Pretty large reach advantage over most fighters, and abusing the rules that you can't do soccer kicks on a "down" opponent, hence all the crawling around and shit. He was also warned for eye pokes a bunch due to him always keeping his fingers in people's faces. He is definitely a very good striker and his wrestling is solid, however. It's not that he was -way- better than everyone else (Gustoffson(sp) almost had him) but he made use of some sketchy techniques while also being just a really good mma artist. Can't say it wasn't super effective, though.
His incredibly cocky/disrespectful attitude is what makes most people into haters, but he pretty much always backs it up. I predict the rematch with DC is going to go very similarly, with a very similar end. DC's a bit too resilient to just eat a couple of shots and be done, and even if Jones gets him to the ground it'll most likely be evenly matched. You never quite know, though.