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“Bones” supplies the material for this edition of The Film Room.
Jones made his career on his patient leading attacks and well-roundedness everywhere a fight can take him. As a long and rangy fighter, most of his strikes can land while being out of range of the opponent’s returning strikes. Jones’ rear straight is his best weapon on the feet, and he can use it proficiently out of both stances. He likes to stalk and slowly walk down his opponents with jabs and low kicks before throwing the rear straight down the middle. Something to notice is the timing of these punches. Sometimes he throws them at full speed and full power, and other times, he throws them at half speed just to touch the opponent with them. This rhythm manipulation makes it incredibility difficult for the opponent to time his punches.
Something else upon which Jones has built his career are range-setting kicks. Jones popularized the low line kick to the thighs and shins in MMA, and they are the perfect attack for a long fighter who wants to keep the opponent at his range. Jones basically beat Quinton Jackson with these kicks alone, and they worked wonders against Daniel Cormier, who was trying to close the distance and take away his range advantage. Smith is one of the most aggressive fighters in the UFC today, so expect Jones to use these kicks liberally to keep him at bay.
Jones’ arm reach is talked about in every one of his fights, but his leg reach is rarely mentioned despite being just as important to his striking. Most of Jones’ kicks are of the low line variety, but he will occasionally switch them to the head and body. In his second fight with Cormier, Jones made an excellent read on the American Kickboxing Academy captain’s tendency to dip to his right when defending strikes. Instead of attacking this tendency early, Jones waited until he was walking backward and quickly threw the kick from an odd position so it was unexpected. He used this exact technique a few times in the first fight and perfected it in the rematch to score the technical knockout.
Jones may be the greatest striker in light heavyweight history, but he still has his fair share of defensive holes. Before the knockout in the rematch with “DC,” Jones was arguably losing the fight and had a difficult time dealing with Cormier’s ability to cover distance and beat on him in the clinch. Jones has a magnificent clinch game, but Cormier still managed to get inside his guard and land clean uppercuts.
Jones also has the bad habit of dropping his hands when throwing kicks, and Alexander Gustafsson was able to take advantage of this weakness multiple times. Smith is an underrated counterstriker, and it would not be surprising to see him capitalize in much the same way. Remember, Lyoto Machida managed to exploit this hole, too, and had Jones in the most trouble of his career up to that point.
Before MMA, Jones was a standout wrestler and won junior college national championship at Iowa State Community College -- the same school for which Colby Covington, Cain Velasquez and Joe Soto wrestled. Early in his MMA career, Jones grappled much more than he does today and showed he has some of the best grappling control and ground-and-pound in the division. His use of elbows on the ground is particularly frightening. Since his arms are so long, he can land elbows from full guard when others would have to posture or pass.
Although Jones has not completed a submission since 2012, the threat is always there. He has six submission victories in his career, with five of them coming in the UFC. Since Jones thrives against strikers who are willing to play into his patient style, it would not be surprising to see him try to grapple with Smith since we know that “Lionheart” is not going to sit on the outside and let the champion pick him apart. Jones has struggled with aggression in the past, and Smith might be the most aggressive fighter in the division outside of Thiago Santos. Jones should have the far superior grappling skills, so he may turn this fight into five rounds of wrestling just to be safe and not risk getting caught with a wild combo from the challenger.