Issue 071

January 2011

He’s the archetypal next-gen fighter, seemingly plucked from a Michael Mann MMA movie. ‘Who is this guy?’ we bellowed upon his debut. So FO set out to meet the real Jon Jones.

If there is a chink in the toughened armor of Jon Jones, then it is imperceptible. Perhaps it’s his youth. Yet there is a powerful case to be made for the 23-year-old’s fearlessness and thirst for knowledge. along with his burgeoning skill set in the fighting arts. It’s made the UFC light heavyweight the hottest property in MMA. Even more impressive about Jones, beside his physical stature, is the balance he seeks in his life. A burning desire to do the right thing, including being acutely aware of his status as a role model, and desperately ambitious to fulfill expectation in him as the prototype new generation hybrid mixed martial artist.  

So, a little history on the big man, standing 6’ 4” tall, but looking even taller in the flesh. He’s quiet, calm, and well-mannered. And noted for having the longest reach in the UFC at 84.5 inches: one of the reasons those trademark spinning elbows carry such danger. 

Jones was born in Rochester, New York, but raised in Endicott, which he considers it to be his hometown. It was tough. And he’s glad his father, a pastor, moved the family away. He currently resides in Ithaca. Jones explains his early life: “I grew up originally in Rochester. It was where I was born; a very tough neighborhood with a lot of violence. It was tough in the sense that there was no telling on each other for harassment. That was handled in its own way. Bullying was a normal thing. My parents did not have a lot of money, I always had the ugliest, dirtiest shoes that I had had the previous year; I had no named or ‘designer’ clothes. I was a tall, skinny kid from a family that was a known Christian home, so I got my fair share of bullying. I suppose I was a bit of a target in that way. So yes, it was hard. Not so much the physical bullying sometimes, because emotional bullying can be tough, too. All bullying sucks. I don’t feel scarred by it, however. If anything, it has made me a stronger individual. It was all about the little bad kids from the ghetto quick with their tongues, that kind of thing. There’s a lot of negativity in that area, and I don’t often go back there. Life is very different there to where I ended up: I consider myself lucky. When I was aged 11, in 1998, Dad moved us to a suburban area from what was a ghetto. It gave me a chance of survival. A lot of my cousins are still living there and not doing too much with their lives. My dad had been a minister for 26 years, and got an offer to be a pastor, and without telling my mom he just took the job. He instinctively knew it was the right decision. It was a great move, and I feel very lucky that he took that decision.”

I do raise my eyebrows during the interview when Jones reveals that he is “no athlete”. Not in normal terms, at least. Perhaps it’s down to the fact that his two brothers are professional football players. 

His eldest brother by one year, Arthur, was selected in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens, as a defensive tackle. Jones’ other brother, Chandler, is currently a defensive lineman at Syracuse. “Arthur is 6’ 4” tall but 310lb. He now plays in the NFL. But he was a beast at both wrestling and football, a freak athlete. The kind of sportsman who wants to be second to no one,” explains ‘Bones’ Jones. Hardly a dark shadow to grow up in, then. “Serious sport started on the day Arthur came home with wrestling shoes,” Jon continues. “He’s a year older than me. Right away, I wanted wrestling shoes because I didn’t want to be left behind. I was 14, he was 15. Until then, most sport for us was just rough-housing with each other. Dad had been an amateur wrestler in Rochester, New York. He was good, but wasn’t focused enough as a kid to take it as far as he could have. If I’m honest, I can’t catch, can’t run fast and can’t throw. All my skills in the Octagon have come from hard work. From wrestling first, and then picking up skills in mixed martial arts.” That’s incredible when you consider that Jones is so highly regarded for his athletic prowess in the ring.

Jones was a 2005 state wrestling champion while a senior at Union-Endicott High School, and a national Junior College Champion (JUCO) at Iowa Central Community College. Little wonder he earned accolades and a sports scholarship to one of the top two wrestling colleges in the game. The prodigal fighter planned on getting a higher degree in Criminal Justice and pursuing a career in law enforcement – Judge Dredd springs to mind – but, after spending a semester in Morrisville State College, he signed a four-fight contract with the UFC, making him the youngest fighter on its roster at that time. Since Jones’ debut UFC fight, against Andre Gusmao at UFC 87 on August 9, 2008 – a bout Jones took on three weeks’ notice as a late replacement for Tomasz Drwal – he’s never looked back.

