Filed under: UFCThe UFC 133 fight card, headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis and marking the return of the UFC to Philadelphia after a two-year absence, takes place Aug. 6 at the Wells Fargo Center.
The UFC 133 fight card, headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis and marking the return of the UFC to Philadelphia after a two-year absence, takes place Aug. 6 at the Wells Fargo Center.
Former light heavyweight champion Evans (15-1-1) was supposed to challenge champion Jon Jones, but when Jones withdrew due to injury, Davis (9-0) stepped in. Evans will need to win in order to hold onto his No. 1 contender status. Meanwhile, although Davis won’t be guaranteed a title shot with a win, he’ll be “in the mix.”
When news got out last week that the hand injury that forced Jon Jones out of his planned UFC 133 meeting with disgruntled former teammate Rashad Evans did not require surgery, and that the UFC light heavyweight champ’s manager Malki Kawa intimated that his client was likely to fight another opponent before facing Rashad, our first thought was, “Damn, it looks like Bones is just doing whatever he can to screw Rashad out of his shot.”
But then we said, “Nah, it must just be a coincidence,” when we heard Jones say they consulted with three doctors before deciding to forgo surgery and that, not to worry, he will still face Rashad somewhere down the road.
Well, it’s looking like our first inclination may have been correct.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMACanada)
When news got out last week that the hand injury that forced Jon Jones out of his planned UFC 133 meeting with disgruntled former teammate Rashad Evans did not require surgery, and that the UFC light heavyweight champ’s manager Malki Kawa intimated that his client was likely to fight another opponent before facing Rashad, our first thought was, “Damn, it looks like Bones is just doing whatever he can to screw Rashad out of his shot.”
But then we said, “Nah, it must just be a coincidence,” when we heard Jones say they consulted with three doctors before deciding to forgo surgery and that, not to worry, he will still face Rashad somewhere down the road.
Well, it’s looking like our first inclination may have been correct.
In the video above Jones, who once said he would fake an injury to get out of fighting a teammate, stated that there’s plenty of time for him to fight Rashad, but before the fight happens he may take a bout with Quinton Jackson or Lyoto Machida to keep active, which is curious since neither fighter necessarily deserves the a title shot at the moment.
Machida is 1-2 in his last three bouts and the win he did get was against Randy Couture, who retired following the bout. Rampage has fared slightly better in his recent bouts especially in his razor close decision win over Machida at UFC 123 in November, but a win over a UFC castaway like Keith Jardine and a middleweight like Wanderlei Silva doesn’t make you a contender. Moving on.
You may recall the furor that erupted last week when Kawa said that there wasn’t enough time for Jones to prepare to step in for his UFC 133 replacement Phil Davis to fight Rashad because he would need eight weeks for such an important camp. The day Kawa tweeted the message, was exactly eight weeks out from the bout. The problem is, Jones is still in a brace and although he was told by doctors that he didn’t require surgery for the injury, he was not given medical clearance to fight. There’s a big difference between the two.
During the past few months, many of the UFC’s top fighters have been plagued by injuries, the latest being light heavyweight champion and Greg Jackson prodigy, Jon Jones. The highly anticipated bout between two former friends, Rashad Evans and Jo…
During the past few months, many of the UFC’s top fighters have been plagued by injuries, the latest being light heavyweight champion and Greg Jackson prodigy, Jon Jones.
The highly anticipated bout between two former friends, Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, has been postponed due to Jones getting injured during training when he tore a ligament in his right hand.
Evans’ last scheduled bout with then-champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was also postponed when Rua was injured during training. Evans chose to wait for Rua to heal and for his shot at regaining the light UFC heavyweight title, a decision that he has come to regret.
This time, while not a title shot, Evans will not be waiting on his opponent as the undefeated and very hungry, Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis steps up to replace the champion in what could be a three-round war between two of the sport’s best wrestlers.
While Evans and Jones continue their newfound grudge via Twitter, Davis is focused on only one thing: his fight with Evans at UFC 133.
