Jon Jones is more than great a UFC champion. He’s slowly becoming the greatest we’ve ever seen. It’s time to admit it if you haven’t already.
His win over Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 172 was the best performance of his 21-fight career and an unadulterated display of artistry in the cage.
Jones is a virtuoso of violence.
He sliced Teixeira open with unconventional yet pinpoint elbows, wrenched his opponent’s arm with a standing submission attempt most fighters wouldn’t fathom trying, aimed nasty oblique kicks at the Brazilian’s kneecaps all while displaying improved boxing and head movement for 25 dominant minutes. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, Jones showed no sign of intimidation towards a man in Teixeira that had habitually made the toughest men on the planet look ordinary.
The creativity Jones displays in the Octagon is remarkable at times. His trainer, Greg Jackson, told him in the corner between rounds four and five against Teixeira: “You’re doing an amazing, artistic fight. It’s beautiful to behold.”
What Jones is doing in the UFC truly is beautiful to behold.
Once his hand was raised following a clean sweep on the scorecards, debate began to swirl about whether Jones being the greatest fighter in MMA history is accurate, unreasonable or simply inevitable.
For a long time, what Jones did in the cage was downplayed or nitpicked at by critics because his polarizing personality rubbed them the wrong way. From his confident disposition that borders on cocky, or his yearning for public approval that can be off-putting, to the way he handled the cancellation of UFC 151 back in 2012, Jones is no stranger to drawing the ire of the MMA community.
It seems now, after his destruction of Teixeira and his five-round classic with Alexander Gustafsson last September, things are finally beginning to change. What he’s doing in the cage is too impressive to dismiss and, while the talent was always apparent, there is something different about the Endicott, N.Y., native these days compared to earlier in his career.
UFC president Dana White nailed it at the UFC 172 post-fight press conference: “He’s becoming a man in front of everybody.”
That’s so true.
As the 26-year-old continues to evolve in the cage, he’s also doing so in his personal life and he has found a way to strike a balance between the two.
“The way I balance everything is just knowing I don’t have a choice,” Jones told Sportsnet in a phone interview. “I had kids at a young age and that forced me to grow up and know that if I don’t provide for these kids I’d be considered a deadbeat dad and I don’t want that.
“Survival is my main motivation. I know that everything will fall on me if my family falls apart. All the weight is on my shoulders and either I can man up and carry it or I could be a statistic.”
The same way Jones wants to avoid being “a statistic” in his personal life, he wants to avoid being “just another champion” in the UFC. So far, he’s well on his way to doing that and if he continues to improve in between fights there’s no telling what the record book will look like when he decides to retire.
Six years ago Jones debuted in MMA. The strides he has made in and out of the cage since then are beyond impressive.
Six years from now? “I’d like to be really established in my life outside of MMA and looking at other options,” Jones said.
Whether or not you are fully on board with his personality, the greatness we’re presently seeing from Jones is something that needs to be marvelled at because it won’t last forever.
[polldaddy poll=8004366]
Find out the results during UFC Central’s new episode Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360.