MMA: Why Jon Jones Is a Future Heavyweight Champion on Astini News
His haters would say he's endured pure luck and he's yet to fully prove himself.
His fan base states he's the greatest light heavyweight to have ever participated in the sport of mixed martial arts.
The neutral believes he is next best thing.
Whatever viewpoint you may have, it's hard to deny just how much Jon Jones has evolved over the early stages of his career.
Despite a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill at the Heavyweight Finale, "Bones" Jones has been nearly flawless in his game. To back it up, Jones has become the youngest champion in UFC history at just 24 years of age.
An early dominance such as this have never been seen before leading us to believe Jones' time at the 205-pound weight class could be a short stint. Even if it's not, it's likely we'll eventually see the young phenom squaring off against the bruisers in the heavyweight division.
Not only will Jones hang with the 265-pounders, but he'll be sitting on the throne.
If Jones were to make the transition to the heavyweight, he'd certainly need additional muscle. However, Jones is currently fighting in the light heavyweight division with the body of a heavyweight.
At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, Jones is home to the longest wingspan in UFC history, at 84.5 inches. Comparing that to the current heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos, Jones holds an advantage of 7.5 inches. Taking it a step further, comparing Jones' reach to the tallest man in the UFC in Stefan Struve, who stands 6-foot-11 and weighs 261 pounds, Jones still has the advantage by half an inch.
While his height, reach and build are certainly key components in his future success in the heavyweight division, we haven't even touched on his skill set.
As we've seen throughout his time in the UFC, Jones is nearly untouchable.
In fact, the only man to expose the young terror was Lyoto Machida, who was later submitted senseless by Jones.
The quickness, explosiveness and well-rounded game is something the 265-pound weight class has never seen before.
If Jones were to make the transition to the heavyweight division, it wouldn't be long until he joined Randy Couture and BJ Penn as one of three fighters to have ever worn titles in two separate weight classes.
Jon Jones is a future heavyweight champion.
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