Jon "Bones" Jones: Crusher
A look at Jon Jones vs Rampage & Jones vs Dan Henderson
A couple of fights that interest me are Rampage v Bones, and Hendo v Bones, not for the challengers’ ability to defeat the reigning champ, but for the car-crash appeal. Rampage and Hendo are two of the toughest, meanest bad-asses to step into the Octagon, so just how will Bones crush them?
Bones’s win over Shogun should have been an omen to fighters and fans alike that the NY fighter will be a tough egg to crack, but it wasn’t. There are still disbelievers, those fans and fighters who think Bones will be beaten anytime soon. It’s understandable that fighters feel this way: fighters are driven by belief in themselves. But what fighter could watch Bones utterly demolish Shogun Rua and actually believe, ‘I have the answer’?
What all 205 pounders need to know is that Bones will not be outwrestled, not by Rampage, not by Hendo, and not by Evans either. Not happening. Bones has a unique approach that combines the expected with the unexpected, and is assembled with a kind of mind-flow not seen in any other fighter. Combine that with his long limbs and his ability to strike from a distance with kicks, knees, punches and elbows, whether standing or in guard, and you have a champion that is several rungs above the division.
Hendo will have to get inside to either clinch or get in an overhand right. He won’t. And even if he does, the veteran will soon find that clinching with Bones is not a good place to be. Hendo is ape-strong, and is a crafty fighter, but he’ll find his motor pathways unable to connect the dots with Bones’s before unseen style.
Rampage will try out-muscling the champ, but will be frustrated in the process and will get picked apart with kicks and punches while out of striking distance himself. If either Hendo or Rampage finds themselves on their back, they’ll discover what Hamill, Vera and Rua found out: Bones’s length of limb allows his elbows easy access to eyebrows.
While veterans Hendo and Rampage expand their game, their balloons have stretched almost to their limit. Bones, on the other hand, has just begun. He hasn’t been fighting 4 years yet. So, while Hendo, Rampage and fighters like Evans show improvements on their game from fight to fight, it is nothing like the room Bones has to grow.
Although Bones has yet to defend his title, he will soon become the most dominating champ in the UFC. For all GSP’s domination, he fails time and again to finish. Anderson Silva is heads above his challengers, but Sonnen took him to his limit. Even Aldo had to reach deep to beat Hominick. I see Bones finishing in brutal fashion in his first four defenses, before someone brings a true challenge, perhaps Gustafson after a few more fights and evolution himself.
But don’t take my word for it. Look at Shogun’s record, look at who he is as a fighter, and re-watch his beatdown at the hands of the new master.
To read Renko's hard-boiled MMA thriller, Char Broiled, go to Xystermma.com
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By Renko Styranka
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer
Photos used with permission by the UFC