Jon Jones and Rashad Evans have a long history, having gone from friends and training partners to enemies and rivals, and eventually, most likely, competitors for the UFC light heavyweight title.
But a Jones-Evans title fight has already been delayed a couple times and can’t happen unless both men win their upcoming fights, with Jones taking on Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 and Evans fighting Phil Davis at UFC on FOX 2. And Jones has some doubts about whether a fight with Evans is going to happen at all.
Instead, Jones said on The MMA Hour, he believes it’s entirely possible that Davis will expose Evans as a fighter who has a suspect chin and can’t handle a more powerful opponent.
“Rashad doesn’t have a chin,” Jones said. “Rashad does not have a chin, trust me.”
Saying Evans doesn’t have a chin wouldn’t seem to mesh with Evans’ career record: In 18 professional MMA fights, Evans has only been beaten once, by Lyoto Machida. It’s true that Machida knocked Evans out in brutal fashion, but Evans has managed to beat a lot of guys with significant punching power, including Rampage Jackson, Chuck Liddell and Thiago Silva. However, Jones’s comments may reflect what Jones has witnessed in training with Evans, as the two of them sparred plenty of times when they were both based at Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jones said he expects Davis to give Evans a competitive fight, and it wouldn’t surprise him if Davis is the one who earns a shot at the light heavyweight title.
“If Phil can have faith in his stand-up abilities and faith in his grappling abilities this will be a closer fight than people realize,” Jones said.
But if Evans gets by that tough fight with Davis, it may finally be time for Jones and Evans to stop talking about each other, and actually fight each other.