Issue 143

July 2016

With his days at 205lb coming to an end, FO investigates whether Jon Jones can cut it as a heavyweight.

When Jon Jones returned to the Octagon against Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 there was vulnerability in him that couldn’t have been imagined before. Against a completely passive opponent, Jones tired himself out throwing unanswered and largely undefended strikes. OSP was a last-minute replacement and Jones was probably affected by ring rust, but there was something else. 

‘Bones’ ordinarily dwarfs his 205lb opponents, but Saint Preux is a man of similar stature, much like the lengthy Alexander Gustafsson who gave Jones his toughest ever fight. As a result, many fans are now reexamining their expectations for his planned move up to heavyweight. 

With reach, strength and size in mind, FO ruminates over Jones’ true potential against three of the best fighters in MMA’s biggest weight class and considers the different questions they would pose of the man many fans still consider to be the sport’s pound-for-pound number one. 

The boxer: Junior dos Santos

Junior dos Santos pulled a fast one against ‘Big’ Ben Rothwell in Zagreb and is now right back in the title picture. The Brazilian knockout artist is recognized as the best boxer in the heavyweight division and that alone should make him an intriguing matchup for Jones. 

The record-breaking light heavyweight champion never came closer to defeat than he did against gifted boxer Alexander Gustafsson. And while many excuse that performance as an instance when Jones was unmotivated and underprepared, his conditioning proved no issue. It was Gustafsson’s methods that perplexed his opponent. 

Particularly fascinating about any Jones-dos Santos match up is ‘Cigano’s extensive use of straight body blows because the body jab has proven a perfect nutcracker for Jones’ defense on the feet. Against Gustafsson, he began reaching down to stop them or pushing his hand out straight to keep the Swede off of him – and ate follow-up jabs, hooks and right hands to the head as a result. 

Given Jones’ recent difficulty in going the full five rounds, body work is a must for future opponents. The power of JDS’ body straights make them excellent weapons for winding opponents. More importantly, they serve to set up the overhands and left hooks that will test whether Jones’ chin can withstand heavyweight power. 

There are two aspects dos Santos’ game that could hurt his chances. First, his lengthy stance, with an inwardly turned lead foot, makes him susceptible to low round kicks. It also exposes the side of his knee to Jones’ linear low-line kicks – the side kick and oblique kick. It’s never good to take force laterally through the knee joint like ‘Rampage’ Jackson did against him. The kind of damage done by a thrusting kick in this position can change a fight in a single strike.

Gustafsson was the only opponent to neutralize Jones’ straight low kicks. He did this through lateral movement, dissuading Jones from committing to kicks, which stood a good chance of sliding off and conceding a dominant angle to ‘The Mauler’.

Cigano’s lateral movement, however, is largely terrible. He often begins to circle only when his back foot has touched the fence, leading to him getting trapped there against more alert opponents. He improved this against Rothwell, but still began circling too late. A quicker opponent could have trapped him and roughed him up with body blows and elbows as both Cain Velasquez and Stipe Miocic did – and just as Jones would want to do.

The grinder: Cain Velasquez

Fighting Daniel Cormier’s teammate would make for a great story, and though the former heavyweight champion is stylistically very similar to Jones’ great rival, he could present some different problems. Velasquez’s game is built entirely around moving in behind the jab to overhand and smothering his opponent against the fence. From there he’ll rough them up, take them down and beat them down as they work their way back up. His success is built on pressure and consistency.

Crowding Jones was effective for Cormier for the best part of three rounds. When he was chest-to-chest he wasn’t having his energy sapped and body bruised by kicks. The problem was that ‘DC’ ate linear kicks to the front of the knee each time he closed the distance. The scale tipped as the fight progressed and he visibly tired.

But Velasquez fights far more actively against the cage than Cormier. He will take a single underhook, drive his head under his opponent’s chin to stand them up straight and hammer their body and head with his free hand – changing grips and sides frequently throughout to get in with knees as well. This is similar to Jones, who masterfully used infighting with his head underneath Glover Teixeira’s to batter the Brazilian while eating little heavy leather in return.

Velasquez’s wall work was stifled by Fabricio Werdum’s double collar-tie against the fence, but his top game would be far more of a threat against Jones than the world-class submission artist. With Velasquez constantly changing levels, grabbing legs and chain wrestling to push the pace, Jones could conceivably get stuck underneath him in the second or third rounds. Whether he would be able to get up amid a hailstorm of elbows and guard-pass attempts could decide the bout. 

A major weakness in Velasquez’s game is his almost complete inability to adapt mid-fight. If something starts to hurt him, he won’t take a step back and rethink, he will simply fight harder. This led to him running face first onto Cheick Kongo’s back-stepping punches on multiple occasions, driving his own head onto a well placed elbow strike or two from dos Santos and being completely bemused by Werdum. 

Velasquez ate punches to get to the clinch with Werdum, retreat out into the open and then try exactly the same thing again until exhausted. Jones might not be the biggest hitter or the most aggressive fighter, but he adapts like few others in the business. If he found something that landed against Velasquez he would flog it like a dead horse, knowing Cain is unlikely to adjust. 

