What Could Gustafsson Have Done to Beat Jones?

[a guy]

Alexander Gustafsson can beat Jon Jones. Not only can he do it, he very nearly did. What do you think he could do differently in a rematch to ensure the victory? For me, the main things would be:

Conserving energy. Gustafsson wasted a lot of energy with his excessive movement, throwing the wrong kicks and trying to wrestle too much after his initial success. Had he been fresher in the final rounds I really think he would have won the fight.

Body shots. He started using these WAY too late in the fight. Had he used them earlier, Jones would have worn down significantly more by the end of the fight. No one has gone to the body with commitment against Jones and I doubt his defense is particularly good.

Leg kicks. Jones uses the same defense almost every time he is attacked; fingers in the eyes as he backs up and circles. There isn't really the threat of a counter, so Gustafsson could take Shogun's gameplan against Machida and use it against Jones. Kick his legs out as he tries to move out of range to punish him for that defense. If he keeps using it, you keep hurting his legs. If he stops, you keep him in boxing range where he is CLEARLY uncomfortable and has poor defense.

Slipping to his left. One thing that really stuck out to me by the fourth round was that as Gustafsson tires, he only puts his weight on his right hip. As a result, he was always jabbing and slipping to that same side over and over. When Jones picked up on that, he landed a spinning elbow that very nearly led to a finish. The ability to slip both ways even (especially) when tired is absolutely vital. Gustafsson didn't have the energy to keep moving his feet, so he got caught stuck on that hip. This is a big problem that needs to be fixed.

Cross Counter: Jones relies too much on just putting his lead arm in the opponent's face. Slipping inside that and throwing a right over the top could go a long way towards knocking him out, or at least just beating him up.

What do you guys think he needs to do if they fight again?

 

[apizur**]

It wasn't the elbow that killed him. It was the 6 spinning back kicks that Jones landed when Gus moved to his left that should have been enough to let him know to make the adjustment.

I agree that a well placed right hand could have done magic for Gus, in the later rounds. He was winning the fourth. The elbow to the forehead won Jon that fight otherwise. Gus had no answer for Jon's kicks, and Jon had no answer for Gus' punching game... when he was on it. I do have to give Gus credit thou, he completely avoided Jon's grapple game... even to score a takedown himself.

But Jon kept him in kick range, wore him down, beat him up, fought to control pace and came away w/ the V. Congrats to Jon, now get a boxing coach.


Side note:
I live in the town across the river from where Jon went to highschool so we get a lot of Jones supporters. We went to a bar/restaurant that Jon used to work at to watch the fight and these people were ridiculous. The first spinning back kick that landed on Gus' hip and one guy goes "IT'S OVER!!!" First round Gus was making Jon follow him and one guy goes "See he's already controlling the fight." Gus would land some punches in a combination and Jon would respond with a jab and these people went crazy. Now I see how judges can get such funky scores.

 

[a guy]

It wasn't the elbow that killed him. It was the 6 spinning back kicks that Jones landed when Gus moved to his left that should have been enough to let him know to make the adjustment.

I agree that a well placed right hand could have done magic for Gus, in the later rounds. He was winning the fourth. The elbow to the forehead won Jon that fight otherwise. Gus had no answer for Jon's kicks, and Jon had no answer for Gus' punching game... when he was on it. I do have to give Gus credit thou, he completely avoided Jon's grapple game... even to score a takedown himself.

But Jon kept him in kick range, wore him down, beat him up, fought to control pace and came away w/ the V. Congrats to Jon, now get a boxing coach.


Side note:
I live in the town across the river from where Jon went to highschool so we get a lot of Jones supporters. We went to a bar/restaurant that Jon used to work at to watch the fight and these people were ridiculous. The first spinning back kick that landed on Gus' hip and one guy goes "IT'S OVER!!!" First round Gus was making Jon follow him and one guy goes "See he's already controlling the fight." Gus would land some punches in a combination and Jon would respond with a jab and these people went crazy. Now I see how judges can get such funky scores.

