UFC 140 Prediction: Jon Jones Will Continue Run of Dominance, Beat Lyoto Machida

Jon Jones is poised to cap off his incredible calendar year with a dominant win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, in Toronto on Saturday. By bouncing "Dragon" at the Air Canada Centre, "Bones" will notch his third consecutive victory over a one-time Light Heavyweight Champion, while asserting himself as the most dominant mixed martial artist not named Anderson Silva.

The 24-year-old New Yorker has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the UFC this year, earning early decisions over Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua and Quinton Jackson by way of his tremendous length, strength, agility and grappling skills. Jones is a true anomaly—a tall, lanky fighter in a division replete with beefy strikers known more for hard hits than carefully executed game plans.

In that sense, then, Machida is also rather unique, at least as far as Jones's competitors are concerned. Machida is vastly smarter and more patient in the Octagon than anyone Jones has yet faced, with the sort of counter-striking ability that could, in theory, give the reigning champion fits.

Of course, the fact that Machida has only fought once in 2011, and that he lost his only two fights in 2010 (to Shogun and Rampage), doesn't bode well for his challenge. Machida is more mobile than Jones' most recent opponents, but, at 33, his quickness still pales in comparison to that of the 24-year-old Jones and could just as easily be neutralized by Jones' 10-inch reach advantage.

Machida's best chance, it would seem, would come by way of injuring Jones at some point. Jones has yet to face much adversity in the Octagon, which is as much a function of his sheer talent as it is of luck, if not more so.

Then again, it's entirely possible that Jones is excellent at fighting back from a position of weakness to go along with his superiority in just about every other facet of fighting.

The only way we, or Machida, will ever know is if Jones gets knocked down or thrown onto his back.

There's a reason few, if any, have ever seen Jones so suppliant, though—because he's so good that no one has ever managed to force him into that position.

Don't expect that to change this weekend, or anytime soon, for that matter.

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