We all have seen the, "Jon needs to move up to HW" and "He's only so good because of his reach" comments which bases his success mostly on his size.. However what is probably his best attribute, besides his wrestling, is completely between his ears. I just re-watched the fight and I noticed Mike Winklejohn tell him between rounds that Lyoto is looking to counter his leg kicks with the straight.

Before I go on, that is a BRILLIANT strategy by Lyoto Machida and his team. Jon, unlike most rangy guys, dictates range with his kicks. He does leg kicks, teeps, teeps to the knee, and other kicks to keep his opponents at bay. He uses his jab and straight punches to damage, but not to keep them at bay. So waiting for him to throw a kick and then charging in straight is an awesome strategy and is something other opponents should look at doing.

Anyway, so during the entire round he was fainting leg kicks, and even threw some, to goad Lyoto into punching. Most of the time Lyoto didn't fall for it. However despite everything he was still thinking that. Way near the end of the round(like 50 seconds left) he threw a superman punch which is what dropped Lyoto and lead to the choke.

We have all seen fighters completely bail on their gameplans or not listen to their corner when the fists start flying. Him keeping that composure is very commendable. Him having the intelligence to keep with the strategy his coach told him almost 5 minutes prior is incredible. I don't think any other fighter would have been conscious of what their corner told them at the 55 second mark of the following round.

via 4.bp.blogspot.com

So all the attention that is given to his physical attributes should get diverted towards his mental ones. I think there is a reason why guys like Stefan Struve, Cyrille Diabate, and Kendall Grove aren't dominating weight classes and Jon Jones is. The guy is incredibly intelligent and is very poised. If it wasn't for that he would just be another guy with "potential" coming up.