Being referred to as a veteran of the fight game at the age of 24 may make him “feel old”, but there’s no question that Jake O’Brien has seen plenty in his two and half year career in the Octagon. From dizzying highs to crippling lows and everything in between, O’Brien enters his UFC 100 bout with Jon Jones as a fighter who has been the hot prospect, been the young gun with the “0” at the end of his record, and found out that there is no such thing as invincible – at least not in this game.
“When you start hearing that (praise) from people, you start to believe it yourself, that you’re that good,” said O’Brien, winner of his first 10 pro fights. “I never got that overconfident, and I’ve always worked hard, but he (Jones) is young and I don’t know if he’s been in this position before, and he might let it go to his head. I think he might go out there and be more worried about putting on a good show than being worried about me. He’s got a lot of pressure on him. I don’t have anything to worry about, because nobody expects me to beat him. My last fight, I had two losses and I was fighting a guy (Christian Wellisch) that I was supposed to beat, and that wasn’t any fun. I had a lot of pressure on me and had to get the win. This fight, I can just come out and go. I don’t need to worry about anything.”
If you’ve been anywhere around mixed martial arts in the last six months, you know who Jon Jones is. The dynamic New Yorker is 8-0 as a pro, has two UFC wins (over Andre Gusmao and Stephan Bonnar), and more important than his record is the way he’s winning – with a dazzling array of spinning elbows, throws, and other unorthodox moves that leave opponents stunned. He’s the Next Big Thing, a title some bestowed on O’Brien in January of 2007 when he toppled perennial heavyweight contender Heath Herring in one of the biggest upsets of recent years. The victory followed two previous victories for the former Purdue wrestler, but when a stinger forced O’Brien out of the Octagon and onto a surgeon’s table, the momentum he had built up vanished. When he returned to active duty in 2008, he lost back-to-back bouts against former heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski and rising star Cain Velasquez, and he was no longer golden in the eyes of the fans.
Forced to regroup, O’Brien decided that a drop from heavyweight to the 205-pound weight class was in order, and in January, he got back on the winning track with a three round win over Christian Wellisch. ‘Irish’ Jake had his mojo back, and now feels settled in his new division.
“I like it a lot,” he said. “I cut the weight at the end, but I only diet down five or ten pounds less from where I was at heavyweight. The only difference is the last couple of weeks and cutting the water weight. I still have the same strength, and losing the five, ten pounds I get a little quicker, and I feel even better. I noticed after going after all these big guys, I fought Wellisch at 205 and when I went for the takedown, it felt like nothing – and he’s a decent wrestler. It was nice to grab someone smaller than the guys I was fighting.”
It should have been the start of a new chapter in his career, but when O’Brien got the call to face Jones at UFC 100, he knew that to fight fans, he was seen as merely the latest chapter in the story of Jones’ rise to the top.
“I’ve heard people say in interviews that they don’t want him to fight the best guys yet, they want to build him up, and that kinda makes me mad, thinking that this is a fight to build him up,” said O’Brien.”
He pauses for emphasis.
“I think they’re gonna find out different.”
That may be the case. Say what you will about O’Brien’s less than scintillating win over Herring. The fact is, the kid can fight, and at this level of the game, you take what you’re given and do the best with it. O’Brien did finish his first eight foes in the pro game, and while he’s focused more on his wrestling since then, he held his own with Arlovski before being stopped in the second round, and the only fight he was blown out in was when he got halted by Velasquez. Otherwise, he’s always found a way to win, and he’s been in with a higher overall level of competition than Jones has thus far, making him quite a live underdog.
“I’ve been fighting guys like Arlovski and Cain, and Jones is a tough guy, but I don’t think he’s either one of those guys,” said O’Brien. “He’s very athletic and has a lot of potential, but I think stylewise, I’m the worst possible fight he can have. I’m not gonna be in front of him, standing on our feet, letting him get that stuff off. I’m either coming at him wrestling or coming at him punching, and he needs room to throw his spinning elbows and stuff, but I’m not gonna give him any room to do that. I just don’t think his skills are developed enough to beat another good wrestler. Even me, as a wrestler, the toughest fight is someone who’s a better wrestler than me, and I think that’s gonna be a big, big problem for him.”
Then again, given the variety and unpredictability of Jones’ attack, how can you implement your game plan when limbs are flying at you from all angles?
“All you can really do is keep your hands up the whole time and be ready,” he chuckles. “I’m sure he’ll have something new to do in this fight. The tricky and flashy stuff he does, he’s gonna use it, but one of these days it’s gonna hurt him and he’s gonna get caught doing something.”
O’Brien is confident of being the first one to pin an “L” on Jonny Bones’ record, yet that doesn’t mean he’s dismissing his 21-year old foe. On the contrary, O’Brien respects what Jones can do; he just doesn’t think it’s his time.
“He’s young, and I’d rather fight him now than five years from now,” said O’Brien of Jones. “He’s got the natural ability where he’s gonna be a stud one day, and he is today – he’s a tough, tough guy, and I’m not taking anything away from him – but I don’t think he’s ready yet.”
O’Brien is ready though. He’s been where Jones is now, fell from his perch and had to tuck his chin in and take some shots to get back to the position where he can make a move on the top fighters in his division. And though he may not want to admit it for fear that his youth is starting to slip into the rear view mirror, he is a veteran now, and on July 11th, he has his opportunity to show what he’s learned while walking through the MMA minefields.
“I hope this time the fans see me put everything together,” said O’Brien. “I want to put my boxing and my wrestling together and I want them to see a new, improved version of me. I’ve shown parts in fights when I’ve looked good in one area, but this time I want to put it all together.”
“When you start hearing that (praise) from people, you start to believe it yourself, that you’re that good,” said O’Brien, winner of his first 10 pro fights. “I never got that overconfident, and I’ve always worked hard, but he (Jones) is young and I don’t know if he’s been in this position before, and he might let it go to his head. I think he might go out there and be more worried about putting on a good show than being worried about me. He’s got a lot of pressure on him. I don’t have anything to worry about, because nobody expects me to beat him. My last fight, I had two losses and I was fighting a guy (Christian Wellisch) that I was supposed to beat, and that wasn’t any fun. I had a lot of pressure on me and had to get the win. This fight, I can just come out and go. I don’t need to worry about anything.”
letting him get that stuff off. I’m either coming at him wrestling or coming at him punching, and he needs room to throw his spinning elbows and stuff, but I’m not gonna give him any room to do that. I just don’t think his skills are developed enough to beat another good wrestler. Even me, as a wrestler, the toughest fight is someone who’s a better wrestler than me, and I think that’s gonna be a big, big problem for him.”
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