A Tune Up Fight is Good for Jones

Daniel Cormier is among the most talented wrestlers to ever compete in mixed martial arts. His rise was steady, and virtually perfect. He won fight after fight, round after round, on his way to the UFC. Vastly more experienced veterans Jeff Monson, Antonio Silva, and Josh Barnett posed no match. Former UFC champion Frank Mir had not a chance. Roy Nelson fell all the same. Patrick Cummins too was overmatched. Dan Henderson flew through the air. Cormier rode a smooth road to Jon Jones, the greatest light heavyweight in the history of the sport. Perhaps his path was generously littered with opponents too long past their best days to challenge him, but any questions of his credibility as a world-class fighter did not survive past his victories over Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson. Match Cormier on his best day against every light heavyweight in history in their prime not named Jones, and he may be favored against all.

It speaks to Jones’ dominance and the reputation it has built that nobody was giving Cormier a chance to win their April 23 rematch. Fifteen months have passed since their first meeting – the last time Jones stepped into the cage. For Jones, it was a long fifteen months highlighted – or lowlighted – by issues that, if only briefly, landed him behind bars. One year ago, after being arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, the UFC stripped Jones of his title and suspended him indefinitely.

The UFC is rarely keen book fighters in tune up matches. There have been exceptions, namely Dominick Cruz and Frank Mir, but in general, the promotion pushes its best fighters to jump right back in where they left off after long layoffs. Jon Jones was jumping right back into the fire against Daniel Cormier, and remarkably, nobody expected him to get burned. After fifteen months away, a tune up fight to reacquaint yourself with the speed of a fight and get your timing down will usually be the right move. It’s safer to ease back into things rather than jumping into a speeding train.

Although easing into things wasn’t the UFC or Jones’ plan, fate has deemed it so. Cormier fell to an injury, and Jones decided to stay on the card. When Anthony Johnson, a tough day at the office for any light heavyweight, proved unavailable, the UFC turned to Ovince Saint Preux. A first time title contender (interim or otherwise), Saint Preux is the tune up that will elevate Jones to his best.

Saint Preux, 32, is an improving light heavyweight who remains a step down from the division’s top pack. A very good athlete with a long reach and some punching power, Saint Preux was Strikeforce’s top light heavyweight prospect before moving over to the UFC along with the rest of that promotion’s talent. Five consecutive wins got him to a televised main event match with Ryan Bader, but he lost a clear decision in his biggest opportunity. Months later, he replaced Jimi Manuwa in a main event match with Shogun Rua and knocked out the Brazilian legend in seconds. Two fights later, he took another step up in competition but failed to climb up the ladder, losing by submission to Glover Teixeira.

Saint Preux offers little that Jones hasn’t seen before. He’s not an easy fight; nobody at this level is, particularly an athlete the caliber of Saint Preux, but he’s a much less dangerous opponent than somebody like Cormier or Johnson.

Jones will walk into the cage on April 23 with a chance to shake off the ring rust and get back into the swing of things against an opponent that is somewhat less likely to make him pay for a brief mistake. He should come out of the cage having looked good. The odds are, he’ll emerge from the cage with a belt around his waist, eager to put his belt up against Cormier’s.

By all rights, Jon Jones should not be in his best form on April 23. Logically, we should see his best form come to fruition when he’s been actively competing, and when his training camp wasn’t interrupted by a couple of nights in jail. The fact that he was a considerable favorite to defeat Cormier prior to his pulling out speaks volumes about Jones’ talent. A tune up fight should only mean that by the time Jones does fight Cormier, we will be seeing him in his best form and at his most ready. That’s a scary thought.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.