The Greg Jackson product put on an impressive performance that night, using takedowns and first displaying his trademark unorthodox striking: the spinning elbows and kicks. Fans watched agape, Buds growing warm in their hands. A new favorite was unearthed. Even though he came into the fight widely regarded as a heavy underdog, Jones was rewarded with the unanimous decision victory. Routs of Stephan Bonnar, himself no pushover, and Jake O’Brien followed.

But on December 5, 2009 Jones endured the first loss of his career. He faced off against fellow light heavyweight prospect Matt Hamill, a deaf competitor, at The Ultimate Fighter 10 finale. Despite dominating for long periods of the fight, Jones was controversially disqualified for the use of multiple ’12-to-6’ (striking straight down) elbows. Although he was initially only penalized a point from the round, because Hamill was unable to continue Jones was disqualified for the strikes. Consequently, the tape was reviewed and showed that Jones’ elbows further damaged Hamill's already bloody and partially broken nose (the first-ever use of the new ‘instant replay for referees’ rule in the UFC, MMA trivia fans).

Jones took the decision with remarkable grace. “Look, this is sport. You have to take decisions. Sometimes you will win, sometimes you will lose.” Where did he learn to keep his cool like that? “From my wrestling days. There were times when you got a bad decision, and you have to take it like a gentleman. It’s so important that we never forget we are all involved in a sport. That focus keeps me grounded.” Centered enough to follow up the loss by tearing through Brandon Vera, breaking his face in three places, and returning veteran Vladimir Matyushenko.

UFC president Dana White confirmed that Jones will face undefeated Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader, on February 5, 2011 at UFC 126. It's a bout Jones relishes. “I learned a lot about him from his last contest, and I’m not going to lay it on the line how and why I will win, but I am looking for another ‘W’. Ryan is a prospect like me, unbeaten, and you know, I’m glad in a way that I do have a loss on my record. Because if I hadn’t, I think it would be built up even more than it has been. We both want to progress in this division, so it will be seen as a crossroads fight. I’m not treating it differently to any other fight I’ve had. Which means giving it 110% in training, and giving my all when I step into the Octagon.” 

Jones has spent his last three contests under the tutelage of Greg Jackson, considered the incumbent doyen of trainers in elite mixed martial arts. Mentioning Jackson, it’s clear from the outset how enthused Jones is by being under a teacher he considers to be a master. Mentoring it truly is, according to Jones, who talks of his trainer reverentially, referring to the New Mexican as “a father figure” to him and his fellow fighters. Jones’ first pause in our mental journey around his time with Jackson is to clarify that he will not fight fellow light heavyweight Rashad Evans, the former champion, who’s in the same camp, if Evans regains the UFC light heavyweight belt. “No, it’s unthinkable. It is not as if we are best buddies, but you cannot fight a training partner.” There are those who would disagree with that theory. Namely Dana White. But there is a caveat, according to Jones. “It could happen, but the only way would be if I moved to another camp.” That’s unlikely considering his glowing assessment of the environs. “Joining Greg Jackson’s camp means you’re becoming a member of the family. 100%, everyone who trains with Greg loves Greg. He’s a great person; a genuine person, he treats everyone with respect, treats people right. He’s also a great warrior, a great martial artist… and he just does the right things. He’s just brilliant, a brilliant man. He’s so respectable.”

Got it. So Jackson has Jones’ total admiration. Georges St Pierre, moreover, says the same. So what has Jones learned from Jackson, specifically, in preparation for his last three contests – against Matt Hamill, Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko? 

“Greg always has great life advice. He reads a lot and that knowledge gives him a lot of power. He knows how to lead, including how to lead elite warriors. He studies historical generals. He has absolutely, completely, changed the way my preparation is for fights. Before, I would go into a fight ‘hoping’ I was ready. With Greg, I am ready. Mentally ready, physically ready; I know my cardio is ready, my tactics are ready, my strategy is ready… I feel totally prepared when I go into fights with Greg.” Jackson is renowned for brain training. What are the mottos, the ways of the warrior that Jackson has already embedded in Jones’ mind? “He has a quote which always stays with me: ‘If nature cannot break you, no man will.’ He will get nature to try to break you. He’ll take you to a mountain of sand with steep steps, and you will be trying to get up it, sprinting, with someone on your back, and you have to pull yourself to a different point inside, where you do actually find you are tapping into a different you, a higher you. 

“There’s the feeling in some of those training sessions that you’re just having to survive. He gets you ready in many ways. He’ll make you tread water for long periods, then go down to pick up bricks. He teaches you to never, ever break. What you go through in training is way harder than any fight. Take a look at some of his fighters, in the old WEC, like Leonard Garcia. Greg’s fighters will slug their lives out and never give up. That’s Greg’s philosophy: developing unbreakable fighters. It’s all in the strategy, the way he looks at people’s mental safety blankets inside the Octagon. What they do in there, and why. When do they shoot? What makes them shoot? When I fought Brandon Vera, Greg researched him so much that I knew Vera is very comfortable when you hold him up against the fence. That’s his security blanket. You realize that when he gets punched, he backs up into the fence. So when I shot the double leg against Vera, I pulled him off the fence. BJ Penn is the same. People think that you are causing BJ Penn harm by pinning him up against the fence, but that's actually his comfort zone.” From small acorns, great things are grown, I venture. “Exactly. So some things are just little things. Greg just really picks apart film, pays attention to his opponent. He knows his fighter and he knows his fighter’s opponent, and then he matches it with the fight that should happen. That’s why Team Jackson has an 86% win rate.” Nor, indeed, is any of Jones’s explosive attacking finesse being curbed by the master strategist. “In no way is he trying to change the way I fight. He’s simply adding more weapons to my armory,” concedes Jones.

Externally, Jones is one cool customer. Yet he does have fears. “Some of the fears I go through are about not performing to the best of my ability, not getting my timing right. I do fear being embarrassed or exposed. We all go through it, I think. But when things are right, the timing is ‘on’, I do feel more flexible as a human being for some reason. What I am working on is trying to breathe and relax in the lead-up to a fight. My opponent is just a human being like I am. He gets up on the morning of a fight, goes through what I do, pulls his pants on like I do…” Simplicity, you feel, is what Jones is working on, amid a myriad of thoughts and fears. His sporting hero growing up was Michael Jordan. Today, his inspirations are LeBron James, Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee. In MMA, Anderson Silva enthralls him. “I like his style. Dynamic, lethal, free-flowing. He looks natural but he's put a lot of effort and work into his dynamics. The victory against Chael Sonnen added to his legacy. Anderson managed to pull off a victory with damaged ribs, and showed the heart and skills of a great champion. I like his entire career – even when he was not so technical.” 

Jones has a daughter named Leah, who was born on July 11, 2008. A committed relationship has helped him stay focused on his life, and his training. He admits that his girlfriend getting pregnant altered the course of his life at that moment. “Having a child, and the role my dad played in my life and my belief in Christianity changed a lot of things. I’m not a saint, or a goody-goody. I did wild things, I still do, but I have morals of not going too far. Basic rules. I don’t break the positivity I have in my life, and I always treat people right.” Jones has already begun to walk a path where he, too, could become a hero, a role model for a new generation. Does the pressure placed indirectly upon him in the last year – from both growing media commitments and even more fans – weigh heavily? He pauses briefly – as he has done before answering all questions for Fighters Only magazine – before replying: “I have to say that it is an honor. It is a privilege to be talked about in high esteem. It makes me conscious that I have to be aware of living up to that expectation. What I do now, MMA – it’s the only thing I know. It’s my job, my career, what I love. It has been a climb all the way. I’m going to try and make all the right moves and do right by people. If I can do that, perhaps I can achieve my goals in this sport.” 

Wise beyond his years. An intelligent head on very broad shoulders, housing arms with piercing elbows. That’s exactly why Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is the hottest thing in MMA right now. And for the foreseeable future.