Stepping up and seizing the opportunity is nothing new to Davis. He stepped up to replace Tito Ortiz in his last fight against former PRIDE fighter, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira also known as, “Little Nog”. Davis beat Nogueria by unanimous decision, controlling him with his superior wrestling.
According to Eric Fontanez at MMA Weekly, Davis is preparing for a battle against an opponent of equal, if not better wrestling skills.
“He’s someone I should definitely be concerned about with my skill set…I expect a pretty good fight,” Davis said.
“I invite the opportunity to face someone of his level of wrestling and I think I’ll be fine.”
Regardless of Evans’ wrestling ability, Davis plans on controlling the fight.
“I like to think I’m going to be the one controlling the pace of any fight,” he said. “And I don’t think this will be any different.
“I will take this fight wherever it wants to go.”
Even though Davis is undefeated, he will be facing an experienced former champion with only one loss on his record and who has been in deep water before.
Considering each of these great athletes wrestling experience, this fight could turn out to be a high-paced wrestling match. Regardless, Davis is facing the biggest test and challenge of his career.
For Davis, it’s just another opportunity, one that leads to a light heavyweight title shot and one he doesn’t plan on losing.
“Losing was never something I planned on doing.”
Davis told MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant that it makes no difference to him who he fights.
“To me it’s not about fighting people. I don’t care if you can beat this guy or that guy. I want to have the belt.”
Phil DavisIn his interview with the media, Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis discussed several topics: his upcoming fight with Rashad Evans, Jon “Bones” Jones, and his favorite fighters.On how he’s going to fight Rashad:”I’m just gonna go and do what I do: go…
Phil Davis
In his interview with the media, Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis discussed several topics: his upcoming fight with Rashad Evans, Jon “Bones” Jones, and his favorite fighters.
On how he’s going to fight Rashad:
“I’m just gonna go and do what I do: go in there, strike with him, wrestle with him, take him down, ground and pound, look to submit…MMA him, if you will.”
When I asked him about whether or not he was concerned with Rashad’s wrestling ability, given that they were both collegiate wrestlers, Davis quickly asked, “Can you tell me his wrestling pedigree?” to which I had no reply.
Davis brought up a great point. While Rashad is often touted to be a successful collegiate wrestler, upon further research, his wrestling “pedigree,” as Davis put it, pales in comparison to Davis’ NCAA career. While Davis had an overall record of 116-17 and was an NCAA Division I All-American four times (winning a NCAA title in 2008), Evans was only 48-34 at Michigan State.
He would later go on to add, “I like him. I have a lot of respect for him.”
I also asked him about his thoughts on the development of Jon “Bones” Jones has made since their time together with LionHeart in 2008-2009:
“At the time…I was so bad I didn’t know how good he was! He still came a long way from where I saw him to where he is now…he’s come a long way.”
How would he prepare for a fight against Jon Jones? “I’d approach the fight as I approach every fight: baseball bats and billy clubs, man.”
When asked about his favorite fighters, BJ Penn easily made the list.
“I mean, I like different things about everybody, you know? I like BJ’s kinda like…crazy style…BJ’s like ‘brawl,’ he don’t care. I like that. He’ll fight anybody. I-I will not, I won’t fight ‘anybody.’ But BJ would, and I like that about him. BJ would fight [Alistair] Overeem. I won’t…but BJ would. I like that about him.”
Donald Cerrone
It’s clear how Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone feels about Cole Miller. As soon as his name came up, Donald immediately responded, “[Expletive] that bum.” When pressed on why he feels such animosity towards Cole, he responded:
“I just don’t like him…not because of him beating Leonard [Garcia], nah, I don’t think that’s any reason, but just the way…his attitude prior to the fight and after the fight, and just his overall attitude now…I just don’t like the dude. And I plan on calling him out until I get that fight; as a fighter I want it, I want it, I want it, and if I gotta chase his [expletive] down to 145 then I will.”
