Although UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones (14-1) was supposed to fight former training partner Rashad Evans (16-1-1) more than once this year, he will get a chance to solidify his position as 2011’s Fighter of the Year when he faces the only man to beat Evans in Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (17-2) on Saturday.
Jones was a featured guest on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani recently and gave thoughts on Evans’ next opponent, Phil Davis, as well as his busy year with four fights. (Transcript by MMAmania.com.)
“It’s an interesting fight,” Jones said of Evans’ next fight, which will go down as the main event at UFC on Fox 2. “I’ll go with Rashad because of the experience factor. But Phil Davis can win more than he realizes, he has to be comfortable striking. I won’t say too much because I have my own ideas on how to beat Rashad, but, I don’t think Rashad has a chin at all. Trust me Rashad does not have chin. But it will be a closer fight than people will realize.”
Jones won the title from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua earlier this year when he replaced an injured Evans. Evans has been on a quest to gain his title back, and he might end up waiting two years before he gets another shot.
When victorious against Quinton Jackson in May 2010, Evans was determined the No. 1 contender in the division and never got another chance to fight for the title due to injuries suffered by him and his opponents.
Along with his victory over Rua, Jones also defeated Ryan Bader and Jackson in bouts this year, making his 2011 one of the single greatest years of any mixed-martial-artist, ever.
“I have been training four times a day, and I rest in between training sessions,” Jones said. It’s not like in the NFL, where you have one Super Bowl game a year, and once you play it and you win, you can breathe and relax and rest and look forward to next year. This is going to be my third Super Bowl this year and it’s hard to keep that same focus and energy for each fight, but I have done it and will continue to do it.”
UFC 140 can be seen on pay-per-view and will be broadcast from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Other main-card bouts include Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung-Jung.
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