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At this point in their careers we all know what Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are about. So instead of a usual technique breakdown, today I am going over ideal game plans for both Jones and Cormier. In what is the most anticipated (MMA) fight of the year, Jon Jones looks to return to his former glory and Cormier wants to avenge his only loss while giving Jones his first.

Embracing the Grind

DC is by far the most underappreciated and disrespected champion of all time. Cormier is one of the most decorated wrestlers in UFC history. A division 1 champion out of Oklahoma State, DC compiled a record of 53-10 with six of those losses coming from America’s greatest collegiate wrestler of all time Cael Sanderson. After being pulled from Captain of the USA wrestling team in 2008 due to kidney failure, DC started training MMA at AKA and made his professional debut in 2009. In 2011 DC entered the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix as the biggest underdog in the tournament. He went on to beat Devin Cole, Jeff Monson, Bigfoot Silva, and Josh Barnett to win the Grand Prix and become the last Strikeforce heavyweight champion ever. In 2013 DC joined the UFC and the rest is history.

When DC is at his best he is putting pressure on his opponent, getting into the clinch and either teeing off with uppercuts or driving them to the cage looking for a takedown. Since he is usually much shorter than his opponent, DC has to make it into a “dog fight”. Meaning get on the inside and trade in the pocket. Generally this is not the smartest game plan but DC does it so well his opponents don’t know how to deal with the pressure. In the first Jon Jones fight he did just this and had some success, but it wasn’t enough to dethrone the king.

Jabbing into the pocket, Clinching with his left hand on Jones head, and landing uppercuts.

Walking Jones down with 1-2’s and lunging hooks. Jones is very uncomfortable fighting off his back foot and DC was able to exploit this a few times.

As a long and tall distance fighter, Jones is also not the best trading in the pocket. Here DC throws a leg kick to slow Jones down and allow him to enter the pocket and land some nice right hands.

These GIFS are the exact way DC needs to fight Jones on the feet again and against anybody with that much reach and height on him. he had some success in the first fight but at the end of the day Jones was able to stay out of the pocket and clinch and pick him apart from distance.

in his fight with Alexander Gustafsson, DC employed a very similar game plan and had much more success.

Lunging into the clinch before landing four clean uppercuts. The second the clinch is broke DC is back to lunging forward looking for the clinch or trade in the pocket and lands a 1-2.

Where Jones was able to land elbows and break the clinch, Gus had no idea what to do and ended up pushing off and running away looking to keep the fight at distance.

As we saw in their title fight, Jones and Gus have very similar styles. both are very tall and long for the division, and both look to use their reach to keep the fight on the outside. Gus is a much better lateral moving fighter where Jones tends to move in straight lines forwards and backwards. Even with Gustafsson’s footwork, DC was able to land while running forward and did an amazing job at taking center control and pressuring Gus down to the cage.

DC seemed to learn what he did wrong in the first Jones fight and used those improvements in the Gus fight considering their similar styles. Having this fight with Gus is huge for DC. it allowed him to get more experience against a tall and long fighter while helping him develop another plan for Jones.

What went wrong?

DC employed the perfect game plan to beat jones in their first fight, but what went wrong? Jones was able to keep the fight at distance and use his elbows and knees to break the clinch.

Using kicks to keep DC away.

Elbow to break the clinch and a head kick when DC is coming forward.

Keeping his lead hand out, trapping DC’s and lands another head kick. Notice how Jones looks at his corner before throwing the kick. Jones did this multiple times throughout the fight using it sort of like a feint. Gus picked up on this and did it a few times in his fight with DC as well.

Not only was Jones able to keep the fight at his range and pick DC apart, but he also defended all but one takedown while taking DC down for the first time in his career.

Jones goes for a single before DC reverses to his own single leg which Jones defends beautifully on one leg.

First time DC has ever been taken down in MMA.

And it happened two more times…

Jon Jones return to Greatness?

Besides getting caught in the clinch a few times, Jones employed the perfect game plan to beat DC and pretty much everybody who has stood in front of him. people like to say Jones well roundedness is what makes him so great but in my opinion its his wits and fight IQ.

Jones has an incredibly deep arsenal of attacks and mixes up his strikes better than anyone. recently I have been talking about fighters that take on a single approach and perfect it. Kelvin Gastelum, Gunnar Nelson, and DC all do this. instead of perfecting a single style Jones beats his opponents with diversity. fighters like Jones, Joanna Champion, and Carlos Condit all take on a similar approach and have been wildly successful.

