Marcus Jones: The Good Soldier
By Josh Stein on Nov 06, 2009
Sometimes, the fighter is so good that it doesn’t matter if his coaching sucks.
This is hardly new on the Ultimate Fighter. We saw it with Ed Herman on TUF 3. We saw it with Travis Lutter on TUF 4 (though he was basically coaching himself, given the strange premise of the season). And we saw it with Mac Danzig on TUF 6 (though teammate Tommy Speer also made it to the finals, it was clear that the experience of Danzig drove him to, and through, the entire series).
Well, Marcus Jones is going to be that guy for this season, and not because he’s the only Team Rampage fighter still standing.
The reason Marcus is destructive has little to do with the reason everybody seems to notice him, and even less to do with what previous team-transcending competitors have done on the show. Marcus is not going to have a great showing because of his size (though it certainly helps) and he’s not going to have a great showing because of his experience (which is marginal, though many of the most experienced guys have already been knocked out).
The reason everyone in the house should be concerned about Marcus Jones as a competitor is because of how eager he is to learn, and how fast he’s doing it. Obviously, this is a guy who’s been around MMA for a little while. He made his MMA debut in 2007 and has been training hard for a while. However, even under mediocre coaching, this guy is still picking up skills. It’s clear from his first fight that he’s been developing his jiu-jitsu for a while, and he’s good at it. How many 6’6, +280 pound guys can throw up an armbar like that? I’ve never seen it before, in MMA or pure grappling.
Being a first round NFL draft pick says something about his athleticism and his work ethic, but what we got to see in the last episode, leading up to his fight with Mike Wessel, is a desire to learn, and the ability (because of his athleticism) to learn skills very quickly. Guys with the level of muscle memory of professional athletes are few and far between (it’s one of the things that makes the B.J. Penn’s and Anderson Silva’s of the world so unique), and while Marcus Jones may not be at that level of technical ability, he certainly has the ability to pick up the fundamental skills right away. The greatest failure among heavyweights is the tendency to rely on strength and power (both in the gym and in the fight), instead of focusing on the technique. A guy with the power and size that Marcus has, who really exhibits a desire to learn the technique (and can execute that technique as if he were a 155 pounder who has to get it down to submit his welterweight training partners all the time) can be really dangerous. He’s a student of the game and, at his size, that’s incredible.
People will make jokes, watching his standup, that he fights like a zombie. I’m not convinced his standup is that good, because we haven’t seen any of it. But I’d be he hits as hard as any guy in the house, if for no other reason that he’s by far the biggest guy in the house.
On the ground, though, to see a guy who’s as dynamic as Marcus was in his first fight is really frightening. Kimbo’s assessment of Marcus’ game is pretty accurate, and Kimbo should know, since he trained with the guy a lot during the course of the show:
The reason we call [Marcus] the juggernaut is he comes forward. And he swings from his pockets. But he comes forward, and he keeps coming, he keeps coming, he keeps coming… And Marcus is a beast on the ground.
After watching Marcus’ performance, I honestly don’t think there’s anybody in the house that can grapple with him. Roy Nelson is a BJJ blackbelt, but he doesn’t move well on the ground. Roy gets the position and he crushes his opponent. I don’t think Roy can pass Marcus’ guard (if he can even get on top of Marcus, which is far from a done deal with a guy that powerful), given Marcus’ size and quickness off of his back. The same goes for Justin Wren, though Wren may be able to use his Greco-Roman to get around the guard from the clinch. Still, the size and the technical ability are going to be deadly.
I called Darill Schoonover a potential favorite to win the show. I take it back. He’s a prohibitive underdog in this fight with Marcus. The strength that Schoonover had was his clear technical ground game, but, realistically, Marcus is (from a technical standpoint) a better grappler, and he’s much bigger, and he’s a physical freak of nature.
Marcus Jones may very well be a favorite to go to the finals, if not to win the whole show.
Filed Under: MMA
I am wondering if Nelson gets top position can Marcus get him off? I mean he has a low center of gravity and he is very intelligent. That being said I don’t think he or anyone could overpower Marcus on the show, so it will come down to skill. But that was an impressive arm bar, because I thought if anything Marcus’s flexibility may have been an issue. But he sunk that in in such a tiny space for a big guy! Combine that with his explosiveness and power, bones can be broken easily! I want him to choke someone out next!
Bill
How you gonna get the moon off of you?
I just got a chance to see Marcus’ fight today and I was pretty freaked out to see him in action. His movements kind of gave me chills because I thought to myself “we could be watching a potentially great fighter here in his infancy.” I think Marcus has all of the tools available to be a title threat within a year, no lie.
He is an unbelievable athlete, he has to be. To be taken as the number 1 pick in the NFL draft means you have physical gifts that few possess. There aren’t a lot of guys who are 6’5″-6’6″ and can grapple well, let alone heavyweights. Looking at how quickly he transitioned from attempt to attempt was awe-inspiring. Going from a kimura from the bottom to that great transition to the back, to an rnc attempt to an arm bar was just wild. It wasn’t even the speed that was the craziest part about it, it was the smoothness in which he put it all together. He was always working for the sub or the position, he never waited for anything to present itself, he made it happen.
When the fighters were talking about Marcus being a monster on the ground I figured they were talking about his athletics and not his technique. He is probably the single most impressive fighter this season, hell, in the past 3 seasons. (Maybe aside from Capoeria guy from the TUF11 tryout video)
The only thing I would worry about for him is his striking defense. He is tall enough to not really worry about kicks to the head but he was clipped and got rattled, but to Jones’ credit he recovered quickly and got a nice take down into half guard.
His Frankenstriking is a bit comical to watch but if he can develop it to where he doesn’t take damage then it won’t even matter in the end. I think Titties is going to be in trouble when its time to fight.
BWoods, I’m glad I’m not the only one who was totally blown away by the ease of a +280 pound giant moving through submissions like that. Truly awesome.
It’s hard enough for me, as a 6′ 190-200 pound dude to perform transitions like that, though I’m just a white belt myself. (though I actually prefer omaplatas leading into back control) It’s crazy to imagine rolling with a guy like that who can move through the positions with such ease.
- His striking looks horrible for a tall fighter. He doesn’t use his height and reach advantage to its full potential. Stick the JAB!
- I thought that was one of the most exciting fights because I’m sure there was some pressure on Marcus Jones. His execution was surreal. Everything happened rapidly when they hit the ground.
I don’t really think we saw him strike at all. He didn’t want to.
I’m not going to make judgments about his standup when I haven’t seen him use it yet. He kept the distance when he had to. He clinched when his opponent closed the distance. And when his opponent was in the clinch, he tossed the guy around like a rag doll.
Vee- screw the jab! Obviously he is not a big striker and trying to make him box may actually hurt him at this moment. That Mummy thing may work best right now with those long arms. Guys throwing punches are going to have to come in to hit him. And Marcus seems strong enough to grab and throw most of them, so it may work. It actually is an old school ju jitsu type of strategy.