UFC on Versus 28/1/10 - San Diego, CA
CompuStrike Preview
Jon Jones vs. Vladimir MatyushenkoJones-Matyushenko Comparison |
Jones 5-Fight Avg. |
Matyushenko 4-Fight Avg.Comcast SportsNet Preview
Rising light heavyweight star Jones, 10-1 (4-1 in UFC), is a 5-1 favorite over Matyushenko, 24-4 (5-2 in UFC), the former IFL light heavyweight champion.
Jones has a 10 ½ inch reach advantage, is quicker and is improving with every fight. He should get the better of the striking on the feet despite landing just 12 of 39 arm strikes (31%) in his five UFC fights. Jones’ spinning backfists were lethal vs. Brandon Vera and Stephan Bonnar. Matyushenko landed 24 of 60 (40%) arm strikes, vs. lesser competition, in his four fights tracked by CompuStrike. Jones, at 23, is the younger fighter by 16 years.
Jones nearly tripled Matyushenko in landed leg strikes, throwing 24 per fight to just ten for The Janitor. Matyushenko was successful on eight of ten takedown attempts, while opponents hit on two of just four attempts. Jones’ takedown numbers are off the charts. He’s been successful on 18 of 20 attempts (90%) and has yet to be taken down in seven attempts by opponents.
In his last outing, Jones tossed Vera, one of the sports better greco roman wrestlers to the canvas like a rag doll, then ended the fight with an elbow that broke Vera’s orbital bone. Chilling stuff.
Prior to Vera, Jones was on his way to ko win over Matt Hamill (whom he also tossed to the mat with ease) before getting dq’d for punishing Hamill with multiple 12-to-6 vertical elbows. Jones outlanded Hamill 61-9 in total strikes.
Before gassing in round three, Jones totally stifled Bonnar’s standup game by scoring ten takedowns in eleven attempts enroute to a unanimous decision win. Bonnar landed just 22 arm strikes in 15 minutes. He usually lands that amount in single flurry!
Matyushenko’s won 11 of his last 12. All five of his UFC victories were by decision. His only loss was the rematch with Antonio Nogueira in January of ’09. Nog dropped Matyushenko with a knee after he was stunned by a left hook from the Janitor. Matyushenko’s only other ko loss occurred at UFC 44, where he was iced in one by Andrei Arlovski.
Jones was on the feet for 34 of a possible 45 ½ minutes in his five UFC fights. Matyushenko was on the feet for 35 ½ of a possible 47-plus minutes in his four fights tracked by CompuStrike.
