Jon Jones is finally putting his money where his mouth is. After years and years of publicly flirting with the idea of moving up to heavyweight, the most acclaimed light heavyweight mixed martial artist of all time – and one of the most talented and dominant fighters ever, in any weight class – is, apparently, finally doing the damn thing.
All things considered, the timing of it all makes perfect sense. Jones has ruled over the light heavyweight division for over a decade as an essentially undefeated champion – his record shows a 2009 loss to Matt Hamill, but that came on a disqualification for illegal elbows that was widely panned both then and now.
Jones is a stupid fuckup who is constantly failing drug tests, getting arrested, and revealing himself to be one of the most noxious, hypocritical pricks in the world. But goddamn, when he is in that cage, he is absolutely money. Jones was a completely unique creation when he burst on the scene in 2008: a 6-foot-4 technician with incredible reach who seemingly could hit you with elbows from every conceivable angle at once. Through 12 years, 28 pro fights, several doping controversies and that time he did a hit-and-run on a pregnant woman, he’s been arguably the world’s best fighter the entire time.
There aren’t really any worlds left for Jones to conquer at his old weight. He’s already beaten most of the top contenders at 205 – names like Dominick Reyes, Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira – and the retirement of one of Jones’ biggest rivals, the all-time great Daniel Cormier, leaves a major hole at heavyweight for a bankable star opposite Stipe Miocic. I’m sure Jones would love to match Cormier’s achievement as a two-division champion, as spiteful as their feud was at its peak. Heavyweight is also usually a shallower pool, and you’d expect Jones to step in and immediately be one of the division’s very best.
So, like I said, it all makes perfect sense. I’m sure the UFC is chomping at the bit to book a Stipe Miocic-Jon Jones heavyweight title fight, even though the next shot at the belt has already been promised to hulking knockout machine Francis Ngannou. Many have already penciled in Jones as the next heavyweight champion of the world. But fellas, I’m here to offer one piece of advice: let’s pump the brakes a little.
Jones has never really been beaten in his professional career, it’s true, but the last year or so has shown that the rest of the light heavyweight division might be catching up to him a little bit. Last July, he eked out a split decision win over the bruising Brazilian Thiago Santos, who took the fight to Jones in a way few people ever have.
Santos became the first fighter ever to take a judge’s scorecard from the champion, despite the fact that he blew out his knee in the early stages of the fight. Much of the control Jones exerted over the fight came, in my opinion, due to his exploitation of Santos’ gimpy leg. Santos stayed competitive and continued to land the fight’s most impactful blows, but who knows what happens if he stays healthy?
Then, in February, Jones fought Dominick Reyes, who appeared – to my eyes, and the eyes of most fans and observers – to pretty clearly outstrike the champion for the first three rounds of the fight. Jones rallied to win rounds 4 and 5, but it seemed like he was heading to the first true loss of his career… until the decision came up unanimous for Jones, with one judge inexplicably giving “Bones” FOUR rounds.
Jones walked away the champion both times, but in neither fight did it feel like he truly beat his opponent. And after so long on top, a decline in performance has to be expected. But with the once seemingly unbreachable gap between Jon Jones and the rest of the world starting to close, will he be able to sustain his winning ways against larger opponents?
Gonna be honest, I’m not sure about that. One of Jones’ biggest advantages – outside of his pure, generational genius in the Octagon – is his length. Jones utilizes his 84-inch reach as well as any fighter has ever utilized their reach, and he’s never once been at a disadvantage in that aspect, usually having arms 8 to 10 inches longer than his opponents.
Jones is so freakishly proportioned that he’ll still often have that physical advantage over most heavyweights – he’d have four inches of reach on Miocic, for example, but it would be decidedly less pronounced. We don’t have that much tape on Jones fighting guys whom he doesn’t have a ton of reach on, but it’s hard to forget his fight with Alexander Gustafsson in September 2013, right in the middle of Jones’ prime. Gustafsson, another lanky and diverse striker, looked every bit Jones’ equal that night, and the two went back and forth in an epic chess match that many thought the Swedish challenger won.
Jones has called the first Gustafsson fight the hardest test he’s ever faced in his career, and there are going to be a lot more guys with Gustafsson’s type of physical dimensions that he’d face at heavyweight. Jones is a remarkably technically skilled striker, but the bigger division is also populated with fighters with unbelievable power – Jones has so many things working for him in the cage, but explosive one-punch pop and overpowering strength have never really been among them. It’s tough to see him keeping someone like Miocic at bay with his kicks and elbows, getting into his office and putting him away.
In addition, out of the top light heavyweights we’ve seen in recent years move up to heavyweight and find success in recent years – Cormier and Ryan Bader come to mind – they’ve been fighters who have been built differently and had a greater level of physical power than Jones.
Cormier, for instance, was able to be successful because he was such a physically strong wrestler that larger opponents were not able to faze him, along with his considerable one-punch knockout power. Jones is a good wrestler with some murderous ground-and-pound, but I feel like he’d struggle a lot more than Cormier did to take down a guy like Miocic or, say, the insanely strong Derrick Lewis.
A lot of it’s also going to be about mindset for Jones. He’s said that the weight-gaining process has already begun, but I’d like to see him stay not too far away from his fight-night weight as a light heavyweight. Jones is naturally a lanky guy, and all the carbo-loading in the world isn’t gonna give him the strength to match Francis Ngannou. Learn from Gustafsson’s example: “The Mauler” entered his comeback fight at heavyweight against Fabricio Werdum last month perhaps a bit too beefy at 240 pounds, and it didn’t save him when one of the greatest big-boy grapplers of all time armbarred him in the first round.
Stay light, stay mobile, stay the best and most skilled possible fighter you can be. Even that might not be enough for an all-time great who may be a bit past his peak. Jones will be in the carpool lane to a title shot based off of his name, but all the burden of proof is on him. Jon Jones has dominated his world for so long, but now he’s entering a completely new one.
The Big Fight 