The spinning kicks didn't help, but the elbow is what turned the fight around. I honestly don't think the kicks were that significant. I'm sure they played a part in Gustafsson slowing down but I think there were more significant factors. They just weren't landing that cleanly or having much of an effect on Gustafsson. He definitely should have been more wary of running to his left though, you never want to risk eating those kinds of kicks.

I don't know about Gustafsson having no answer for the kicks. He countered them with punches, leg kicks and by catching several. In the first round especially he was doing well, but as he got tired he started to eat more kicks. No one else has done nearly as good a job answering Jones' kicks. With a little bit more work on that aspect of his game, I think he'd really be able to shut Jones down.

 

[SummerStriker]

Pray to Crom for revenge.

 

[myxallion]

I actually noticed that Spinning back kick at the first minutes of the 4th round. After that specific kick I saw Gus take a deep breath. For me Gus should have attempted more body kicks and leg kicks. He somewhat avoided the kicking game on the 2nd and 3rd round. It was fun seeing him use it on the first and answer some of jones oblique kicks with his own side kick to the thigh or body. He should have done more of those.

2nd thing that I think attributed to his loss was he was eating too much of those damn Head kicks. I wish his corner have said something about that. I was actually worried that he might go down around the 5th (Nate Diaz style) because of the amount of blows that he ate.

What excessive movements where you talking about? IMO he was moving well enough to avoid clinching and to disengage when jones was attacking.

 

[a guy]

I actually noticed that Spinning back kick at the first minutes of the 4th round. After that specific kick I saw Gus take a deep breath. For me Gus should have attempted more body kicks and leg kicks. He somewhat avoided the kicking game on the 2nd and 3rd round. It was fun seeing him use it on the first and answer some of jones oblique kicks with his own side kick to the thigh or body. He should have done more of those.

2nd thing that I think attributed to his loss was he was eating too much of those damn Head kicks. I wish his corner have said something about that. I was actually worried that he might go down around the 5th (Nate Diaz style) because of the amount of blows that he ate.

What excessive movements where you talking about? IMO he was moving well enough to avoid clinching and to disengage when jones was attacking.

Eh I didn't like a lot of the kicks Gus was throwing. His side kicks to the body especially, none of them landed and they weren't thrown well anyway. More leg kicks and front kicks would be best in my opinion. Some body kicks too if he could find the openings. I'd have to watch again but I don't remember any of the spinning kicks really looking particularly hard or like they landed in in a bad spot.

Most of the head kicks that landed were only hitting with the toes. Gustafsson was good at moving to avoid them most of the time, til he got tired and stood there to eat them. He should have done more about those earlier, perhaps blocking then stepping in fast to unload punches as Pettis did to Bendo.

The excessive movement is when he started jogging around or moving way too quickly for no real reason. He would have been better prepared to counter and less open to those spinning kicks if he slowed down the movement. He also would have saved a lot of energy that could have made the difference in the fight.

 

[myxallion]

I agree that those side kicks looked horrible but it disguised a lot of his punches. Yeah I think he could have done better with body kicks.

edit: I was wrong there was no spinning back kick on the first minute of the fourth.

 

[thegreenblender]

I think he should have trained more against the spinning attacks. I feel like he went in their feeling like if he controlled the fight Jon wouldn't get his groove and wouldn't be defending a half-dozen spinning elbows. That's a really trademark aspect of Jon's style that he didn't look incredibly prepared for. It seemed like he didn't know whether to zig or zag. Duck and dive into a high kick on its way up? Back away and lose the ground I've gained? Block and still get shellshocked with bruised forearms?

I don't know the definitive answer, but it was probably a certain type of footwork/angle that would make Jon open himself up by attempting it. It's tempting to just time it perfectly and shove a straight counter down his throat, but you fuck up you get laid out.

 

[Henry Huggins]

work on kicks and defending when jones switches his stance

 

[Oldknees]

Jones isn't as comfortable fighting while moving backwards. It may not be his style (as he likes to stick and move) but if Gustafsson could apply pressure intelligently and get Jones backing up he may find some success using that strategy...that, and body shots, many many many more body shots.

