Can Jon Jones outwrestle Daniel Cormier?

In the four short years since Jon Jones captured the UFC's light heavyweight strap as a raw and creative athletic specimen at age 23, much has been written about Jones' maturation outside of the cage. And in a curious way, all that noise has helped to disguise Jones' growth where it really matters most, how the polished champion of 2014 barely resembles the unhinged talent who stole the souls of the division's old guard in those early years.

Whether it's outwrestling the wrestler (Chael Sonnen), or out-brawling the phone booth brawler (Glover Teixeira), Jones' current iteration clearly revels in taking the road less traveled. Besting opponents at their very best strengths, just because he can... which is a frightening thought, and one Jones says will carry into his 2015 grudge match against former U.S. Olympic wrestling captain Daniel Cormier.

"I think I focus on it so much, I focus on their strengths so much that I almost adapt it," Jones told MMAFighting.com. "I become so familiar with what they're good at that I just almost adapt it into my psychology, into my skillset, and then subconsciously it just starts playing out in the fight. Doing what they do.

"I will try to wrestle Daniel Cormier. 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."

Even if Jones is merely posturing, there's no shorting the boldness of his words. Anyone who's seen Cormier unleash his inner Zangief on the Barnett's and Henderson's of the world understands the danger in testing the two-time Olympian in his own wheelhouse, especially considering that Jones' tangibles -- his vast reach and height advantages -- would suggest an opposing plan of attack.

But hey, according to those closest to Jones, that competitive fire that borders on irrationality is just what makes Jones the great champion that he is.

"I think Jon has the capability to outwrestle DC," said Brandon Gibson, Jones' striking coach. "He's put some of the best wrestlers in the world on their back. Jon is one of the best wrestlers in MMA. I think with the strikes in front of it, his dynamic movement, takedowns are going to be there for us."

"We're definitely going to try to wrestle Daniel, there's no doubt," agreed Greg Jackson, Jones' head trainer. "We're trying to beat him everywhere. The kind of inception of that mentality started actually way back when I was working with Georges (St-Pierre), and he took down (Josh) Koscheck. 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."

Whether Jones will follow through on his promise to outwrestle the Olympic wrestler remains to be seen, though if he succeeds, it'll stand as one of the more impressive notches on Jones' already impressive belt. Cormier has defended 100-percent of the 11 takedowns attempted against him since he joined Strikeforce in 2009, nearly all of them as effortlessly as a big brother would shuck off the feeble charges of a younger brother.

But Jones has never been one to shy away from a challenge. Given the barrage of hatred and hostility the two light heavyweights have shared since brawling inside the MGM Grand, there could be not sweeter ending for Jones than to come away having embarrassed Cormier at his own game.

"I grew up wrestling," Jones said. "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.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/12/22/7431573/can-jon-jones-outwrestle-daniel-cormier-hes-going-to-try

Is jones a great wrestler...yes


Is he better than DC.......probably not

But Jones probably has better MMA wrestling.

Jones is gonna get dumped on his head just like Barnett.

damn just watching that slam makes my neck stiff!!!!

Gecko wrote:

damn just watching that slam makes my neck stiff!!!!

just to be clear what neck are you talking about?

dc is going to cage press him and dirty box him

drainbamage wrote:

Gecko wrote:

damn just watching that slam makes my neck stiff!!!!

just to be clear what neck are you talking about?

The one that can swallow......wait that didnt sound any better did it? hahaha

Gecko wrote:

drainbamage wrote:

Gecko wrote:

damn just watching that slam makes my neck stiff!!!!

just to be clear what neck are you talking about?

The one that can swallow......wait that didnt sound any better did it? hahaha

drainbamage wrote:

dc is going to cage press him and dirty box him

Cage press and dirty box doesn't sound much better than stiff neck, honestly.
Or maybe it does, if you like that sort of thing....

To answer the main question briefly...yes

Haven't gotten to this fight yet (and judging by the comments, not sure if I will ever waste a half hour of my time on it).
Is this pretty much what happened??

stock wrote:

But Jones probably has better MMA wrestling.

stock wrote:

I think Jones plays this fight totally safe (ala greg jackson).
He'll use his reach to jab his way to a boring decision against the much shorter armed fighter.

Very boring fight. Actually the entire card was very boring. But in short, yes Jones used his reach to keep DC at bay. I will say I was quite impressed by Jones' takedown defense, it was deep into the 5th round before DC actually got a takedown, but Jones got a handful...but he did nothing with them. Jones didn't fight to win, he fought not to lose, IMO it's not worth watching.

Jones actually did mix it up a little. The first few rounds were actually pretty good and rather competitive. Cormier was able to get inside and land some nice shots, and Jones was tagging him right back on the breaks.
But as the fight went on, Cormier kinda ran out of gas and wasn't able to get into range, and Jones (knowing he was ahead by the last round) was more than willing to pick his shots and let the clock run out and grab the decision.

After two rounds, I was really into the fight. After 4, I was over it and wanted to fast forward to the end.

Trigger...did it look to you like Jones was exceptionally slow? I don't know what it was...but it looked like he was throwing in slow motion

I don't know, I think that might've just been the style he was using, trying to keep Cormier at bay with a lot of faux strikes that aren't really even meant to do anything more than just get in your face.

i thought the first 3 rounds were very entertaining.
i think jones displayed a lot of different outlets he has in this fight.
jones impressed me with his chin, striking, and wrestling
dc tried and he pushed the pace but jones surprisingly looked stronger than dc and was just an overall better fighter in every aspect of mma.
id like to see dc focus more on his conditioning and see if that changes anything in the future.
id love to see a dc vs evans fight or a dc vs rumble fight next