Mercurial Talent: What We Haven't Seen From Jon Jones?

Exploding onto the scene in 2009 with a shocking upset win over original Ultimate Fighter finalist Stephan Bonnar, Jon Jones's career trajectory has seen him from promising new comer, through internet darling and number one contender to champion in three short years. Levied against the champion since capturing the belt in March against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has been a level of hubris that is unwarranted by a fighter that has yet to defend his belt or create a legacy. Jones's media portrayal as having the potential to be the greatest champion of all time has not helped his case, creating a image that may or may not be accurate but has certainly created a backlash against his undoubted talents.

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So the question is what has Jon Jones failed to show the MMA world? 

1) Has Jones Got One Punch Knockout Power?

The question whether his striking was enough to overwhelm his opponent was answered emphatically against Rua when capturing his title however there is still questions to be asked whether he can land a single shot, especially with his hands, that can finish a fight instantly. 

The most devastating shot in Jones's championship win was early in the first round with a flying knee hurt Rua badly, creating a situation where the Brazilian was never truly in the fight from that point on. However Jones took a couple of rounds to capitalize, wearing down his opponent before landing the end body shot (and following knees) which finally finished the contest. Arguable this was a sensible tactic against a man with no shortage of knock out promise however it still leaves that chink of light open for opponents.

In the rest of Jones back catalog of fights there are a number of notable knockdowns. The back spinning elbow that leveled Stephan Bonnar will be seen in a number of highlight reels as will his knockdown of the iron chinned Matt Hamill however none of these ended up leading to clean final blow. Against Quentin "Rampage" Jackson, Jones will be standing against another opponent who has taken his fair share of shots and survived so it could well be a good test for this aspect of his game.

2) How Good Is Jones's Chin?

This is another one of those what if questions that has to be tempered with the fact that Jones's reach is so good that many opponents have simply not close enough to him to land a significant strike. Rua landed only 11 of 42 attempts (just over 25%) of his strikes in Jones last fight, far lower than his usual 50%+ accuracy that the Brazilian would usually expect. It is also notable that Jones faces far fewer strikes than most fighters, averaging less than 30 per round in his UFC career, around half that of the average.

All this has allowed Jones's chin to go relatively untested and why should he worry if no one hits him anyway?. Mainly as this was something brought up about Lyoto Machida, another fighter who reached prominence without suffering many strikes with a mixture of style and skill, which left people wondering if he could be beaten only to be rushed by Rua and sent to the canvas in the most unceremonious way. In MMA no fighter can guarantee that someone with the luckiest punches will connect flush and it will be at that moment we will see if he can take a good punch. Rampage certainly has the potential to do this, especially as he is likely to be headhunting however it may be more likely to happen against someone with a more varied game plan.   

3) How Good Is Jones Of His Back?

Having physical dominated his opponents and shown a mixture of takedowns that have surprised many commentators of the sport, Jones has spent not spent any time on his back inside the Octagon. This could be a key aspect in up coming fights in the UFC as light heavyweight is blessed with a number of high quality wrestlers who will be looking to try out that game plan, however unlikely it may seem to many.

In principle, Jones's physical gifts in the striking should translate well into a good submission game as his long limbs should allow him to both lock up opponents in the guard and look for holds people with shorter limbs cannot. However the downside to long limbs is that they to are easier to get a handle on so armbars could be an issue. It would also be interesting to see whether a single limb can isolated and dominated that is sometimes the betrayal of very tall fighters in a weight class as there core strength is eliminated in that situation.

Ultimately this is unlikely to be tested in Jones's next fight with Rampage however it could be something to look out for later down the line. 

4) What If The Fight Starts To Get Away From Jones?

Having been so dominant in previous fights, Jones has yet to face the challenge of fighting against an opponent who has been able to establish a productive game plan against him. With Greg Jackson in his corner there is little doubt he has the people in his corner to make adjustments for him to win such fights however does Jones have the mental strength to put them into place and not get frustrated. 

