Fan opinion: Brandon Vera vs Jon Jones fight breakdown

The 32 year old American Brandon Vera is 6ft3in and weighs in at 205lbs with a 78 inch reach. He holds a record of 11-4(7ko, 1sub). He holds a brown belt in BJJ and is well versed in Greco Roman Wrestling and Muay Thai.

His opponent, fellow American, Jon Jones is the younger man at 22 years of age. He is 6ft4in tall and weighs in at 205lbs with an 84.5 inch reach. He holds a record of 9-1(5ko, 2sub) with his only loss by DQ after he busted Matt Hamill’s nose with a downwards elbow at TUF 10 finale. He is well versed in Greco Roman Wrestling, Muay Thai and Grappling.

My fight breakdowns are predictions as to how I think the fight will go based on the fighters training histories, Records (such as KO or submission wins or losses and how many fights) and on how I think the styles may contrast. Please don’t bet your money on what I write and feel free to comment or tweet me as these articles are only posted on Lowkick.com.

Now on to the game plans. I think Brandon Vera will want to use his Muay Thai kicks to keep the younger fighter at bay, although he may have some trouble as Jones has a reach of 84.5 to Vera’s 78 inches. Maybe the gameplan for Vera will be use the clinch, the Muay Thai plum and hit Jones with elbows and knees, like we saw him KO Fabio Scherner with at UFN 2. Attack Jones on the inside where his longer reach will be nullified. Although Vera has only ended one fight by submission he does have good BJJ so he will have the ability to work on the ground if needed, but I doubt he will need to.

On to Jon Jones. I feel that Jones is going to be quietly confident about his stand up skills coming in to this bout. He has heavy hands and with five of his 9 wins coming by KO he will be aiming to utilize his reach advantage, to pick his opponent off with long sharp jabs and good foot movement. Although he is yet to score a knockout since joining the UFC we saw Jones produce a magnificent spinning back elbow that almost knocked Stephen Bonnar out in their fight at UFC 94. We also know of Jones’ wrestling abilities as we saw him suplex Bonnar like a rag doll. His ground skills are good as well, he trains at Jackson submission fighting in New Mexico.

How I feel the styles may contrast. Each man will look for the stand up battle, the only difference I can see is that Vera may prefer the clinch and the inside fight as opposed to Jones with his long rangy striking style. Although Jones has great wrestling ability so don’t be surprised if we see some aggressive takedown and throw attempts from Jones who is an unorthodox style fighter.

Now my prediction for the fight:

I think the first round will see controlled movement from both men, each trying to figure his man out with jabs and quick feet movement. They will be looking for holes in the other man defense or an opening to counter punch and cause some damage. I think Jones will have the better of the two in the stand up game, scoring stiff jabs and leg kicks. towards the middle of the round I expect Vera may want to clinch but will leave himself open to the takedown. Giving Jones the opportunity to control him on the ground and dish out some punishment before the round is up.

Round 2 – I think the two men will come out much the same looking for the opening, Vera trying to score with a head kick but Jones is way too fast leaving Vera kicking air. I think the fight will end in this round with Jones finding the mistakes in Vera’s game and scoring some big shots before throwing Vera to the ground and finishing with some punishing elbows. The ref steps in and Jones has the KO victory.

Some info from Wiki, comparisons and predictions all original.