Issue 120

October 2014

Pound-for-pound champion Jon Jones is realizing the target on his back is bigger than the one on his UFC title, yet he refuses to buckle under the pressure of his legacy.

Arrogant or not, Jon Jones believes the UFC light heavyweight belt is no longer the greatest target in the minds of his rivals: it is his scalp. As the 205lb champion, revered and reviled in equal measure by fans, prepared for his latest – and some say most pressing assignment to date as champion – against former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier, Jones admits that he wants to be remembered one way on his tombstone: ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’

In Latin, ‘Veni, vidi, vici,’ Jones explained a couple of minutes before he dropped the belt he has held for three-and-a-half years and brawled with Cormier on stage during a press engagement at the MGM Grand on August 5th, just under eight weeks before they were due to settle their differences inside the Octagon.

“I’d like to be remembered as someone who came, saw and conquered,” Jones tells Fighters Only in an exclusive interview, aping the expression Julius Caesar used in a letter to the Roman Senate after achieving victory in his short war in modern day Turkey. It referred to a swift, conclusive victory. Perfect for Jones.

Misunderstood and maligned at times, Jones has the ability to switch into ‘killer’ mode when he steps in to defend what he believes is rightfully his: the UFC 205lb crown, and the throne of the number one pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts. You only have to look at his résumé and the manner in which he has completed his long run of victories to stand up that opinion. Not to mention the catalog of defeated foes which reads like a who’s who of former champions.

“It’s my competitive nature, my pride and my desire to set records – that’s what brings out the beast in me,” ‘Bones’ explains. “That’s what brings out this whole new mentality in me. It’s a ‘cannot lose’ mentality.

“I don’t know where that finishing mentality comes from. I just believe in taking my time, picking people apart, and hurting them whenever I can. If you look at my fights, my opponents all seem to break at some point. Once I see that, I look at it as my window of opportunity to put them away. And I usually do.” As evidenced in his successful defenses against former belt owners ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans.

Jones, without question, feels targeted by the rest of the 205lb division, and yet rarely receives the credit for his achievements. But placed next to the sporting achievements of the likes of Anderson Silva, the man most see as MMA’s GOAT (greatest of all time), Jones’ hit-list is an ensemble of light heavyweight greats. Yet the 27-year-old refuses to allow it to get under his skin.

The seat that he has occupied is envied, discussed, dissected. All he can do is go out and fight, and defeat the next challenger UFC matchmaker Joe Silva puts in front of him.

“I don’t think about it too much. It’s good that they’re enjoying the sport. For a long time I’ve been the no-name guy. I’ve fought all these legends – guys who fought in Pride, former UFC champions. I’ve always fought guys who have lots of support. I’ve become used to being almost like the new guy. I’m very comfortable with the position I’m in.”

Yet there is this enduring feeling that Jones, still on an upward climb towards the summit of greatness, is still battling for acceptance in his achievements by so many in the sport. “For some reason, people don’t want to acknowledge what I’ve done in the Octagon, but I know what I’ve done and the record books show what I’ve done. So I just continue to move forward and do what I do,” he accepts.

The fighting aura around Jones is similar to another time in sports, when Muhammad Ali was ‘The Greatest’. There was a time when the planet’s rival heavyweights considered beating Ali as the objective.

He had a power over the division which mesmerized the contenders. Foreman had won the heavyweight title of the world against Joe Frazier. But it was Ali whom he needed to defeat. Both in his mind, and in the eyes of the public.

Foreman said recently: “I remember when I won the championship of the world, we didn’t want to be called ‘champion’; what we really wanted was to be the guy who beat Muhammad Ali. We wanted that more than to be champion of the world. That’s really what we all wanted: to beat Muhammad Ali.

“But really, nobody could beat Ali. Even when you beat him, people said you hadn’t really beaten him, nobody would say that he had lost, and they still wanted to get his autograph, and get the chance to get hugged and kissed by him.”

Can Jones be beaten? Of course he can. This is a high-stakes, high-risk sport. One slip and defeat is served. Jones has lost once, only by DQ. And ‘DC’ does not know the meaning of the word in MMA.