Jones who is young in MMA terms has shown frustration outside of the cage, especially with the likes of media intrusion and conflicts with certain other fighters.. Whether this would translate into getting easily frustrated inside the cage is an unanswerable question at this time but it would certainly open doors if it could be manifested as it would surely lead to mistakes that could be used against him. Reports out of the camp in this and other fights is that Jones is happiest when he is entering a cage, a mentality shown by most fighters, so it could well be that his frustrations outside the cage are used to his benefit as well however this much pressure on a young man can make or break their careers.

5) Can Jones Build A True Legacy?

Although it may seem premature for someone to ask whether Jones can have a Hall of Fame career, it is certainly one of the more interesting problems that has faced the entire light heavyweight division since the demise of Chuck Liddell. In the eight fights from Liddell's loss to Rampage, the title has changed six times with no man holding the title for more than one title defense creating the most exclusive hot potato in the world of sport. 

Whether Jones will be the man to go on to stabilize the title as the likes of Anderson Silva and Georges St Pierre have done in other divisions is a matter of opinion but it certainly will be the most challenging belt to monopolize as the depth in that division is huge. Rashad Evans will be next in line for a title shot and his wrestling skills along with his small frame could be uncomfortable for Jones, not to mention the personal the two men have. This is assuming that Jones beats Rampage who, on form, has traded with and won against as many legends as any other fighter on the planet. Then the future could hold the likes of a rematch with Shogun, the re-emerging Lyoto Machida and the potential unification of the Strikeforce belt, a series of fights that cannot be matched by any other division.   

Legacy, and so longevity, may well be Jones's biggest challenge on the horizon. 

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Of course the final question is whether these things really matter when you look at Jones upside. Does one shot power matter when you can land shots from angles no one else can achieve or if his chin cannot be touched. If he builds a legacy that never sees him in trouble or on his back, will people really think about it in the future as something that could have been exploited. In reality, the ever moving world of MMA will be creating styles, methods and tactics to get at the champion, as he is the man on top so will always have the biggest target on his back. 

So only time will tell if these questions turn into faults that sideline Jones at some point in his career but there can be little doubt that this MMA phenom has a very bright future ahead of him.

Billy Robinson - The Man Behind The Gracie Killer

Many MMA fans are only vaguely aware of Billy Robinson. One of the old breed of British Catch-As-Catch-Can wrestlers, who were the underpinning of the old school territories system back in the 1970's professional wrestling scene, he was and still is a legitimate wrestling titan. Now in his mid-70s, Robinson is still training fighters how to fight and without him MMA history could be very different indeed.

Born in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1939, Robinson grew up in the home of Catch wrestling in England. Like many forms of wrestling it differs from its counterparts.The main difference between Catch wrestling and the Scholastic form is the allowance of submissions other than choke holds. While it differs from Greco-Roman as submissions below the belt line are allowed and of course, unlike professional wrestling it is a real fight. Like these other disciplines, Catch wrestling does not normally feature strikes so was often learnt in tandem with boxing to create more rounded fighters which can be seen in the routes of American professional wrestling in the late 70's and early 80's. Historically Catch wrestling is also linked to Judo, after a number of bouts in the early 20th century which saw several high profile Judo practitioners lose fights to Catch wrestlers generating alterations in the make up of that discipline, it can be credited as one of the founding disciplines of Mixed Martial Arts.

Robinson's rise to fame was remarkable quick, winning the British Amateur Championship in 1957 aged just 18 and followed it with European Victory the following year, beating the 1956 Olympic bronze medallist in the process. The best part of the next ten years were spent honing his skills at the legendary Snake Pit with Billy Riley, the originator of modern Catch wrestling and master of the submission 60 years before the Gracie family came to prominence.

