Jose Aldo Picks Glover Teixeira For The Win Against Jon Jones
Jose Aldo remains top of the pack at featherweight; unbeaten in nine years since his only pro loss and rapidly cleaning out a division full of high quality contenders. ‘Scarface’ is ranked up there with the current greats in MMA, and has a real shot at becoming the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.
Aldo is often talked about as having the hardest leg kicks in MMA, and his win against Ricardo lamas showed how effective they can be. Talking with Portal do Vale Tudo, Aldo tells of his roots in the sport, and who he bases his brutal style on:
“I’m a disciple of them, all I learned about kickboxing and muay thai was with them, this is the school from where I came. I trained a lot with Marco (Ruas) and also with Pedro (Rizzo), the guy that I always tried to emulate, the low kicks are almost the same watching Marco, me or Pedro. I’m one more in the Ruas Vale-Tudo family. Marco was a guy that marked MMA, he did this transition of everybody training everything, that is thanks to him.”
Also a recipient of the excellent stand-up teachings of Ruas and Rizzo is UFC 173 light-heavyweight title contender Glover Teixeira. Aldo believes that the qualities GT holds are enough to overcome the physical advantages of Jon Jones:
“I’m sure, I have no doubt in Glover’s victory. He’s a very cool guy and has a lot of talent in his wrestling and ground game. I’m sure he will be a very tough challenge for Jon Jones. Jon can think he is superior but certainly if Glover hit him with his fist the fight can end.”
Teixeira will look to become the first man to actually beat ‘Bones’ in professional competition, a feat that 20 men before him have been unable to reach. Teixeira scored the shot at JBJ with a crushing first round knockout of Ryan Bader, although ‘Darth’ did have the Brazilian slugger in trouble early on.
If Bader was able to rock Teixeira, would the same not be possible for Jones? ‘Bones’ has a lot more killer instinct, but we are also yet to see the aftermath of his fight with Alexander Gustafsson. ‘The Mauler’ bashed Jones up pretty good in their UFC 165 fight of the year, and perhaps Jones will be gun shy early on?
If so, it may well be the early opening that Teixeira will need to solve the puzzle of the longstanding light-heavyweight kingpin. Many have come close before; Gus, Lyoto Machida, Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort put in very game efforts, but were unable to pull the trigger when it mattered. Will Teixeira’s boulder fists be the difference maker?
