Dan Hardy: The person that beats Jon Jones technically isn’t in the UFC

UFC color commentator and analyst Dan Hardy doesn’t believe anyone in the UFC can beat Jon Jones by being technical.

Throughout his career, Jones has outclassed high-level mixed martial artists. From former champions to legends in the sport, “Bones” has made many renowned fighters look average. He’ll look to continue that trend when he puts his light heavyweight gold on the line against Thiago Santos at UFC 239 on July 6.

Hardy was a guest on “The MMA Hour,” and he explained why he doesn’t believe a fighter currently on the UFC roster can dethrone Jon Jones by being more technical:

“This was a conversation John Gooden and I were having when we were filming ‘Inside The Octagon,’ which will be up soon. The person that beats Jon Jones technically isn’t in the UFC right now. The person that stands in front of Jon Jones and plays kickboxing with him and outwrestles him and out-grapples him, that person is not in the UFC right now. Because when they come into the UFC we’ll recognize them immediately because they’ll be special.”

With that said, Hardy does believe that Jones can be caught with something wild that shuts his lights off from the likes of Johnny Walker, Dominick Reyes, Santos and others:

“Unfortunately we don’t have the technical guy that’s gonna beat him I don’t think right now, but we’ve got a lot of guys that can really throw a wrench in the works. That’s what we’re all watching at the moment. Every one of Jon Jones’ fights is which one of these guys can catch him.”

Jon Jones has gone 24-1, 1 NC in his career. His lone loss is to Matt Hamill back in Dec. 2009 via disqualification. UFC president Dana White is working to get that defeat overturned.

Do you agree with Dan Hardy?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/26/2019.