Jon Jones Told Mike Perry That Ground And Pound Was “The Secret Of MMA”
Mike Perry lost the fight versus Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC Fight Night 139 on November 10, 2018. His performance was far from good in that match.
Mike Perry opened with a great oblique kick. He also delivered a few excellent strikes off the distance. Yet, he made a mistake when he went for a takedown. Donald Cerrone performed a world-class sweep. It looked like “The Platinum” might slip away. But “The Cowboy” surprised him with a submission switch and ended the match via amazing first-round armbar!
Despite the defeat, Mike Perry is happy since his kickboxing looks much better now. He described the improvements in his clinch and striking game. (via BJPenn.com)
“My kickboxing looked a lot better, right?,” Perry said on the latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio. “You seen how, with him just running from me, there may not have been a lot that happened, but I would enter the clinch cleanly without getting hit. I usually get hit a lot.”
But Perry confessed that the main reason for the loss was his grappling game. “Platinum” promised he would work more on his ground game. The main reason for this U-turn is – Jon Jones! According to Mike Perry, “Bones” explained to him that ground and pound was “the secret of MMA”.
“You need position on the ground,” he said. “Jon Jones told me the secret to MMA is ground-and-pound. There were some times where I had positions on Cowboy that I should have been able to pop up and explode a little bit, and then drop down shots on him. I wasn’t very comfortable on top of him. I mean, I went for a key lock, and then he just rolled right from under me. There’s a better way to put my weight down. I needed to sit back. I got to work sitting my hips back more so it becomes more of a muscle memory.”
Mike Perry also stated that Cerrone’s jiu-jitsu had been better.
“He had been in the gi for this camp, he had been grappling, and he had been attacking people’s arms,” Perry continued, explaining that it was clear Cowboy had been working on his grappling. “I had not been submitting people in practice. I was trying to ground and pound and hit people, but he knew how to stop me from ground and pounding him in good positions. His jiu-jitsu was just smoother.”
Do you agree with Jon Jones? Should Mike Perry work on his ground and pound game?
