Sending a Message: Jon Jones
By Josh Stein on Jul 08, 2009
Jones suplexes Stephan Bonnar.
At 21 years old, Jon Jones (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has a long future in the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightheavyweight division, and the only open questions are about his immediate future: where does Jon Jones actually in the division at this moment?
Jones is a warrior, with incredible wrestling and freak athleticism that, from what we’ve seen so far, may supercede even the power Rashad Evans (13-1-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC, #2 IWMMAR) was heavily touted for when he came down a weightclass. In his bout with another mildly well respected lightheavyweight Jake O’Brien (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) , Jones will have the opportunity to remind everyone why his fight with Stephan Bonnar (11-5 MMA, 5-4 UFC) was so damn impressive.
If Jones beats O’Brien, who was a solid heavyweight and has not been beaten at 205, in anything even close to the fashion in which he beat Bonnar, he’s going to scare a lot of people in a very competitive division, because while there are good wrestlers and good athletes, rarely do we see a package as complete as Jones, especially at only 21 years old, and this is a guy who could very well fight in the division as a top competitor into his thirties (which is the age when fighters tend to start to taper off in the learning curve, for the most part).
The guy’s definitely a top prospect on the big stage, and in a division like the UFC’s 205 pound class, he can definitely make an impact.
Filed Under: MMA
I like this kid because he seems so willing to learn* and try new things in the ring. Even if he loses to O’Brien he will have a bright future in MMA because he has a lot of great tools at a young age. And since he has youth on his side, sports an undefeated record-never KO’ed . . . he fights and tries crazy manuevers like Urijah Faber- before his 1st fight against Mike Brown.
*Read a number of Jones interviews, he seems ready to absorb more information and techniques. Oh by the way, Jones said, “I wanna be the Jose Aldo of the UFC” . . . can you imagine a LHW version of Aldo at the age of 21?
I have heard some “very smart” guys call him the future…..
Vee, Jose Aldo at 205 pounds is scary enough. Imagine a Jose Aldo that can wrestle. That’d be sick.
I’m not convinced that Jones’ standup is all put together yet. And I’m not sold on his submission skills being incredible (but, then again, there aren’t really many guys who are going to challenge his submission game in that 205 pound division).
Still, his wrestling and athleticism may very well be the best in the division, and that’s definitely enough, if he’s willing to learn, to make him the future of the division.