Some fighters come along and transcend the normal boundaries of MMA. Being a relatively young and still developing entity, this happens with more frequency than mainstream sports. These fighters’ success is great, earning them all the accolades expected of a great champion but it is their personality, their charisma, their “it” factor that allows them to enter into the mainstream sports consciousness. It is these qualities that require more attention within the sport because of their attention outside, in the world that will eventually either accept MMA or relegate it permanently to the periphery. These blue chip fighters make waves, they change the game; it is through these athletes that the sports grows in leaps and bounds or is set back.
As perhaps the most marketable fight in MMA history Brock Lesnar loses a bit of his steam Jon Jones picks up more than his fair share. Jones lit the fighting world on fire by defeating Shogun Rua for the light heavyweight title. Out if his meteoric rise and the aforementioned win that put the exclamation point on it come a number of storylines and talking points that could all warrant their own essay length commentary. Here I will discuss many of these issues in isolation with hopes that common threads will naturally weave them together. In Jones the casual fan sees a world-beater, the greatest of all time, an unstoppable force. My hope here is to complicate that perception to some degree from the standpoint of a long time fan of the sport while leaving the position of Jones, between the past of his rise and the uncertainty of his future, as simple as any fighter’s can be.
Shogun Rua in Context
As champion, Jon Jones is the main event so allow me to start with Shogun Rua. One cannot understand what winning the title from Shogun means unless they understand the history of Rua and what he has meant to MMA. Most fans, regardless of their interest in the sport, know that Shogun was at one time the young up-and-comer in Pride FC, that he once looked unstoppable. Few know that the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship is his first major title not because Pride shut its doors or because he choked in the big fights but because his close friend and training partner held the Pride title at his weight class. Shogun was in many circles considered the uncrowned champion. Despite not holding a title he was ranked by most MMA news outlets as the best 205 pound fighter in the world. What even fewer fans probably realize is how many fans detested the UFC’s U.S. monopoly of MMA, preferred Prides brand and identified with Shogun. Fans familiar with his career saw him as a representative antidote of all that was wrong with the business side of MMA. Shogun was the greatest light heavyweight alive yet he stood uncrowned, underappreciated, and virtually unknown to every yahoo at the bar who talked like they knew professional fighting. In short, there is a section of the MMA world that highly esteems Shogun Rua. It is not so much that these fans cannot get over his loss, but it is that this loss must be understood against the backdrop to which it exits. His loss upsets fans who waited years, through multiple knee surgeries as well as many personal and professional trials, to see him climb to the top and get the recognition he so rightfully deserves. By in large, these fans respect Jon Jones, but are left with a bitter taste in their mouth by the uncrowning of their champion, particularly in a short notice fight.
Did Shogun Rua Give Up?
One of the opinions coming out of UFC 128, one in which upsets and surprises me greatly, is the opinion that Shogun “gave up” as the fight went on. By this I obviously do not mean that he tapped out, which I think he may have intended to do at the end, but that he mentally quit and resided himself to losing to the challenger. This is nothing short of ignorance and blasphemy. As a friend of mine pointed out to me later, Shogun was a kamikaze at the end of that fight. He was constantly moving forward, scrambling to his feet, and engaging with Jones until he was knocked to his knees for the final time. One could argue, and I would, that it was this style of fighting that exacerbated his situation once it took a negative turn early in the fight. It is Shogun’s style that makes him so endeared to the fans, makes him exciting, and can ultimately be his demise. Despite the almost universal acclaim for Jon Jones’ performance, at least from fans with any degree of sense, it is this sort of insult to injury that makes the fallout of this fight hard for some fans to swallow in light of the reality of the fight as well as the career of Shogun Rua.
How Could Shogun Ever Beat That Guy?
