Gustavo Pugliesi: Dan Henderson will nullify Jon Jones' reach by patience – UFC News
Gustavo Pugliesi, trainer Dan Henderson, remarked that Dan will go only for a knockout and nothing else. He added that Jon Jones has too many flaws in his defence and that there is no reach which cannot be nullified by patience and calm game play.
These comments were put forth by Gustavo in a recent interview to a reputable mixed martial art magazine. Pugliesi seems to be very confident about his man Dan, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, the reason why he almost revealed the whole
game plan which Henderson will most probably follow in the octagon.
Jones is scheduled to defend his title for the fourth time in a row against Dan Henderson in a bout which will headline UFC’s 151st episode. At the moment only the date and the name of the city is aired in the media but the venue where the octagon will be
set up is still unknown.
The rest of the fight card is also under consideration and more bouts will be added with the passage of time for the September 1, 2012 showdown. UFC will televise its 151st show from Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
Dan, 41, is a veteran mixed martial artist who has been in a total 37 bouts. The Californian proud has won 29 of his encounters, 13 by knockout, just two by submission, and a huge 14 by either split or unanimous decision.
In addition, he is coming from Strikeforce, a promotion where he ruled the light heavyweight division emphatically. This will be ‘Hendo’, Dan’s second UFC bout. It must be kept in mind that Henderson is coming from an epic unanimous win over Mauricio Rua,
a fight which even won the ‘Fight of the year’ award.
Therefore, one thing is for sure, Dan cannot be treated as a light opponent who can easily be nailed. It is this reason why Gustavo was so optimistic and quite confident during the interview.
Gustavo stated, “I don’t hope for anything less than a knockout, but it’s not easy on Hendo. He’s putting his hands on him, buddy. If he didn’t have this (reach) advantage things would be much simpler, even because he has many flaws on his defensive system.
But there’s no unbeatable reach you can’t win with patience and calm.”
While explaining the strategy, Pugliesi revealed, “We have to try to make the octagon small, leaving no space out for Jones to escape Henderson. We have to use a lot of flow, combine kicks, move the head and work on the reach.”
The bout will definitely be a tough one as Jones is seriously overshadowed by Dan’s experience and will need much more training in order to outwit a veteran. Jones recently defended his title successfully for the third time against Rashad Evans at UFC 145
and the upcoming bout can be dubbed as the greatest test of the youngest light heavyweight champion.
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