The black belt: Fabricio Werdum

Werdum’s ground game was always among the best in the world and the confidence he has from his back allows him to strike as confidently as any heavyweight. He throws body kicks and high kicks with impunity. 

But the idea that Werdum is technically brilliant on the feet is erroneous. He’s crafty and pushes a high pace, but his striking doesn’t go far beyond naked kicks and one-twos into body kicks. The Velasquez–Werdum bout devolved into an ugly trading of straight punches until the American tired.

While Werdum’s takedowns aren’t that threatening against top heavyweights, he’s naturally a larger man than Jones and that might improve his chances. He’s also happy to pull guard. If Vitor Belfort can catch Jones in an armbar, what if ‘Vai Cavalo’ could jump guard on Jones and trap him in a similar position? 

It would be a different story on the feet. Werdum’s effective use of the double collar-tie stifled Velasquez’s wall work. He had space to worm a forearm inside his rival’s looping punches, cut his hips off line and apply the double collar tie. He also used the same opening to escape when he was pinned against the fence by old Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, of all people.

But Jones could have an answer for this. He hand-fights extensively. He will control and check his opponent’s hands and chuck elbows before ducking in for underhooks. When he doesn’t have a tight clinch along the fence, he uses biceps ties and pummels with his head to control his man, rather than relying on physically holding them. He’s also more active along the fence with his strikes. Where Velasquez throws circular arm punches that surrender space to his opponent, Jones uses his head to create space, then strikes through it with shorter, more damaging elbows before he ducks back into the clinch. 

Furthermore, Jones’ opponents are rarely able to angle off the fence so easily from his pressure. Jones might just as happily go to the body as he did against Teixeira. One can often hit the midsection with impunity and not be as concerned with knees if the same control was applied out in the open. 

One other important facet of this matchup is each man’s kicking game. Werdum is a square-stanced round kicker who often throws his low kicks naked. This gets him caught with right straights while on one leg, which sends him to the mat. If Jones did want to sit in the top of Werdum’s half-guard and attempt to drop elbows, opportunities for the takedown would not be difficult to find.

Jones’ kicking game is built around low-line straight kicks to the front of the knee, which are exceptionally difficult to catch and hard to move in on with boxing. As soon as the kick is retracted the gulf of distance still exists between the fighters. Even a perfectly-checked low oblique kick or side kick leaves the defending fighter with as much ground to cover as before the kick was thrown. Werdum might not have many answers with his limited boxing when he’s stuck on the end of low-line straight kicks.

Jones vs. The heavyweights

Jones has the frame for the heavyweight division and far more understanding of how to use his assets than many of the ‘natural’ heavies. Compare him to Stefan Struve. The seven-foot Dutchman is the tallest man in the UFC, but he doesn’t use his height and reach well to fight tall and long effectively. Jones does. He also excels – through elbows, wrestling and infighting – at short range. It’s that area between in which he’s vulnerable to the power of the heavyweights, but his ring generalship means he rarely gets caught there. 

He moves laterally, he jams advances with low-line straight kicks, he stiff-arms opponents as soon as they advance and if all else fails he steps inside and suddenly it’s Jones’ world again. The window of opportunity to land the big punches that everyone wants to see Bones tested by is often discouragingly small.

Strength is the other factor that’s intriguing about Jones at heavyweight. Most of the top heavyweights in MMA history haven’t been 265-pound monsters. It’s overwhelmingly the technically skilled men at the smaller end of heavyweight who excel. They’re fighters who could likely make light heavyweight if they committed to the sizable weight cut Jones performs. 

It’s easy to see Jones struggling to take down a giant like Alistair Overeem in a one-round fight, but Jones is a five-round fighter who builds off of a strong attack at range and piles on damage in bursts in the clinch. 

Whether Jones goes to heavyweight or not, there’s a home for him there. He has all the gifts the heavyweights lack – ring craft, conditioning, consistency through the fight – and the reach and grappling chops to make up for any shortcomings in physical size. 

Unique athlete

“He’s a fast fighter and he’s always going to bring some crazy stuff that’s going to surprise you. His wrestling is so good he can take anybody down or defend the takedown. That can put him toe-to-toe with Cain Velasquez. When it comes to BJJ he can give Fabricio Werdum a good challenge. I’ve never seen his athleticism before.” – Roberto Tussa, BJJ coach

Stronger than ever

“He’s working on new skills. He spent a lot of time off-season working on his strength and it’s not slowed him down. He’s even stronger in the clinch situations, which will do very well moving him towards heavyweight. We’re very excited.” – Mike Winkeljohn, head coach

Can't be beat

“I don’t really see anything that’s going to match Jon skill-wise. These heavyweight guys are going to be in awe of his aura because it’s totally different. You can see it in sparring.” – Phil Hawes, training partner

Strength and speed

“When he was focusing more on the powerlifting he was so far removed from the fight we still had plenty of time to refine and improve on speed and technique that he’s always had. This added strength will only help him.” – Brandon Gibson, striking coach

Preparing for power

“Jon has all the tools necessary to be a champion at heavyweight. Part of the transition process is he’s going to have to realize how these guys move and sprawl. They’re going to have a little more power in their movement. We’ve just got to make some small adjustments when the time comes to continue to dominate.” – Izzy Martinez, wrestling coach