Pelkey's Take
PELKEY: Despite nearly flawless performance at UFC 135, several questions left unanswered about Jon Jones
Sep 27, 2011 - 8:00:44 PM PELKEY: Despite nearly flawless performance at UFC 135, several questions left unanswered about Jon Jones

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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist

While everyone, including hopefully the champ himself, basks in the glow of Jon Jones' often brilliant and always dominant victory at UFC 135 over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, I can't seem to shake this one nagging thought: we don't know any more about Jon Jones than we did before. Sure you can point to the fact that Jones went into the championship rounds for the first time in his career and was clearly the fresher fighter every step of the way, but this wasn't a war, it was a dissection.

Rampage got punched, kicked (mostly kicked), kneed, and elbowed for four rounds. To his credit, Jackson's defensive wrestling was outstanding. He defended all but two of Jones's takedowns, and managed to keep the vast majority of the fight on the feet where he wanted it (in hindsight, this may have been a silly strategy). But still, Jones has yet to be challenged. The narrative coming out of the fight seems to be that Jones is now among the GSP's, the Silva's (ok, the Silva), and the Aldo's of the world as a dominant champion.

We feel comfortable calling Silva the greatest fighter on the planet not only because of his resume, but because he's had every question answered. "Will he learn to defend submissions?" After being submitted twice earlier in his career, he went to train with the Nogueira brothers, earned his black belt, and is now one of the best defensive jiu-jitsu players around. "Can he handle the pressure of being champion?" Check. He beat Rich Franklin just as easily the second time, when he was the champion and the favorite and had the target on his back, and he's been rolling ever since. "How will he handle wrestlers who can take him down and keep him there?" Against guys like Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt, Silva used his defensive abilities on his back to stall the action and force a return to the feet. Against Sonnen he spent the entire fight on his back, but managed to lock in a fight ending triangle in the fifth round. He's dangerous everywhere.

Silva has been in trouble in every which way, and every time he's passed the test. That's the problem with trying to evaluate Jones. He's been so dominant in his 9-0 UFC career (Not so quick aside: I'm starting the movement right now. Jones absolutely destroyed Matt Hamill in their fight and it should've been stopped sooner. When Steve Mazzagatti paused the fight after the 12-to-6 elbow and asked Hamill if he could fight, Hamill said, "No, I'm hurt". Well, the reason he was hurt, and the "hurt" he was referring to, was because Jon Jones rag-dolled Matt Hamill to the mat so hard that he separated his shoulder. The fight was basically done at that point. Instead, Matt Hamill got brutalized for another 30 seconds and was awarded the victory. Huh? The court of public opinion needs to pull a coup d'etat on Jon Jones official record. He's 9-0 in the UFC and 15-0 in his career. He's undefeated. Agreed? End rant) that several fundamental questions about him as a fighter have remained unanswered. Let's take a look at those questions and who poses the best chance of asking them of Jon Jones.

QUESTION 1: How well can Jon Jones take a punch?

The thought going into UFC 135 was that Rampage had the best chance to finally make Jones have to answer this question. Um, nevermind. While Rampage did manage to hit Jones more times than any opponent sine Stephan Bonnar, none of them came close to being the killshots Jackson is capable of. He was constantly on the outside, unable to get inside Jones' range to give him fits with his vaunted power. While Rampage possesses some of the better power and technical boxing in the division, his lack of length and one-dimensional attack were never well suited to make him the first to crack Bones' jaw. The fighter to do that will need to be a) a little bit longer, and b) need to have a more varied attack so Jones has a little more to think about defending than, as Joe Rogan so succinctly put it, "right hand, left hand".

QUESTION 1A: How well can Jon Jones recover from a punch?

Similar question, but not the same thing. Let's be honest, we have no idea how good of a chin Jon Jones has. When people talk about having a good chin, there seems to be two different schools of thought. Two names that are bandied about in coversations of "best chin in MMA" are B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz. Penn has a great chin in the sense that he seemed impervious to power punches. The guy just walk through kill shots like they're a minor annoyance. I've never seen him legitimately hurt or "rocked" by a punch in a fight. Matt Hughes stopped him with punches, but that was because Penn's arms were caught in a crucifix and he was too weak to get out. He wasn't hurt by the punches, just annoyed. Diaz, on the other hand, seemingly gets dropped by a punch in every fight, sometimes multiple times, but his chin's strength has been defined by his ability to keep his wits about him and recover in an instant. Sure, he can be knocked down, but his opponents often tire themselves out going for the kill, and before they know it, Diaz is right back on his feet and in their face with a flurry of fists.

