Mark J. Rebilas-US Presswire
The conference call for the fight between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen took place today. Both fighters are expected to be Season 17 coaches for The Ultimate Fighter, which has hit record low numbers for Season 16. Both fighters talked about their match-up with each other, and Jon Jones made it very clear that he is not intimidated by Chael Sonnen in no form whatsoever.
“Chael is a decent wrestler. He was an Olympic alternate but he wasn’t on the team. No disrespect to other alternates but he’s not at that level. Who cares if he takes me down, he gets submitted all the time from top position anyways.”
Jones has a point in saying Chael is prone to getting submitted. Sonnen has over eight losses by the way of submission, which is something Jon will surely try to exploit when they square off. If history is anything to go off of, it is never a smart thing to anger Jones. See Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson.
Jones dominated the fight in every aspect, despite Rampage talking trash leading up to the fight. Jones is a fighter that fights with technique and never fights with emotion inside the cage, but it is more than likely that he will try to make a statement with Sonnen.
Bones would go on to say, ” If he does take me down, so what? His ground and pound is weak and he gets submitted all the time. If I do get him down, his face will open up. I feel I have nothing to worry about in wrestling. I have a slight edge in jiu-jitsu and I have a huge edge in kickboxing. I’m not intimidated by his power. ”
Obviously from these statements it appears that Bones thinks he has all the advantages in the fight, but he needs to be careful. He has to make sure he executes his game plan and trains appropriately because Sonnen’s wrestling and pressure will present problems that Bones has never faced.
No one has ever pressured Jones in a fight, but Sonnen may be just the man to do it. Sure, he is a middleweight that has hasn’t competed in the light heavyweight division since 2006, but Sonnen has the ability to press the issue unlike any fighter that Jones has faced in the past. That reason alone makes this fight marketable and something that fans want to see.
