“I know that I can be beat and I think that’s why I haven’t been beat, where some of these guys really start to believe their hype. Ronda Rousey, they were saying she’s the best fighter of all time and best athlete in the world, stuff like that and I was happy for her to hear those types of accolades, but once I realized that maybe she was starting to believe it herself, I knew she was in a dangerous spot. Conor McGregor saying these things about just being the baddest dude and ‘I’ll beat anybody at any weight class,’ that’s foolish stuff. When you believe the hype to that level, that’s when you’re in danger. I talk about being confident in winning all the time, but the reason why I tend to always win is because at the end of the day I’m more nervous than any other fighter. It causes me to spend every night until 3 o’clock in the morning just on my laptop watching the same damn fight over and over again with a notebook, thinking about the ways I can lose, thinking about what I need to do. That’s really what I attribute to being undefeated for all these years, just how seriously I take it and how I know how much I don’t know.”
-During a recent media luncheon for UFC 200, Jon Jones explained why he’s kept himself on top and why he won’t succumb to the things that felled other dominant champs in Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com).
Penick’s Analysis: One of the greatest aspects of Jones’ game is his intelligence in the cage in utilizing his significant talent to its fullest. He and his team gameplan for his opponents to such a degree that for the most part he knows what he needs to do against each fighter he faces. He’s also got a high enough skill level in everything he works on that it’s made up for the few times in which his gameplan hasn’t worked or where he hasn’t quite prepared adequately enough. That’s what makes him nigh unbeatable, and approaching each fight as prepared as he can possibly be keeps him from underestimating a fighter enough to get himself caught in the same way Rousey and McGregor did.
[Photo (c) Mark J. Rebilas via USA Today Sports]
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