Why Myles Jury could be the UFC’s next big thing
LAS VEGAS – The lobby of the MGM Grand is adorned with large banners of fighters appearing on the main card of UFC 182, which is Saturday in the Grand Garden Arena, but one of them appears distinctly out of place.
There are the guys with the snarling visages and the six-pack abs, and then there is this baby face who looks more like the skateboarding star from the local park rather than one of the toughest guys in the world.
But despite his youthful appearance, Myles Jury is very much a fighter, and he’s given every indication he deserves to be in the title hunt in the UFC's deep and talented lightweight division.
He'll meet Donald Cerrone in the co-main event in a bout that will go a long way toward clarifying Jury’s standing among the world's best fighters.
Jury is 15-0 and 6-0 in the UFC, but those zeroes come with an asterisk. He lost a fight to Al Iaquinta during the taping of "The Ultimate Fighter 15," but the fights in the house are considered exhibitions.
As a result, he's billed as undefeated. And the numbers would tell you that whether he should have a loss or not, he's clearly an elite fighter.
He's finished 11 of his 15 fights in the first round, six by knockout and five by submission. He needed just 92 seconds to finish Takanori Gomi. His six consecutive UFC wins tie him with the great Khabib Nurmagomedov for the longest active winning streak among lightweights. Opponents have landed just 1.22 significant strikes per minute on him, the best rate in division history.
It goes on and on. Jury is legitimate, even if he's still something of an unknown, even among his peers.
"I don't know if I want to say ‘underestimated,’ but I feel none of my opponents respect me," Jury said. "Which is cool, because that's their personal opinion. I definitely feel like they feel like they can smoke me before they ever get in there."
Despite all the statistics in his favor and despite being unbeaten, Jury is ranked only eighth in the crowded 155-pound landscape, so he might be on the money regarding the lack of respect.
But professional face punchers earn their respect by actually doing it and not talking about it.
Jury isn't much of a talker and prefers to let his fists speak for him. But when there are so many great fighters in the same division, including highly quotable and marketable ones like Cerrone, it's easy for a soft-spoken guy to get overlooked.
Nothing has come easy for Jury, who said he first got into MMA by watching Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock at UFC 40 in 2002. He was signed to appear on TUF 13, but suffered an ACL injury and had to pull out.
At that point, it looked like his career in the UFC could be over before it started, but Jury tried to make the best of it.
"Honestly, at that point, I was just trying to be as positive as I could," he said. "It was really tough, so I was just looking at the positive stuff. I was like, 'Well, at least I got a chance to meet [UFC president] Dana White. I got a chance to get my foot in the door. Talking to all the producers of ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ they all said I'd be back, so I told them I'd hold them to their word."
He got the opportunity to return in Season 15 when his knee was healed, and he lost to Iaquinta in a split decision that was voted the Fight of the Season.
He's proven himself subsequently with a series of solid wins against the likes of Gomi, Michael Johnson and Diego Sanchez.
But none of his opponents was on more of a roll than Cerrone, who has won five in a row and six of his last seven. Cerrone has earned a Knockout of the Night, a Submission of the Night and a pair of Performances of the Night in his last five fights.
It's a big task for Jury, and the odds of Cerrone as slightly better than a 2-1 favorite reflect that.
While much of the attention on the card has been on the main event, a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and unbeaten challenger Daniel Cormier, White said not to sleep on Jury.
"Everybody knows the kind of fighter that Cowboy [Cerrone] is, but this Jury kid is a bad dude," White told Yahoo Sports. "It's a great fight and it's an important fight. [Jury] isn't well known like Cowboy, but he will be after this fight. This is one of those fights I really like, because it can go so many ways and I just don't see how it isn't going to be a crazy, sick fight."
