Jon Jones wants a top 3 opponent but will settle for Toney

SAN DIEGO – While Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera and even Matt Hamill might disagree, Jon Jones (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) has a shocking message for everyone in the UFC's light heavyweight division: "Bones" is just playing a game.

Sure, that game generally involves the reconstruction of at least some part of his opponents' faces, but to Jones, it's all about fun.

Oh, and guess what heavyweights – you're not off the hook either.

"You saw me go in there before the fight making jokes and trying to have fun," Jones said following his win over Matyushenko at Sunday night's UFC on Versus 2 event. "That's me psyching myself out to try and relax and try and have fun. This is the game I signed up to play. Just staying relaxed in the octagon and remembering to have fun, that's the key, I feel."

Jones' TKO win over the more experienced Matyushenko was his third first-round stoppage in a row. Sure, the Hamill fight resulted in a disqualification and shows up as a loss on Jones' record, but anyone who's seen the ending sequence to that contest likely considers it just another win for the 23-year-old phenom.

And while Jones is already being anointed "the next big thing" by both fans and media alike, the dangerous light heavyweight is doing his best to stave off the pressure in favor of enjoying his time in the cage.

"To be honest, [the expectations] really do bother me," Jones admitted. "It makes me really nervous sometimes. I was starting to beat up myself and say, 'OK, not only do I need to win this fight, but I have to impress people and look spectacular. Like (WEC champ) Jose Aldo, he came out and every fight was so sweet. Man, he doesn't have a bad fight. I was starting to give myself that same type of pressure.

"I talked to my mentors and my coaches, and they're like, 'Hey, Jon – listen. You do this for yourself. You lose a fight, all this media and all this hype train is going to be done, so don't even worry about the train. There is no train. You do this for your family, and you do this for yourself. Mainly, you do this to have fun.'"

It's a lesson Jones said was learned in his upbringing.

"My mom used to say, 'God don't like ugly, Jon,'" Jones told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Being cocky sucks. I'm just really aware that there's a lot of better fighters out there still. There's some guys with great jiu-jitsu, great wrestling, great striking. I haven't really proven myself against a top-five contender, so I really no have real way to think I'm the man.

"I've got a lot of work to do, and there's a quote that says, 'A real black belt is a black belt because he's aware of how much he doesn't know.' I'm just aware that I'm still a kid in this sport, and I have a lot more maturing to do as a man and as an athlete. I'm just going to stay on the ground."

And should he forget that concept, Jones said there are plenty of folks around to remind him.

"Another big thing is all my teammates are in their 30s and late 20s, so they check me when they see anything going on," Jones said. "If I miss a practice or something, there's somewhere there always going, 'Where were you this morning?' I have a lot of people that steer me in the right direction."

And of course, that direction is essentially straight up – as in to the top of the light heavyweight ranks.

While UFC president Dana White recently said a win at Sunday night's event would vault Jones into a position to challenge the "top eight" or so fighters in the UFC's 205-pound division, the top prospect has his eyes set a little further up the ladder.

"Every opponent I've had are really tough guys," Jones said. "Right now, I'm passing these tests with flying colors. I really don't want to sound arrogant, so I've got to be careful the way I word this, but I want to fight someone who's really going to give me a really tough test. That has to be the champion or whoever. I want to fight someone who's supposedly much better than me ... so I can really step up and evolve to a different level.

"There's the champion (Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua), and he's the toughest guy right now. He's very well-rounded. He's a great striker. Just like the top three contenders. I really want to push myself against the No. 1, 2 and 3 guys now. I really feel like that needs to happen. The top three guys are the guys I'd like to fight – except for (teammate) Rashad (Evans), obviously."

Of course, in addition to the sport's best 205-pounders, Jones has dropped a few hints that he may be eyeing a few matchups in the heavyweight division. With his 6-foot-4 frame, imagining Jones taking on the big boys isn't a difficult task.

And if Jones' towering figure appeared to dwarf Matyushenko in the cage on Sunday night, there's a reason.

"I got up to about 231 (pounds) this time around, and today I performed around 226 (pounds), so this is the heaviest I've ever performed at, and I felt as if I was just as fast," Jones said.