In the mid-60s, Robinson made his first trip to Japan where he wrestled on the professional scene with legends like Peter Maivia (The grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), Mammoth Suzuki and the Great Kusatsu. It was around this time before Robinson held his first notable belt which was the IWE World Championship belt. It was also aroudn this time that Robinson had an infamous meeting with the big Samoan Maivia in a bar. Revisionist history, or should that be The Rock's revisionist history, will tell you that Maivia and Robinson had an altercation, over what has been lost in time, and Maivia knocked Robinson through a window and then bit his eye out. Robinson claims differently, although his story also starts with Maivia knocking him through a window, in Robinson's account, he returned and tied the bigger, stronger Samoan up. Maivia bit through Robinson's cheek in the process of trying to escape and in that moment of anger, Robinson knocked Maivia out. What is most likely is a mixture of both as it does seem that Robinson was knocked through a window and did return and wrap the guy up but what happened next probably had more to do with other wrestlers pulling them apart to cool down away from one another. It should be noted that both men were known to be great friends both before and after the incident.

Robinson held several titles in Japan before trying his luck in 1970 in the American territories where he landed in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) run by multiple NWA champion Verne Gagne. Robinson and Gagne who were both from the old school Catch background so Robinson was elevated into being one of the promotions top talents fighting people like the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, Ray Stevens and Gagne himself. The men held the two most notable title matches of the mid-1970's with Gagne defending the coveted AWA belt on both occasions in fights that were very close to legitimate shoot wrestling matches of a previous time. These fights were highly lucrative for the promotion, getting onto several cable networks which put the AWA in the limelight for more big events. Some of that money was invested into the acquisition of the then unknown Hulk Hogan which will go down in professional wrestling history.

The highlight of Robinson's own career lead from this feud with Gagne as he was invited over to New Japan Wrestling to fight the iconic Antonio Inkoi. Billed as a fight between the worlds two most technical fighters it was voted the greatest match of the year and in the top 5 wrestling matches of the decade. Fought as was the custom as a real fight to the public although the result was actually worked out before, it was a 2 pin out of three fight in accordance with Catch wrestling tradition. Robinson won the first fall but then started to become uncooperative with the promotions desire to put Inoki over, legitimately taking the "world's best" as he was known, down to the ground and clamping on submissions. Eventually, Robinson did give up the two falls to lose but the match forced the best out of Inoki just to survive.

Unfortunately the act of  putting on one legendary match cost Robinson more than he could have imagined although this can only be seen retrospectively. New Japan never had him back as a performer seen as too risky to employ as he had the potential to make their stars look bad and the idea stuck with several American promotions demoting him to a mid card performer, using Robinson to put future talent over. One last hurrah in 1982 saw Robinson face Bob Buckland for the WWWF championship in Montreal which gave Robinson his last true moment in the spotlight but his career faded out through the comic book style of the 1980's and retired in 1992.

Another shoot wrestler that was suffered earlier from the superhero age of wrestling was another Snake Pit graduate  Karl Gotch. Gotch is the the man who is credited as the father of Japan's more realistic style of wrestling. In the early 90's several wrestler's unhappy with their place in the very political world of professional wrestling put together a show that was advertised as a real shoot contest taking that concept one step further and Robinson was invited to have a farewell showdown with long time rival Nick Brockwinkel.  It was one of those cases where the stars a-lined and something insignificant can turn out to be so important and so was the case of Robinson's farewell fight. So impressed with the technical grounding, Robinson was installed as their trainer to produce new talent.  

Many will know the UWF:I as the first stirrings of what we now know as Mixed Martial Arts. A company that broke the rules and inspired the idea for the first UFC as more than a concept but as genuinely promotable entertainment. It really cannot be considered a sport for ten years later when it became more than a no-holds brawl. Billy Robinson was the architect of this style that made the UWF:I so popular which at the time was a big gamble. In producing such talent Robinson also trained many of these fighters in the skills of ground fighting.

Billy Robinson was the man who made Kazushi Sakuraba

Sakuraba was a stand out wrestler at collegiate level chose to go into professional wrestling to emulate his hero Tiger Mask. In joining the UWF:I, Sakuraba would not find the ring psychology he had expected but rather the joys of the submission game. The limb lock, a speciality from Robinson's own career, became synonymous with Sakuraba and his early training had a lot to do with this. It was Robinson's belief that the best way to fake a move was to know how to do it properly which meant knowing how to defend it properly at the same time. This constant battle in training meant that all the IWF:I fighters could take their shoot style fights a step further which added to the excitement of the fight but also to the skill level of everyone in the company. Without intending to, the Snake Pit International became the first dedicated ground gym that was not Gracie run.

