The lights are on
Despite being at the center of a whirlwind 2011 campaign that saw him go from phenom to champion to defending champion in the space of the year, Jon Jones likes to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to his fighting career. There’s no running down the list of contenders, no tape watching of challengers he may fight a year from now. It’s all about what’s right in front of him – now.
For years fighters tried in vain to solve the Lyoto Machida puzzle. Now it is Machida’s turn to try and solve his own puzzle – 205-pound wunderkind Jon Jones. This fight is a prime example of how quickly a fighter’s stock can soar or sour in the eyes of pundits and fans (Jones’ career doing the soaring and Machida’s doing the souring, relatively speaking of course). It is educational that Machida enters this contest as a heavy underdog. Only two years ago the real-life Karate Kid was UFC champ and unbeaten. People were raving about “The Machida Era” – and I didn’t object. Only the experts who had christened Machida were quickly dispelled. After a 16-0 start, the fight game’s most perplexing riddle dropped two of his past three bouts (to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson).
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