Jon Jones Sees Competitive Match Against Thiago Santos at UFC 239
Jon Jones is scheduled to face Thiago Santos at UFC 239 this weekend. Outside of his history with Daniel Cormier, Jones’ recent matches had little trash talk and the same goes for this match with Santos. However, with the string of finishes Santos has racked up to get him his shot at Jones and his title it would be hard not to wonder how Jones views a challenge against a knock-out artist like Santos.
In a recent interview with TMZ, Jones was asked how he thought the match would go and his reply was, “I have a feeling that it’s going to be a competitive fight, but I do believe I’ll win the fight.” Jones knows Santos has a lot of power and holds black belt ranks in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu so he is not taking Santos lightly.
“Thiago has knock out power in both hands,” Jones said of his opponent and that, “He seems like a good dude too.” He knows Santos fought and worked hard to get the title shot so Jones felt he needed to say he has, “no ill-will towards him, I just want to win.”
Since Santos moved up to light-heavyweight, he added three knockouts/TKO’s to his record with his wins over Eryk Anders, Jimi Manuwa, and Jan Blachowicz. Of Santos six losses, five of them were finishes; three by knock out and two by submission. It should also be noted that from his 21 wins, 15 come by way of knock out or TKO.
Coincidentally, Blachowicz is also on the UFC 239 card against Luke Rockhold who also has moved up to light-heavyweight. It would seem Jones has a target on his back and has not officially lost a fight in nine years, the current champ could be busy if he gets past Santos on Saturday night.
