Jon Jones and Rashad Evans‘ “friendship” began and ended in the gym.
The current UFC light heavyweight champion recently spoke with Ultimate Insider host Jon Anik about serious misconceptions regarding his relationship with former teammate Evans.
“We were never really that close. We had moments when we would talk about our families and relationships and being a pro athlete and how to stay away from certain things, how to go about certain things, we had those talks. We never got to the point where we were like brothers. We both kind of knew that we would compete against one another one day. It was what it was, and we just tried to handle it the best we could.”
According to Evans, the falling out between the two occurred after Jones admitted that he had no qualms about fighting him. It was a statement that became one of the primary reasons behind Evans’ decision to leave his camp and longtime trainer Greg Jackson.
“The thing that upsets me about Jon is how he threw me under the bus because he said he’d fight me after all that time we said we wouldn’t fight each other––it was a snake move, and I don’t like snake moves. Be a man,” Evans said in an interview with Pro MMA Radio.
“Jon is always trying to say the right things and be perceived a certain way,” Evans said. “Just keep it real. Now I know what time it is. Now I know you want to fight me. You must have been thinking of this for a long time. You must have been keeping score, taking notes during training for a long time.”
Jones and Evans will finally clash on April 21 at UFC 145.
Jackson has already gone on record to say that he’s “leaning toward” cornering Jones in the championship bout.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com