Jones and Bader in the Lightheavyweight Ladder

Jones reminds me, in many ways, of Shonie Carter in flash, and something more in substance.

With Jon Jones (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC, #8 IWMMAR) announcing that he was going to fight the winner of the UFC 119 co-main event fight between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC, #7 IWMMAR) and Ryan Bader (11-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on Inside MMA, there’s a clear intent to put Jones into position to become a serious contender. That’s not to discount either Bader or Nogueira, but it’s fair to say that neither have gotten the attention that Jones has, and there’s a reason for that.

After Jones beat Stephen Bonnar (12-7 MMA), I got a text message from Curtis Clontz, my co-host on the now MMAOpinion defunct podcast, telling me that this kid from New York was the next great UFC lightheavyweight. It’s not just Curtis who felt that way, but I didn’t know enough about Jones and, despite my interest in prospects, he hadn’t be on my radar.

While Ryan Bader hasn’t made his way into the top ten yet, a win over Rogerio Nogueira would certainly put him there, and a fight between Bader and Jones would be a match that is hard to look at in a way that makes it look like it’s not a match between top contenders. While Jones qualified his statements by saying that he’d need one more fight before getting a title shot, likely against an establishment top five UFC lightheavyweight like Rashad Evans (15-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC, #3 IWMMAR) or Lyoto Machida (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC, #2 IWMMAR), depending on who is not staring down their own title shot at that point.

As far as the fight between Bader and Jones goes, it seems like the proverbial meeting between the immovable object and the unstoppable force, respectively. But beside from the nice literary tone is the potential both have themselves. Neither have shown serious signs of weakness in the UFC, and with Bones at 23 and Bader at 27, there is potential for these two guys to be around the UFC lightheavyweight division for a long time, and meet more than once, assuming that the matchup is good.

Now, if Rogerio beats Bader, it will affirm something we already know about him, that on the right day, he’s a world beater. He had a close fight with Jason Brilz (18-3-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC), one of the tougher matchups for anyone in the UFC at the moment, recently, and so its hard to see him being particularly close to a title shot, but the thought of Nogueira taking a title run makes for some really interesting thoughts. He has, perhaps, the best jiu-jitsu of the upper-tier UFC lightheavyweights, and his boxing is solid.

His matchup with Jones is marked by a contrasting style, for the same reason Bader’s is, only more dramatic. The style of Jones’ elusive standup often with flashy kicks and explosive clinch work and throws will be interesting against the very traditional, closed up, simple-yet-effective style of boxing that we see in Minotoro, who has probably the best striking of anyone Jones has ever fought, and certainly the least exposing. Similarly, his ability to fight off of his back, which will almost certainly come up in both the fight with Jones and Bader, is unmatched by anyone either has faced, with the exception of (for Bader) Vinicius Magalhães (4-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC), and even that’s debatable.

Both fights are stylistically tough for Jones, and I hope to get into them at length at some point soon, as well as the immediate matchup between Bader and Nogueira, which is a great stylistic fight. But both Bader and Jones are worth watching, as these are the guys who will likely be around, fighting for titles, when Lyoto (32) and Evans (30) start to age out. Shogun may be able to maintain his run for a long time (though, as I’ve said, I’m not so sure) and stay around as Bader and Jones are building their own careers, but the likelihood does seem to be that Bader and Jones will be fighting for the strap sooner, as well as later.