CD: I was going to ask you about your mindset. You’ve been so successful so fast and you’re only 22 years old. What do you have to do to keep yourself grounded and focused?
JJ: Moving to Greg Jackson’s and getting beat up everyday? That definitely helps. CD: Let’s talk a little bit about the fight. What do you expect from Matt Hamill? JJ: Matt Hamill? I’m expecting him to try to go out there and take me down and lay on top of me until the time runs out. CD: You think so? He’s looked better on his feet his last few times out. You still expect a fairly wrestling-based attack from him? JJ: Absolutely. After the Rich Franklin fight I don’t think his confidence is where it needs to be when it comes to striking. I think he’s a wrestler at heart and I think that he thinks his best chance of winning is by wrestling me. I’m sure that’s what he’s going to go out and try to do. CD: What’s your plan to counteract that? Do you want to try to outwrestle him or would you rather keep it on the feet and force him into a striking battle? JJ: Well, Jake O’Brien was supposed to outwrestle me, but he didn’t pull that off. Like I said, I’m big into confidence so I have no reason to doubt myself … People say how great of a wrestler Matt Hamill was, but he was a great wrestler a long time ago. You lose a lot of wrestling (over time.) The 2006 Jon Jones would beat the snot out of me in a wrestling match today. I’m a little more fresh out of the wrestling scene and he’s been out of it for a long time. So for the critics to say that Matt definitely has the upper hand in wrestling, I’m not going to give it to him. He’s going to have to prove it. If he takes me down a couple of times and he proves it, then fine, he outwrestled me. But it’s not a wrestling match. CD: In that same vein, what are the other aspects where you think you’ve got a definite edge over Matt? JJ: You know what? I’m going to try to say every aspect. I’ve really trained so hard. To train this hard and not believe in myself would be totally ridiculous. CD: The flipside of that is, do you see any part of the fight where you have to be particularly careful of his skills? JJ: Yeah, every part of the fight. Matt Hamill knows how to win a fight; he has an outstanding UFC record. I just hope that my self confidence never, ever comes across as being arrogant, because I really dislike arrogant people. But I just try not to doubt myself. Obviously, if I was fighting like a B.J. Penn I would say he’s definitely a better jiu-jitsu guy than me. But Hamill, he can do a little bit of everything, but he’s not super great at anything. He’s not super fast. I guess his strength is one of his big advantages. But I’m just going to keep the faith in myself, because that’s all I’ve really got in life, you know? CD: Where do you think he stacks up against the other guys you’ve fought in the Octagon, like (Andre) Gusmao, O’Brien and Bonnar? JJ: I think that he could possibly be physically the slowest and probably physically the strongest. CD: I think one of the things that’s made you so popular so fast is – not only your throws, especially against Bonnar – but you also have this unorthodox, exciting striking style with the spinning back fists and stuff like that. As you get more and more training at these top camps where they have really elite-level striking coaches, do you find guys are trying to change that about you, to make you a more conventional striker? JJ: One thing about Greg Jackson is that he sees who I am and he respects who I am and he allows me to be who I am. He tells me every day, “I love your creativity, Jon. I want more of that. What is that called? Do more of that funky thing.” He loves it. The only thing he forces is for me to be able to push the pace. Instead of one flying knee, he wants six flying knees per round. Instead of a few jabs, he wants 20 jabs per round. He wants combinations, he wants punches in bunches. He wants (me) to use the base of (conventional) fighting to set up the funkiness. He embraces it, he just wants me to take pride in this new set of lungs that I have.
CD: Being creative and unpredictable, do you see that as one of your strengths as a fighter?