Sakuraba spent 5 years on and off under Robinson, learning a great deal of the moves that would make him a star. Four of Sakuraba's first six wins game via arm bar which he attributed to Robinson in an interview in 1999. How much this training would effect MMA would not be understood until the year 1999 when Sakuraba defeated three time ADCC champion and a member of BJJ's ruling family Royler Gracie via kimura. This was the first loss a Gracie family member had suffered in several decades but it would be tested as a fluke six months later when Sakuraba faced the unbeatable Royce Gracie, winner of three of the first four original UFC events. The fight, predominantly a ground battle where Sakuraba showed remarkable composure against the BJJ phenom, showed that wrestling with submission defence could beat BJJ. This time winning when Royce's corner threw in the towel. Sakuraba had shocked the world. Billy Robinson had a big hand in doing so but his credit in doing so has never truly been acknowledged.

Earlier attempts by the IWF:I to beat the Gracie's had been unsuccessful and was the ultimate undoing of the company which closed in 1996. However this  does not mean that Sakuraba was the only successful fighter who has been through Robinson's camp. Former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett comes directly from Robinson's camp and notable former champions Randy Couture and Jake Shields have gone to work with the Brit. The next man looking to break into MMA with Robinson training is former WWE star Harry Smith. The Canadian is the grandson of famous catch wrestler Stu Hart and son of the last great British catch wrestler, British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith so he has quite a legacy to hold up to. However at 6"5 tall and 240lbs, and with the backing of Robinson he could well go on to have a successful career as he is only 25 years old.

Billy Robinson had a great career but his true worth may not be seen for many years to come as MMA develops as a sport. It does seem a shame that this pioneer is not known in his own country nor does there seem to be anyone to take up his legacy however this should not detract from the long lasting effect Robinson had by being the man behind the Gracie Killer.

Affliction Remembered

With the slow dissolution of Strikeforce into nothingness, Dream's financials woes and the loss of the WEC which merged into the UFC at the start of the year, many MMA fans are dismayed at the direction the sport is headed. News that major sponsors including MusclePharm are in a bad financial state and several gyms have gone bust in the second quarter of this year, there has been further strain put on the idea that MMA is an up and coming sport that will feature alongside boxing in the near future. In fact, for the first time since the first Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz fight, it would appear by examining year on year growth that the sport is plateauing in popularity.

However this is not the first time that the sport has been shown to be less than bulletproof as a money making venture, as Affliction Entertainment discovered when they decided to take on the mantel of promoter in the Summer of 2008.

To understand the rise and fall of the Affliction brand, a historical context needs to be put in place. Affliction Clothing had been part of the backdrop of the explosion of the UFC's popularity through 2007 although it can be argued that was down to some incredible luck of Afflictions side. As a new company they had integrated themselves into the fight scene, notably sponsoring "Rampage" Jackson in Pride, but hearing off the return of "The Natural" Randy Couture they secured a big money deal to have the Hall Of Famer to wear their clothing to cage side. Not only was the clothing commented on by the commentators drawing attention to the brand initially  but Couture pulled off the shock victory over Tim Sylvia to regain the heavyweight championship at the age of 43 which had his image thrust into the media spotlight. Affliction, by inference, gained more free advertising than they could have ever imagined.

To Affliction's credit they quickly jumped on the opportunity and throughout 2007 they were by far the most prominent clothing company displayed at Octagon side, ousting long term UFC clothing partners Tapout for that position. The end of that year saw buy rates for the UFC exceed 750,000 and MMA was the hottest thing on the planet, then the disagreement happened and confusion sets in that saw the launch of the new company.