When someone like Jones is mixing up his strikes it is incredibly hard to see or expect what is coming next. whether its a flying knee, spinning elbow, spinning back kick, or even an axe kick, Jones is constantly switching things up which in turn overloads your opponents reactions making them easier to hit.

Jones reach is so long that he is able to use his lead elbow like a lead hook. This isn’t the greatest angle, but notice how far away Jones is when he lands the elbow. Elbows have always been a staple in Jones striking but its the way he uses them that makes it so interesting. instead of throwing a normal spearing elbow in the clinch or in the pocket, Jones will throw a spinning elbow, double elbow in the clinch, or like a hook above.

Setting up the Elbow with a head kick.

Setting up the elbow with a flying knee against the cage.

Beautiful switch flying knee that lands clean.

Defending a takedown after a missed wheel kick.

Jones going for an old school elbow crank that ended up tearing Glover’s shoulder.

Attempted Axe kick to jab to get Gus moving backwards.

As you can see, Jones is one of the most diverse strikers in MMA and is a huge part of his success inside the octagon. At only 30 Jones is arguably the best MMA fighter of all time and its hard to claim otherwise. but even the greats have holes in their game. Gus was the first to exploit a few of these holes and DC found a few more in their fight.

Jones biggest problem I have found is his tendency to retreat in a straight line and dip far to his right when throwing his left straight and when avoiding strikes.

Dropping his hands and leaning to his right allows Rashad Evans to land a big overhand right.

Again dipping to his right and eating a right hand by Gus.

Dipping to his right after an overhand left.

And again.

Retreating in a straight line getting hit with jabs.

And again.

What can they do Different?

Jones needs to employ the exact same game plan as the first fight with a few minor changes. Keep the fight at distance with jabs and kicks, circle and pick him apart from the outside. The changes he needs to make is throw more of his famous side kicks to slow DC down while keeping him out of the pocket, and circle when retreating.

Jones side kicks have been a predominate strike in his arsenal but seemed to give it up in the DC fight in fear of the takedown. The side kick is your longest strike to the shortest target and the best way to keep your opponent at bay.

With his extremely long legs and long distance DC has to cover to get in the pocket, Jones should look to hammer these side and oblique kicks anytime DC is coming forward.

As for DC, I would like to see him develop a better left hook or lead leg high kick when Jones dips to the side.

If DC could time the overhand and throw out a left hook as he dips, it could be a bad night for Jones.

Since DC has to lunge into the pocket to get into striking range, I would also like to see him throw more leg and body kicks so he can hit him at distance. Although he doesn’t throw many, he has deceptively quick kicks, especially to the body.

And lastly, DC NEEDS to try to get this fight on the ground. Lets be honest, unless DC can land a lucky shot and get the KO, he is not going to out strike Jones for five rounds. DC is smart and he knows this and even though he had zero success in the first fight, at the end of the day DC is a grappler and Jones is a striker. if he wants a different result than the first fight, he needs to grapple early and often.

Lets not forget what a dominate grappler DC can be. He spent the beginning of his career at heavyweight and threw around massive heavyweights like Josh Barnett and Frank Mir.

Throwing around 260 pound Josh Barnett like a helpless child.

And lets not forget what he did to fellow division 1 wrestler Dan Henderson.

Once on the ground DC like to slowly grind out his opponents with strikes and pressure, never getting too aggressive while looking to pass their guard.

Conclusion

Like I said, at the end of the day this is a striker vs. grappler matchup and in the first fight DC tried to stand and trade with the best in the business instead of relying on his grappling prowess. I expect both fighters to make changes but if DC wants to keep his belt he is the one who needs to make major adjustments. If Jones can keep him at bay with jabs, side kicks, and circling while defending the takedowns he will easily take back his belt and cement himself as the greatest of all time. But DC is a very smart fighter and I see him working on his grappling and takedown set ups and attempting to grind Jones out on the mat. If he cant get him down I expect him to fight similar to the Gustafsson fight. Lunging forward looking for the clinch, pressuring to the cage to enter the pocket, and keeping the pressure making Jones fight off the back foot. But DC is 38 and on the last leg of his career while Jones is just entering his prime. Jones has had quite a long lay off but I expect him to come out fighting smart and take home a close decision victory.