5 Reasons why Jon Jones is the 'Baddest Man' on the planet

Jon Jones is the Light Heavyweight champion of the UFC. He has been so for 4 years now, an incredible accomplishment considering how far the sport has evolved and how murderously competitive the division has been over the years. Jon, who started off as a bright prospect within the UFC’s light heavyweight water, rose through the ranks like a meteor when the sport was still being ruled by largely one-dimensional fighters.A once-in-a-lifetime athlete no doubt, the champ has laid waste to every single competitor who attempted to derail the savagery train known as Jon “Bones” Jones. About 2 months removed from his next title defense against a very dangerous opponent in Anthony ‘Rumble’ Jones, let’s take a look at the phenomenon that has conquered the UFC since he made his debut roughly 6 years back.

#5 Young to the game

It is easy for people to overlook the fact as to how young Jon is to the sport, given how easy he has made his ascent to the top of the mountain look. He has only been competing in the sport for around 8 years and has been a champ for 4 years in that!

His accomplishments are more impressive when you consider the fact that he doesn’t have a elite background in either amateur wrestling or any martial arts. Double that with the fact that he doesn’t train in between fights and parties his fair share while getting out-of-shape, his success makes him a prodigy in the most real way. As skilled and a well-rounded fighter as he is, Jones has always shown considerable improvements in every successive fight of his and now that he is moving to Albequerque, New Mexico to train full-time, things are just going to get worse, if you are a Jon Jones opponent in the near future.

#4 Absolute domination

The argument as to who is the greatest Light Heavyweight Champion in history was over , both statistically & opinion-wise when Jon Jones raked up yet another one-sided victory over a game Glover Texeira. But it was the way that he manhandled the then-undefeated Daniel Cormier that woke a lot of people up to what mettle is the champ made of.

Cormier, who competed at Heavyweight and beat all the major names en route to becoming the Strikeforce Heavyweight champion, had no answer to the strength and skill of Jones, who landed takedown after takedown on the two-time Olympian, all the way to a decisive victory. If there ever was an argument, all one needs to do is take a look at the people Jones beat on his way to becoming the no.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world!

#3 Instincts of a wild man

The sport of MMA sure has gone mainstream over the last decade, which is why you see all these trained killers (essentially) dressed up in suits and playing teddy bear with the curious reporters. However, make no mistake about it – It is the most dangerous sport in the world and a place where savages reign supreme more than not! In order to retain the edge over another human being trying to take everything you have, you have to be a wild man in the sense that you should be willing to lay it all on the line.

History has borne witness to the fact that most combat sport greats were not the most ideal of role models to look upto, be it a heyday Tyson or Ali or Dekkers or the present day Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In MMA, nobody stands for a wild man athlete, more than Jon Jones. You have to fly in the face of convention to wrestle against Olympic level wrestlers(Cormier, Sonnen) or throw a spinning back elbow in a tight situation, when you have got everything to lose. By the same token, those very same nature also makes you do irrational things like driving drunk and indulging in recreational drugs on the eve of a big fight, or showing up without the requisite training for a title fight. But, like with everything else, there’s always the good with the bad!

#2 Pioneer and an Innovator in the cage

In a sport where you are only as good as your last fight, it was understandable when mixed martial artists were wary of throwing unconventional techniques inside the cage, in competition, lest they missed and the price to pay could be a career-breaker. But it takes supreme level of confidence and an uncanny ability to judge the situation one is in, to be able to implement a flying knee and a spinning back-fist on a dangerous opponent who is waiting to capitalise on one tiny error from you.

Then when a young Jones burst onto the scene, throwing flying knees, spinning elbows, axe kicks and many other techniques, which nobody had ever seen in real-time competition before, all of a sudden, the game gets turned on it’s head and the gyms see everybody attempting these ‘flashy’ techniques with varying results. It is rare when a fighter in the higher weight-class is able to execute these moves with good effect, and Jones has been able to do that with regular success.

#1 Natural Talent

It is easy to break down why Jon Jones is so good at what he does......Just take a look at his family! He comes from an alpha-male household where he is not even the strongest guy in the family, as his two elder brothers ran roughshod over him growing up, bullying and beating him up over some old-fashioned brotherly love. Now is it any wonder why the bullied soft-spoken young African-American kid grew up to become the best fighter that the UFC has ever seen? Jon, who is known for his chicken-like legs, may not look like an imposing figure when compared to his brothers, but boy....can he mess people up in the cage. Nobody said it better than Chael Sonnen, a one-time opponent of Jon’s who said this recently about him:

“I walked out there thinking I was going to beat this guy. I had my matches with Anderson, and Anderson won them, but I whipped him. He won like the last three seconds of the fight and won the fight. So I went in there with a bunch of confidence against Jon Jones. I trained right – everything was perfect. Man, it must have been 30 seconds in when I realized when this is a whole other deal. He felt like he weighed 300 pounds.

“When he put his hands on me and pushed me up against the fence, it was like a Volvo against a Mack truck.”

This is coming from a guy who trains with Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and the likes – certified legends in the sport. Says a lot about why nobody has been able to figure out the key to the puzzle, which is the Light Heavyweight linchpin, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones