The Ultimate Fighting Championship held a conference call on Wednesday for their upcoming UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones event which included all four headliners, UFC light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, top contender Jon “Bones” Jones, former WEC champ Urijah Faber, and his opponent Eddie Wineland.
UFC 128 is set to take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, March 19.
Of course a lot of the media focus was placed on both Rua and Jones concerning their upcoming title bout, but it was Jones who appeared to field most of the questions.
One question that has come up endlessly for Jones, is a possible title defense against his friend Rashad Evans should he defeat Rua. During the media call, Jones made it very clear that he will not be taking anymore questions concerning that issue and is strictly focused on facing “Shogun” for the UFC light heavyweight title.
“I want to be clear to other reporters, that I absolutely HATE when people mention Rashad Evans, especially throughout this training camp. He’s a friend of mine but I’m fighting Mauricio “Shogun,” one of the best fighters that’s been around for a long time. So for people to even be mentioning Rashad Evans right now, I think, is ludicrous. Rashad is not in my mind, he’s not in my being, he has absolutely zero to do with my heart and who I am right now. Right now it’s me vs. Jon Jones and right now I’m beating all the weakness out of myself, I’m beating all the give-up out of myself, I’m beating the lack of cardio, I’m beating the lack of confidence; any sign of weakness that’s within my heart right now, I’m getting rid of it. The fact that people are bringing up Rashad, it almost angers me. Rashad has nothing to do with “Shogun” and I think from hear on out I won’t even answer a question about Rashad.”
Props to MMAMania.com for the transcription and highlights from the conference call can be found at BloodyElbow.com