My last point about Shogun leads into my first real point about Jones. The discussion following, even immediately, the final bell of UFC 128 was that of an invincible Jones and a drastically outmatched Shogun. At first glance I understand the confusion. Jones was bigger, stronger, and seemingly faster. Allow me to make three observations on variables that could change and in turn change the outcome if these two were to meet again. 1) Shogun appeared to be somewhere between the shape he was in against Mark Coleman (bad) and the shape he was in against Machida (great) with a heavy lean toward Machida. Don’t consider this an excuse or apology for Shogun because it is not, but that was not the quickest or the most dynamic Rua I have ever seen. His hand speed and reaction time are the two most dangerous part of Shogun’s game and it would be a mistake to discount this variable. 2) Perhaps I am getting closer to the cause of my first observation with this one; I am not sure Shogun ever recovered fully from the first takedown of the fight. In that series Shogun expended a great deal of energy trying to sweep under and get a hold of Jones’ knee before he got caught in the face on his way to a standing position. Jones likely could have gone in for the kill at that point but chose to remain patient and/or rest himself. Shogun was changed for the worse upon standing up. He was slower and seemed to have periods severe unbalance. This could have contributed to him seeming not in the best shape, though I maintain there were indications of my first point in the opening stages of the fight. 3) Shogun entered with a strategy that was sound but not flexible. Either that or he was too dazed to adapt. He did not have the focus about him to attempt the second knee bar from the standing position and was too weak to overcome the power and speed of Jones. However, he kept pushing forward and going for the knee all the same. While all three of these variables still originate with poor decision or performance on Shogun’s part or with impressive performance on Jones’ part, they are all variables that could change if the two were to square off again. This fight proved that Jon Jones was the better fighter on a single night and could give us some insight as to how a second fight might go, but do not confuse yourself into thinking that this fight has one outcome now matter how many times it is played out. Shogun Rua still has the tools to beat Jones, but obviously some things must go differently for him the next time around.
Is Jon Jones Invincible?
No. Does anyone remember Brock Lesnar? It wasn’t all that long ago that the same sorts of conversations were popping up about the former professional wrestler turned MMA superstar. Fans and pundits cited his size and athleticism while dismissing his lack of experience and his technical drawbacks. Sure enough Cain Velasquez came along and showed just how beatable Lesnar was. Before I continue allow me to clarify that I think Jon Jones is better at 205 pounds than Brock is at 265. However, the premise remains the same. Jones is a super athletic wrestler with a size advantage over any opponent at his weight. His learning curve has the illusion of invisibility because of his physical and everyone’s eager to jump on him as the greatest of all time stemming from his marketability to be discussed later. Like Lesnar was exposed, there is still a great chance that Jones will be exposed too. People in the know admit that not only was Jones beginning to tire, a problem I foresee him having if he stays at light heavyweight, but he was also slipping punches the wrong way, avoiding contact not because of his solid technique but because of Shogun’s lack of hand speed at that point in the fight. The light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions offer up a ton of challenges, especially if he does have to move up in weight class where there is no shortage of wrestlers that will not be pushed around and out-powered.
Jon Jones vs Anderson Silva
Has everyone taken leave of their senses? Jon Jones has beaten two legitimate light heavyweights at this point in his career and one of them, Ryan Bader, is clearly not ready to be counted among the upper echelon in the division. There is a plethora of fighters that could give Jones trouble at 205 pounds. Machida, Rampage, T. Silva (if he can pass a drug test), and Rashad all immediately come to mind as fighters with different skill sets to challenge Jones. Even Forrest and Couture present interesting challenges based on their toughness, game planning, and stamina. This fantasy match making just seems quite ridiculous to me, especially considering the fact that many seem to be giving up on the other “dream fight’ that probably shouldn’t happen, but which is still drastically more deserving of consideration than this. The line of reasoning that brings about conversations such as this is so indicative of how fickle MMA fans can be. Jon Jones is a great young talent but to say that Anderson Silva is “the only challenger left” doesn’t even compute on a fantasy level. I am not even digging deep into the roster or making really intricate justifications for why someone might present an interesting challenge to Jones. I am simply saying there are a lot of really good fighters remaining in one of the most highly competitive divisions in the sport. This returns me to an overarching premise here; we should keep the Jon Jones hype in perspective and avoid crowning him the greatest of all time just yet.
What Makes Jones So Good and So Popular? Is it Good for MMA?
