ends with the mean man beating you down. Jones does everything so well that strategizing against him begins with realizing there isn’t even an obvious starting point.
Unfortunately for Jones and the UFC, which has lost its three biggest pay-per-view stars to retirement and injury, Jones’ undeniable excellence in the cage hasn’t translated at the box office. He’s still a big star, one of the few capable of headlining a show without a strong co-main event. But no one will mistake his drawing power with that of Chuck Liddell, Brock Lesnar or Georges St-Pierre.
Jones remains a mystery to most MMA fans. While some journalists like Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter have shown us glimpses of Jones’ life, none have shown us the man. He’s still opaque, something MMA Fighting’s Chuck Mindenhall believes fans have a hard time with in a sport so accustomed to unprecedented access and availability:
Which in a roundabout way gets to the real storyline of any Jon Jones fight for the last couple of years: Perception. Just who is Jon Jones? Talk about a polarizing figure. We love Jones, we hate him, we love to hate him, and, most frustrating of all for his growing base of haters, there’s no denying him in the one domain that matters most — fighting.
It’s become clear, he says, that Jones can’t really worry about how fans feel.
“I’ve gotten to the point now where I realize I’m not going to be a fan-favorite, and being loved isn’t necessarily – it doesn’t have to be,” Jones told MMA Junkie’s John Morgan. “Muhammad Ali was hated, and then he was loved at the very end. Floyd Mayweather was hated, and a lot of people are really coming around on him. So I’m just remaining positive and trying not to offend too many people along this way.”
In some ways, though, the champ has only himself to blame. Jones has never let anyone in, which has left fans cold to his carefully managed stage persona. What he lacks, in a word, is authenticity. The straight-laced image he tries to desperately court sponsors with falls away the moment he is handed a live microphone, asked a straightforward question or handed the keys to his own social media account.
Last week, Jones hit the headlines for allegedly directing homophobic insults at a fan taunting him on Instagram. As usual in these things, the coverup became much worse than the original offense. Whether his phone was lost, hacked or hijacked by rogue members of his social media team, we may never know. But his credibility took a major hit simply because his story shifted so dramatically over time.
It’s honestly a shame Jones can’t seem to pull it together. Still just 26 years old, he is already the best fighter this sport has ever seen. Even the power of nostalgia isn’t strong enough to convince anyone that Chuck Liddell had more than a puncher’s chance in his prime. Jones is so good—scary good—that it makes the idea of anyone beating him on his best day feel slightly ludicrous.
Like it or not, mixed martial arts is still on very shaky ground in the United States. While it certainly appears it can be a cable staple for years to come, this sport’s mainstream history is being written right now. Jones owes promoters, fans and himself more. He is, for better or worse, our best ambassador to the outside world.