What we do know for certain is the the UFC banned Affliction clothing appearing on their pay per views in January 2008 and looked to phase out sponsorship for their under contract fighters by the end of the year. Why this happened depends on who is telling the tale. Both sides stories changed or were edited by the media so it is difficult to distil a true account. The basis of the Affliction claim was that the UFC were moving towards official sponsors doing a deal with other clothing companies so eliminated them as competition. The UFC's counter claim was that Affliction decided to form their own organisation before any action was taken against them and the banning was a counter measure to stop a rival company advertising on their programming.

Both sides stories hold some validation. Affliction were not the only company who were mysteriously banned at that point and UFC commentators Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan stopped referencing MMA outside the UFC on air. However the speed that celebrity business magnate Donald Trump was involved with the offshoot organisation Affliction Entertainment has always elicited ideas that Affliction were going to try their hand at booking in such a boom market. It should be remembered that this is not the first time that something with Donald Trumps backing has tried to take on a sporting franchise (and fail). Trump was very much involved in the failure of the USFL in the 1980s.

Afflictions debut event was scheduled for July 19th 2008 and in that press conference confirmed a deal to co-promote with M1 Global, which would see former Pride star and number one ranked heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko fight in America for only the second time in his career. A big scalp internationally for the company, it would guarantee PPV sales in both the Russian and the Japanese markets to supplement the American sales. Opposing him would be the former UFC heavyweight title holder, and the man who's defeat launched the Affliction brand, Tim Sylvia. The rest of the card was filled with ex UFC and Pride stars including two more ex-heavyweight champions in Josh Barnett and Andre Arlovski as well as on the undercard, the former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. This was definitely the most packed card of the year and had the potential to rival any event the UFC had put on during its rise to prominence.

To counter this the UFC put on a free card on Spike TV, debuting their dominant middleweight champion Anderson Silva at light heavyweight against brawler James Irvin. This strategic move was a deliberate ploy to take away PPV numbers from the competition as the draw of Silva in the general US market was individually higher than any of the stars on the Affliction card. Affliction stepped up its campaign in response, first plastering New York cabs with Affliction advertising and then announcing a deal to have their undercard put on Fox and Fight Network television as an appetizer to their event. The two companies went head to head.

Ultimately, the UFC's ploy worked as ten times as many people tuned in to watch Anderson Silva as those who brought the Affliction: Banned PPV. Both events were successful fight wise with the UFC getting two world class knock outs including the iconic Silva counter punch that floored Irvin in the blink of an eye. Afflictions main event was equally as spectacular as Fedor swarmed over Sylvia, gaining the submission win, after a knock down in less than 40 seconds.Both the other two big heavyweight match ups also ended in spectacular knock outs that left many fans claiming it to be the better event even though it only sold to 100,000 homes.

This lack of sales meant the event was a financial failure, only truly understood sometime after the situation had dissipated. Sharing sales with the PPV provider and M1 Global , Affliction made a loss of nearly 2 million dollars on the event taking the company onto the verge of bankruptcy almost before it had started. Only certain deference payment to some top talent on the promise of another big show allowed them to continue to function as an organisation. What looked like a guaranteed  money making industry had just had its bubble burst.

Afflictions's second event was scheduled for the October 11th but was postponed. The reason for this is another mystery that has gone into MMA legend. Originally the second card was going to happen in Las Vegas with a main event of Andrei Arlovski verses Josh Barnett however this never happened with Affliction evidentially failing to gain their promoters license in the state of Nevada.  Why they failed to gain a license is something that may never truly be revealed however the rumour mill went into over drive over the subject. Affliction pointed the finger directly at the UFC, claiming the company were pressurising the local officials not to allow them to host events in their home territory. This was denied by Dana White in many interviews but the fact that almost no MMA events outside the UFC are held in the Mecca of fighting suggests there may be something to it.  

Another factor seems to have been drug testing policy held by the Nevada State Athletic Commission which drug tests all talent that fights. Brining in talent from overseas where regulations are not adhered to so strictly was going to be an issue and Affliction did seem to want some sort of random testing to limit the damage potentially caused by a failed drugs test. Something that would come back to bite them later. Another query has been whether they could prove liquidity, something that we now know to be highly unlikely. So the event was rescheduled for January 24th and co-promoted with M1 Global once again which had two large benefits. One was being able to schedule Fedor back into the main event picture and the other was the backing provided them with the liquidity to move forward, this time in California.

