Jon "Bones" Jones' UFC 187 title fight vs. Anthony "Rumble" Johnson is a highly anticipated affair, but the light heavyweight champion himself doesn't seem too worried about the rising knockout artist. In fact, during a recent interview Jones talked more about heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez than Johnson.
"I don't know when I'm going to move up in weight. I've entertained the thought of going to heavyweight so many times, and I think right now -- with all due respect to Anthony -- I believe I'll win that fight and get into super fights and rematches," Jones said.
While Jones' lithe frame has been pointed to by his detractors as a reason he'd get mauled by Velasquez, Jones believes Velasquez is not so big that he can't be handled.
"If I do go to heavyweight or when I do go to heavyweight, I do believe I have the skill set to beat Cain (Velasquez)," Jones said.
"Cain's a magnificent opponent. My main reason for believing I'll beat Cain is his size. He's not one of those massive heavyweights who's going to just outweigh and out-power me in every situation. He's a guy I can totally compete with, that I'm smart enough to compete with him."
With that in mind, here are three reasons Jon Jones might stand a chance against Velasquez.
Length
Much is made about the advantage Velasquez would have in strength over Jones as a natural heavyweight, but what about Jones' extreme length advantage? Jones isn't a heavy striker, but he's an effective and accurate one. If he chooses to fight at long range, he has a 7.5-inch reach advantage over Velasquez. If Jones can keep a jab in Velasquez's face he might force him to attack recklessly to get through it.
Strength
Jones' frame is deceptive, as former heavyweight and Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier found out at UFC 183. Cormier fought Jones at light heavyweight, but he was expected to take it to Jones on the ground. Instead, the ex-wrestling champion was stuffed time after time on his takedown attempts, while Jones was the one able to get Cormier to the mat.
Cormier eventually succeeded in slamming Jones in the final round, but it was a hollow victory. The fight was already lost. The lack of success isn't an indictment of Cormier's skills either-Jones has successfully defended 95 percent of takedown attempts in his career.
Activity
This applies only if the UFC decides to go ahead and make this fight happen relatively quickly after Jones faces Johnson. Velasquez has not fought since October 2013, when he knocked out Junior dos Santos, while Jones has fought three times (since September 2013) in a similar time span. While he has not been in the octagon with someone as overpowering as Velasquez, he has been in there with a bullying fighter (Glover Teixeira), and a world-class wrestler who has fought in the heavyweight division. Velasquez would absolutely need a tune-up fight, and whomever he would fight would be bigger than Jones, but likely far less skillful.
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