Like good ol’ John Holmes of yore, Jon Jones may very well use his length, strength and reach to whup Rampage into TKO submission before the end of the second round of UFC 135 – and that’s probably an overly generous estimate.
The 11.5 inch reach differential is nothing to scoff at. And that is exactly what you get when you subtract Rampage Jackson’s 73 inches from Jon Jone’s whopping 84.5 inches. That makes for a wingspan that can be turned into a serious probe. So in order to be a contender, Rampage would have to go past that probe. That offensive-defensive perimeter. Anyone who thinks that should be a walk in the park should watch the Jones/Shogun fight to see Jones offense at near full tilt. That 11.5 inch differential is a serious, serious weapon in the hands of someone with the explosive ability displayed in the Shogun fight. (Remember the opening flying knee followed by not one, but several Anderson Silva straight ahead kicks. Jones seems to have no respect for some of these O.G.s.)
UFC 135: Freeway billboards are a nice touch but like Harold Camping's, they won't turn what is a virtual non-event into the beginning or end of the world. UFC 135 will showcase Jon Jones chops until a worthy, yet-to-be-named contender, is found. And no, that does not include Rashad Evans, in case you are wondering.
The odds-makers who have made Jones a -500 favorite vs Rampage’s +350 to +375 are not reading tea leaves here. Au contraire, it’s all in tale of the tape and the momentum Jones has picked up since whuppin’ Shogun like a little girl. This was nominally the same Shogun who whupped Rampage to within an inch of his life at Pride Total Elimination, April 23, 2005 in Osaka Japan.
We will not belabor the UFC 135 match-up because it is really a non-event; Dana’s little side show on the freeway to Jon Jones coronation as the best in class of the new crop of UFC fighters; nervy, squeaky clean and thoroughly schooled in the arts of MMA.
Case in Point: Jones is a wrestler who took to striking like a fish to water. Throw Cain Velasquez into that wriggly pile too; a (Arizona State) collegiate wrestler who by UFC 110 was displaying the precision kicks of a Muai Thai GOAT. By UFC 121 Cain’s hands had acquired the heavy manners of a classical bare-knuckle pugilist. But we digress.
The subtleties of Body English: Jon Jones before or after being tongue-fued at the UFC Press Conference in Denver on July 19, 2011. Is this a harbinger of things to come or are the smiles gonna be reversed come next Saturday night? The psych-out, mini-hazing Rampage gave Jones at this presser coupled with his latest Youtube videoblog below tells us that Rampage is really not feeling this one.
If Jones doesn’t slip up, he can win UFC 135 any number of ways – but here is one surefire way to do that: CHOP RAMPAGE’S BASE. Jones can deploy his other reach via his legs and just kick the s*it out of Rampage. Go back to Rampage’s record going back to Pride. He has never done well against fighters who kicked the hell out of him. Shogun was one of them. Jones can deploy his long legs like whips and possibly break a rib or two in the process.
Side kicking does most damage when deployed like a whip. The whip like action maximizes power the same way snapping maximizes damage in punch-boxing. Terminal acceleration. (Cyberaxis)
If Jones does this well, that’s all he is gonna need to break Rampage’s will with nary a danger of being taken down.
We are calling this for Jones in the first. Now where your money at? 😉
Next!
copyright© 2011 cyberaxis.wordpress.com
Appendices:
There is no connection, no substantive emotional investment to the words Rampage is mouthing here. (The only time we got the psycholinguistics wrong was in the Cain Velasquez pre-UFC 121 interviews.) In this particular case Rampage sounds more like he is trying to convince himself than his fans or anybody else, and not doing a very good a job of it. For the record, Rampage has a “Hail Mary” puncher’s chance of winning this but in order to do it, he has go past Jones’ formidable offensive/defensive perimeter or catch him, as Rashad Evans eloquently puts it in the article below.
Rashad Evans on Quinton Jackson: “He won’t last a round with Jon Jones. You can’t catch him moving like Frankenstein” (SI.com/mmabay.uk.com)
Anderson Silva vs Jon Jones: The Spiderman vs The Superman – Or the fight Dana White should book next – Freakshow or not, this one we likey. (Cyberaxis)
cyberaxis 
Bones is just something you can’t train for. No one in the history of MMA has that reach and there have been 7 footers. Plus he’s so much faster and better on the ground. Only if Jonny gets caught(not likely). He will end this in the 1st like most of his fights, and anyone who knows MMA and watched his only so called “loss” knows Bones is undefeated Matt Hamill was well beyond done before Jon threw the illegal elbow. He even sat up after pounding the shit out of him and held his arms out and shrugged. Looking at the ref cause Hamill was well past done at that point that loss was a joke.
Your remarks are very spot on – especially the point about Jones being undefeated. He will, on short order, create the Anderson Silva syndrome for Dana White and the UFC. Which reminds us that we ought to link our other posts on Jones and Silva to this one.
The Editor – Cyberaxis
(Remember the words of Chaim Bertman,
“In the venom, is a whisper of the antidote.”)