Machida vs. Jones A Practical and Tactical Comparison

By Keith Neher

This piece is simply one point of view on an upcoming match-up which I could be right about, or I could be wrong about, but this is just my way of viewing things. First let me give a brief history about myself before I begin. I’ve been a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts since 2003 and I’ve been following most fighting organizations very closely since then. I am a law enforcement officer of 12 years and a combat veteran of the Iraq War, having served 8 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and a team leader. I’ve also studied in different martial arts and hand-to-hand/defensive tactics courses as well. Now with all that being said, I’m not saying that I know everything there is to know about combat or combat sports, (as anyone who knows enough about the two, knows that there is a huge difference between them). What I am saying is that having trained in and having had experience in both actual combat and combat sports, I do know a thing or two about them both. With that being, said I am going to speak on the upcoming MMA bout on December 10^th 2011 between former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones. This fight is by far not a life or death, mortal combat clash, however it is about fighting tactics, skills, range and advantage, which are just a few of the many different ingredients that go into real combat. This fight is scheduled to be 5 rounds for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, for one of the greatest titles in all of MMA.     

First, talking about the challenger and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, who is truly a martial artist in every sense of the term. For those of you who do not know, Machida has been training in martial arts since he was 3 years old and holds the rank of black belt in Shotokan Karate, Brazilian Jujitsu and Sumo Wrestling martial art styles. He was undefeated with a 15-0 record when he brutally defeated former Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans and captured the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in 2009. Other notable fighters that have fallen under Machida’s greatness are as follows; former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin, former UFC Welterweight and Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn, Stephan Bonnar, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio Rua and UFC hall of famer and former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture. Lyoto Machida has excellent skills and techniques that allow him to receive less damage while still inflicting maximum damage to his opponent. Machida also has great timing and uses it to capitalize on his opponent’s mistakes, making simple mistakes look like big problems.

Now, about the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, who himself is without doubt a very good fighter. Yet Jones is more than just a good fighter, he’s somewhat of a freak of nature. Jones has unreal size, body mass, is fairly tall and has a very long reach, all of which gives him a tremendous advantage over his opponents in the LHW Division. Jones’ size and frame would more-so fit a heavyweight fighter than a light heavyweight fighter, yet Jones’ is athletic enough to stay down at 205lbs. to keep a clear advantage over his somewhat smaller opponents. With Jones’ size giving him such an advantage, many say that he needs to fight at heavyweight, and that by fighting in the LHW Division he is somewhat “cheating.” Do I believe that Jones is “cheating?” I do not, but I do believe that Jones has been fighting guys in a division who are somewhat smaller than he is, and that definitely makes a big difference! Yes of course, they all weigh the same the day before the fight, but no one takes into account these other size issues that Jones possesses when they say things such as, “they weigh the same, so he is fighting someone his own size.” Also it should be pointed out that because of the differences in the sizes of the fighters in the LHW Division compared to Jones’ size, Jones has been able to swim up to the top of the division, without ever having been handed a clear-cut loss. Jones’ only loss on his record is a disqualification to Matt Hamill, whom Jones was dominating until the illegal elbows occurred by Jones. Jones has defeated such notable opponents as Stephan Bonnar, Jake O’Brian, Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, Ryan Bader, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio Rua and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson. Every one of these opponents being smaller, in their own respectable ways, than compared to Jones.


Now, onto comparing these two warriors who are about to fight for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Fighter to fighter and man to man, Machida, (like the rest) is not the same size as Jones, and it definitely does not matter that they both weigh somewhat the same, the day before the fight! Jones has larger body mass than Machida and a larger size frame. That being the case, Jones may very well be able to take down Machida, and even keep him down. Jones is also taller than Machida and has a 10” longer reach than Machida does! Which means that Jones will be able to stay far enough out of Machida’s range of striking, while at the same time Machida will still be well within Jones’ range of striking. The thinking that advantages such as these don’t make a difference in a hand-to-hand fight is just plain idiotic. The reality is that advantages as these make a significant difference! Machida on the other hand is very fast, athletic and fights much like a samurai. Machida fights in such a way as if every blow against him is from a sword, that which could cost him the loss of life or limb with every blow that lands on him. This type of fighting is very smart, especially when fighting someone like Jones. Hopefully Machida will be able to frustrate Jones and keep Jones missing his strikes, while countering with enough power to annihilate Jones. If you don’t believe Machida possesses that kind of power, then watch his fights against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans and Randy Couture.

Machida is a great fighter with many great capabilities, but yet even another thing that Machida most definitely is, is an intelligent fighter! Machida is probably the smartest MMA fighter ever to enter a cage. With Machida being as smart of a fighter as he is, if he is able to utilize the full potential of his skill and technique for this fight, it will be a short night for Jones. Now I’m not saying that Jones is not a good fighter, he is most certainly a good fighter, and I’m not saying that Jones is not a smart fighter, because he is. But Jones’ size gives him such an advantage over his opponents that it makes him seem as if he’s an even greater fighter than what he really is. However, if Jones were fighting in the UFC’s Heavyweight Division, it would be a much different story as the Heavyweight Division is filled with lots of large and powerful fighters such as; Junior Dos Santos, Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin and Alistair Overeem. Against any one of the said fighters, Jones would not only be a non-dominating force, but he would be just another fighter without his huge size advantage to make such a difference. In this writer’s opinion, Jones needs to move up to the Heavyweight Division to truly test his talent and to see if this hype is because Jones is a truly great fighter, or if Jones just simply has the size advantage over his opponents.


 Now, looking at this situation practically and tactically from my own standpoint. If there was a man that I was about to fight who had much bigger body mass than me, a much longer reach than me and was much taller than me, then I simply wouldn’t be fighting someone my own size, (regardless of how much either of us weigh). Therefore being the intelligent fighter that know I can be, if I cannot solve the situation without the use of force, then I’m definitely stacking the deck in my favor in any such way that I can. If this means arming myself to the teeth then so be it. That way if it’s force that I must use to see to it that I survive, it will be such effective force that I’ll make sure I accomplish my goal at all costs. In that same light, if you were to give Machida, (who is virtually the same size as most of the other Light Heavyweight fighters division, with only a bit shorter reach) a pistol which would allow him to keep a safe distance from Jones while giving him the advantage of being able to inflict a tremendous amount of damage to Jones. If this were the case then the fight wouldn’t really be worth watching. The fight would simply be too one-sided and would be over after Machida delivers a quick Mozambique Drill, (2 to the body, 1 to the head) and that would be that. But this is a sport, not an assassination and though something such as that would give Machida a great advantage, he is too much of a true sportsman to ever consider such a thing.

Come December 10th, Machida will certainly have his work cut out for him against Jones and if Machida does not pull off the victory, he has still shown what a true warrior spirit is, even when the odds are stacked greatly against him! But if Machida can pull off the victory then he has by far shown to the world that he is not only a true champion and possibly the greatest of all time, but can conquer one of most difficult of all opponents in MMA.

Thank you to Keith Neher for his wonderful point of view on the LHW championship fight.  Check us out on our FB Homebase, Real Women and Men watch MMA.