TUF 10 Finale Preview: Jon Jones Talks About His Improvements After Training With Greg Jackson
"... they’re attacking my main weaknesses. Greg is big on getting his athletes to close up their gaps. My jiu-jitsu has to be my weakest department so he's trying to close that hole up. I've been doing a lot of wrestling and a lot of jiu-jitsu.... It's amazing. It's just a total reality check on how not good I actually am. You know what I mean? I go from a school (in New York) where I beat up everyone, and now I get tapped out and guys try to kick my head off. It's an everyday thing. It's just a big reality check in how much work I actually have to do still..."
"One thing about Greg Jackson is that he sees who I am and he respects who I am and he allows me to be who I am. He tells me every day, 'I love your creativity, Jon. I want more of that. What is that called? Do more of that funky thing.' He loves it. The only thing he forces is for me to be able to push the pace. Instead of one flying knee, he wants six flying knees per round. Instead of a few jabs, he wants 20 jabs per round. He wants combinations, he wants punches in bunches. He wants (me) to use the base of (conventional) fighting to set up the funkiness. He embraces it, he just wants me to take pride in this new set of lungs that I have."
HT: MMA Mania (via SportingNews.com)
9 months ago
Anton Tabuena
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this kid is the future of the LH division…
by Dark Tower on Nov 28, 2009 1:54 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I can just imagine Greg Jackson singing...
we want the funk
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk
We gotta have that funk
for all intents and purposes, just consider all my posts as works of satire.
by Bandaka on Nov 28, 2009 10:31 AM EST reply actions 4 recs
"Hit him with your groin!
And your funk too!"
by Scott Haber on Nov 28, 2009 1:26 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
If he cleans out the division at some point, I’d give almost anything to see him fight Anderson. Machida Anderson used to be my dream fight, but I’m pretty sure this is going to be it if he keeps improving the way he is.
I also keep getting the sense that Greg is a special kind of guy. Knows how to coach and manage without being stifling, he seems to encourage fraternity and loyalty without too much machismo or loss of respect. When you look at his group of fighters, where they were and where they are now, I dunno, it speaks volumes.
Anderson is getting up in age, I think he’ll be past his prime by the time Jones is peaking. In 2-3 years give me Mousasi-Jones.
by ufc4 on Nov 28, 2009 12:23 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Oooh I like.
I still want Jones and Anderson though. It’s too early to talk about Anderson’s decline, he’s done nothing but improve and shown no signs of slowing.
Anderson or Mousasi vs. Jones would be hellacious. There’s no reason at all to worry about Anderson declining anytime soon. It’s just a matter of how motivated he is, and what he wants to do. Can anyone think of a big shot landed on Anderson Silva? I’ve seen pretty much everything, and I can’t think of one time he’s been hit with a hard strike. Murray and Hendo landed a few jabs, Otsuka a bit of ground and pound, but really he walks away unscathed from every fight. The guy takes no punishment, and could probably fight every other month if there were credible opponents for him, and a desire on his part to do it.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Nov 28, 2009 7:24 PM EST up reply actions
Stevenson said something like that
It’s not the “train or you lose” mentality of other camps, it’s “train because you love to train.” He said the positive energy from that camp is amazing.
I think the most underrated thing Greg Jackson brings to the table is the ability to cooperate productively with other Trainers. A lot of camps end up having the coaches not on the same page, or working at cross purposes (particularly with “outside” coaches) – think of Florian and Dellagrotte. Seems like a lot of Jackson’s success comes from his ability to collaborate with other trainers and camps, e.g. WinkleJohn at GJSF in New Mexico, Trevor Wittman in Co., TriStar in Montreal (I know I’m forgetting people) without egos getting in the way. And the trainers are all delivering one coherent message to the fighter both in the camp, and during the match.
But I honestly think Jackson’s gameplanning (while excellent) is overrated. For one thing, people act like he comes up with all the ideas, which isn’t true, he works with the other trainers and camps. Second off, his fighter seriously came up short against maybe the toughest fighter to solve (Machida) in recent memory. Rua had the kickass gameplan that will serve as the blueprint for every Machida opponent henceforth. And, am I right to think that Rashad didn’t even really spar with Shotokan Strikers? Rashad looked like he had no clue what to do! (And yes, that fight might have been the toughest test. But if the reputation “greatest fight strategist/gameplanner ever” is to be deserved, he should really rise to the occasion in those tough fights.)
Please don’t misread this as bashing on Jackson or his team. The camp is obviously one of the best out there, and probably the best camp around P4P. Also, they are great at gameplanning – just their reputation for it is overinflated.
it does seem like a lot of that reputation came from Evans and Jardine beating a very declined Chuck Liddell when they were pretty big underdogs. It kind of seems now like those wins were more a product of Liddell not being 100% than Jackson finally figured out how to beat the guy that had ruled LHW for two years.
What Evans said after the Machida loss was that it wasn’t the Shotokan timing or style that threw him off, it was Machida’s power. He was comfortable sitting back and waiting for an opening, but once Machida connected a few times the entire plan went out the window.
I don’t really agree with idea that other people can follow Rua’s template to beat Machida. It seems to me to be a pretty straight forward case of what would happen if you put a karate guy in front of a muay thai guy… the muay thai guy was able to whip low kicks faster from the more open stance… trading low kicks for jabs to the face. Even someone else who has great leg kicks, like Forrest Giffin, wouldn’t be able to duplicate it without the muay thai stance or rua’s amazing chin. Machida said that he and Silva worked out what he was doing wrong and it’s been corrected for the rematch. I really wonder what that would be… more lateral movement?
Not simply Muay Thai ...
Thiago Silva is also a muay thai fighter, and he got walloped! Plus, Shogun showed much more patience + ability to pick his spots than he ever did in the past. So I don’t think it’s quite as simple as, oh this is what happens when Karate faces Muay Thai. (Not to mention that Machida is himself very proficient at MT, and trained it extensively).
W/ that said, I do agree that “not every fighter” will be able to beat Machida using Rua’s method. I don’t think Forrest has the tools, or the chin to pull it off. But other fighters who have both high level MT striking and are athletic enough should be able to follow the blueprint of battering the legs, and more importantly the body of Machida… If they can get his timing down, and disrupt it like Shogun did.
On the other hand, maybe Machida comes out with killer adjustments, and blows Shogun out of the water. I’m with you, can’t wait to see the rematch!
Agree. Shogun is awesome, but he could implement that gameplan because he has speed that Thiago, Rashad and Rampage can’t match. Can’t wait for that rematch either. One of the most interesting fights I’ve ever seen, even though it may have seemed slow and methodical to a lot of fans.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Nov 28, 2009 7:28 PM EST up reply actions
I wouldn’t put Thaigo Silva’s muay thai in the same ballpark as Shogun Rua’s, but maybe I’m wrong on that. For one thing, Silva doesn’t use a traditional muay thai stance like Rua does and is more of a puncher than a well-rounded striker.
It seemed to me that his stance was one of the main reasons that Shogun had so much success landing his kicks before Machida’s counter punches landed. Obviously though, a bad muay thai striker is not going to beat Machida just by using a stance which happens to be effective, but with an elite striker like Rua, I think it gave him a particular opening against Machida’s karate stance. So I don’t think his gameplan would be as effective for anyone who is not coming from a strong muay thai background.
I don’t think the background is needed, so long as you demonstrate the ability to mentally put Machida off of his game and negate those advantages (which we must allow includes unfamiliarity); Shogun’s Muay Thai techniques simply gave him a better tool to press (not make) the advantage when he found these openings, Rashad unfortunately had neither.
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