(Besides, who needs Jon Jones when you have Ice-T and Coco?)
You can probably go into any MMA camp in the world and find two guys who would never fight each other under any circumstances — and in most cases, it’s because they’re not being offered a title fight against each other in the UFC. But what happens when personal principles smash head-on into cold reality? This whole Jon Jones/Rashad Evans situation is giving us a revealing glimpse at just that.
When Jones was granted a light-heavyweight title shot to fill in for an injured Evans at UFC 128, Evans played the BFF card, saying he’d change weight divisions if he needed to, in order to avoid fighting his friend. Trevor Wittman was like, “dude, no.” And then, Jon Jones — the hungry, eager-to-please contender that he is — casually mentioned during a UFC on Versus 3 interview that he’d fight Evans if that’s absolutely what Dana White wanted. This, of course, puts Rashad in a rather weird spot.
Check out what Sugar had to say about the matter on “MMA Live”:
In one fell swoop, Rashad went from one-half of an unshakable bromance to the only party holding up a potential title fight. It has to be a little embarrassing for him, actually. Imagine you’re dating this chick, and you’re so into her that you tell the world “I would gain or lose a considerable amount of weight to keep her happy,” and then you overhear the girl tell her friends “Oh him? I guess he’s okay, but I suppose I’d try to do physical harm to him if it’s what my boss wanted and I got paid for it.”
I know, it’s a very abstract metaphor, but you get the general idea. Rashad’s relationship with his protege Jones isn’t what he thought it was. Or maybe, Jones’s desire to reach his goals in the sport are just his top priority when he’s forced to actually make a choice, which certainly doesn’t make him a bad person. One thing’s for sure — an already-awkward situation is getting more awkward by the day. I wonder if Jones vs. Evans will be marketed as a “grudge match” by the time the fight’s actually put together…
Loading ...
Evans said he didn’t want to fight Jon Jones “because they’re friends”, not because they’re that great of friends, but because Jon Jones spanks him in the gym. He was basically saying “I’d rather change weight classes than get my ass kicked by Jones for real.” And he would have stuck to that if Jon Jones didn’t force him to man up and potentially take the beating that he’d inevitably get. Shogun will shake the unshakeable man though. He can expose weaknesses in Jones’ crazy style cause he’s a high-level striker with great footwork. He doesn’t stand in one spot like Ryan Bader and try to box with you, he works angles and has savage leg kicks to slow a guy like Jones down. Don’t get me wrong, Jones is a beast, but he’s not ready yet.