Jon Jones: Can the Self-Taught Man Survive the Rigidity of Team Jackson?
by Dave Walsh on Jul 30, 2010 9:18 AM EDT
in MMA
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In the world of modern Mixed Martial Arts, many turn their noses up at the concept of being "self-taught" at any given discipline. The truth is, everybody is different and has different needs and learns differently. This applies to anything in life. I always like to bring things back home for myself and compare what I'm writing about to personal experiences. I'll never [publicly] claim to be a genius just waiting to bubble over, but public school was a trying experience for somebody who learned differently and a bit more quickly than some of the other students. My favorite example was already knowing how to read in first grade while everybody else was learning what sound "sh" was. Then in math, well, I was never anywhere near most of my class and couldn't comprehend most of it.
So when people talk about the "proper path" in martial arts, I cringe a bit. Jon Jones has gotten a good deal of criticism for his approach to MMA, just about even with the hype he has gotten for his insane, natural gifts. I have a friend back home who was in the marines, and on top of his marine training he has a really sound grasp on kickboxing. I remember sparring with him a few times and asking him if it was marine training, and he laughed. His reply pretty much shocked me (but then again, it didn't, he was kinda crazy). He learned how to fight from Street Fighter. Sound familiar?
What I wonder about when it comes to Jon Jones is how training with Greg Jackson's camp will effect him in the long run. Greg Jackson's camp is a camp for winners, no doubt, but has also come under scrutiny for being a rather cautious and at times "boring" camp. The argument for this being beneficial for Jones is that Greg Jackson himself is a self-taught martial artist. Gaidojutsu is made up, it didn't exist before Greg Jackson watched a few Judo and BJJ instructional videos and added those holds to his wrestling base. Sound familiar? Of course, with Jackson, everything has become so precise and formulaic now that it is hard to argue that the same level of innovative spirit exists within him. The point, though, is that Jackson understands this energy and could help Jones harness it.
On the other hand, think of Jones right now like a chunk of clay, still forming. Greg Jackson's strict training and gameplans could be throwing Jones right into the kiln then just putting on layers of glaze without letting Jones take the shape he really could be. Many make the argument of raw clay stilll being raw clay and needing to be formed quickly and made to follow the rules to build up a solid base. For some people, there doesn't need to be a strong base, they already understand and learn and grow at their own pace. I'm just not sure if Jon Jones needs "tweaking" or a coat of paint right now as much as he needs his own space to explore and do what he feels he needs to grow.
On the other hand, the creative spirit of Jon Jones could be refreshing to Team Jackson and the Jon Jones we see on Sunday could reap the benefits of creativity and fresh energy working with a very established and rigid team known for winning at all costs.
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The best argument against this so-called rigidity of the Jackson camp is two words: Keith Jardine.
There is one thing that Jackson does not do is try to mold people to fit. I mean, how different are guys like GSP and Leonard Garcia. Keith Jardine, despite horrible technical flaws in his foot work, his way to throw punches and kicks, still remained his “unorthodox” self even when he said he got away from it. He didn’t, if he did we would have seen a difference and we have not. I don’t think the Jackson camp is conservative at all, if anything, it embraces the difference a little too much. Another example of that is Rashad Evans: He has horrible footwork, crosses his legs all the time, does not sit down on his punches half the time, moves his head and sways his upper body out of position all the time and yet is not being corrected training after training, fight after fight (you saw the results when he faced a good striker when he faced Machida, and the same would have happened against Rampage if Rampage would have had just a iota of takedown defense.)
I think the boring is reflective of the fighter, and his skills, not the camp or the gameplan. the gameplan is reflective of the skillset. For GSP against a striker, it is takedown, ground control, submission. Same gameplan for Rashad against a striker now that he has been exposed. Leonard Garcia has horrible takedown defense, decent submissions but not from his back, so the gameplan is to resort to bad kickboxing, because it pays. Gameplan for Keith Jardine, much of the same as Garcia as he has little ground game, and nothing off his back.
I don’ t think there is anything to worry about with Jones, his skillset and athleticism is off the charts or becoming off the charts. Jackson will have no problem devising a gameplan that fits his skillset.
Well, here is the thing
Gameplan, gameplan, gameplan.