 

[Frode Falch]

I agree with Oldknees. He was doing best when he was agressive and pressing forward against Jones. But he was just too careful.. Should have pressed the action more.

 

[SummerStriker]

I agree with Oldknees. He was doing best when he was agressive and pressing forward against Jones. But he was just too careful.. Should have pressed the action more.

I don't think he could have. If he pressed more, he would have walked into a spinning elbow.

The only way he could have pressed it would be if he could break the rhythm, but I think Jones was reading the music better.

He needs more credible simple direct attacks and more experience breaking rhythm and closing the gap.

Every time he attacked jones and failed, Jones learned more about his rhythm and it made it impossible to get close.

So I agree he needed to press more, but he didn't have the tools he needed to do that. Just attacking more would have gotten him timed, and I think he felt that.

The poor man's broken rhythm is just to attack less so that your entries aren't based on reason and you are hard to figure.

 

[Sinister]

Pray to Crom for revenge.

Odin, he's a Viking, not a Sumerian.

 

[SummerStriker]

Everything is relative to. Jones looked about like people I train with. So did Gus.

But a guys benching 500 looks about like a guy benching 200 on form, though the guy bench 200 would be crushed by the heavier weight.

I feel like I understand the problem facing Gus using broken rhythm, but the main cause is the danger he perceived. He might time me like he's Bruce lee on Conair for all I know.

Odin, he's a Viking, not a Sumerian.

Even better!

 

[Jukai]

I think he should closed distance more following that jab, get inside Jones' kicking range and pivot after a few shots. He was throwing too many of those 'feeler' jabs which were connecting, and I know they were to deter Jones from shooting in (and it worked) but it didn't deter Jones from kicking. Getting in Jones face would have deterred that kick.

Gus woulda probably ate an extra elbow or two, but what's one more to two dozen, y'known?

 

[Oldknees]

Odin, he's a Viking, not a Sumerian.

the more gods you have on your side the better

 

[flanellograf]

The problem is that it's not likely the same Jones will show up the next time. A jones trying to be more unpredictable, using more elbows, and realizing he shouldn't primarily kickbox/box with Gus will be a lot harder to deal with.
With that said, Gus primarily needs to shore up him being very hittable when he is moving in. Jones had some success with jabbing Gus when he was attacking and interrupting his attack. Don't know why he didn't do that more actually. Also meeting the attack with step in elbows would be effective (which is generally grossly underutilized in mma imo).
A Jones that learns to use his jab and straight properly, and that mixes it up more as usual, is a formidable opponent.
Also, moving around as much wasn't really the problem for Gus cardio, getting blasted by that spinning elbow was.
Yes, he is a bit spastic, but he would risk a lot more takedowns if he weren't.

 

[devante]

I think he should closed distance more following that jab, get inside Jones' kicking range and pivot after a few shots. He was throwing too many of those 'feeler' jabs which were connecting, and I know they were to deter Jones from shooting in (and it worked) but it didn't deter Jones from kicking. Getting in Jones face would have deterred that kick.

Gus woulda probably ate an extra elbow or two, but what's one more to two dozen, y'known?

but in staying in jon's face; is there a good chance he would have been taken down more often, jones would have worked the clinch/body clinch and thrown or tripped gus down.

part of jones not getting the takedowns was, as you mentioned the feeler jabs; an the fact he was being careful, not staying in front of jones, not letting jones get angles and not letting jones get into a comfortable range to attempt shots/enter clinches..

your right tho; he was in kicking range and those head/body shots wore him down/scored points.. I feel jones terrible striking def and boxing was exposed; an honestly jones exposed gus's standup def (shogun did too) and his limitations as a kickboxer..

 

[devante]

if gus could have gotten one or two more takedowns, i think he wins the fight; in fact i think that takedown jones got in round five really cemented things.. Off those spinning elbows gus had opportunities to get takedowns off of those; but regardless of how many jones landed, alexander never seemed to adj to avoid them, counter or attempt a takedown...

 

[Bay Area]

i had it 2,3,5 Jones. You could add 4 in there too, but I felt Gus did more up until getting rocked.