And while the comparisons might not extend to the impact Ali had on his time, and the changes in society, there is little doubt that defeating Jon Jones is a massive scalp on any fighter’s to-do list, like how Ali was hunted by his rivals.

Jones relates to the comparison which Foreman made of his time when Ali was great. “I think it’s safe to say a lot of guys are focusing more on beating me than winning the championship,” he confides. “I would think that if I was the other fighter that beating me is the ultimate thing to do in the sport. In some of their minds, a win over me is bigger than winning the belt.”

This is the arrogant Jon Jones, not loud and vaunting, but with a chilling self-assuredness in his voice, which deepens in the same way in which he completed numerous television interviews after the brawl with Cormier that day back in early August. A calm, cool surrender to the reality of needing to waste another rival.

He continues: “I’ve been able to accomplish a lot and I kind of feel as if a lot of these fighters feel like if they can beat me they can steal some of my accolades. Not only are you fighting for a belt, you’re fighting to beat one of the best light heavyweights of all-time. I do feel targeted by the light heavyweight division and I love being in that position.”

That mentality – back against the wall, head of the pride of lions, call it what you will – is what drives Jones to come forth, see what’s in front of him, conquer his fears and stay at the top.

“It keeps me motivated and inspired to not really care what they think, so long as they can’t beat me,” Jones states. “I think when I beat Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson the argument of who is the greatest light heavyweight of all time should be officially over. I know that Anthony Johnson is doing well at the moment, but I really don’t consider him to be an all-time great or one of the guys I need to beat to solidify my legacy.

“That’s not to say I wouldn’t fight Anthony – I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I’ve made up my mind that Gustafsson and Cormier will solidify me as the greatest light heavyweight ever.”

Jones adds: “Whether I’m the greatest of all time or whether Anderson Silva is the greatest of all time all comes down to opinion. It’s for the fans to decide. I will say that I believe I’ve fought the much tougher competition.”

Jones, in the 40 months since taking the title, has run through an exceptional field: Rua, Jackson, Machida, Evans, Gustafsson, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Glover Teixeira. Barring Sonnen, some of the greatest 205lb’ers in history.

Pre-Chris Weidman, examine Anderson's championship opponents and Rich Franklin (twice), Belfort and Dan Henderson are really the only three who belong in the highest pantheon of MMA greats at 185lb. Jones has a point. 

“I really don’t care about being a fan favorite anymore,” Jones replies with a shrug. “I love the people who support me. There are some that are Team Jones and they’ll be that way until the day they die. A lot of the others are fair-weather. 

“One minute they like you, the next they hate you. I’m starting to realize the fickle nature of being a fan. I just think positively and do my job. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what people think of me.”

Odd for a fighter who so clearly thrills in the ring. “I do entertain. I know. But if you’re an entertainer, a comedian, or an athlete, some people are going to love you and your material, and others will find reasons to hate it. I’ve realized that and I accept it.”

Ali famously saw the wrestler ‘Gorgeous George’ and adapted aspects of his outlandish personality. Floyd Mayweather Jnr has flirted with images of being a playboy, gambler and bad boy, becoming a polarizing figure. As many spectators tune in to see him beaten, as much to see the great champion’s art.

Put to Jones, he just shrugs about ‘persona’. “I haven’t thought about taking on any sort of persona. The older I get, and the longer I’m in the UFC, the more comfortable I get within myself.

“That means I’ll say more things and not care about the consequences. I’ll be myself more. No, I’m not a good guy or a hero. I’m just really good at fighting. And I’m just myself. I don’t try to be more or less than that.” Two hours later he was on top of Cormier on the floor at a press conference. Perhaps that’s what he meant.

96.6%

Ahead of facing Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier, Jones’ confidence will be boosted by the knowledge he has defended 96.6% of all takedown attempts.

Crushing Cormier

Coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn revel in the role of steering Jones past his latest challenge.

Jon Jones has a renowned coaching team in Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, who have assessed the task of preparing him for a mission as great as two-time Olympian Daniel Cormier.