Jon Jones’ rise to the top tier of MMA is undeniable but the story of his rise is somewhat hard to swallow. A top-level athlete, Jones has only been training for about three years in the sport. Needless to say, one would assume that a champion would have more than three years of training behind him. Jones represents a new trend in the sport in almost every way. He is an example of what a truly gifted athlete can do in MMA. By gifted athlete I mean truly elite, the kind of athlete that one finds getting drafted in the first round to the NFL or NBA, culturally engrained sports. MMA has become a logical step for top college wrestling talent but even many of those athletes have historically found other outlets to compete or given up on physical competition all together, not presuming that they have a “next level” other than the Olympics. MMA is slowly but surely engraining itself as that next step, but more importantly it is becoming a career goal for athletes at a younger and younger age. Jones may have only been training for 3 years but he has been training at fairly high levels for most of that and his wrestling background is anything but infantile. Given the fact that he is only 23, he is spending some of his most formidable years deeply entrenched in MMA training. Imagine what an athlete such as this would look like if they were training boxing and BJJ from young ages as well as wrestling in school. This is what the sport has to look forward to. Physically Jones represents the next half step towards a new breed and new prototype of fighter that will certainly emerge as the sport continues to grow.
As far popularity is concerned Jones is pretty easy to like. What makes him likable for many makes him hatable to others. In a recent conversation fellow MMA enthusiast called Jon Jones the Tim Tebow of MMA. The comparison is a good one. A well known devout Christian that wins despite all odds and seems to be mentally and physically a level above his competition, Jones is either the prototypical “good guy” or he just rubs you the wrong way. He is also a marketing dream. He fits the qualifications for an American athlete and bears none of the stereotypes too often and unfairly associated with young black athletes. And make no mistake; him being American has a lot to do with this as well. Look at the top pound for pound fighters in recent memory. Americans have really only been able to break the top five to this point, giving way to Canada, Brazil, and Russia. Jones presents hope for America to return to its place of glory in the MMA ranks. Jones looks the part; he acts the part, and makes life easier for everyone involved or interested in the sport.
All this makes Jon Jones good for MMA, kind of. There is no doubt that a popular fighter is good for MMA, a sport that is rising but still rests well outside the mainstream sports click. Jon Jones brings a great deal of positive media attention based on his qualities discussed above. He is squeakily clean by all accounts, exciting, personable, marketable, and young. However, with all this good press and positive attention comes a nasty undercurrent. Jon Jones well documented infancy in the sport logically brings fans to the assumption that MMA is further behind in its development as a sport than it really is. Like Brock Lesnar, Jones make it appear as if all you need to do is be a supreme athlete and you can climb easily to the top of the mountain. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jones and Brock come from a wrestling background, a well documented based for MMA. They combine supreme athleticism with this base, a base that has led better wrestlers to less success. It is their athleticism that allows them to pick up other aspects of the sport quickly. Jones has been quicker to pick up these aspects because of his age (again, discussed above) but make no mistake the two biggest reasons for his success are his wrestling (which permeates into all aspects of the fight) and his size (in which I include is record setting reach). However being a mere undercurrent for the most part, Jones athleticism and its connectivity to the athletic prowess of MMA fighters in general are rarely considered in their complexity. As it stands now I think Jones is good for MMA but the way in which a discourse around Jones develops in the near future will be important in how tempered any positive attention he brings is. The UFC tends to make the mistake of highlighting inexperience as an interesting story and only contextualizing it in press conferences seen by very few casual fans. The more successful Jones becomes the more costly that mistake could be to the sport, regardless of Jones star power.
Conclusion
So what does all this mean? Am I just a bitter Shogun fan trying to reframe Jones victory to make it more palatable for myself? Maybe. It would be foolish to reduce my point to that degree though. This piece is intended to provide context for casual MMA fans and that is what I have attempted to do in this not-so-brief address of multiple facets of this phenomenon. Jon Jones is just that, a phenomenon. Plain and simple, this guy has taken the MMA world by storm and he deserves a ton of credit for his accomplishments. His accomplishments however have produced an abundance of asinine discussion by fans caught in the media current or fans that simply have little or no knowledge of the sport. It may be counterintuitive to American sports fans but a wait and see approach is still best one at this point. There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future of Jon Jones and a cloud of invincibility does nothing to clear the road ahead. Hyperbole be damned, Jon Jones still has a lot to prove and a tough journey ahead and only he knows if he is truly ready for it.