He also stated that “[The fight] is gonna happen, 100 percent.”
On the tension between Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, Cerrone’s torn. As a member of the Jackson fighting camp, Cerrone’s stuck having to juggle his loyalties: one being with a recently ex-teammate and good friend, and the other with a current, successful teammate. On the controversy, Cerrone stated,
“Man, Rashad left camp, but Rashad was there, I mean we were like a family, you know, and he was there before everybody when it was just Rashad and KJ, you know, and that’s where my aisle sits…I’m a Rashad fan to the end, and that’s how I feel, so whether he left camp or not, I’m in Rashad’s corner…Rashad’s a good friend of mine, man, I talk to him all the time, it sucks to see him have to leave the team because of a bunch of [expletive], so yeah, I’m hurt by the situation.”
On Jones:
“Jones is a good dude, man, he’s young, and he’s talented, and he’s got all the right weapons and all the right tools. He’s a cool dude; I got nothing bad to say about him.
I had a chance to ask him about TapOut Ranch, a new 10-acre housing/training facility he purchased in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“It’s going very well, man, we just got the gym completely built up, though it aint nothing like the one you guys got here, but [expletive], it’s good, man, I love it. Leonard [Garcia]’s been on the road all month, so he gets back, and we’ve got 25 guys out there right now, so things are going good…We got a bunch of up-and-comers; that’s the plan, man, to build them up.”
Cerrone’s also recently became a big fan of Mark Hominick after his latest performance against Jose Aldo. While he admitted he’s not the biggest “fan” of the sport and doesn’t watch all the fights, his favorite fighters to watch are the guys that “just throw down and say ‘[expletive] it’ and stand their ground.”
It’s no surprise, considering Cerrone’s definitely one of those guys. No stranger to “Fight of the Night” honors, he’s never afraid to bang and trade blows.
Leonard Garcia
Leonard Garcia’s hit a bit of a slump lately, and he knows it. Having won only three of his last eight fights, all of which went down to a split decision, things haven’t been going easily.
“I’ve been taking so many fights back-to-back, and I haven’t had time to be in the gym, no time for drilling, no time for anything, it’s basically been just getting into shape to fight again. And I’ve had so many opponent changes that I never have a chance to really sit down and focus on one guy, because I’ll be scheduled to fight somebody and then at the last moment they’ll switch it to somebody else.”
As a result, his camp’s going to focus on taking few fights this year to adequately prepare for each matchup. “I fought six times last year, and it really hurt me more than anything.”
In the meantime, Leonard’s been focusing back on his wrestling and also getting his blackbelt in jiu-jitsu later this year.
About his fight with Chan Sung Jung, aka “The Korean Zombie,” Garcia admitted having never seen the twister before. However, right after the loss he was in the back room, training with Greg Jackson, and making sure he’d never be caught in a move like that again.
As for his transition to the UFC from the WEC, Garcia stated,
“It’s been great; of course, I was in the UFC before, and to come back at a different weight class where more people knew who I was, and had more exposure, it’s been much better for me. I’m accepted better in the UFC.”
For UFC 129, Garcia threw a viewing party for the armed forces at the Nellis Air Force Base. I asked him about what the armed forces mean to him:
“The armed forces, I mean, they’re our heroes. They’re great people and they really do risk life and limb for us to do what we do, just in life, period. So any time I get an opportunity to do anything with the troops, I’ll do it.”
Leonard’s been asking for a big fight against a guy like Michihiro Omigawa, but may be slated to fight Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres, instead.
BJ Penn
BJ has kept himself busy, working with the UFC and finally getting to go-ahead for construction on the coming UFC Gym: BJ Penn in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Still nursing the bad shoulder that will keep him out of the originally scheduled UFC 132 rematch against Jon Fitch, BJ remained firm that we have not seen the last of him in the UFC. While admitting he’s not at 100 percent, he confirmed that he wants to fight at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.
