The Power of a Loss

People have been making a huge deal lately about Jon “Bones” Jones and rightly so. He is undefeated in the Octagon, and has won all of his matches in an impressive fashion. He has been considered the best at 205 yet he hasn’t fought for the title. He has defeated top notch competition in his climb up to his title shot, yet he hasn’t faced the ultimate opponent, a loss.

Jon Jones (Throwing the knee)


People underestimate the power of the loss, and I can’t think of a better example than Lyoto “the Dragon” Machida. Machida climbed the UFC’s light heavyweight ranks undefeated, and handily dispatched all who stood before him… UNTIL, he fought Shogun. Shogun beat his leg to a pulp for 5 rounds and Machida was unable to mount any sort of offense. He lost the fight even though the judges thought otherwise. The judges decision led to a rematch, and this time Shogun left nothing to chance and KO’d Machida in the first round. The undefeated “Dragon” had fallen, and the invincible was suddenly mortal.


Lyoto Machida

The fact that the undefeated champion fell is nothing spectacular, and it was bound to happen sooner or later, but what may have been harder to predict was the mental toll that it would take on the now defeated “Dragon”. He has fought once since his defeat, and he lost… again, to a game Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but he didn’t look like he had improved from his former self. The question is why? The competition did not evolve that much in a year, he wasn’t suddenly “left behind”, so what happened? I would say that Machida was beaten both mentally and physically. Losing when you are undefeated can have dire consequences and is often times a greater test than any worthy opponent. Shogun mentally defeated him the first time, he broke the Dragon, and in the second fight he simply swept up the pieces.



There have been other instances where a fighter comes back better from a loss, as seen in the case of GSP, or Randy Couture, and that is why they are true champions. Jon Jones may be one of those true champions but only time will tell.



Until Next Time,
Ryan,

p.s. Don’t get me wrong I think Jon Jones is a great kid, he has an amazing humble attitude, and is soft spoken, I’m just saying he may be a bit over-hyped as he has yet to face the test of a loss.