Former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans is picking Daniel Cormier to beat Jon Jones at UFC 197.
Rashad Evans knows the competitors in the UFC 197 headliner. He had a much-publicized falling out with Jon Jones that led to a fight, where Jones beat him. And he has known Daniel Cormier for many years. So combine that with Evans’ unique ability to pick the winning side (for instance, he picked Nate Diaz to beat Conor McGregor), and you have an analyst offering much more than an educated guess.
So what’s his verdict? Evans is taking Cormier to beat Jones. He explained his reasoning to Fox Sports:
“I am going to go on record and I’m going to go with the upset on this one — I’m going to go with DC. For some reason I just feel like DC’s going to get this fight. I just feel like he is.”
…
“I do see a way that DC beats Jon,” Evans explained. “I think the pace DC fought in his last fight, coupled with a few things that he could do better as far as when he takes a guy down and being heavy on top, making sure that they carry his weight when they get back up because that exhausts the guys. That way he’s not spending energy.
He also notes the differences between now and the first Jones/DC fight, which Jones won by unanimous decision last year:
“I think that DC now is a better DC than the first time that Jon fought him. Also I think the layoff is not easy to come back from and Jon’s never really had to face this. Jon’s never really faced this layoff. So mentally going into the fight, there’s some things different. There’s some things different as far as USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) thing, and it just has a different feel,” Evans said.
“(Jones) has only been gone a year but things just change so fast and it’s hard to say what Jon is going to step into the cage. We’ve only seen one — the brave, audacious, amazing Jon Jones. We’ve never seen a Jon Jones that had to really contemplate any kind of technique, any kind of move, will he return and be that same free flowing fighter that’s made him one of the greatest fighters in UFC history?”
…
“Mentally, coming into this fight, I think (Cormier) is in a different place. I’m a huge Jon Jones fan as far as his talent and everything in the Octagon, but I just worry that Jon under this new mindset, this new Jon Jones, is he going to still be able to go out there and do the things that we’ve seen him do so easily?” Evans questioned. “At some point, people do start to show that they are human and things do affect them so I wonder what’s the real outcome to how he’s internalizing everything that’s happened in his personal life?
“I do believe he’s so dynamic, but will he return as that same dynamic fighter that we’ve come to know?”
The two men will rematch at UFC 197 on April 23rd in Vegas. Evans is currently booked to face off with Glover Teixeira at UFC on Fox 19 next month.