Greg Jackson explains more about the “open structure” Jon Jones will employ against Matyushenko
Famed MMA coach, Greg Jackson has discussed in detail the “open structure” exciting UFC light heavyweight, Jon Jones will employ when he meets Vladimir Matyushenko in the UFC on Versus 2 main event on Sunday night, something he feels will be the key to victory.
When asked about how Jones’ game plan was structured ahead of Sunday night’s main event, Jackson told Sherdog.com:
“It’s structured in a non-traditional sense. In other words, if you are looking at a game plan in a very traditional do-this, do-this, do-that, it’s not that way. What I do instead with Jon is I give him four or five, we look at our opponent’s tendencies and their safety zones and we give him four or five options off of each one of those and how he puts those together is what you know is going to define that fight for us. So, instead of saying, OK you know stay away from this and do this and that, I say here’s several things that you can do off of this and play with him, here’s several things that he tries here and play with him, which is very… it’s a unique game plan for that kind of fighter.”
“Cub Swanson’s another kind of guy we do like that as well. But you have to keep that element of creativity flowing and where other fighters have very linear, I guess you could say, like OK when he tries this you need to make sure to enact this defense or stay away from this safety zone or whatever it may be. It’s structured but it’s more of an open structure if that makes any sense.”
When asked whether he has any concerns about the skills Vladimir Matyushenko possesses, Jackson said:
“Well yeah, I mean, he’s getting really good on his back. I’m not overly concerned with any one part of the fight. I want to watch the pace because Vladimir’s just trying to get in there and I think and stuff us, get inside, smother, break it. That’s my concern with him just to trying to smother and staying on top and he’s going to try to stifle Jon’s creativity I’m sure, so we’ve been working a lot of good inside stuff and you know wrestling and all that stuff so we should be well-prepared for his game plan.”
“I hope, you know. All you can do is hope and hopefully all the things that we’ve been working on will come to fruition. But yeah I fully expect him to come in, swinging at Jon’s head and try to take Jon down and holding Jon on the ground. I think he’s easily as good if not better than Vladimir only because of his unique wrestling style. He has a style if you haven’t dealt with it, it’s very, very difficult to deal with. Matyushenko is a much more decorated wrestler and has more experience but I think what negates that is Jon Jones has unorthodox wrestling… I feel very comfortable in the wrestling department.”
Jones has dismantled many a crowd favourite during his term with the UFC, defeating the likes of Stephan Bonnar and Brandon Vera in impressive fashion. Can he take out another veteran of the sport who has suffered only four losses in almost thirty career fights? Tell us what you think…
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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