By Joe Ferraro

Once again, Jon “Bones” Jones proved why he is the most heralded young prospect in the sport today. His dominant victory over the well traveled Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko has the majority of the MMA world catapulting the youngster to heights of some sort of deity. While I agree Jones is “The Man”, I completely disagree with this inherent need to rush him up the light heavyweight ladder.

His victory over “The Janitor” must be put into perspective. When “Bones” defeated Brandon Vera, it was considered a far more serious victory for the win column on Jone’s resume. But when the UFC matched him up against Matyushenko, folks where saying a victory over the Belarussian would do nothing for the youngster’s career. Today, there are many who now believe Jones should receive a title shot vs current champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

When Jones fought Vera, “The Truth” was a consensus Top 15 light heavyweight. As for Matyushenko, look around the various sites with legitimate MMA rankings – he’s hovering around #23 to #26, while “Bones” is just outside the Top Ten. With that being said, he did what a higher ranked fighter was supposed to do, to a lower ranked fighter: defeat him. But because he did it in under two minutes, he should now fight a top contender – the likes of Shogun, Lyoto Machida or Rampage Jackson.

On Saturday April 18th, 2009 during our “UFC 97: Countdown Canada” nationally televised live pre-show from The Bell Centre in Montreal, I introduced Jon Jones as the future of the LHW division, and that IN TIME, he would likely develop into a potential future champion. The then, twenty two year old, was as humble as he is today, appreciated the sentiments, all the while my blackberry was ringing with texts, messages, as my Facebook, Twitter and other accounts shared a theme of “who is this guy?” – “never heard of him”, etc. In fact, there were only a handful of websites that truly saw the potential Jon had, even before his masterful performance against Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94.

He’s only twenty three – he’s not thirty three, so there is no need to rush him up the ladder. As I mentioned on last night’s Sportsnet Connected broadcast, I believe the UFC should continue to take their time, building what may be the future Kingpin of “The Pound for Pound” mountain. They have been smart by putting him on free Tv – to build his fan base – and now, he is pay per view worthy, as fans will pay to see him compete against a worthy opponent.

As for who he should face:

I am holding firm on my stance that it should be someone at the bottom end of the Top Ten, and that’s the winner of the UFC 119 co-main event between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ryan Bader. Should he emerge victorious, a bout vs Top Five guy, followed by a number one contender bout, then, in a perfect world ( should he fight every four months and consistently win) he gets his title shot at the tender age of 25.

On a side note: if you missed our pre-fight show, Frank Trigg joined us and firmly believes that if Jones wants to go to heavyweight, he could do so with ease. Ironically enough, the only guy Jones called out after Sunday’s bout, was James Toney, who really wants to silence. Catch my radio show this Thursday to find out why I think this is a great idea for the UFC.

And don’t forget to take the poll on the top right of the page…vote for who you believe “Bones” should face next?

Misc News and Notes

•       With Alan Belcher being forced to withdraw from his UFC Fight Night Twenty Two main event bout vs Demian Maia, it appears that the UFC will not be looking for a replacement. I disagree – bring in Yushin Okami, but I digress. In the meantime, the UFC 118 bout between two other middleweight contenders, Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares has apparently been moved and will now become the main event for UFC Fight Night Twenty Two.

•       In case you missed it, Zuffa LLC has filed suit against Bellator FC and Ken Pavia of MMA Agents for alleged theft of intellectual property. In another article talking about this case, Bellator’s lawyer Patrick English believes all will be worked out and that the suit is unmerited. The real losers here may be the fighters and fans, as litigation costs may put Bellator out of business, right before the start of their Season Three. Also, what effect will this have on Pavia’s stable of fighters, many of which compete under the Zuffa owned UFC and WEC. We should all keep an eye on this story, as Bellator is doing good things, but alas, when you start hovering around the UFC’s radar…well, there is no need for me to continue.

•       We saw him sitting in the stands during the UFC Live Two broadcast, and apparently that’s where Urijah Faber will likely remain until November or December.

•       If you are wondering why Scott Smith was never truly mentioned as a competitor in Strikeforce’s middleweight tournament, it’s because “The Comeback Kid” has recently announced he’ll be moving down to the welterweight division.

•       Canadian Lightweight Mark “Boots” Holst will take on Britain’s undefeated grappler Paul “Sassangle” Sass (10-0) at UFC 120 in England. Check out Holst’s latest blog, where he talks about training with GSP at the Montreal Wrestling Club.

•          Unheralded featherweight Marlon Sandro recently hinted that his next bout may be against Michihiro Omigawa, in a proposed promotional collaboration between DREAM and Sengoku on September 25th. This bout has “Fight of the Year” candidate written all over it.

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