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TORONTO -- He has never been knocked down or taken down in his UFC career. His one loss was in reality a win, with his injured opponent needing surgery afterwards. Light-heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones became the UFCs youngest-ever champion in March 2011 when, at 23 years eight months, he defeated Mauricio (Shogun) Rua at UFC 128. Now 26, Jones is the undisputed pound-for-pound king of mixed martial arts. And the American continues to rewrite the record book. Jones (18-1) has lost just one round in his 13-fight UFC career. And the 205-pounder made former champion Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida pay for that first round at UFC 140 in Toronto, locking on a standing guillotine choke in the second round before dropping the unconscious Brazilian onto the canvas with a thud. On Saturday, Swedens Alexander (The Mauler) Gustafsson becomes the latest to attempt to derail the Jones express when the two face off at UFC 165 at Torontos Air Canada Centre. It will be Jones third championship fight in the Ontario capital. At six foot five, Gustafsson (15-1) is a rare fighter who is taller than the 6-4 Jones. A perhaps over-enthusiastic UFC TV promo calls the Swede "the toughest test of (Jones) career." The bookies arent buying it, installing Jones as anything from a 7-1 to 12-1 favourite. For the champion, facing a fighter of similar stature means little other than a chance to silence critics who say he had yet to face someone of his body type. Jones rejects any suggestion the two fighters are similar, pointing to the Swede tapping out to a Phil Davis anaconda choke with five seconds left in the first round at UFC 112 in April 2010. "I wouldnt be able to sleep at night, knowing that I did that," Jones told The Canadian Press. "Height and reach are nothing," he added. "Its your spirit, its your work ethic, its your level of belief ... Its your story that makes you a champion, not simply just being tall with long arms. If it was being tall with being long arms, half the NBA would be world-class cage-fighters." Jones combination of size, youth and versatility have rendered him virtually unstoppable. Opponents have been unable to penetrate his prickly defence or survive his multi-faceted offence. He can hurt you with punches, elbows, knees and kicks from a variety of angles. And in recent fights, he has outshone his opponents at what they do best. He outwrestled Chael Sonnen, a former U.S. Olympic alternate. And he submitted jiu jitsu black belt Vitor (The Phenom) Belfort, twisting his arm like a pretzel in a keylock. Still, in a rare foray into deep waters, Jones had to escape a tight armbar in the first round against Belfort to continue his championship reign. Jones is tied for most consecutive title defences (five) and most finishes (nine) in UFC light-heavyweight history. He already holds the record for most submissions (five) by a light-heavyweight. According to FightMetric, Jones holds a combined 552-202 edge in significant strikes over his 13 UFC opponents. And 116 of those opponent significant strikes came in three fights -- against Andre Gusmao (34) and Stephan Bonnar (37) in his first two UFC outings and former champion Rashad Evans (45) in a 2012 meeting. His 10 other opponents failed to break the 20-mark in significant strikes, with five unable to land 10. Veteran Vladimir (The Janitor) Matyushenko did not land one in a 2010 KO loss that lasted one minute 52 seconds. Jones finished him off with 10 elbow strikes in four seconds. With three more significant strikes, Jones will move past Tito Ortiz into second spot for most by a light-heavyweight. Forrest Griffin tops the division with 796. Jones has recorded 26 successful takedowns in his UFC career, well below the UFC record of 84 (in 20 fights) by welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. But Jones is so deadly with ground strikes that once an opponent is downed, he is usually out. Matt Hamill needed shoulder surgery after being rag-dolled to the ground and brutalized in a December 2009 bout. Jones carved Hamill with more than 40 elbow strikes to the head before the fight was stopped. Jones got up and celebrated with a cartwheel, only to have referee Steve Mazzagatti disqualify him for an illegal downward elbow. Jones has won all nine fights since, with five of his last six opponents being former champions. Following Hamill, he needed just three minutes 19 seconds to dispose of Brandon (The Truth) Vera. Put on his back, the former heavyweight needed facial surgery after being battered by Joness elbows. A former junior college champion wrestler, Jones turned his back on an athletic scholarship to Iowa when his girlfriend became pregnant. MMA was a way to pay the bills and he was good at it. The Jones genes helped. Older brother Arthur Jones is a six-foot-three 313-pound defensive end with the Baltimore Ravens. Younger brother Chandler is a 6-5, 265-pound defensive end with the New England Patriots. Father Arthur Sr. is a pastor in Binghamton, N.Y. He stands six foot one, with wife Camille a little over five foot eight. But her father was six foot seven and there is also