American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) head coach Javier Mendez thinks Jon Jones will be a force to be reckoned with at heavyweight.
‘Bones’ vacated the UFC light heavyweight title earlier this year and is expected to move up to heavyweight to fight the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou, which is rumored to take place in early 2021. And, with Jones being so successful at light heavyweight, Mendez believes the JacksonWink product will be just as, if not more dominant, at heavyweight.
Speaking to Helen Yee in a recent interview Mendez, who has trained world championship-calibre fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov, Daniel Cormier, and Cain Velasquez, said Jones ‘steamrolls everybody’ at heavyweight — including current champ Miocic — except Ngannou.
“I think he’ll do great,” Mendez said (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA). “I think that Jon Jones calculates everything. He’s extremely smart, got a super high IQ in the fight game. He knows exactly what to do, when to do it. I think he’ll do fantastic. I think he would do incredible.”
“I think the only person that probably can give him a problem is [Francis] Ngannou because of the size and the power,” he added. “And I think Ngannou is a problem for anybody but I think other than that, I think Jon Jones steamrolls everybody.”
Jones is the most dominant light heavyweight champion in UFC history and is currently #1 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings.
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