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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist
Reader Question from John Gray: What is your prediction in Jon Jones vs. the top heavyweights in UFC? Like Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, and Frank Mir?
Talk of Jon Jones moving to heavyweight is based around the fact that he's young, tall, and has long spindly limbs. Back in the day, Dustin Hazelett fit that same bill and his handlers decided to move him up to 170 lbs., assuming that he'd fill out into the hulking beast that many assume Jones is destined to become. Of course that never happened, he got beat up a few times, moved back down to lightweight and then retired.
Jones is obviously a more talented and physically imposing fighter than Hazelett, but my point is that we should wait to see him move up before thinking up fantasy match-ups.
Now to answer your question, Jon Jones is a much more talented fighter than most heavyweights. Considering the fact that the greatest heavyweight that we've seen to this point is actually a light heavyweight who thinks dieting is emasculating, it wouldn't really be surprising to anyone if the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion could move up and wreck the majority of fighters at that weight.
The more we see from Jon Jones, the more evidence there is to suggest that he could style on a number of top 10 heavyweights.
Shane Carwin hits really hard, but he's glacially slow compared to Jon Jones and there's no reason he couldn't employ to Carwin what he did last week to Quinton Jackson.
Frank Mir would be a bit more risky a proposition because he's dangerous from a variety of positions, but the kind of violence that Jones brings to the cage has been Mir's undoing throughout his career. You don't necessarily have to be a Brock Lesnar-sized heavyweight to put him in a stockade and beat his face in. Brandon Vera, who's been unspectacular in Jones' weight class, absolutely mauled Frank Mir. There isn't any reason Jones couldn't do the same.
I would favor Brock Lesnar to beat Jon Jones for the same reason that I would favor Jon Jones over Anderson Silva. Despite the fact that Jones is the more talented fighter, Brock Lesnar is the bigger, strong wrestler. Jones' 84.5 inch reach advantage is usually a huge factor in his fights, but Brock Lesnar's 81 inch reach nullifies it. Lesnar is a freak athlete, a better wrestler, and is explosive enough to power his way to a double leg takedown and unleash hell from the top position. Jones hasn't shown the kind of punching power that usually makes Lesnar run for the hills, so I feel Lesnar could get takedowns and play his game.
Cain Velasquez's striking is diversified, his wrestling is top notch, his cardio is unmatched at heavyweight, and his ability to put it all together is top notch. Essentially, for Jon Jones to be able to beat Velasquez, he'd have to be equally skilled in all areas against a heavyweight capable of throwing around Brock Lesnar. We haven't seen enough from either to know how he'd fare for sure, but I favor Velasquez only because he's the UFC Heavyweight Champion and Jon Jones isn't.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi. Especially if you want to rap about MMA, but don't require me to type this much.
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