size on Arthurs size of the family. Jon was skinny as a teenager, earning the nickname Bones as a six-foot-four 177-pound defensive lineman in high school football. Jones reach of 84.5 inches has been key to his success. According to ESPNs Sports Science, the fighter can cover 182 cubic feet with his long arms extended -- an area more than 80 per larger than the average male. His spinning elbow has been clocked at more than 900 degrees per second, faster than the blades of an Apache helicopter, according to ESPN. Gustafsson, who says his reach is 81.5 inches, has skills of his own. He has never been knocked down in the UFC and has defended 84.2 per cent of takedown attempts (the UFC average is 59 per cent). Like Jones, he is a busy striker. Gustafsson lands 3.98 significant strikes a minute, compared to 3.94 for Jones and 2.61 as the UFC average. Jones has the edge on defence, however, absorbing 1.44 strikes per minute, compared to 2.29 for the Swede (the UFC average is 2.61). Gustafsson has looked to improve by leaving Sweden to train at Alliance MMA in San Diego. But Jones believes the 26-year-old Swede, who marks each win with a sharks fin tattoo, is not yet at his level. "Hes only fought one guy (Rua) thats in the top 10." Waiting in the light-heavyweight wings is Brazilian hard man Glover Teixeira (22-2). The 33-year-old, who has not lost since March 2005, has the next title shot after winning all five of his UFC bouts. . The 28-year-old lefty made his MLB debut in 2013, making 10 starts and going 2-5 with 4.05 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. Albers was named the Twins organizations minor league pitcher of the year for 2013. . Rajne Soderberg, the director of the Stockholm Diamond League event, said in an email Friday that the ban still holds. Euromeetings, the organization representing Europes top track events, "will continue to recommend that members do not invite athletes who we believe cause disrepute to our meetings and our sport. . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. .35 million, avoiding arbitration. Davis led the majors last season with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs, both career highs. He earned $3. . Not to be outdone, Atletico Madrid bettered its title rivals by demolishing 10-man Getafe 7-0 with Diego Costa returning from injury to score with a brilliant bicycle kick. "It was an almost perfect night," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said.Playoff hockey begins Wednesday and this years Playoff Payoff once again has the numbers and information to help you win your playoff pool. Click here for TSN.cas 2014 NHL Playoff Payoff, a full team-by-team stats breakdown for your playoff pool prep. When it comes to playoff pools, the basic strategy is simple: pick players from the four teams you think will reach the Conference Finals; that will give the players selected ample opportunity to score enough points for your squad. Its very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to win without having a solid presence among the final four teams because no matter how many points get accumulated in early rounds, if your team runs out of active bodies before the Conference Finals, its going to be extremely challenging to hold the lead. Naturally, the focus will be on top seeds and there is nothing wrong with loading up on players from Boston and Chicago if you can get quality players. At the same time, it needs to be recognized that there is not a huge difference in quality between the rest of the playoff teams, so theres likely going to be plenty of value to be found on lower-seeded teams. That doesnt mean ignoring the blue chip players -- top players on the favourite teams are the most valuable -- but it does suggest that once you have laid the groundwork with players from higher-seeded teams, then there ought to be an opportunity to secure value on lower seeds. There will come a time, at some point in your draft, that you have to decide whether you would rather have the best player on a low seed or a lesser player on a top seed and the answer will probably come by looking at the players youve already selected. BEST PLAYER vs. PLAYER ON BEST TEAM If you can take the best player off a lower seed, and it wont contradict any of your early picks, then its likely a good move. If you dont have representation on a highly-seeded team already, its generally not worth it to start investing in lower-tier players. So, Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg might offer value when youre picking Bruins, but if they are the best available Bruins by the time you pick, youre likely fighting an uphill battle to beat out teams that have David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Jarome Iginla etc. As an aside, it makes lots of sense to target Bruins because they have a more definitive edge over their Eastern Conference competition, compared to the West where, for example, legitimate Cup contenders Los Angeles and San Jose meet in Round One, and one of them has to lose. It could make more sense, instead, to go for Zach Parise or Mikko Koivu, top players on a lower seed that offer bigger marginal returns if they pull off at least one