So the sky now truly seems to be the limit, and Jones is beginning to – in typically humble fashion, of course – imagine himself as a two-division athlete. And after finding himself on the receiving end of some perhaps ill-placed trash talk in recent days, the admittedly sensitive Jones already has a target in mind for his first trip above the 205-pound limit.

"Randy Couture, he bumps up to heavyweight all the time, and he always looks very impressive against the slower guy," Jones said. "And now I actually have a heavyweight that I wouldn't mind fighting. That's James Toney – 'Mr. I'm going to slap Jon in the face.' I'd bump up for that fight any day."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/20129/ufc-phenom-jon-jones-wants-top-three-opponent-next-but-will-settle-for-james-toney.mma

Jones is a breath of fresh air, seems like a really cool guy. Humble, but Toney slagging him off has hit a nerve I guess.
If Toney gets lucky against Randy, they should feed him to Jones, he is raw, but can't see Toney lasting a round.

The only fun matchups we will see with Toney are against other strikers. Im thinking he'll leave the UFC after losing to Couture though.

All I'm gonna say is Jones best get a worthy match-up next fight, because what happened last night was what everyone in the world expected.

Forrest, Franklin, Thiago or Lyoto-Rampage winner, anyone else, and it will be obvious what will happen.

wow, Jones is awesome!! bumping up to fight a guy that should be really fighting at 185.

Heterocyclic wrote:All I'm gonna say is Jones best get a worthy match-up next fight, because what happened last night was what everyone in the world expected.

Forrest, Franklin, Thiago or Lyoto-Rampage winner, anyone else, and it will be obvious what will happen.

I think you mean Lyoto-Rampage loser.

Anfields5thKing wrote:

Heterocyclic wrote:All I'm gonna say is Jones best get a worthy match-up next fight, because what happened last night was what everyone in the world expected.

Forrest, Franklin, Thiago or Lyoto-Rampage winner, anyone else, and it will be obvious what will happen.

I think you mean Lyoto-Rampage loser.

Nope, I meant winner. In any other weight class, any fighter that goes 6 fights in the UFC with 6 wins (nearly.... but come on!) are considered to be up there in the mix. George S, Dunham, JDS, Cain, case in point. Dan Hardy got a title shot after 4 wins...

I understand that the UFC are wanting to build Jones up for a while, but if he doesn't get a decent challenge and a name in his next bout, I'm quickly going to become bored with him. Any of the above names in my previous post will do. He's in the win bracket so it's unlikely he'll get Lyoto-Rampage loser. If it does happen, I fear for Rampage when he goes 0-3 in his past 3 fights....

I'm completely at a loss as to how you can list off Franklin, Forrest, Thiago..........And then try and name the WINNER of the number 1 contenders fight and put him in the same company! The LOSER of Rampage-Machida will still be higher ranked than ANY of those three. Winner of Rampage-Machida will not be fighting Jones. Still out of his league. The loser might just about come into possible realistic match-ups but certainly not the winner.

Also comical to claim that outside of Forrest, Franklin and Thiago the only other person with a chance of beating Jones is the winner of Machida-Rampage when there are fighters in between Machida/Rampage and Forrest/Franklin/Thiago in terms of rankings and quality.

If Machida lost against Ramapge he would still be higher ranked and a better fight than any of the above. Likewise Rampage is a more dangerous fight even if Machida (number 2 in the world) beats him, Rampages has beaten, Hendo, Liddell, Wandy, Jardine since he came to UFC, Lost to Evans (Number 3) and Forrest, then top 3.

I agree the looser would make a lot more sence.

But in my eyes I think they dont need to rush him into anything. The Lhw isnt struggling to find challengers like other weight classes. Evans is next then winner of Machida/Rampage then Randy will probabally get a shot.

I think T.Silva/Forrest/Franklin do make sence for his next fights and time wise all 3 make sence. Id love to see him fight Diabaté if they gave him another tune up fight but I think one of these 3 seems a cert.

Anfields5thKing wrote:I'm completely at a loss as to how you can list off Franklin, Forrest, Thiago..........And then try and name the WINNER of the number 1 contenders fight and put him in the same company! The LOSER of Rampage-Machida will still be higher ranked than ANY of those three. Winner of Rampage-Machida will not be fighting Jones. Still out of his league. The loser might just about come into possible realistic match-ups but certainly not the winner.

