Jon Jones wants a top three Light Heavyweight or a shot at James Toney
Posted on August 2, 2010, 07:16 PM by Joey SantosusUFC light heavyweight Jon "Bones" Jones once again showed why he is the most highly regarded prospect in mixed martial arts this past Sunday, dismantling seasoned veteran Vladimir Matyushenko in less than two minutes into their UFC on Versus 2 match-up. Jones earned a TKO victory at 1:52 of the opening round after mounting "The Janitor" in the crucifix position and raining down a series of well-placed elbows. The 23 year old's win over Matyushenko marks his fifth since joining the UFC, with his only loss coming by way of a controversial disqualification against Matt Hamill.
While many consider him the future of MMA, Jones feels there is no time like the present. At the event's post fight press conference the young star spoke in regards to his progress and what steps he would like to take next in his career.
"Every opponent I've had are really tough guys. 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 ... I want to fight someone who's supposedly much better than me," said Jones.
When asked who he felt that someone could be, he explained, "Well, 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."
With "Bones" justifiably eager to take a step up in competition, he is not opposed to the idea of stepping up in divisions."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. Randy Couture, he bumps up to heavyweight all the time, and he always looks very impressive against the slower guy," Jones explained.
While this is not the first time Jones has entertained the idea of alternating weight classes, he may have found a good reason for the temporary shift after disparaging remarks were made by one of the promotion's newest additions. "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," Jones said with a grin.
Whoever the Light Heavyweight phenom faces next, UFC president Dana White has assured it will be one of the division's top eight contenders. Although Jones may have had his focus set a little higher up the ladder, a follow up victory over a top-ten opponent will make his campaign for a title shot tough to deny.
Comments
Jones will toss Toney like nothing and elbow his face into submission like he did in his last 3 fights.
if Tito wins he should fight Tito
Yeah I would only be interested to see Jones vs Toney if Couture somehow loses to Toney. Otherwise, Jones has no business fighting Toney and would have nothing to gain.
I sharped your comment, but i gotta say i LOVE jones for representing mma and not letting toney talk any shit.
I wouldn't call his disqualification controversial. Way I remember it he threw illegal elbows, causing Hamill to not be able to continue. He was dominating the whole fight, no question about it, but he should have known better than to throw an illegal strike.
worddddd
It was controversial b/c the main reason Hamill couldnt continue was the shoulder injury not the damage those elbows did to his face, either way there was really no way they could have ruled that a win for Jones as some people wanted or even a NC wouldnt have seemed quite right due to the timing of the stoppage with the illegal elbows.
He took hamill out before the illegal elbows
jones got a DQ because of bad reffing. he should have got a point taken that's it. If Herb Dean or Big Jon were in charge of that fight they would have been separated deducted a point and then awarded Jones the victory due to injury. since when did elbows to the head cause shoulder injury's ?
The controversy was the dumbass ref standing there asking for, and expecting, a response back from a DEAF fighter on whether he can continue the fight. While there is absolutely no doubt that the elbows were illegal, and hit Hamill, and warranted a disqualification, there is also no doubt that the fight should have been ended earlier, and a more competent referee would not have been standing there thinking "Well since this guy hasn't said he quits and is still wiggling, obviously he must be okay." He was defending himself not intelligently, but desperately, because the only other option was to put his hands down and suffer a worse beating.
Blue Ember. You're right. That's not weak. I like Jones. But he did break the rule. And he didn't like it when Vera kicked him in the face from his guard. So it's only fair that he was on both sides of it now. I don't know if I think he should have been dq'd. But I'm sure he's learned his lesson by now.
Jon Jones vs Anderson
anyone else agree?
actually theres and article about that fight in lowkick 2.0 check it out man
and yes the fight would be the best fight in recent years
haha, Toney's mouth may have bit off alot more than it can chew.
lol james would beat jones so fast joney homo jones has not evan faced 1 real fighter yet his last fight with vald was ok but he has no stand up he thinks he cool becuase he stole a move from anderson silva striking book and thinks hes king shit becuase of it and really he wants 2 get better leave that shitty little gerg jackson camp with suckers like rashad
You are a true hater
Hey listen up FKmidgets..............