Their gameplans tend to be safe, which plays to fighters’ strengths, which in turn makes for boring. It also makes for wins. Jones has that strong wrestling base, which honestly I don’t want to see too much of when Jones has this incredibly striking intuition.
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Twitter @HeadKickLegend
That is the most insane critique I have never seen from a sports writer/blogger. Gameplans make boring fights? How does it even make sense NOT to gameplan? So you want everybody to go in a cage/ring and do bad kickboxing matches and see who stands at the end?
Some people’s strength is not kickboxing, boxing or any kind of striking, are they supposed to go in and get their ass kicked? How is that good sport or even entertaining sport? It’s like watching football and expecting a bone crushing hit every play….
If I’m reading his argument correctly, DW is saying that Jackson’s camp produces boring gameplans which could stifle Jones’ creativity, therefore potentially losing what makes Jones special. I don’t think he’s saying have no gameplan at all.
Bingo.
It would be insane to not plan something out for a professional fight. There is no way in hell that would be a good idea.
The Jackson camp sort of shares a lot with Llyod Irvin’s camp; Llyod Irvin’s guys win BJJ competitions, but they do it with these really dull gameplans of just drilling basics and only using the basics in their matches. It wins but in the end, it just pisses people off because in a way, it seems like there is less skill involved.
If you spend a whole BJJ match simply pulling guard and looking for a triangle, sooner or later, there is a chance it’ll work.
It is the same with Jackson’s guys. If GSP takes you down and tries to pass to mount and spends an entire fight looking to do just that, eventually he’ll get that and be able to rain down some blows before he is bucked off and gets to try it all over again. It wins fights, it involves skill, but isn’t great to watch and can be frustratingly simple.
Head Kick Legend
Twitter @HeadKickLegend
the thing is...
Jackson brings out the best of his fighters. For GSP and Evans its wrestling,ground-n-pound,little bit of lay-n-pray. But Thats not the definite Greg Jackson style. Remember the instructions he gave to Carlos Condit in his last fight after rnd2? He said “Carlos go out and destroy the dude,its a war”. I dont think we will see less of the awesome moves Jones brings,just because he trains at Jacksons camp.
J.J. is a big favourite of mine,I think he will keep the fight standing against Matyushenko,and use his signature wild strikes to win by UD.
"Its not about the size of the dog in the fight...its about the size of the fight in the dog"
by SoulBrotherNo1 on Jul 30, 2010 10:08 AM EDT reply actions
i agree with what you say except i expect jones to win by tko in second round.
then i believe he gets the winner of bader / lil nog which i hope is bader only b/c the guy would be 13-0.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. I still will always follow the Mountain West Conference. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez and face the winner of Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson where he will defeat JDS and stake his claim as pound for pound champion. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 5 weeks till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 1, 2010 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions
well,I hate to put too much thought into insignificant things like weight ins (of course only insignificant if everybody makes weight),but Jones looked like he got posessed by some evil demon. When I saw him I thought that wow,this guy looks for destruction,and I feel sorry for everyone who crosses his path. A brutal ass kicking like Vera-Jones or Hamill-Jones was,is not out of question.
"Its not about the size of the dog in the fight...its about the size of the fight in the dog"
by SoulBrotherNo1 on Aug 1, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions
sometimes weigh ins can tell you who will win.
i’ll give two examples. randy couture vs mark coleman. a fight that should have happened a decade ago. when i saw coleman getting weighed he looked like he was at deaths door. no energy in his face and his face color did not look right. he must have lost much of the weight recently before that fight. couture easily beat him and then coleman retired. james “sandman” irvin was facing another fighter at 185. james irvin is a natural 205 guy. he was busted for illegal stuff and had to took a 1 year hiatus. i guess he just dropped his muscle mass b/c the dude looked like he had been smoking crack the week before the fight. now he did not really do that it just looked that way. he looked awful and loss the match. he is back at 205 and has a fight lined up. there are a few times you can tell. peace.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. I still will always follow the Mountain West Conference. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez and face the winner of Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson where he will defeat JDS and stake his claim as pound for pound champion. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 1 month till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 1, 2010 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions
he just destroyed vlad the janitor.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. I still will always follow the Mountain West Conference. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez and face the winner of Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson where he will defeat JDS and stake his claim as pound for pound champion. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 1 month till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 1, 2010 11:26 PM EDT reply actions
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