Also comical to claim that outside of Forrest, Franklin and Thiago the only other person with a chance of beating Jones is the winner of Machida-Rampage when there are fighters in between Machida/Rampage and Forrest/Franklin/Thiago in terms of rankings and quality.

Then who do you give him? It's clear he's not getting a title shot any time soon from what Dana's been saying for a while, so who else is there in the LHW division that Jones could fight and it would be a competitive fight? Bader's out, as is Phil Davis as they're in the same situation Jones was in a year ago. You know how up and comers are never matched against one another because as soon as one of them loses, they lose their hype a little.

I'm not saying they're the only fighters who could beat Jones, I'm just saying they're the only matchups for Jones I see as being competitive. Maybe add Lil Nog to the list if he beats Bader.

Any other matchup, in my eyes, would be a step sideways for Jones. Who do you rate as viable, competitive fights for Jones that are between Forrest/Frankin/Thiago and below Machida and Rampage?

Randy if he beats Toney? I think Couture would be crazy to take it. A fight with Nog depends on how Nog does because I could see if Nog blew Bader away he would be sniffing round for a title shot and not a fight with Bones.

Randy v Jones I cannot see happening any time soon, Randy would be silly to take the fight. I don't think that he would turn it down, but the offer isn't going to be made any time soon. There's no way the UFC would feed Randy to Jones.

I'm not even a huge Jones fan, but with all the hype behind him now, I wish the UFC give him a chance to properly live up to the hype whilst he's riding it. When he becomes the Champion, I just see him holding that belt for a while, just kind of feel it should happen sooner rather than later.

Jones beats three guys who aren't top 10 and gets disqualified against another who's not top 10. In fact, of Bonnar, Vera, Vlad and Hamill, only Vera is even top 15. Calling for Jones to fight top 5 guys is laughable. Even more laughable is attempting to put Machida or Rampage in the same class as Forrest, Franklin or Silva. How fights against Forrest, Franklin or Silva can be seen as being as difficult as Machida or Rampage is beyond me. Especially THE WINNER of Machida-Rampage, who will be getting a title shot.

Jones needs AT LEAST three more fights before he gets a title shots, and they all need to be against people ranked higher than him.

I don't think Jones will ever be LHW champion. He's only got about a year left where he'll be able to make 205, and he won't be in title contention by then. Jones will be a HW champion at some point i think but i don't think he'll hold the LHW title.

I have to agree with Anfield to a certain extent. How can he be fighting a top 5 opponent when he hasn't faced a top 10 guy? The fight with Vlad wasn't a test at all, far too easy so now its time for a real challenge. IMO thats either Silva or Forrest, Franklin is out injured. Both top 10 or just outside. The loser of Rampage vs Machida is plausible, not the winner though who should be getting a title shot and I think that will be Machida. Right now I don't think Rampage is well above the level of Silva, Griffin and Franklin. Griffin beat him and Silva put up a very similar kind of performance against Rashad. After that he can look to fight some one bigger so either Machida, Shogun, Lil nog or Bader because I think those 1 of those 4 will be in the title mix and one of Machida-Shogun will have the belt. If gets past them then IMO he deserves a title shot. Look at who Shogun beat to get TWO title shots. Coleman and Liddell. Machida only beat two top 10 LHWs as well and one of them was just about borderline, the other is a nototorious chocker.


Machida beat:

Hoger (unranked)
Heath (unranked)
Nakamura (unranked but at the very most top 15)
Sokudju (top 10 at the time)
Ortiz (unranked)
Silva (just about top 10 but he had no top wins in his career, not even top 15)

And ofc SHoguns run was even worse to the UFC title. One top 10 and one top 5 win should mean a title shot for Jones, you can't keep giving Machida and Shogun rematches..

Anfields5thKing wrote:Jones beats three guys who aren't top 10 and gets disqualified against another who's not top 10. In fact, of Bonnar, Vera, Vlad and Hamill, only Vera is even top 15. Calling for Jones to fight top 5 guys is laughable. Even more laughable is attempting to put Machida or Rampage in the same class as Forrest, Franklin or Silva. How fights against Forrest, Franklin or Silva can be seen as being as difficult as Machida or Rampage is beyond me. Especially THE WINNER of Machida-Rampage, who will be getting a title shot.

Who are these Top 10!!?? The others that take up the space are Mo, Mousasi... who else is in there? Tell me who could Jones face that moves him up the ladder? Outside of the 5 mentioned, there's very few options.

