Jones plans to wrestle Cormier
Jon Jones: I’m more than capable of taking him down, and I believe in my top game. So I’ll definitely look to attack Daniel Cormier at his strengths, and weaknesses.”
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones spoke recently with Shaun Al-Shatti for MMAFighting, ahead of is fight with former captain of the US Olympic team Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan 3, live on PPV. Mixed martial arts is generally a sport where you put your strength against your opponent’s weakness. Jones however out wrestled Chael Sonnnen, out brawled Glover Teixeira, and plans to wrestle with Cormier.
“I will try to wrestle Daniel Cormier,” said Jones. “I definitely plan on making him work extremely hard for any takedowns he’s going for, and I’m definitely going to be looking for takedowns myself. I’m more than capable of taking him down, and I believe in my top game. So I’ll definitely look to attack Daniel at his strengths, and weaknesses.”
“I grew up wrestling. I started wrestling when I was 12 years old. I think a lot of people forget that, especially when I’m fighting a guy who’s competed on the Olympic level. They make me seem like I’m just a striker. But you know, my sense of wrestling is very strong. I would say that’s still my base. I have very successful stats in wrestling, pretty high takedown percentage and pretty outstanding takedown defense.”
Jones’s remarks were echoed by his coach Greg Jackson.
“We’re definitely going to try to wrestle Daniel, there’s no doubt,” said Jackson. “We’re trying to beat him everywhere… Sun Tzu always has this thing where he says ‘always attack your enemies weaknesses.’ But that’s not true. If you have the ability to attack your opponent’s strength, the psychological breaking process is much faster than if you’re just attacking his weaknesses.
“Fighting is a very scary thing, right? You get in there, people are trying to knock your block off. You have faith in yourself. You have to be like, ‘This is what I go to. When I’m in trouble, here’s what I go to.’ If you, right off the bat, take that safety zone away from somebody, psychologically now this guy’s gone. And that breaking process is accelerated. Not just like you’re going to break like you quit, because that’s not what breaking is at this level. Breaking is accepting. Like, they just can’t figure out a way to get around you now. So it’s important to understand that some fighters, you need to attack their strength, as long as your guy is able to do that. The Sun Tzu maxim doesn’t always hold.”