The pace at which MMA is evolving is amazing and Jon Jones is full proof of that. Bigger, more athletic and harder working athletes are getting into the sport everyday. Jones, a good college wrestler from a family of football players, just completed a short three-year journey to take out one of the greats of MMA with relative ease.
Jones pummeled Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on the feet and ground for two and half rounds. The Brazilian couldn't take anymore and slumped to the canvas at the 2:37 mark of third round giving the UFC light heavyweight title to the 23-year-old Jones at UFC 128 in Newark, N.J.
"It feels go good. It's a testament that dreams do come true guys. They really can, believe in yourself," Jones told UFC analyst Joe Rogan following the victory. "It means a lot to me, but I know it also means I have a huge target on my back. And when you guys come to strike at me, I'm going to strike right back."
The 6-foot-4 Jones is really unlike any athlete the UFC has ever seen aside from former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. He walks around at roughly 225 pounds, but his frame looks like it could easily carry 250 pounds. His football playing brothers are massive. Chandler, a defensive lineman at Syracuse, is 6-6, 251 and his older brother Arthur, is a 6-3, 313-pound tackle in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens.
The dwarfed Rua (19-5, 3-3 UFC) was in trouble from the opening seconds of the fight. A very well-rounded fighter, Rua looked like amateur in the clinch, on the ground and even standing up. Just 20 seconds in, the fighters clinched and Jones did what he's done to every previous opponent, he tossed Rua on his head like he was fighting a lightweight.
Anytime the fight was on the feet, Jones kept Rua at long distance and delivered a bevy of front, leg and body kicks. He was also devastating with his knees. Jones, who appears closer to 6-5 or 6-6, used his height to grab Rua's head on multiple occasions to deliver nasty knees to the body from a thai clinch.
By the end of the first round, Rua looked out of gassed and stunned. The onslaught continued in the second. Jones did damage with a nasty front kick and an inside leg kick with three minutes in the round. Amazingly, Rua, who's known for his kicks, hadn't thrown one the entire fight. Jones scored another takedown with 2:33 left in the round and showed great patience. He wore down Rua with forearm across his chin and grinding elbows across his face.
In the third, Jones got top control again when Rua made a desperate attempt at a leg lock. The Brazilian stayed out of trouble for a few seconds before Jones landed some nasty elbows. After getting abused on the ground for nearly a minute, Rua scrambled and as he tried to get to his feet, he got crushed by a knee to the body. He was hurt badly and immediately stumbled across the Octagon to put his back on the fence. Jones, possessing incredible killer instinct, threw a vicious body shot to Rua's right side. He went down in a heap. That was it. He had no more fight left in him.
UFC analyst Joe Rogan captured the scene by saying, "That ladies and gentlemen is the future and the present!" Rogan went on to say that Jones might be the greatest natural talent the sport has ever seen.
Rua, 29, was once the future of the sport. He shocked the world by winning the PRIDE 205-pound Grand Prix back in 2005. Shogun, just 23 at the time, wrecked a field filled with legendary fighters like Vitor Belfort, Alistair Overeem, Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Ricardo Arona and Wanderlei Silva.
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