There was plenty of technique on display at UFC 94. I really had to think about what I wanted to talk about most -- George St Pierre's Superman Jab probably merits a column, and Lyoto Machida's footwork and trips were very nice but for my dollar, Jon Jones' display of Greco-Roman wrestling against Stephan Bonnar was the coolest of all.
For one thing, despite so many high profile MMA stars coming from a Greco-Roman background -- Randy Couture, Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson leap to mind -- I really can't recall ever seeing such a clinic of flashy greco moves in one bout.
Jones caught Bonner with a variety of flashy takedowns, including the suplex that's pictured here. I've talked about the suplex recently so I'm not going to focus on that beyong saying it's a classic greco technique and is perfect for MMA -- flashy and crowd pleasing and the slam does damage as well as scores points.
The move that really caught my eye was the lateral drop with double overhooks that Jones' landed at the end of the second round. There's a step by step explanation of the lateral drop from TheMat.com that describes what Jones did pretty well (note that he had double overhooks on Bonnar, rather than the more customary over/under grip shown at TheMat).
Jones was a state champion wrestler in Iowa -- probably the most competitive wrestling state in the U.S. New York and a national junior college champion out of Iowa (thanks zacd for the correction!). His meteoric rise in pro-mma at the age of 21 promises big things. He only started fighting professionally in 2008 and is already 7-0.
Combined with his beautiful greco technique, he's got some crazy striking: tons of knees from the clinch, spinning elbows, side kicks, some decent punching (although I'd like to see more combinations). His jiu jitsu game is an unknown quantity at this point, but with his youth and ability, he should be able to round out his game a great deal. The sky is the limit for this kid if he can stay focused on training and not let quick success go to his head.
For one thing, despite so many high profile MMA stars coming from a Greco-Roman background -- Randy Couture, Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson leap to mind -- I really can't recall ever seeing such a clinic of flashy greco moves in one bout.
Jones caught Bonner with a variety of flashy takedowns, including the suplex that's pictured here. I've talked about the suplex recently so I'm not going to focus on that beyong saying it's a classic greco technique and is perfect for MMA -- flashy and crowd pleasing and the slam does damage as well as scores points.
The move that really caught my eye was the lateral drop with double overhooks that Jones' landed at the end of the second round. There's a step by step explanation of the lateral drop from TheMat.com that describes what Jones did pretty well (note that he had double overhooks on Bonnar, rather than the more customary over/under grip shown at TheMat).
Jones was a state champion wrestler in Iowa -- probably the most competitive wrestling state in the U.S. New York and a national junior college champion out of Iowa (thanks zacd for the correction!). His meteoric rise in pro-mma at the age of 21 promises big things. He only started fighting professionally in 2008 and is already 7-0.
Combined with his beautiful greco technique, he's got some crazy striking: tons of knees from the clinch, spinning elbows, side kicks, some decent punching (although I'd like to see more combinations). His jiu jitsu game is an unknown quantity at this point, but with his youth and ability, he should be able to round out his game a great deal. The sky is the limit for this kid if he can stay focused on training and not let quick success go to his head.
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