Maybe I went a bit mad saying he should get the winner, didn't know at the time it was #1 contender fight, which I don't particularly like the idea of. Personally, I think you should have a win streak to be considered for a #1 contenders fight, unless it's a rematch for a 'questionable' decision (I use the term loosely). But that's another discussion.

I'm not saying they're all in the same class, just that they're all above Jones on the ladder. Jones wants to move up the ladder, so who does he fight? No one has mentioned any names except for the five named in the quote and Lil Nog as likely opponents?

Hamill - Ortiz winner? He's walked through Hamill once, there's no need for the UFC to make him run through him again. Ortiz is past it, don't think he'll beat Hamill for a start, but a viable option if he wins, I'll admit.

Phil Davis is a no go, UFC don't like matching prospects together. Lil Nog more likely to be matched up win or lose after the Bader fight for the same reason. Diabaté - Gustafsson winner unlikely. Griffen is rumoured to be fighting Franklin at 123, so they're possibly tied up too.

So, the only viable options for Jones are outside of the top 5 are; Thiago Silva, Hamill, Ortiz, Diabaté, Gustafsson (last 2 probably a step down for Jones..) and Couture (no chance that's happening). I'm pretty sure that's exhausted the UFC's roster of LHWs that are above Jones but below the top 5. If you can give me a competitive fight involving Jon Jones that doesn't include any of top 5, Bader (highly unlikely), Hamill (no need), Ortiz or Thiago Silva (out long time with injury), then I'll admit I'm wrong.

EDIT: As far as him getting a title, if he wants it, he could go get it at LHW. If he wants to move up to HW in like a year, then he might as well keep fighting fighters he'll walk through in uncompetitive matches. If that happens, I'll quickly get bored shitless of him. He either fights competitive fights or moves up sharpish.

Little Nog perhaps?? Ever heard of him.

Why is there no chance of Couture happening?

I think there's a chance he could fight Bader who's actually ahead of him in terms of his advancement.

Jones would need to fight 2 from Couture, Griffin, Forrest, and Silva.

And then someone like Nog or Rampage.

Then he might be in consideration for a title shot. But as I said, by then he will have outgrown 205 and will be competing at HW.

Anfields5thKing wrote:Little Nog perhaps?? Ever heard of him.

Why is there no chance of Couture happening?

I think there's a chance he could fight Bader who's actually ahead of him in terms of his advancement.

Jones would need to fight 2 from Couture, Griffin, Forrest, and Silva.

And then someone like Nog or Rampage.

Then he might be in consideration for a title shot. But as I said, by then he will have outgrown 205 and will be competing at HW.

See previous post regarding Little Nog

The UFC won't feed Randy to Jones. No need. Randy's coming to tail-end of his career, cannot see him challenging for a title soon, Toney fight does nothing for him. Don't get me wrong, he did some amazing things before I found the sport, but that doesn't merit being close to getting a title shot (in my book) after beating Coleman and Vera. Things have moved on.

Bader is out because the UFC won't match up two prospects.

Back to my original post, find me a competitive fight for Jones in the UFC that will move him up the ladder excluding Machida, Shogun, Rampage, Rashad, Thiago, and Couture and Bader for the above reasons. Oh and Ortiz (who he'd likely walk through) and Hamill (we've been there before).

Randy is closer to a title shot than Jones.

Forrest and Franklin aren't top 5.

Bader is ahead of Jones and because the 205 division is so stacked there's every chance they'll get matched. No evidence to suggest they won't match prospects, they've done it dozens of times before. Just because Cain and JDS were kept apart doesn't mean it'll happen at 205. It just so happens that Cain and JDS are the only two top 5 HW's that the UFC have so they kept them apart so that after Cain beats Brock he'll have at least one real contender.

I'd back anyone out of Shogun, Rashad, Rampage, Machida, Silva, Bader and Nog to beat Jones right now. There are so many holes in his stand-up. Rampage and Bader would outmuscle him in the grappling, Rashad is a better wrestler, Nog, Machida and Shogun are all better on the ground with their BJJ. If he takes Silva down he could beat him, but Silva gets back up well and could spark him standing.

I'd pick Jones to beat Rashad, Silva, Rampage and Nog.