It was clear that Affliction were not seen as such a dangerous rival to the UFC at this point so no card was scheduled to compete with the card. Affliction brought in Fedor to main event the contest against Arlovski who was known at the time as having some of the best hands in the business, although his chin could be a little vulnerable. The undercard was populated with the same high profile non UFC fighters as before, although in different match ups, but the buzz after the cancelled show had dissipated. The event drew only 90,000 buys even though the main event had yet another highlight reel knock-out as a flying knee attempt from Arlovski was met with the right hand of Fedor. In the clash Arlovski was knocked out in mid air and his body fell, prone to the floor. A knock out that became more famous in subsequent highlight shows than when the event happened.

It can be argued that the UFC was a factor in the poor buy rates but in a far more indircct way.The next week was the much anticipated second show down between lightweight king pin BJ Penn and welterweight supremo Georges St Pierre. An event that drew 920,000 buys, ten times the amount of the Affliction event. One of the biggest selling events ever, there is a good chance this took many buys away from Affliction and worse still for the company, they reputable spent three times as much on talent as the UFC did for their event. This looked like the ultimate failure, massive losses incurred across the board, including an ill-judged sponsorship of a NASCAR team meant that they made a loss on the gross of the event. Net loss was in the multi-millions and it was assumed this would be the end of Affliction. Especially after the high profile denouncement by Donald Trump in the media over the poor running of the organisation. Trump was said to have given his shares away in the business for a dollar.

The third great mystery is why Aflliction: Trilogy existed at all. The company were clearly and openly in financial turmoil and more than one rumour had come out, that we now know to be true, that they had discussions with the UFC to close and rejoin them as a sponsor. Affliction clothing was seen again from February 2009 in the UFC although nothing was officially mentioned. Most believe that the main reason is an agreement between Affliction and M1 Global to cut some of their losses in turn for showcasing more of M1's fighters in the US was a key factor. Another may well be pride as criticism against the company was growing and t-shirt sales were being effected by this. The actual reason may well be another mystery that is never truly understood.

The card was due to be headlined by Fedor Emelianenko once again. This time against Josh Barnett who also had two wins at Affliction events. The co-main event was another M1 Global fighter Gegard Mousasi who was at the time a relative unknown in the US although went on to be a Strikeforce and Dream light heavyweight champion against Renato "Babalu" Sobral. This unknown in such a high ranking fight further strengthened the suggestions that M1 was now pulling the strings. Of course we will never know how the fights would have turned out, the final destruction of the company was nigh.

The situation started to go wrong when scheduled interviews were cancelled between Barnett and the media. Rumours started that there may be a problem and just 10 days before the event the announcement was made that Josh Barnett was unable to compete due to failing a drugs test. A policy change in California to fall in line with Nevada in March 2009 was obviously missed by the promoters and talent involved. Under the new testing procedure, it was inevitable such obvious doping was going to be caught. The event was thrown into disarray. After three days of denials, Affliction held a final press confirming that not only had the event been cancelled due to not bring able to promote a new fight sufficiently but also that the company was to be dissolved. Affliction shortly announced a deal with the UFC to become an official clothing sponsor and their clothing officially reinstated into the company.

So an experiment in taking advantage of the MMA craze was a failure, basically from start to finish. It showed for the first time that MMA was not a golden goose and that competing was going to take more than throwing money at talent that were no longer attached to the UFC. For a business to compete would need to build from a solid foundation, producing its own talent and own market making fiscally sensible decisions on when to bring in high profile fighters. Afflictions mistakes would be repeated in many people's opinion by Strikeforce, just a year later further strengthening the case of careful promotion. Whether such an experience has put people of entering the world of MMA promoting, nobody can truly know however t does show us that with a lack of competition in the MMA world right now, a quick fix is not a viable option.