Jon Jones: 10 Reasons He Is Already a Threat at Heavyweight

Jon Jones is one of the greatest light heavyweights out there today. He has earned his right to be champion and has very few fighters left whom he hasn't already beaten at that weight.

The fact is that he is only 24 and sooner or later he will need to make the move to heavyweight either to find new challenges or because as he grows older he will gain weight and be unable to make the light heavyweight limit.

However, he is already a danger to those fighting at heavyweight.

Here are the 10 things that anyone fighting in the UFC's top weight class need to look out for.

His Reach

It's one of the most obvious points that could be made.

Jones' reach is one of the largest in the UFC, spanning 84 inches.

The UFC heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos, has a reach of 77 inches.

Alistair Overeem, who just knocked out Brock Lesnar and is taller than Jones by one inch, has a reach of 81 inches.

That not only makes Jones arms' abnormally long for his body, it makes it hard for anyone to reach him since his jab could effectively keep everyone out of his zone.

It also makes it hard to judge the distance needed to get into his range which is why a lot of fighters seem befuddled when they get in the cage with him.

His Youth

Jones is the youngest fighter to win a UFC championship having been only 23 when he took out Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. He is now 24, but it won't be until July that he has his next birthday.

Barring serious injuries, he has been fighting at regular intervals and seems like he is close to running out of people to face at his weight class.

If he moves up within the next two years he will be a relatively young 26 years old. That means he'll still have energy on his side that many of his opponents will have to keep up with.

That isn't to say that he won't face younger fighters himself, but if he does they will lack the one thing he has which is...

His Level of Opposition

Jones has fought some of the best light heavyweights in the world and beaten them handily.

Each time he goes out there he is getting better and continues to learn. Those experiences and fights are going to give him an edge when he fights at heavyweight, because even if the fighters are larger the world class talent he has faced will still help him know what to do when he is in trouble.

The UFC's light heavyweight division is arguably its best and Jones has been able to beat almost all of them. Each opponent has been a unique person with his own style and attitude and facing them has given Jones a new perspective each time.

It will be difficult for anyone to face him and give him something he hasn't already seen.

His Unique Style

Jones does a lot of things wrong, but he is so talented, quick and genetically different that he makes it work.

His moves like a spinning elbow leave him open, but there isn't one opponent he has faced who has been able to take advantage of it.

Part of it has to do with his reach, but most of it is just how fast and unpredictable he is. Jones has the confidence and swagger to pull off each move and do it with the assurance that he won't get beaten.

Much like Roy Jones Jr. in the 90s, Jones' style revolves around his natural talent and quickness and is something he might not be able to use when he gets older.

For now it makes him unstoppable.

His Training Camp

Jones trains with the Greg Jackson camp out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. While Jackson himself is a great coach and his trainers are first class, it is also the wealth of talent that Jones gets to train with that makes this such a factor.

People like Georges St-Pierre, Carlos Condit, Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt and at one point potential challenger Rashad Evans have all trained out of that camp. Jones has been able to learn from not only the coaches that taught them, but the fighters themselves.

It is an invaluable experience that has helped him grow as a fighter, but it only worked because...

His Willingness to Learn

This factor might change depending on how many more fights Jones wins. He has gotten more confident as he has kept winning and to some it borders on cockiness.

That said, it is his desire to learn and grow that has made him determined to be the best and made it happen. It is something that either consumes a fighter or doesn't. If a fighter doesn't want to be the best and put everything else second, then there isn't a point in him competing.

It is something that is inside every good fighter who has become a champion.

The great ones keep that feeling and that is something that fans will have to watch Jones for to see if he can.

His Physical Growth

As Jones grows bigger it might affect his speed, but it will definitely change his power. He will get even stronger then he is now which is saying something considering how he was able to suplex a guy like Stephan Bonner.

The added strength of whatever weight he gains will help him along with the lack of weight cut when he finally does step up to heavyweight.

The lack of weight cutting also might affect his stamina. Even though some fighters cut serious amounts of weight it adversely affects their ability to go three or five rounds.

It will be interesting to see how these two factors play a role with Jones when he steps up in weight.

His Lack of Opponents and Light Heavyweight

Jones doesn't have a lot more he can do at light heavyweight which means that a step up to heavyweight is unavoidable.

The more fighters he beats and the quicker his turnaround time for fights the faster fans will demand that he move up in weight.

MMA is a pay-per-view based sport and because of it what the fans demand usually happens. That is because the bigger the outcry the more money they are willing to spend when the change has been made.

If Jones beats his next few opponents it won't matter who is left, just who the fans want to see him fight.

If no light heavyweight makes the grade in their eyes it might mean a faster advancement to heavyweight.

His Ability to Finish Fights

Jones hasn't gone the distance since his first two fights in the UFC. Usually this is the opposite of what happens.

Most fighters are able to finish their first few fights and then start going the distance once they face elite opposition, but that didn't happen in Jones' case.

He keeps growing as a fighter and because of it, he is able to take out some of the most impressive martial artists around the globe.

Each time he has stepped into the cage he has used a combination of the things mentioned above to beat each man and do it in a fashion that hasn't been seen before.

If he steps up to heavyweight he will bring that ability with him.

He Just Started MMA a Few Years Ago

It may be hard to believe, but Jones's professional MMA career started in 2008. His training for MMA started just a little bit before that and around his second year in the sport he was facing Matt Hamil.

In a Q and A article with Sherdog.com, even Jones was shocked at how quickly he had come up the rankings given how little time he had been around.

His growth rate is impressive and it's hard to see him not getting better. He is on the fast track to becoming one of the best MMA fighters in the short history of the sport.

When he does step up to heavyweight it will take some adjustments, but if he makes them as fast as he did the first few when he stepped into MMA he will be fine.

Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com which focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.