Based on his length and frame, if we ever get to the point where we can finally define the quality of Jon Jones' beard, its likely that if we're including on the "good" side of the ledger, its more like Nick Diaz, in that Jones can be hurt, but he's able to recover quickly and get back to his feet.

Potential opponent best suited to answer the question: Anderson Silva. Silva has the length and striking to finally put Jones to the test on the feet. He's obviously not the pure power puncher that Rampage is, but his accuracy helps tremendously in that department, and he's the best finisher in the game when he smells blood. Even if Jones tried to close the distance quickly and go for takedowns, Silva would have some knees waiting for him on entry.


QUESTION 2: How will Jones respond when he's finally pushed physically later in a fight?

One of the reason's Rampage felt he had the advantage over Jones going into the fight is because he'd been in the championship rounds before, once defending his belt in a five round decision win classic against Dan Henderson, and again in his next fight when he dropped the belt in a decision against Forrest Griffin.

Jones defeated Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the third round to win the light-heavyweight title, but it was the first time he'd seen the third round since his second fight in the Octagon against Stephan Bonnar. Perhaps in the fourth and fifth round, in the high altitude of Denver, Colorado, Jones would wilt. Or not. Maybe he might have, but Rampage was never going to be the fighter to make it happen.

Jones was allowed to dictate the pace of the fight from the opening bell, and it turned into a glorified sparring session. If you can't spar for four rounds, you probably don't have any business in the UFC. I want to see how Jones handles someone chaining together striking combinations with takedowns. How does his body respond to defending several minutes of clinch work? Will he still be the fresher man if he's actually forced to play defense for the majority of the fight as opposed to offense?

Potential opponent best suited to answer the question: Rashad Evans. Evans always talks of a day where he held down Jones in practice and Jones begged him to let up. My guess is that Jones was gassed and Rashad took advantage. If Rashad can just keep Jones from being able to relax in the cage, he might be able to test the kid's gas tank. No other challenger on the horizon is as well rounded and gives Jones as many things to think about as Rashad Evans. Rampage very well may have been in the best shape of his life, but without a more diverse attack, he was never going to be the one to challenge Jon Jones's cardio.


QUESTION 3: How good is Jon Jones off his back?

It's safe to say at this point that Jon Jones is a pretty darn good wrestler. Rampage was the first to stuff more Jones takedowns than not, but he was still planted on his back multiple times, the last of which directly led to the finish of the fight. Offensively he uses his length, knowledge of leverage, and Greco-Roman background to pull off some of the more unique trip and sweep takedowns you'll see in MMA. Once he has a hold of you, its a pretty good bet you're going for a ride. But what happens when he finds his grappling equal?

Jones has yet to be taken down in his career. Let that sink in for a moment. No one has planted him on his back and made him play defense. In fact, the only second he's spent on his back was the last one of round two against Jackson, where he went for a flying triangle as the horn sounded (he actually had it too. If he had decided to pull that trick out thirty seconds earlier, we'd have a new front-runner for Submission of the Year right now). If someone is actually able to put him on his back for the first time, what happens? How are his submissions? How are his sweeps? How well can he keep from getting punched? Can he get back to his feet?

Potential opponent best suited to answer the question: Phil Davis. Davis is about two years behind Jones on the prospect developmental ladder, but he's actually three years older and has the much better wrestling pedigree. Davis is a former NCAA champion wrestler at Penn State and is proving to be a grappling phenom thus far, showing phenomenal control from top position along with rapidly improving submissions. More importantly, Davis has a varied takedown game, proving equally adept at getting his opponents on the mat via double legs, single legs, and trips and throws from the clinch. If someone is going to be able to put Jon Jones consistantly on his back, it'll be Davis.


Keep in mind, just because I've listed these fighters as the best candidates to challenge Jon Jones in specific areas, that doesn't mean we won't see other fighters pose the problems first. Of course, the alternative is the scary thought. Just because Anderson Silva, Rashad Evans, and Phil Davis stand the best chance of putting Jones in harm's way, that doesn't mean even they'll be able to do it. If they can't, then who can?