(Video courtesy of zpzp420 on Vimeo)
If there’s one thing the UFC does well, it’s making its stars available to the fans. Well, actually, it’s probably putting on mixed martial arts fights, but the UFC is pretty good at making its stars available to fans as well. These fan Q&A sessions give us a chance to see a fighter’s true personality, sometimes even many of his personalities. Yesterday’s session with Rashad Evans is true to form: you’ve got the usual goofball fans asking for a staredown, the requisite racially insensitive remark (no, not from Rashad, this time), and even a frank, thought-provoking discussion on the very-real problem of in-cage urination.
On whether he’d rather face Rampage or Bones (1:20):
“I would rather fight Jon Jones. I mean, you know because, we have our issues and stuff. The situation with the whole Greg Jackson thing, and the [camp] splitting up. I’d rather fight him.”
When asked to snap a photo,Goldberg maintains the company’s firm stance on political correctness (4:10)
“My wife’s the Asian one, but I can take a picture”. (“Ooohs” from the crowd) “She knows she’s Asian. Don’t ‘ohhh’ me. She knows.”
On what makes Jon Jones dangerous (6:30)
“One thing that makes Jon good is the fact that he’s so young he just throws anything and he does that because he has no fear. But, the longer he fights, he’s going to establish more fear. He’s going to fight a little more conservative, and when you start fighting a little more conservative, start thinking about your moves, then that’s when you see a slight hesitation, and then he’s going to be like everybody else. But right now he’s so young he’ll do something that makes no sense, like you wouldn’t even do it because it makes no sense. But he does it, he has the balls enough to do it and he pulls it off because no one expects him to do it.”
On Rampage’s assertion that Jones hasn’t fought anyone (13:05)
“He hasn’t had those epic battles like Rampage and stuff, but you can’t deny that the kid definitely put in work. It’s hard to say, you can’t take away what he’s done. He hasn’t fought all the top guys in the weight class, but he did destroy Shogun, though. He did destroy Shogun. He’s been running through people, so you can’t deny that the kit put in work, but I do agree with Rampage that he hasn’t really put in the kind of work that he has.”
What he would bring to cage against Jones that “Bones” didn’t already see in training camp (15:50):
“I don’t really got to bring anything more than what he’s already seen at training camp, because that was enough then and I think it will be enough later on. And that’s a promise.”
On what he learned from the loss to Machida (31:00):
“Well, I wouldn’t sit around and watch, for one. For two, I won’t be talking when I’m getting rained on with punches. I can get hurt; I’m not invincible. I learned I’m not invincible. Going into that fight I think I would just be more aggressive. And that’s what I was saying earlier. When you go into a fight sometimes you’re so worried about what other people are doing that you’re not really doing your gameplan. And by you sitting there, watching them, you take your own self out of your game. So sometimes when you’re in a fight with someone who’s a little bit confusing or a little bit quirky you just got to go for yours and see what happens after that.”
His take on the “Spygate” saga (32:30):
“I think they did it, but I don’t think Jon was really a part of it. I think it was just that Malki, his manager, knew someone that was there and he was trying to get information from him. But I don’t think that Jon was in on the plan or really knew where Malki was getting his information from. I don’t think, but I could be wrong. They definitely found somebody doing it, though.”
Undoubtedly inspired by our recent feature on fighting through adversity, Rashad leaks a secret about his TUF fight with Brad Imes (50:00):
“During that fight, I was so tired. I peed myself. No I swear, I did, it’s embarrassing to say, but I did. Because I was so tired, I was just like, I just let it go.”