While the conversations surrounding Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva have been hijacked by a obnoxiously vocal minority who have declared their winning styles simply too boring to satisfy the blood lust that is apparently inherent in this sport, current UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones can do no wrong.
Jones' flashy, highlight-reel-ready style has steamrolled everybody in his path, most recently Shogun Rua, who had no answer other than pathetically tapping to strikes in the third round during their title match back in March. Even when he loses, Jones is the one who looks awesome, who is still standing while his opponent is reduced to a bloody heap left for dead in the center of the cage.
UFC president Dana White, never shy about injecting his sometimes questionable opinion into the pound-for-pound debate, has stated that besides his title Jones will also be defending his right to be called the No. 3 fighter in the world (sorry, Jose Aldo, I guess you're just not in the right division). Not that Jones has anything to worry about, as he comes into Saturday's match at UFC 135 in Denver against Rampage Jackson, unquestionably one of the toughest and most accomplished MMA stars we've ever seen, as a hefty -600 betting favorite.
Instead of wondering who will win Saturday night, everybody instead is focusing on whether or not Jones' lethal striking will be enough to finish Rampage and his famously durable cranium.
The question I have on my mind as we anticipate the title fight, however, is a more philosophical one: How long will this honeymoon between Jones and the oh-so-flaky MMA nation possibly last?
Jones reached a near "jump-the-shark" moment back before his UFC 128 fight with Rua when he helped apprehend a pickpocket, which was then used as a selling point for the pay-per-view as the UFC brass broadcast the fact from every megaphone they could find.
Jones has also been embroiled in two high-profile blood feuds since he won the title six short months ago. The first was with Rashad Evans, and even though the fans took his side it's hard to say that Jones wasn't at least a little arrogant during the whole thing. Now he's also rubbed Jackson the wrong way, and one does have to wonder about the truthfulness of the upstanding superhero character he plays on TV.
A loss, or even a lackluster performance this weekend, and we can only assume that the fickle folks who consume this sport will sour on his star and begin searching for a new idol to worship.
The fight itself should be interesting, especially considering the "Can he or can't he KO Rampage" angle. There is always concern with fighters who have never had to fight off their back before as to whether or not they have any skills in that department, but I don't see Rampage taking Jones down, so I guess we'll have to wait and find out how good Jones can be in that position. Rampage has never been overly fond of training and he has pretty much abandoned his wrestling game all together.
That means we'll be left with something of a slugfest, which should give the fans exactly what they want and effectively chase the harshness that is the card that comes before it. Jones has never really had a bomb dropped on him, so we don't know about his chin either. In this case, I can't imagine Rampage not being able to slip a few past his defense.
Even with the tempting odds, betting against the champ would be unwise, but for a fight supposedly this lopsided there are a ton of subplots to keep us occupied. Does the story about Jackson's team reportedly discovering a "spy" for Jones out Rampage as a genius or as somebody suffering from a paranoia disorder? Just how tough is Rampage's head?
Once it is all said and done I fully expect Jones to be on top, I'm just curious to see if his rose still smells as sweet.
