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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"Every opponent I've had are really tough guys. Right now, I'm passing these tests with flying colors. I really don't want to sound arrogant, so I've got to be careful the way I word this, but I want to fight someone who's really going to give me a really tough test. That has to be the champion or whoever. I want to fight someone who's supposedly much better than me ... so I can really step up and evolve to a different level.
There's the champion [Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua], and he's the toughest guy right now. He's very well-rounded. He's a great striker. Just like the top three contenders. I really want to push myself against the No. 1, 2 and 3 guys now. I really feel like that needs to happen. The top three guys are the guys I'd like to fight – except for Rashad [Evans], obviously.
I got up to about 231 (pounds) this time around, and today I performed around 226 (pounds), so this is the heaviest I've ever performed at, and I felt as if I was just as fast... Randy Couture, he bumps up to heavyweight all the time, and he always looks very impressive against the slower guy. And now I actually have a heavyweight that I wouldn't mind fighting. That's James Toney – 'Mr. I'm going to slap Jon in the face.' I'd bump up for that fight any day."
-Jon Jones, following his UFC on Versus victory over Vladimir Matyushenko, talks about wanting to fight one of the top three light heavyweights - or James Toney - next.
Penick's Analysis: Jones gave no reason to believe he can't handle this type of step up in competition with that performance last night. I wouldn't throw him in there just yet, but if the UFC did do that, there wouldn't be a lot of objection to it. As for the Toney fight, there's no way it happens, because I don't think Toney gets past Couture. That said, Jones would definitely smash him if he had the chance to face him. This kid is really good, and he's only getting better.
RELATED STORY: UFC ON VERSUS 2 RESULTS: Jon Jones makes quick work of Vladimir Matyushenko in Versus main event: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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