Jones Jones planning to use clinch vs. Shogun
(1:40 mark) “My brother has amazing Greco-Roman wrestling, and since he’s been here, my Greco-Roman has just come back completely,”…
(1:40 mark)
“My brother has amazing Greco-Roman wrestling, and since he’s been here, my Greco-Roman has just come back completely,” Jon Jones said Wednesday of his sibling Arthur Jones, an outstanding Greco-Roman wrestler in his own right in High School, and currently a defensive tackle for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.. “I’m definitely going to embrace the clinch in this fight.”
Jon Jones threw Stephan Bonnar to the canvas seven times in their UFC 94 fight, but the official statistics don’t convey the spectacle of moves normally seen only in exhibitions. Bonnar found himself soaring into the air at least twice, first with a German suplex that would have made a pro wrestler proud, followed a few minutes later by a lateral drop that flipped him head over heels.
He hasn’t shown them in the cage since. With UFC throwing one freestyle wrestler after another at him, Jones has resorted to heavy use of trips and other more conservative takedowns to control the action.
Lightheavyweight champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s penchant for aggression could play into Jones’ hands during their March 19 battle at UFC 128 in Newark, N.J.. If the champion charges forward in one of his trademark Muay Thai explosions, he might find himself sailing across the cage.
“I look at my clinch as a little more active clinch, where I’m always looking for takedowns or different angles or strikes and things,” Jones told USA TODAY in June 2009, a few months after the Bonnar fight. “MMA fighters pretty much, once they get into the clinch, they feel as if they’re being dominant by pushing in. And that’s not necessarily being dominant, that’s setting yourself up to being thrown. … I get to now execute a lot of throws against not-so-wrestling-savvy MMA fighters.”