series upset. INJURIES Just as with the real teams involved, injuries are always a factor in fantasy sports, so its imperative to stay on top of the playing status of top players heading into the postseason, both for the potential line combinations and having some idea who might be filling in if a significant player remains sidelined. NHL teams are notorious for being vague or even dishonest regarding injuries at the best of times, let alone at this point in the season, but you may want to avoid, or at least decrease the value of, guys who are already going into the playoffs with injuries. As the playoffs start, there are a number of high profile players that arent expected to be ready. That list includes: Matt Duchene, Nathan Horton, Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Granlund, Alex Galchenyuk, Chris Kreider, Evgeni Malkin, and Vladimir Tarasenko. Add into that mix, stars that at least have questionable health status after late-season injuries. Jonathan Toews, Drew Doughty, Ryan McDonagh, Martin Hanzal, T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Ben Bishop have all missed time late in the year and at least some could miss at least some first-round games. PICKING PAIRS Consider doubling-up on line combinations, when thhe value is right.dddddddddddd If you set your sights on Joe Thornton early, youll get all the more enjoyment out of Brent Burns a round or two later. Over the short season of an NHL playoff tournament, a hot line can go a long way and if you happen to pick the right one, that can tilt the results of your pool. TAKE A CHANCE Dont be afraid to make a sleeper pick late in the draft. The small sample size of playoffs lends itself to unexpected results, like Bryan Bickell scoring 17 points last year, Bryce Salvador scoring 14 points in 24 games in 2012 (he had nine points in 82 regular season games), Joel Ward scoring 13 points in 12 games in 2011, Ville Leino tallying 21 points in 19 games in 2010 or many others, from Ruslan Fedotenko to R.J. Umberger to Fernando Pisani, generally unheralded players who have all had double-digit goal totals in a single playoff year. Late in your draft, roll the dice on an unheralded player that might have a decent opportunity. THE NUMBERS Given these basic plans, the following team lists will provide information to help organize your drafting priorities. Each player listed has their points per game listed and thats a general value to start with. Then, look at what the player has done in the later portion of this season. Usually, I break down splits after the All-Star break but, for this year, a look at the pre and post-Olympic splits can reveal some changing roles. If the point totals are higher, maybe its a young player who is taking on more responsibility, or a veteran whose playing situation changed due to trade. Gustav Nyquist, for example, could be held in higher esteem than the standard player that hasnt even scored 50 points. Nyquist was the leagues most dangerous scorer from about mid-January through to the end of the season. The third rate included for each player is their NHL career playoff scoring average. In the vast majority of situations, that number will be lower than players career averages because the playoffs are tighter checking games that involve the best teams. Even some great players have lower career scoring averages in the playoffs because they didnt contribute much early in their career and theyve since emerged as elite postseason perfomers. Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are among the high-profile players that didnt produce early in the playoffs, but have had many productive postseasons since then. By no means should previous playoff production eliminate a player from consideration -- because sometimes a player is labeled as unproven in the postseason, until suddenly he is -- but if a player has made a career of under-performing in the playoffs, the safe play could be to let someone else take that risk or wait an extra round or two before wading into those waters. Power plays rule the postseason so make sure your roster is loaded with players who get time with the man advantage. No one in the Top 20 of last years playoff scoring had zero power play points. Bostons Milan Lucic along with Chicagos Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell each had one power play point. Power play defencemen, in particular, have more value in the playoffs so dont let these players slip by you in the middle-to-later rounds of the draft. Kris Letang, Zdeno Chara, Slava Voynov, Duncan Keith and Paul Martin all hit double figures in scoring in last years playoffs, all with at least four points on the power play. Power play point totals are included as a general guide for which players are most likely to get those man advantage opportunities. Finally, as the postseason approaches and match-ups are set, check out the Fantasy Hockey Update playoff editions, and my blog which will have my playoff picks for more information as you prepare to win your playoff pool. Click here for TSN.cas 2014 NHL Playoff Payoff, a full team-by-team stats breakdown for your playoff pool prep. ' ' '
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