Jon Jones says Greg Jackson loves his “Funky style” and shows him how “Not Good” he is

Published on: 27th November, 2009

Jon Jones says Greg Jackson loves his "Funky style" and shows him how "Not Good" he is | read this item

Jon Jones is in for the biggest fight of his career when he faces off against TUF standout Matt “The Hammer” Hamill at The Ultimate Fighter season finale next weekend. To help him for his upcoming fight the always improving light heavyweight fighter has gone back and forth from Tristar Gym in Montreal, Canada and Greg Jackson’s gym in New Mexico.

In a interview with SportingNews.com’s Chad Dudas, Jones spoke about how Greg Jackson’s camp has opened his eyes to how much he still needs to improve.

“Well, they’re attacking my main weaknesses. Greg is big on getting his athletes to close up their gaps. My jiu-jitsu has to be my weakest department so he’s trying to close that hole up. I’ve been doing a lot of wrestling and a lot of jiu-jitsu.”

Jones also says that fighting in a gym with so many veterans is a wake up call for how “Not good he is” at this point in his career.

“It’s amazing. It’s just a total reality check on how not good I actually am. You know what I mean? I go from a school (in New York) where I beat up everyone, and now I get tapped out and guys try to kick my head off. It’s an everyday thing. It’s just a big reality check in how much work I actually have to do still.”

Jones also spoke about how most critics are giving the advantage to Hamill because he is a veteran and a good wrestler, but as “Bones” points out most people thought that was the case when he fought Jake O’Brien at UFC 100. That fight ended with Jones choking out O’Brien, but he also points out that their fight is not a wrestling match..it’s a fight.

“Well, Jake O’Brien was supposed to outwrestle me, but he didn’t pull that off. Like I said, I’m big into confidence so I have no reason to doubt myself … People say how great of a wrestler Matt Hamill was, but he was a great wrestler a long time ago. You lose a lot of wrestling (over time.) The 2006 Jon Jones would beat the snot out of me in a wrestling match today. I’m a little more fresh out of the wrestling scene and he’s been out of it for a long time. So for the critics to say that Matt definitely has the upper hand in wrestling, I’m not going to give it to him. He’s going to have to prove it. If he takes me down a couple of times and he proves it, then fine, he outwrestled me. But it’s not a wrestling match.”

Jones also spoke about how Greg Jackson has embraced his “Funky style”, which include Roman Grecco tosses, spinning back elbows and a variety of awkward offensive maneuvers. Jones says Jackson loves the “Funky Style”, but wants him to use fundamentals to set them up and make them more effective.

“One thing about Greg Jackson is that he sees who I am and he respects who I am and he allows me to be who I am. He tells me every day, “I love your creativity, Jon. I want more of that. What is that called? Do more of that funky thing.” He loves it. The only thing he forces is for me to be able to push the pace. Instead of one flying knee, he wants six flying knees per round. Instead of a few jabs, he wants 20 jabs per round. He wants combinations, he wants punches in bunches. He wants (me) to use the base of (conventional) fighting to set up the funkiness. He embraces it, he just wants me to take pride in this new set of lungs that I have.”

Jones is in a similar position as Anthony Johnson was last weekend with Josh Koscheck. He will be facing a up and coming fighter against a veteran who should beat him, but has enough talent to defeat and bring his career to a new level.

Jones does not have a easy challenge ahead of him against Hamill, who does have a wrestling advantage and the “Octagon experience” edge. Jones also has to be aware that Hamill’s striking has also improved a lot since his debut on The Ultimate Fighter.

Either way Jones will have his work cut out for him and so will Hamill, this should be a interesting fight at next weekend’s Ultimate Fighter finale.

Alberto Martinez "The Narcisist" is the founding owner of URDirt.com. If you would like to post on the front page or in our New "Fan Jab" section all you need to do is register. Read more from this author