Jon Jones - Bringing the Funk
As a long-time follower of amateur wrestling, I’ve heard many wrestlers described as “funk” wrestlers. National Champions like J Jaggers, Mark Perry, Darrion Caldwell, and Ben Askren all used non-traditional techniques to succeed. These wrestlers had a chance to score, no matter how bleak the situation looked. Each of these wrestlers was difficult to simulate in training due to their unpredictable style. UFC Light Heavyweight rising star Jon “Bones” Jones can be described in a similar manner; Jones has used non-traditional striking and grappling techniques to climb into the thick of the division.
Jones laid the groundwork for his success in mixed martial arts by excelling as a wrestler. Jones was a New York state champion wrestler in high school and continued his success at the next level at Iowa Central Community College, where Jones was a Junior College National Champion. While most wrestlers-turned-fighters utilize takedowns (or in the case of Chuck Liddell, takedown defense) to negate the opponent’s gameplan, Jones features a different skill set to control his opponent. Jones has gotten to where he is in the division by utilizing what I call “funk” fighting. Jones utilizes unorthodox striking and inventive throws to deal great amounts of damage to his opponents. His fights have become a veritable highlight reel , with Jones peppering in strikes that few other fighters could even imagine. Jones utilizes a variety of throws and trips, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the heyday of Karo Parisiyan. Much has been made of late about Jones’ remarkable reach, which at 84.5 inches is the longest in the UFC, but Jones’ striking is more than your run-of-the-mill boxing. Bones makes excellent use of the rarely-seen spinning back elbow, which has proven to be devastating to his past opponents.
Speaking of those in Jones’ wake, he has defeated several high quality opponents en route to his upcoming fight with Ryan Bader. Jones defeated Andre Gusmao and The Ultimate Fighter finalist Stephan Bonnar (the entire Bonnar fight was highlight-reel worthy if you are a Jones fan) by decision before he found his groove inside the Octagon and began imposing his will on his opponents. Jake O’Brien fell at the hands of Jones at the historic UFC 100 by way of guillotine choke. Most recently, Jones attempted to rearrange the faces of Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko. Jones only helped his cause in the popularity department by putting on his three most violent fights while on cable television, when he was featured as the main event on two Versus events and a headliner on an Ultimate Fighter finale on Spike. Vera’s cheekbone was noticeably broken following a barrage of Jones elbows and Matyushenko was outwrestled and brutally stopped by Jones.
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Perhaps the most impressive of Jones’ fights is the lone defeat on his record. Jones has a high level of wrestling talent, but many thought he would face the toughest test of his young career when he faced Matt “The Hammer” Hamill at the finale of the 10 th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Hamill was a 3 time National Champion in Division III wrestling, yet Jones secured a full mount on Hamill and rained down violent elbows to the head of Hamill. The one mistake that Jones made in the beatdown is throwing an illegal elbow to the head of Hamill, which opened a cut on Hamill and caused Jones to be disqualified. Upon reviewing the fight, I felt that the bout could have been stopped due to TKO prior to the illegal elbow (which was illegal because it was thrown with a vertical arm, referred to as a 12-6 elbow). Jones returned to action following the loss to Hamill with the same aggression and took out his frustrations against Vera and Matyushenko, including a barrage of legal elbows.
In his biggest test to date, Jones will take on All-American wrestler Ryan Bader at UFC 126. A win for Jones would likely propel him into the top 6 in the UFC’s Light Heavyweight division, and within striking distance of the title. Jones certainly has the physical tools and experience to make a move to the next level, but time will tell whether Bones Jones is ready to take his funk to the top of the division.
By Curt Heinrichs
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer
Photos used with permission by the UFC