I'd pick Bader, Shogun and Machida to beat him right now but stylewise Bader is the worst matchup. Shogun and Machida would spark him standing but if they got takendown they would have problems. I know they have better ground games but there is no defence to getting elbowed in the face and with Jones's length he can do that from gaurd. Shoguns takedown defence isn't great and he has had a past of gassing. I think his cardio is good when he's fit but after the 4 th takedown I think he'll get too tired. Machida has better takedown defence and cardio than SHogun but he is physically a lot weaker than Jones and his ground game isn't as good as Shogun's.

Bader is a tough one because of his wrestling, size and incredible power. As Anfiled has pointed out Jones makes too many mistakes standing, and it takes one punch from Bader to finish him.

Machida's ground game is easily as good as Shogun's. Shogun gassed when he hadn't been training properly. In Pride and against Machida the first time he showed he's got a good tank.

Rampage is too strong for Jones and hits much harder. If Rampage came into the fight in shape and ready to go to war, Jones is getting beaten.

Rashad is too quick, too explosive and has much better striking. He can fight from distance which Bones doesn't enjoy. When Bonnar kept the distance he was winning their fight.

If it stays standing Silva would destroy him, but if Jones gets him down it's a different story.

It all depends on which Nog turns up. Nog that fought Shogun/Cane beats Jones. Nog that fought Brillz/Soko gets his ass kicked.

Let's see Jones actually beat someone who's still relevant before he gets a shot against a top fighter. Let's see him beat Franklin and Forrest back to back and then we can take about letting him fight Machida, Shogun, Evans, Rampage or Bader/Nog(winner will be number 5 in the UFC at 205 for me)

I know he has a good gas tank but not a great one, he doesn't have a gas tank like say Sanchez so he would eventully gas if he keeps getting taken down.

Shogun has a better ground game than Machida IMO, or atleast he has showed it more in his fights. Shogun matched or even outmatched Lil Nog on the ground and everytime Machida took him down he got up with ridiculous ease. Maybe its because I haven't seen too much of Machida's ground game. He prefers the standup and only has two wins by submission, both against guys with poor ground games.

If Rampage came in like he did against Jardine or Evans he would get beaten. Jones never overpowers anyone when he takes them down, he takes the leg away so it doesn't matter how much stronger Rampage is. Hughes and especially Alves are a lot stronger than GSP but he took them down very easily. Hammil is stronger than Jones but he took him down. If Jones wants Rampage down, he'll get him down and when he does I think Jones will get into the crucifix and finish him.

Bonnar has good boxing, better than Evans and he is much bigger. Bonnar is one of the few LHWs who is bigger than Jones. That was also over a year ago, Jones is much better than he was then. Most fighters will find it very difficult to keep the distance against Jones. Also Jones has shown good takedown defence thus far, he avoided Hammil's with ease. Obviously Evans is a better wrestler than Hammil but Evans has been takendown in the past as well by Tito and Hoger.

Im not sure this fight will ever happen anyway, they both said they have no intrest in fighting each other.

Agreed about Silva but I think he can take him down.

I don't the Cane/Soko fights are fair reflections of what will get happen. He caught Cane early and that was it. Cane who got sparked in his next fight and is really a MW. Against Soku he just got caught, Soko has a lot more power than Jones has. Im not entirley sure what would happen in this fight.

I agree that Bader/Lil Nog winner is top 5. I disagree Jones has to beat Franklin/Griffin back to back before getting a top guy. Shogun and Machida didn't have to beat to go through guys that tough before they got title shots as I have shown. Machida didn't have a top 5 win before he faced Evans and Shogun didn't even have a top 10 win on the way to the title in the UFC!

The division wasn't as stacked then as it is now, Shogun had a great career behind him and Machida was unbeaten and hadn't had a finger laid on him in years. He got his shot due to Rampage's injury. If not for that he prob wouldn't have got a shot.

Agree, Evans and Jones won't fight. I'd still back Evans though.

Jones over-powered Vera and Bonnar to get them down. I think he'd struggle with Rampage. If Rampage gets away from the Wolfslair he can get back to his best. GSP uses his speed and explosiveness to get his takedowns, Bones doesn't. He outmuscles people. He won't do it to Rampage.

Machida doesn't get taken down, but he has excellent BJJ.

Nobody in MMA can match Sanchez's gastank in fairness. Diego is a machine.