Junior dos Santos Expects Jon Jones To Do ‘Very Well’ At Heavyweight
For all the talk of Jon Jones moving up to heavyweight, Junior dos Santos believes he could do very well there.
Jones is the current light heavyweight champion and has teased a move up, especially when it comes to facing Daniel Cormier. At the same time, he has also claimed he does not want to give “DC” any physical advantages by fighting at heavyweight.
Many fans in the combat sports world also feel Jones has hesitated to move up for a while and believe he won’t do as well there especially among the heavy-hitters. Not dos Santos.
The former heavyweight champion not only believes Jones is the pound-for-pound best in the sport, but that he could also benefit fighting up a weight class:
“Jon Jones is the No. 1 baddest guy on the planet… actually, he’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound in the world, so I think he could do very well in the heavyweight division,” dos Santos told MMA Fighting. “It’s kind of different. Not many different things, but more power on the punches, more power on the grappling, in everything.”
Jones last defeated Thiago Santos via split decision in a performance that was underwhelming to say the least. This was all the more the case considering Santos blew out his right knee early on in the fight.
While one judge scored the fight to Santos, dos Santos feels “Marreta” needed to do more to truly win the title. That said, he still expects his fellow compatriot and teammate to become a champion soon:
“I would say we couldn’t take the belt away from him,” dos Santos explained. “You know, when you’re fighting for the title you have to make it clear that you won the title. It’s hard to say, man, because Marreta did so well. I was so happy for him. But it’s hard to say.
“What I’m gonna say right now is this: you need to do a little bit more than the normal, you have to make sure you won the fight to have the belt. So let’s go for the next one. I know that Marreta is gonna come back much, much stronger from this fight. Man, I have no doubts he’s gonna become the champion at some point.”
What do you think of dos Santos’ comments?
