Tonight in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre at UFC 165, if Jon Jones defeats Alexander Gustafsson, he will make UFC history for the second time in his brief MMA career, by surpassing Tito Ortiz’s record of five consecutive Light Heavyweight title defences. The first occasion Jones secured his place in the annals of combat sport, was when he became the youngest ever UFC champion at 23 years, eight months and one day.
On that night in March 2011, a star was born, as the world watched him demolish Mauricio Rua inside of three rounds with a truly unforgettable performance that will live long after the curtain has closed on his time in the octagon. Since then Jones has continued to obliterate vastly more experienced opponents, but despite his undoubted brilliance, he’s yet to garner universal approval.
Upon being crowned champion, Jones went from a relative unknown to a household name overnight, literally. The following day he was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and regaled the American people with the story of how he apprehended a mugger the day of the biggest fight of his life, as Leno and Kirstie Alley looked on wide-eyed.
Dana White was most likely rubbing his hands together, watching his most viable cross-over star since Georges St Pierre. Who could blame him? In Jones, he had a young, handsome and articulate family man, who could take the UFC into unchartered territory. And just to tick all the boxes, he also happened to be a devout Christian; attributing all his success to God.
Yet the road from that point to this one has not been without its bumps, and on more than one occasion Jones has demonstrated that he is far from perfect. His public spat with former teammate and friend Rashad Evans, which culminated in their title fight in April 2012, most-likely didn’t do him any favours in the popularity polls. That May he was arrested for drunk-driving after crashing his Bentley into a pole in New York, and two months later he incurred the wrath of almost the entire MMA community, including his employer, when his refusal to fight Chael Sonnen, who had offered himself as a replacement for Dan Henderson, led to the cancellation of UFC 151.
Yet, what seems to really make him such a polarizing figure, particularly if the comment sections on MMA sites are anything to go by, is a perceived lack of sincerity. It would be remiss not to mention that if a person that young, with as much talent and success as he has, experiences a swelling of the ego, it’s hardly surprising. However, it is abundantly clear, no matter how opaque Jones tries to be, that he does not possess the same humility as contemporaries such as GSP or Anderson Silva.
As recently as this week, in an interview with Chael Sonnen-a man with whom he has a tumultuous past- on Fox Sports, he demonstrated this. As Sonnen playfully joked with Jones about the Harley Davidson he won as a coach on TUF 17 at his expense, he smiled pretentiously and proudly informed everyone watching that he could afford 18,000 of them. At the end of the interview, he spanked Chael’s ass to try and make up for momentarily not being centre of attention and presumably remind us how their fight turned out.
All fighters, if they are to excel at the highest level, need a certain amount of ruthlessness to do so but, at times, it could be argued, that Jones has gone overboard in this facet of the game. There was something very unsettling about the manner in which he dropped, and then walked away from a limp, unconscious Lyoto Machida after choking him out in the second round of their title fight, and how he explained to his team during the filming of TUF 17, that he knew exactly what a human skull felt like due to the ferocity of his ground and pound.
Of course, not everyone feels this way, most noticeably Nike, who made Jones their first MMA fighter on a worldwide contract, as did Gatorade. And, when all is said and done, it is his prodigious and unique fighting ability that has got him to this juncture, nothing else.
It is amazing to think that Jones was only doing MMA seriously for a year, when he made his first UFC appearance in August 2008 at UFC 87. That night he earned a unanimous decision win over Andre Gusmao and, since then, besides a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill, he has simply been unstoppable.
Since the inception of the sport it is difficult to recall an athlete more tailored made for MMA than Jones- the prototype for the modern fighter. Firstly, the gifts he was born with; a freakish brute strength that has allowed him to simply man-handle anyone he has fought; fantastic dexterity to facilitate boxing and wrestling off either foot; long, muscular limbs, that appear purpose-built to inflict damage, and lest not forget his reach, a phenomenal 84.5 inches, used to pick his foes apart from a safe distance, while taking as little damage as possible.
Couple that with the fact he is one the game’s most committed students, learning from the considerable acumen of Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, and you get one scary proposition, as well as the makings of engaging nature versus nurture debate.
Indeed, the emergence of Jones has meant a time of stability in Light Heavyweight division, not seen since Chuck Liddell, who defended his belt four times before being usurped by Quinton Jackson. Rampage only managed one defence, beating Dan Henderson, and when Forrest Griffin dethroned Jackson; his reign was even less brief as he would lose to Rashad Evans the first time he put the belt on the line. Evans suffered a similar fate after being knocked by Lyoto Machida. The Dragon, after earning a controversial decision win over Shogun Rua, lost their rematch. The Rua era, too, was fleeting, as Jones captured the title the first time the Brazilian was asked to defend it.
Jones has beaten four former champions since taking the mantle, and Chael Sonnen, in a fight which should never happened, and in turn trivialised the UFC’s position as a meritocracy. In truth, besides Vitor Belfort’s arm bar attempt, none of these distinguished fighters have come close to troubling Jones, which begs the question; can Gustafsson buck the trend?
During the build up UFC 165 much has been made of the Gustafsson’s height and range, as a means of possibly neutralizing Jones, but on closer inspection the idea holds little weight. In the six title fights Jones has competed in he has enjoyed an average height advantage of 3.5 inches and a staggering reach advantage of 10 inches. While the Swede, at 6’5, is an inch taller than the champion, he still faces an 8 inch deficit in terms of reach. It hardly seems plausible that 2 inches of arm will be a compelling factor tonight.
Gustafsson has earned his title shot and is only the second European to fight for a UFC belt, he also appears certain that an upset is possible. The Mauler is a superior boxer to Jones, and excels in the only pace his opponent is flawed-one punch knockout power.
But that’s it. The number of options Jones has to win this fight is manifold and hardly need recounting. Gustafsson must, for the sake of the division, put him in deep waters; otherwise, we’ll all just be waiting for Jones’ inevitable move to Heavyweight. Regardless of how much hype is garnered about match-ups with Glover Teixeira, Phil Davis or even Daniel Cormier, a lob-sided win tonight and it’ll all be moot.
Like him or love him, Jon Jones is a once in a lifetime fighter and by age 30 will most likely be considered the greatest ever.
By Tom Rooney – @oldmanrooney
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