- Joined
- Dec 11, 2011
- Messages
- 5,295
- Reaction score
- 369
If Jones didn't have a 84" inch wingspan and DC didn't have a 71" inch reach it would be a very different fight. Even though DC has a great chance at beating Jones and I think he could beat Cain and rule the HW division, I don't see him winning tomorrow. I think because of his reach disadvantage, you will see DC lose this fight to Jones via decision. If they had the same reach, I think DC would be taking this fight. That's how important reach is.
Since Jones has a 13" reach advantage and is a versatile, smooth, and creative striker he will be able to keep DC at bay when he wants to and will be able to bring him in close to clinch or TD when he wants to also. Reach will be the key to this fight.
I think so many people under-estimate how important reach is. I believe reach is the greatest physical asset you can have because it never deteriorates with age like all of the other skills and it can be improved upon with skill.
Speed, great chin, strength, reflexes, power, and all of the other natural born assets that fighters can have diminish with age. Your chin doesn't get better with age and especially as you take hits, your strength reaches a plateau and at a certain age you just will never be as strong as you once were, reflexes and power eventually go down, but reach doesn't diminish with age. Look at the greats like Anderson and Fedor, eventually father time caught up with them and they suffered.
If you have a great jab you can really do quite a lot with it. Keep strikers at bay, keep wrestlers too far away for TD's, it can make your elbows vertical or horizontal far more deadly, and many other things.
Take Jessamyn Duke for example, a perfect example of how not to utilize your reach advantage. Instead of pumping a good jab and then using her combos and powershots she gets in close and beat up.
Then look at Tim Sylvia. Not a great athlete, not super powerful, or fast, or extremely skilled, but he had a great jab that he would keep opponents at bay with and eventually his hits would add up and he could add a more powerful strike, hurting his opponents. You could say his opponents at the time were weak, but he still did great while not being a great athlete himself. All because of his reach.
So, if you think reach isn't one of the greatest assets a fighter can have, you are wrong. It really is one of the greatest assets you can have, especially since you can build off of it to make it deadly and it doesn't deteriorate with age like all other physical attributes.
Since Jones has a 13" reach advantage and is a versatile, smooth, and creative striker he will be able to keep DC at bay when he wants to and will be able to bring him in close to clinch or TD when he wants to also. Reach will be the key to this fight.
I think so many people under-estimate how important reach is. I believe reach is the greatest physical asset you can have because it never deteriorates with age like all of the other skills and it can be improved upon with skill.
Speed, great chin, strength, reflexes, power, and all of the other natural born assets that fighters can have diminish with age. Your chin doesn't get better with age and especially as you take hits, your strength reaches a plateau and at a certain age you just will never be as strong as you once were, reflexes and power eventually go down, but reach doesn't diminish with age. Look at the greats like Anderson and Fedor, eventually father time caught up with them and they suffered.
If you have a great jab you can really do quite a lot with it. Keep strikers at bay, keep wrestlers too far away for TD's, it can make your elbows vertical or horizontal far more deadly, and many other things.
Take Jessamyn Duke for example, a perfect example of how not to utilize your reach advantage. Instead of pumping a good jab and then using her combos and powershots she gets in close and beat up.
Then look at Tim Sylvia. Not a great athlete, not super powerful, or fast, or extremely skilled, but he had a great jab that he would keep opponents at bay with and eventually his hits would add up and he could add a more powerful strike, hurting his opponents. You could say his opponents at the time were weak, but he still did great while not being a great athlete himself. All because of his reach.
So, if you think reach isn't one of the greatest assets a fighter can have, you are wrong. It really is one of the greatest assets you can have, especially since you can build off of it to make it deadly and it doesn't deteriorate with age like all other physical attributes.