Javier Mendez believes Cain Velasquez would beat Jon Jones at heavyweight after 'Bones' drops title to Daniel Cormier

American Kickboxing Academy head Javier Mendez isn't modest when it comes to prized pupils Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier. The pair may be booked at the moment, but they each seem to be a collision course with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Asked for his take on how his fighters stack up with 'Bones,' Mendez sees AKA wins at both heavyweight and 205 pounds. Even with Jones holding a reach advantage of 12.5 inches, Mendez insists that won't be a game-changer against Cormier.



"Out of everybody that Jones' has fought, Daniel's going to be the one that's not going to have an issue with his reach, that's not going to have an issue getting inside," Mendez told Submission Radio. "He is going to get inside. You know, what happens is gonna happen, but I guarantee you this, he's going to go inside, Daniel's going to take him down and we'll see what happens from there."



Jones has been heavily criticized this week for how he helps maintaining that range, by placing his outstretched fingers dangerously close to his opponents' eyes. Jones was warned of the practice by referee Dan Miragliotta during his UFC 172 title bout with Glover Teixeira, but no action was taken.



"I don't think that's a strategy they used on purpose, I just think it's an unfortunate thing that happens because of the way the gloves are," said Mendez. "So if there's something that can be done to fix the gloves, that would be fantastic, or if there's something to say that you can't stick your fingers out like that like they do in boxing you know, you can't do it in MMA, then that can help out."



If or when Jones should make a move to heavyweight, Mendez doesn't expect Velasquez to be thrown for a curve.



"Jon will definitely pose some problems for Cain, but Cain's going to pose more problems for Jon that he's never faced in his whole entire life."



With Velasquez set to defend his title to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 in November and Cormier slated to face Dan Henderson May 24 at UFC 173, hypotheticals will have to do for now.

http://ift.tt/1iCq3Tr

Statistics: Posted by z0rg — Apr 30. 2014, 11:14 — Replies 0 — Views 4

---