5 current light heavyweights who could’ve beaten Jon Jones

#2. Jon Jones vs. Vadim Nemkov

For the (technically) undefeated Jon Jones, it’s probably a good thing he will never have to face this Russian menace.

There will likely come a day when UFC president Dana White bends over backwards to get this guy in his promotion. Bellator MMA’s light heavyweight kingpin is a student of heavyweight GOAT contender Fedor Emelianenko.

Of his 14 wins, Nemkov has 11 knockout finishes to his name. Not only is Nemkov adept at fast strikes to the domes of his opponents, his leg kicks have proven crippling. At Bellator 194, Nemkov leg-kicked Liam McGeary into oblivion. For the long-limbed Jon Jones, Nemkov’s lower body assault plan could neutralize much of his sterling stand-up offense.

At 29, the 14-2 Nemkov still has room to grow and improve even further in the cage. He has not lost a fight in more than five years and is the most dangerous sambo-practitioner this side of Dagestan.

For Jon Jones, facing a four time Combat Sambo world champ would’ve been a new and unwiedly challenge. While Nemkov would certainly be the underdog, his termination of Ryan Bader at Bellator 244 proved he can attack lethally from any angle. A shock upset thanks to his fatal strikes would not be off the table.

#1. Jon Jones vs. Jan Blachowicz

After years just below the surface, Jan Blachowicz has leveled up rather suddenly in the UFC. The former KSW light heavyweight champion has been a different beast since his third-round TKO loss to Thiago Santos in February 2019.

After putting Luke Rockhold to sleep and on hiatus at UFC 239, ‘Polish Power’ clawed his way to the vacated UFC light heavyweight title. At UFC 253, Blachowicz displayed his exceptional boxing once again with a TKO victory in the second round against Dominick Reyes.

Despite the hard and fast nature of his upper body strikes, Blachowicz’s real bread and butter is his grappling. Earlier this year at UFC 259, Blachowicz put the belt up for grabs against Israel Adesanya. The middleweight champ has often been compared to Jon Jones on account of their long reach and versatile striking.

While Jon Jones himself has dismissed many of the similarities on account of his penchant for wrestling, the comparisons persist.

While Blachowicz wasn’t as quick as Adesanya, he was able to use his grappling to neutralize much of the kickboxer’s arsenal. Jon Jones, who has often proven to have surprisingly slow footwork, is a harder hitter. Other than that, he is unlikely to be that much more difficult for Blachowicz to stay on guard with.

Scoring a finish on Jon Jones would be next to impossible for ‘Polish Power’. Slowing the fight down and dragging him to a decision loss, however, would be difficult but plausible for the Cieszyn native.