Jon Jones is the premier pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts today, but when he faces Anthony "Rumble" Johnson at UFC 187 on May 23, "Bones" Jones has admitted he will be at a big disadvantage in one aspect-power.
Johnson has shot up the light heavyweight rankings on the strength of his striking game, and while Jones is an effective, accurate striker, he doesn't possess the one-punch knockout ability of his next challenger.
"He has much more striking power than I do. That's pretty obvious. I haven't knocked out anything," Jones admitted. "Rampage said I couldn't bust a grape, and I think that is true."
Luckily for Jones, mixed martial arts isn't all about standing and trading. Jones doesn't expect his striking disadvantage to be the nail in the coffin of his current title run.
"I have a great staff of people around me, really smart coaches. We're not naïve to our strengths and our weaknesses. We'll come up with an appropriate strategy to be successful," Jones said.
Still, Johnson has won his last nine fights in a row and is coming off vicious, back-to-back knockouts of established UFC veterans. Last month former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans cited Johnson's one-punch capabilities as the basis for an upset pick.
"You either have punching power or you don't, and Jon does not have that sort of punching power. Now if you look to take him down, good luck. You are going to be hit before you go in," Evans said.
"Jon is very creative, and AJ has never been in there with someone as creative a striker as Jon, but let's be honest here, Jon can get hit. AJ's hardest punch is the uppercut, and I think that if they start exchanging, and they will start exchanging, he'll knock Jon out."
[Yahoo]
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