At the end of 2009, I stated on the record that he was my favorite fighter. That appears to be my first mention of him on the Poop. I'm sure I mentioned it to TON and Gunn (heheh rhymes) earlier than that. I remember seeing his fight against Bonnar and loving his energy level and creative strikes. And then I read he was the brother of Syracuse football players Arthur and Chandler Jones. That sold me.
Two new things happened this weekend that made me love him a little more. I'll start with the fight. Jones lucked into a title shot (on 6 weeks rest) when his teammate Rashad Evans got hurt in training.
"When opportunity knocks you better let him in and sit him on down and try to be his friend."
I would say Jones did that and much more. I could go through the entire fight minute by minute, but Bloody Elbow has already done it, spectacularly.
I'll just say he started with a flying knee, ended with a knee as Shogun was dropping to the floor and this is the damage he inflicted in between.
I honestly have no idea how anyone will ever beat this guy. As TON has stated before, he has the perfect build for MMA. He is tall (6'4") and lanky (84.5" reach, longer than any heavyweight even) and he doesn't sacrifice strength. Usually a guy that skinny, gets taken down and outwrestled. But even against thicker opponents (Ryan Bader), Jones does the taking down and the outwrestling. Opponents can't get close enough to punch him, so the theory was Shogun would kick him in his spindly legs. I don't think he did it even once. It may be a very, very, very long time before I have to write about Jon Jones losing his title.
And when he's not fighting light heavyweights, he's fighting crime.
Before the fight on Saturday Jones was visiting a park in Paterson to do some meditation. Here's what happened next according to Jones, via twitter:
"So while we were at the park today a crack head smashed this old lady's car window and took off running with her GPS just as we were pulling up. right away. Coach Wink goes after this guy. Without hesitation, Coach Jackson went after him. I was shocked and stood there for a second. Then I threw my phone down and went with my coaches. Before you know it, we're sprinting up a steep hill chasing after him.
I turned the jets on, we caught the guy. We got the lady's gps back.
Our driver took a picture of Coach Jackson and I subduing the criminal.
I caught him, Coach Jackson finished him."
The legend of Jon Jones keeps growing, and it's only going to get bigger.
2 comments:
everyone is beatable.
The only true champion is Age. He eventually beats everyone. Bones really could go several years minimum if he keeps up his pace of learning. Keep in mind that by every measure, he's essentially a complete rookie still, and his technical skills still have room to literally double. He just started 3 years ago. Most guys are still fighting for $500 in a barn in Ohio after 3 years.
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