UFC 152’s Jon Jones: Vitor Belfort ‘Tougher Fight’ Than Dan Henderson

Jon Jones

STUDIO MMA, RIVERSIDE, CA – With the cancellation of UFC 151 behind him, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is ready to defend his title for the third time.

Jones, a former amateur wrestler, has left a trail of destructions through the UFC light heavyweight division.  His last four bouts have been against former world champions, with dominating wins over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans.

Sept. 22^nd, Jones will be looking to add another former champion to his resume, Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort, at UFC 152.

Vitor is a walking classic, he’s a legend,” Jones told StudioMMA.com. “The word ‘legend’ is often abused in sports, but he truly is. I feel honored to be fighting him … In many ways this is a tougher fight that the one I had scheduled on September 1 against Dan Henderson.

Some may disagree, with Henderson holding a ’06 decision victory over Belfort.  Nevertheless, Belfort does present problems for the champ.

He has a lot of speed and is aggressive. He’s another former champion at this weight division, and that’s the kind of fight that adds to a career and helps you build your legacy.

Belfort has talked about ‘old lion verse young lion’, and Jones couldn’t agree more.

When he fought Wanderlei Silva (UFC Brazil, 1998) and got that really fast knockout it was one of the iconic moments in our sport. He pertains to the old school generation of martial arts and I sort of pertain to this new generation.

While having four different opponents named in under a month, Jones still believes his fans and haters will want to see this fight.

Right now there’s a lot of buzz around my name, whether it’s good or bad, and I think between those two factors a lot of people are going to tune in to watch a phenom versus another phenom.