UFC on Versus Preview: Breaking Down Jon Jones vs Brandon Vera

Dave Meltzer talks about the bout:

The first of what will be a series of major light heavyweight matches in the division takes place Sunday night in Broomfield, Colo., with Jones facing Vera (11-4). What makes Jones perhaps at the head of the new class is that he's gotten to main event status so fast. He's only been training in the sport for two years and has only been training with a major camp, Greg Jackson's, for the past few months.

Vera will be far more than a trial horse. He's more experienced as well as more versatile in the stand-up game. He has good wrestling, and would figure to have an edge if he can keep it standing. But Matt Hamill had a higher level of wrestling than Vera, and Jones shocked everyone with the way he threw Hamill around and dominated him before being disqualified for throwing an illegal elbow just as he was on the verge of winning their December match.

Jones tells Bleacher Report that he plans to attack Brandon Vera where he's strongest:

"I attacked Matt Hamill at his strength-wrestling," Jones said. "What I learned from the fight is to not doubt my own abilities. I learned to not give people credit for their strengths."

"Brandon Vera is supposed to be such a great Muay-Thai striker? I'm going to let him prove that he is."

For his part Vera tells Ray Hui he's looking to do some ground fighting against Jones:

"MMA is a growing process for me too," Vera said. "For some reason, I don't know when or where it started. I started worrying about defending the takedown so much. I don't know. I started becoming this standup fighter and everybody wanted to see me bang, so I just stopped the takedowns, and I just started defending the takedown all the time. "

But Vera has since realized that he shouldn't be worried about being taken to the ground. After all, he's a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Lloyd Irvin.

"I was doing jiu-jitsu before I started fighting," Vera said. "I love being on the ground. I'm better on my back than I am on top of you. I've been submitting people all day now that I've gone back to my jiu-jitsu roots. So if somebody takes me to the ground, you could end up seeing someone submitted. I'm back on my jiu-jitsu game."

But he also told the Las Vegas Review Journal that he isn't worried about those watching the fight:

"I (have) stopped believing in the hype, I (have) stopped worrying about what people think, and I'm just kind of going back in just trying to hurt people again like I used to," he said. "I got away from that somehow. I don't know what happened, (but) I'm over it. I just want to go ahead and go back in there and start doing things like I used to."

Personally, I think this fight is just great match-making. Jon Jones is the fast-rising star. Brandon Vera is the fading star. But if Jones takes him lightly or Vera regains his old form, this could be a very different fight than many are expecting. 

Vera has a strong Greco-Roman background, better jiu jitsu credentials than Jones and a much more polished Muay Thai attack than Jones.

Jones will have a reach advantage, presumably better wrestling, an arsenal of throws and trips modified from judo, but he's never shown KO power standing and is prone to taking wild risks and being somewhat sloppy.

This might just be the fight where Jon Jones learns some valuable lessons.