UFC News: Popular fighter says he can punish Jon Jones on the ground
Jon Jones is Jon Jones' greatest enemy. No fighter barring Alexander Gustaffson has even come close to dethroning Bones as the undisputed GOAT of the Light Heavyweight division.
Jones has always tarnished his legacy for reasons that stemmed from incidents that happened outside the Octagon. After run-ins with the law and multiple doping violations, Jones is back in the groove. However, the same question continues to circulate- is there any Light Heavyweight from the current crop of fighters that can take Jones down?
#12 ranked Johnny Walker has been making a strong case for himself as a possible contender for Jon Jones' title. The lively Brazilian was on MMAFighting's Eurobash podcast where he opened up about a potential showdown with the king of the 205 lbs division.
He first spoke about Jones' recent title defence against Thiago Santos, in which the champ successfully defended the title. Walker pointed out the fact that Jones struggled to finish off the fight despite Santos' fighting with two injured knees.
"I was there to watch that fight, it was a good fight. I think Jon Jones respects Thiago and Thiago respect Jon Jones. Jon Jones has a very good control game and he doesn’t want to risk himself because he knows Thiago has good hands and he had power to knock him out. But Thiago injured both knees, a bad injury, he needs a lot of surgery. Jon Jones need a lot of time to beat a guy with a lot of injuries.”
Walker was confident that he would give Jones a run for his money if given the opportunity. He specifically noted that Jones might have a tough time facing him on the ground.
Walker claimed that he has the tools to punish Jones on the mat.
“I know Jon Jones can do better than that, and that’s why I want to fight him — I know I can give him the proper fight. I can push him to fight better and then everyone will see who Jon Jones is, then everyone can see who is the real champion. I could use his style as well. He can take me down, but I can take him down as well. I could give him a proper ground fight, nobody has been able to give him any punishment on the ground, I think I can punish him on the ground.” H/t Credit: MMAFighting
Johnny Walker (17-3) is currently on a 9-fight winning streak, but he still has a long way to go before he can get inside the Octagon with Jones. The Brazilian knockout artist will have to go through a few ranked opponents before getting his date with the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.