Do Hendo’s Hands Hold the Jon Jones Kryptonite?
TweetDo Hendo’s Hands Hold the Jon Jones Kryptonite?
MMAWeekly.com
What’s it gonna take to beat UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones?
That’s a legitimate question without a clear answer.
Thus far, no one has even come close to putting Jones in trouble. And only two fighters have ever taken him to a decision, Stephan Bonnar and Andre Gusmao.
Matt Hamill does hold a victory over Jones and their respective resumes, but that was a fight that Jones dominated, losing only due to a disqualification for using an illegal “12 to 6 o’clock” elbow strike.
Aside from that asterisk on his record, Jones has been nothing short of spectacular, reeling off five consecutive victories since the DQ. He finished Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Ryan Bader to set up a title shot. He then dominated and finished Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to capture the belt then defended it against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
He next faces Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 in Toronoto.
Having been caught up in the Jon Jones tornado, Bader believes he has an answer to our initial question, although it’s not exactly definitive.
“Maybe (Dan) Henderson,” Bader told MMAWeekly Radio’s weekend crew recently. “Looking at his last fight, he’s not gonna go away. Shogun and Henderson looked like zombies out there, knocking each other out.”
Bader has a similar fighting style to Henderson, so it’s no surprise that he would think the answer lies somewhere within their mirroring tactics.
“I think it’s gonna take a big puncher. It’s a guy that’s gonna throw at him and doesn’t respect him really. I think Henderson could be that guy,” said Bader, pointing out what could have led to his faltering against Jones when they met at UFC 126 earlier this year.
“That’s what the thing is, people respect Jon Jones too much. They respect his skills, and rightfully so, but it’s a guy that says screw it, I’m gonna try and go out there and knock your head off. It could be Dan.”
Henderson’s power punches have been the answer numerous times before: Fedor Emelianenko, Michael Bisping, Wanderlei Silva, and many others.
Could it be they hold they hold the Jon Jones kryptonite as well?
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