UFC 140: 5 Reasons Jon Jones Will Continue To Improve

After his destruction of Lyoto Machida this past Saturday at UFC 140, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is once again riding high on a win over a former champion.

The matchup was a stylistic wonder that didn’t disappoint, but at the end of the day, it ended as all of the young champion’s fights have—with his opponent battered and befuddled.

What’s scarier, Jones isn’t even at the apex of his abilities yet. He’s not even close.

Here are some reasons he’s going to continue to get better:

He’s a Natural Athlete

Athleticism is a rare gift, and athleticism the likes of which Jones has is that much more rare.

He’s a physical freak with the gifts of size, speed and strength that no man outside of maybe Brock Lesnar has ever brought to MMA.

Anyone will tell you that an athlete doesn’t reach his or her prime until they’re in their late 20s. Jones is 24, meaning he could have five years before he harnesses his athleticism to the fullest degree possible.

That natural ability, once it’s been fully realized, is likely to produce a force that no one will have an answer to.

He’s Still Green

People don’t really realize it, but Jones is still quite green. It was only five fights ago that he literally didn’t know the rules well enough to know that he couldn’t throw downward elbows from mount. That accounted for his only career loss.

Since then, he’s beaten two veterans and four top-10 guys, three of which once held the UFC light heavyweight title. He’s come a long way but will only become more comfortable and a better cage general as time rolls on.

If seeing him lose is something you’re into, there’s reason to fear that the best chance to see it may already be past.

He Receives Great Coaching

No one will ever accuse Greg Jackson of encouraging his fighters to be too exciting, but the man is no less of a genius for it. In fact, that reality is probably what makes him such a genius.

In Jones, he has the ultimate prodigious talent with which to work—a talent so rich with potential that he was willing to walk away from longtime student, friend and former champion Rashad Evans to continue coaching him.

With Jackson in his corner, Jones will only develop better fundamentals in terms of his striking and submissions, to go along with what’s already a formidable wrestling game. He’ll also learn the fight game at a rapid pace.

His fight IQ will only improve on account of his intelligence and Jackson’s gift for seeing mixed martial arts as a spiritual and mental pursuit as much as a physical one.

He’s Already Evolving Rapidly

Look at the Jon Jones that fought Lyoto Machida in comparison to the one that fought Rampage Jackson. In only a few short months, he went from fairly stiff and stilted in his standup, to much more flowing and smooth.

At UFC 140, he looked comfortable in a Muay Thai stance, ready to engage on the feet with a man notorious for the trickiest standup in the division.

The fact that he didn’t have much success in the first round is erroneous. He chose to stand up and fight Machida, despite the fact that a fight on the ground favoured him heavily. And, trouble with Machida’s in-and-out style notwithstanding, he looked grossly improved doing so, which is remarkable when you consider Machida’s diversity of attacks in comparison to Rampage’s boxing-centric approach.

If he’s learning that quickly there’s no telling where he’ll be in five months, much less five years.

His Division Isn’t That Deep

On his rise to the top, and in his subsequent defenses, Jones has vanquished most of the better contenders around. He already has wins over names like Rua, Rampage, Bader and now, Machida, and outside of Dan Henderson, Phil Davis and Rashad Evans, there aren’t many guys left that seem like viable challengers.

Realistically, 205 isn’t what it once was. Sure, it was once the marquee division in MMA, but now, it’s fairly thin, and there isn’t a great hope that it will get thicker.

That’s not going to hurt the cause for Jones to improve, as he’ll get cage time against opponents that—should he get through the top-10 guys he hasn’t already handled—will be overmatched from the get-go.

From there, you could see him move to a thin heavyweight division as well, with plenty of experience and more refined technique, which is a scary proposition for the MMA world going forward.