{"id":3454712,"date":"2011-03-29T19:25:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T23:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insidefights.com\/?p=94712"},"modified":"2011-03-30T23:00:37","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T03:00:37","slug":"the-five-fighters-who-could-dethrone-jon-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2011\/03\/29\/the-five-fighters-who-could-dethrone-jon-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"The Five Fighters Who Could Dethrone Jon Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Jon Jones championship victory the young prospect now has the target on his back and the best in the division gunning for him. No matter how brilliant his rapid rise, he’s not a perfect fighter by any means and there’s still holes in his game that a fighter or five could capitalize on to give him his first real defeat. Scott Sawitz looks at the five men who could be king.<\/p>\n

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5. We don’t know what’ll happen when he gets rocked \u2026 and Quinton \u201cRampage” Jackson could do it<\/strong><\/p>\n

How a fighter recovers from a big shot, when they’re rocked and the legs are wobbling, is the truest test of what a fighter is made of.\u00a0 We have yet to see Jones walk down Rocked Avenue, looking for a shop that sells that new beverage \u201cBack in the Fight,” and how he reacts will be a sign.\u00a0 The one thing Rampage does better than most fighters in his division is throw that big right and wobble a guy, using that heavy handed boxing to set up his ground and pound game.\u00a0 Rampage is known for his slams and his punches but what’s forgotten is that he was an elite level wrestler before fighting.\u00a0 If he can catch Jones he could knock him into his world and see if he can finish the job.<\/p>\n

Jackson probably has the next title shot if he beats Matt Hammill and Jones has five rounds to plan not being slugged by those heavy hands.<\/p>\n

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4. Jones has never been on his back \u2026 and Rashad Evans could take him there<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jones is a top notch wrestler with a wide variety of throws.\u00a0 He prevented a great wrestler in Ryan Bader from taking him down repeatedly.\u00a0 That’s a sign of great take down defense but someone is going to get him on his back.\u00a0 Jones himself has admitted to having a white belt level of jiu-jitsu so one can imagine his bottom game isn’t as developed as his wrestling & top game.\u00a0 How he handles being on his back and having someone else dictate the pace is something no one knows.\u00a0 And if any wrestler can get him down in the LHW division its Rashad.<\/p>\n

If Rashad can get him on his back and keep him there, Jones is in for a long night.\u00a0 Can Rashad get him down?\u00a0 Or, for the matter, can anyone get him down?\u00a0 It’s always possible and how good his bottom game is has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

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3. Jones throws enough combination that a good counter-striker could tee off \u2026 and Lyoto Machida could give him fits this way<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all of Jones’ spectacular spinning elbows and that flying knee he hit Shogun with, I’m wondering if a good counter striker could catch him.\u00a0 Enter the best counter-striker in the division currently, former champion Lyoto Machida.\u00a0 Machida is a top notch striker and his knockout victories have come by countering.\u00a0 He also has a style that’ll play into an aggressive attack that Jones likes.<\/p>\n

Jones is used to dictating the pace and Machida will let him, but how much will Jones have to spend trying to take him down or trying to hit him before Machida can counter him?<\/p>\n

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2. Someone will take a Rocky Balboa beating and still keep coming \u2026 which Forrest Griffin is known for<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my favorite films is Rocky<\/em> and the running joke in the sequels is that Rocky Balboa only has one method of fighting: let the other keep hitting him until Rocky finds the space and hits that one big shot to win it.\u00a0 It was parodied in The Simpsons<\/em> when Homer fought hobos in a boxing ring.\u00a0 What’ll happen when Jones runs into a guy who turns it into a brawl and doesn’t fall down?\u00a0 That’s the one thing Forrest Griffin is known for; the ability to muddy up a fight and turn it into a slugfest.<\/p>\n

Griffin will take a shot to deliver one and Jones is going to have to work on his combinations, etc, to avoid turning this into an ugly boxing match.\u00a0\u00a0 Jones didn’t finish Stephan Bonner despite thoroughly dominating him but did finish higher caliber fighters.\u00a0 Part of me is thinking that a guy like Forrest Griffin, who waged a war with Bonner, could make this into a sloppy brawl that plays into his hands.\u00a0 What happens when a guy refuses to stay down and keeps coming at Jones?\u00a0 Can Jones win when the fight turns into a brawl?\u00a0 That’s something we haven’t seen yet.<\/p>\n

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1. Someone will be just as good an athlete as he is \u2026 and Phil Davis might<\/strong><\/p>\n

The one thing that stands out about Jones more than anything else is that he sometimes just appears to out-athlete someone, i.e. just use his natural athletic talents to get him out of situations skill won’t.\u00a0 But what happens when he runs into someone who has the same level of athletic ability he does?<\/p>\n

Enter Phil \u201cMr. Wonderful” Davis.<\/p>\n

Davis is the guy everyone is pointing to as the next Jones, mainly because he has the same style and same freakish athletic ability, and this is the matchup that will be interesting.\u00a0 Davis is a year and probably three-four fights away from being a contender, as he hasn’t had the seasoning or the matchups, but once he’s a legit top five LHW he makes for an intriguing matchup with Jones.\u00a0 Davis isn’t quite there yet, as he needs some big wins to establish himself in the same way Jones did over the past two years, but all signs point to him being on his way.\u00a0 When faced with someone as good an athlete as he is, how will Jones react?\u00a0 When Davis slaps on a submission and Jones just can’t work himself out using his athletic ability, how does he escape?\u00a0 This is what we don’t know and won’t know until we see someone fight Jones with a comparable level of athletic ability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Jon Jones championship victory the young prospect now has the target on his back and the best in the division gunning for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2977,23],"tags":[121924,121935,121918,60162,121959,58386,121908,61744],"zone":[121871],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/feed\/podcast\/inside-pulse","embedCode":"

The Five Fighters Who Could Dethrone Jon Jones<\/a><\/blockquote>