Jon Jones is considered to be the greatest of all time for good reason.
While it looks like Tom Aspinall is prepared to move on from fighting Jones, the UFC heavyweight champion doesn’t need to fight again.
His public perception has certainly declined, with fans starting a petition to strip Jones of the belt, but his resume speaks for itself at this point.
‘Bones’ appeared to be unbeatable during his light heavyweight title reign where he continued to dominate opponents and put away legends with each outing.
At UFC 159, he made quick work of another Hall of Famer before Jones realized that he’d suffered a gruesome injury which fortunately, didn’t impact the outcome.
Chael Sonnen compares Jon Jones’ ground and pound to Khabib Nurmagomedov
In his fifth successful title defense, Jon Jones stopped Chael Sonnen in the first round at UFC 159.
‘Bones’ was almost dismissive of his opponent’s skillset as he looked to get in close with his challenger and out-grapple him, rather than using his superior striking and range.
Jones secured several takedowns in the opening round before he was able to land some huge ground and pound strikes, raining down some elbows from the top which led to the stoppage, bloodying the face of Sonnen in the process.
‘The Bad Guy’ spoke in a recent interview with Bloody Elbow about his experience of fighting the current UFC heavyweight champion.
When comparing Jones to some of the other great fighters that he has faced like Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko, Sonnen highlighted Jones’ underrated ground and pound as a factor that sets him apart.
“Jon Jones’ ground and pound, and I don’t think Jon ever gets credit for that. He’ll do some work on the ground, but he beats you up on the feet so well, his ground and pound is top three ever. I mean, I would compare it to Khabib. Khabib does a little better with trapping you and holding you down but if Jon gets you there and sits up one time, one time, and you take a Jon Jones elbow, you are now different.
“You’re not the same person as you were before you took that elbow, but then he comes up and he gives you another elbow. Things change quickly and I just don’t know how much credit Jon has gotten from our community for his ground and pound abilities.”
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Chael Sonnen highlights several other Jon Jones strengths that aren’t spoken about enough
While Chael Sonnen’s claim that Jon Jones has never been taken down isn’t supported by UFC stats, with both Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson recording takedowns against him, he did point out that we’ve never seen ‘Bones’ get stuck in a bad position on the ground.
The heavyweight champion has long been considered to be the most well-rounded fighter that we’ve ever seen inside the Octagon and several fighters have tested that.
Sonnen highlighted several other attributes that aren’t always brought up when people talk about how great Jones truly is.
“We don’t have to worry about his Jiu-Jitsu. He’s never on bottom. He’s got this uncanny ability to always be on top but the pressure that he can put, and Jon Jones can breathe late into a fight. I mean, guys get tired… Jon doesn’t get fatigued. He is able to push through. I mean, Jon is tough enough. He’s not just better than everybody skill-wise, he’s dog tough when you need to be.”