I was watching the UFC the other night and it dawned on me that Jon “Bones” Jones is pretty good at this whole MMA thing. He fought Quentin “Rampage” Jackson and in the fight he showed skills in all 3 major styles that make up MMA. Lets talk a little bit about some of the key things that make this one of a kind fighter special.
Here’s a breakdown of the 4 main things we’ll talk about:
- Striking
- Wrestling
- Gracie Jiu-Jitsu(BJJ)
- Hard work
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what makes Jones so tough to deal with in the standing position. REACH. His reach is crazy, he has the longest limbs of all the fighters in that 205 pound division (maybe everyone in MMA). You can see it when he would kick at Jackson and Jackson was like good lord this kid can catch you from a good distance. On top of the long limbs he’s got nice standup to begin with, combining good solid boxing with some quick push, snap and round kicks. Not an easy stand up battle for anyone regardless of the weight class.
Wrestling – I’ve got to admit, even I thought he was an ok level Wrestler for MMA…at first. I mean, he didn’t Wrestle D-1 (highest level in college) so I was like yeah he’s doing ok now but what about when he fights a better Wrestler? Well he proved me wrong when he fought Bader and trashed him with Wrestling. Bader’s a good freaking Wrestler and Jones made him look silly. In the Jackson fight, the double leg he hit on Jackson was picture perfect as well, proving that this man can bring the fight to the ground with ease.
BJJ or Gracie Jiu-Jitsu – Jon “Bones” Jones might be a Wrestler at heart but the kid has some nasty BJJ skills as well. He proved that when he took Jackson’s back and choked him with a RNC. It was classic BJJ technique and it won him the fight. He also jumped into a flying triangle in the 3rd round. Again, this is not a normal fighter. He’s a beast with the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu for sure.
Hard work – Yes it goes without saying that Jones wouldn’t be where he is today if he didn’t work his tail off in the training room. He works hard and it shows. Much respect to him and his team for pushing him hard and making him the beast he is today.
Check out some of the videos below of Jon “Bones” Jones. Congrats on your victory the other night, you sir are a scary man.
