We are less than two weeks away from Jon Jones versus Rashad Evans. No longer does it matter who’s at fault for the rift between the two former friends, all that matters is that one of the most anticipated grudge matches in the history of the UFC is going to take place on April 21 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta.
The head games between the two fighters have been going on for quite a while, and the reality is that we cannot pinpoint the exact moment things went wrong between Jones and Evans, all we know is that they did.
Evans has his feelings on the subject and Jones has his, and as with most disagreements, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
One does have to wonder who is in whose head more at this point. Evans, the veteran, has been at the game a fairly long time, and for a while he seemed to have the psychological edge. He had gotten to Jones just by appearing in the cage after two of Jones’s victories.
It should be noted that Evans didn’t casually stroll into the Octagon to face Jones; his presence was obviously requested by the promotion, but that didn’t stop Jones from telling UFC commentator Joe Rogan, “He’s (Evans) ruined my special night twice now. The time will come.”
Recently, it appears that the tables may have turned a bit as Evans’s former trainer and Jones’s current trainer, Greg Jackson, have decided to get involved. Jackson, who has always been vehemently opposed to training partners fighting each other and seems to develop a special bond with his fighters, was poised to sit the Jones vs. Evans bout out, but in early April, Jackson changed his tune, deciding to corner Jones at UFC 145. Jackson spoke on the MMAHour about the subject:
It’s not fun. I wouldn’t call it weird, it’s just not fun. I love Jon to death, but I love Rashad, too. And so it’s not a position I enjoy at all. It’s not something I like, but it something I think I have to do.
Another indication that Jones is at least a little bit inside Evans’s head were comments he made to ESPN last week:
I think it’s more important (beating Jones vs. winning the belt) just because I want to beat him so bad. It’s not only just beating Jon, it’s beating Greg and just beating the whole, the way things went down, you know?
In any contest of professional athletes, any psychological advantage is huge, and if one fighter has even a small advantage, the dividends can be huge. If doubt creeps into one fighter’s head, it could cause slight delays in reaction or cause him to overthink the situation, resulting in disaster.
The psychological aspect could also cause one or both of the fighters to compete on emotion, something that again could be disastrous. Jones and Evans aren’t the Diaz brothers. Their fighting styles aren’t fueled like by emotion, and if they do fight with emotion, it could very well take them off their rhythm, something neither fighter can afford in this title fight.
The reality of the situation is that all the speculation and all the talk will cease on April 21 when the Octagon door locks between two of the best fighters the UFC has to offer.
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