a true hater of shitty fights and shitty people let me guess you want cheal 2 beat silva 2 dont u lol i like real fighters u no rampage anderson lyoto mark nogs ryan bader alistair fedor nate and the list keeps going and a list of people i dont like jones rashad any 1 how trains with greg jackson cheal and the rest of the people who go out for a win and not 2 put on a show oh oh oh i almost forgot the biggest freak out loser there is brock lesnar
Of course I want Chael to beat Anderson Silva LOL... I can tell you're new here. You need to check out my profile then you'll know who my favorite fighters are....haha...Jon "Bones" Jones is the FUTURE.
also i think ufc needs to change there rules elbows should be ilegal on the ground i mean there wrose then knees to the head of a downed person like i mean u crack skulls and cuase 4 inch cuts with elbows but knee knock people out instead of shitty fights like jones last fight with vlad
That's stupid. Knees on the ground make it more likely to be lethal. You don't know what you're talking about. You say you like real fighters but what you mean is you like strikers more. The sport is mixed martial arts bro. So even if it's boring when theres not constant punches. If a guy wins a fight he wins a fight. The sport of real fighting. dumbass
thats what i mean theres no problem doing standing 1s but i mean elbows on the ground are brutal lol
have u seen a silva vs tony somthing wicked standing elbow also not many muay thai strikers in ufc but really elbows most effective weapon in ufc same with knees but there so under used
how about jones saying he wont fight rashad i think thats ****ed hes pulling a fitch josh they wont fight but there number 2 and 3 in the division and like what if rashad for some act of god beats rua are pulls some more boring fights like his last 2 he will be champ and jones will be number 2 it will be retraded i think jones should go train with some more legit people like go train at the black house lol
Toney will die after Couture fight... He just a old fart boxer what he can do in mma??? boxing its not enought....
The funny part is, 10 years from now, these guys will look like a Ken Shamrock to us.
People like Matushenko and Matt Hammil get carried away like they were in a horrible plane crash or something (Hamil almost needed a stretcher), great kick-boxers like Vera at LHW get their asses kicked, but Toney is going to land that miracle uppercut that stops a take-down?
James Toney's reach is 72". Jon Jones' has the longest reach in UFC history. 84.5" for Jones. He's literally got more than a foot of reach on Toney. Toney would get absolutely FUBAR. Would cost the UFC millions to keep Toney's body alive on machines in the ICU.
And, Jones would prove conclusively that the striking supremacy of K1 and Boxing is largely a myth. If Toney tries to stand in front of Jones, and box, with a straight-up boxing stance and balance, Jones will break his leg with a kick.
Watch that Berbick fight where he leaves the ring and quits. Berbick beat an old Ali, and more impressively he survived for about a full round and a half against young Mike Tyson (which is an incredible accomplishment, to make it more than a round). He fought some Japanese fake-wrestling guy, while wearing leg-armor, and looked pitiful and helpless. A couple light leg kicks, and he ran away crying.
K-1 strikers generally do have an advantage on the feet. The problem is when thats all they have, they get spanked. When they're also good at other areas of the game, is when we see people like Overeem.
I haven't seen it. Overeem is probably the best example (which is why he's the only one ever used to make the point), but he has been dominated standing by MMA fighters. Chuck, Arona, Rua twice. etc.
19 of Overeem's wins have been submissions. 12 KO/TKO. Overeem is the best example of dominant K1/boxing in MMA. If K1 boxing is superior, then he should have the best hands in MMA history.
I can think of many MMA fighters with more effective, more accurate stand-up.
And MRfidgets is a twit.
Jon Jones is the next evolution of MMA. I call him the "Jimi Hendrix" of MMA. that is how far above this guy is from everyone else. You are about to see a better version (if you can believe it) of Anderson Silva.
Hendrix wasn't far above anyone musically. If you believe that you should study classical piano or violin and you will see a skill level that far surpasses hendrix. Jones certainly has shown potential, but it's too early to call. wait til he has defended the belt 4 or 5 times and then call it.
That was an impressive win over Matyushenko.
Now we'll see what happens when he meets a top ranked fighter that can match his wrestling and see how he deals with a good striker like Rua or Machida. That 84 inch reach is going to be difficult for anyone to deal with.
Jones deserves a serious step up in competition. Besides the DQ, which he was dominating that fight, he has won all his other fights. Techinally he is 5-0 instead of 4-1 in the UFC. If he doesnt get someone soon, i wil be pissed
Maybe he should go to WWE and be a star there for a while. He might a title shot faster that way.
thats good that hes open to moving weight classes, then maybe my dream match could come true. jones vs anderson silva, now that would be a really interesting fight.
He should fight little Nog.