Big night ahead for J-W fighters
Jones, Holm to headline UFC 239 in Las Vegas
Even for Albuquerque’s Jackson-Wink MMA, UFC 239 is heady stuff.
Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., two JacksonWink fighters will share top billing.
Jon Jones will defend his UFC light heavyweight title against Brazil’s Thiago Santos; Holly Holm will challenge Amanda Nunes for the Brazilian’s bantamweight belt.
As successful as JacksonWink has been, universally recognized as among the best in the sport, J-W hasn’t had two UFC champions under its roof since 2013.
Put an asterisk there, since Georges St-Pierre, who was the welterweight champion at the same time Jones held the light heavyweight belt, always spent most of his time in his hometown of Montreal — only occasionally coming to Albuquerque to work with J-W’s Greg Jackson during their partnership.
And during Holm’s four-month reign as bantamweight champion from November 2015-March 2016, Jones was not the light heavyweight champion — having been stripped of the belt after his involvement in a hit-and-run car crash in Albuquerque. So, what are the odds? Jones (24-1), his only loss com
ing via disqualification in 2009, is approximately a 6-to-1 favorite against Santos (21-6). But Holm (12-4) is approximately a 3-to-1 underdog against Nunes (17-4).
It’s fair to say that Mike Winkeljohn, with Jackson the cohead coach at J-W, likes both his fighters’ chances.
Even so, he notes, this is MMA, “There’s just so many things going on (in an MMA fight),” Winkeljohn said in a phone interview. “There’s so many ways to victory, and so many paths you can fail on, that it’s hard to cover all your bases sometimes.” First, regarding Jones-Santos: Winkeljohn doesn’t hesitate to say he considers Jones the best mixed martial arts fighter to ever step into the cage.
“I definitely believe Jon is greatest of all time,” he said. “But what’s funny is, he’s improving. He’s getting better every day.”
Nor, though, does Winkeljohn hesitate to say that Santos, who numbers 15 knockouts or TKOs among his 21 wins, will demand Jones’ full concentration at all times.
“Thiago does have a puncher’s chance,” Winkeljohn said. “He’s very scary with that explosiveness, so if Jon’s not paying attention 100 percent of the time, he could get knocked out.
“This man (Santos) can knock anybody out.”
But then, there’s a reason Jones is an overwhelming favorite. Santos, whose losses have come to less-than-household names like David Branch, Eric Spicely, Gegard Mousasi, Uriah Hall, Cezar Ferreia and Vicente Luque, has never fought anyone remotely like Jones.
“Jon’s imposing in the way he fights,” Winkeljohn said. “He’s so chaotic and so unpredictable that people have a hard time hitting him.”
And, yet — from Jones’ standpoint, at least — it’s a controlled chaos.
“It’s all planned,” Winkeljohn said. “He’s highly intelligent . ... He knows his opponent sometimes better than the opponent knows himself.”
Regarding Holm-Nunes, Winkeljohn’s faith in his student of some two decades is unshakable.
Can Holm defeat Nunes, the champion whose fast and heavy hands destroyed the thought-to-be indestructible Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino in the first round?
Of course, Winkeljohn said.
“Holly shocked the world (with her unforgettable second-round TKO of Ronda Rousey in 2015),” he said. “She’s looking forward to shocking the world again.”
As Rousey did, Winkeljohn said, Nunes does a lot of things really well.
But not everything. “She’s terrifying, in that she can throw really hard,” Winkeljohn said. “She’s very strong . ... But sometimes, if you take her out of her comfort zone, there’s a lot of holes in her game as well.”
Nunes is 5-0 against the four fighters — Miesha Tate, Germaine de Randamie, Valentina Shevchenko (twice) and Cyborg — who have beaten Holm. Hence, the long odds against the Albuquerque fighter.
Shevchenko, however, had two highly competitive fights with Nunes — most recently a loss by split decision for the bantamweight title in September 2017.
Like Shevchenko, Holm is left-handed. Like Shevchenko, and unlike Cyborg, Holm will be patient and won’t race across the Octagon throwing bombs at the opening bell.
But Holm is not Shevchenko, and that’s OK.
“Holly has a different style than all of those girls that Amanda has fought,” Winkeljohn said. “And she plans on showing everybody what she can do.”