“I’m certainly excited by this challenge. I’m a huge Cormier fan and, in my opinion, he’s probably one of the best in all of MMA at controlling the pace of a fight that I’ve ever seen,” Jackson tells FO.

“He knows exactly when to fight and when to back off, he’s a master of it. So to get the chance to coach against him and prepare a fighter for him is going to be very cool. Let’s see if we can find a way to get around some of the stuff he puts together.”

Jackson has time for the man, too. “As a person I like him. He’s always nice and respectful to me and I love him as a fighter. It’s going to be a great challenge, but everybody here at Jackson-Wink loves a challenge.”

So, has he been preparing a ‘new’ Jones? “Jon’s definitely looking good right now. He’s training hard and that’s really the important thing. He’s taking this fight really seriously because him and Cormier don’t like each other very much. However, I do think he has a lot of respect for Cormier so that’s making him train very hard for the fight.”

Winkeljohn, meanwhile, knows the skills and belief an Olympic-level wrestler will bring. “You know, Daniel Cormier is going to be a great challenge for Jon Jones. It’s fights like this that remind me of how cool my job is. Jon has always been that guy who when you’re coaching him or you’re shouting out instructions from behind the cage he’s almost like a video game character; I just shout things and he does them.”

Then to Cormier, which he assesses will be a chess match. “To fight Daniel Cormier, an Olympic wrestler who is coming from a great camp with a lot of knowledge behind them and a ton of great coaches too, we kind of needed it. 

“We’ve got to try and figure out what they’re thinking and they’ve got to try and figure out what we’re planning on doing too. It’s a chess game for the coaches as well as the fighters who are going to be facing each other on September 27th.”

He adds: “We’ve got to figure out what Cormier’s best at and what he’s not so good at, and that’s something no one has ever been able to do since he started fighting.”

Winkeljohn and Jones will have studied tape of DC in detail before ‘Bones’ takes those four steps up and into the combat arena. “We watch a lot of tape together to try and find his opponent’s weaknesses. We actually watch stuff in slow motion, which can become really tedious but that’s the sort of thing Jon does which I’m not sure others do.

“He really studies his opponents thoroughly. He’s not just a tall fighter who’s great at keeping his opponents at distance, he really takes the time to watch the moves of the guy he’s facing. He probably knows what a fighter is going to do before he does it because he’s watched it so much.

“We always expect them to change things during camp because all fighters evolve, but he watches a lot of tape to prepare himself.”

Jones insists he’s not afraid of opponents' strengths – he simply respects them

Make no bones about it, Jon Jones sees the challenge of facing Daniel Cormier as “very, very serious.” “He has a ‘personal vendetta’ against me,” reasoned Jones, that fact coming into acute focus in their August stare-down brawl. 

Cormier clearly feels and felt disrespected by Jones, whom he says dismissed his abilities when they first met. For his part, the champion believes it was misinterpreted.

Cormier calls Jones “a fake human being, a fake individual. He’s weak, a punk, a liar, he’s dishonest, a whole load of things…”

Jones will not get involved on such a level. He tells FO: “I see a guy (Cormier) who is a competitor and someone who is very good at talking. He’s probably one of the best talkers I’ve gone up against. He speaks with logic.” Jones respects Cormier, he assures us. But doesn’t fear him.

“I definitely don’t fear anyone’s skillset. My coach always tells me to fear not art, just respect it. Boxing, wrestling, kickboxing or jiu-jitsu – they’re all arts. I’ve been training for about five years now to fear no art. I’m not saying I’ll necessarily fight to his strengths, but I certainly won’t fear his strengths.”

Like he did with Rashad, using elbows as jabs, or against Teixeira, happy to clinch against the Octagon wall, dirty boxing while he ate, and avoided the Brazilian’s uppercuts. What’s not to like, or admire, about Jones’s willingness to test himself?

That’s the beauty of Jon Jones. He will fight anywhere, even in his opponent’s backyard in terms of skills. That’s why he sees himself as the mixed martial artist with ‘veni, vidi, vici’ tattooed into his mindset and fight style. And long may that continue.