“I still wanna try for that, so I’m just gonna go home this next couple weeks, and really baby my shoulder, and really check up on it. I wanna fight, we’ll see now.”
Being that he’s nursing an injury, I wanted to know BJ’s take on the recent announcement that UFC fighters will be eligible for accident insurance.
“That is amazing; it brings a lot of validity to the company itself, that their going out of their way to do something like this. I mean, what’s the first thing [people say] when anybody signs up for the UFC? Like, ‘You crazy, you don’t even have medical!’ Well, now they got accident insurance.”
While BJ may not have anyone in particular that he wants to fight next, without a doubt, fans are pulling for him to make a quick recovery and make his return at UFC 134. Fighting in the home of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu would only be fitting for a pioneer in the sport.
Unfortunately, Urijah Faber and Arianny Celeste had prior engagements and had to skip out on the media interview sessions, and I was unable to get Chuck Liddell for a one-on-one interview.
However, look forward to my interview with the Senior Vice President of UFC Gym, Adam Sedlack! We’ll be talking about the UFC Gym in Corona and other locations, goals of the UFC Gym and its impact on the surrounding communities, events that will be taking place, and much, much more!
The war of words between former training partners, Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, continues to intensify. With recent reports of Jones opting out of surgery to fix a torn ligament in his right hand, the former UFC light heavyweight champion seems qui…
The war of words between former training partners, Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, continues to intensify.
With recent reports of Jones opting out of surgery to fix a torn ligament in his right hand, the former UFC light heavyweight champion seems quite confused regarding the 23-year-old’s actions.
In fact, Evans believes that Jones is faking his injury in order to avoid fighting him.
“Because if you don’t need surgery and you’re not going to have it, then why tell the UFC that you’re going to have surgery and not have it?”
Both competitors were scheduled to meet at UFC 133, but Jones sustained an injury and was forced to withdraw. Jones was scheduled for surgery, but after being evaluated by a specialist, it was declared that the surgery was not necessary. As a result, Jones plans to make a return to the Octagon by late summer or early fall.
The situation has irritated Evans so much, that the two former friends nearly came to blows after Evans confronted Jones at a nightclub last week in Las Vegas. According to Evans, nothing escalated but they did share a private conversation afterwards.
“He pulled me over, and he’s like, ‘I just want to tell you right now—I’m going to destroy you,'” Evans said. “‘You’re going to be my first knockout highlight.’
“I’m looking at him in disbelief like, is this dude serious?,” he continued. “So I was like, ‘Okay, you are. Then why didn’t you take the fight?'”
Nevertheless, Evans will now have to turn his attention on Jones’ replacement, Phil Davis. Evans said he has already begun preparations for Davis, for a chance to earn a shot at Jones.
Evans looks at his rivalry with Jones as nothing more than a distraction.
“I even hate the fact that I’ve got to talk about Jon Jones because I’ve got a great fighter in front of me,” he said.
“I’m coming back from injury and I need to go out there and have a good fight. So that’s my main focus.”
While currently nursing a torn ligament in his right hand that kept him off of UFC 133, MMAJunkie reveals that Jon Jones will not require surgery.
Jones suffered the injury as a result of wear and tear from his previous collegiate wrestling years, and …
While currently nursing a torn ligament in his right hand that kept him off of UFC 133, MMAJunkie reveals that Jon Jones will not require surgery.
Jones suffered the injury as a result of wear and tear from his previous collegiate wrestling years, and the injury amounted more pain through each mixed martial arts bout.
According to MMAJunkie, Jones was originally scheduled to go in for surgery yesterday, but after specialist Dr. James Vahey inspected the injury, he determined that the surgery was optional more than anything.
“The actual thumb itself, the actual ligaments that attach to the knuckles, are torn,”Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa said of the injury.
“Initially, Jon didn’t want to have surgery,” Kawa continued.
“But as we kept getting additional opinions from doctors we all trusted, they all recommended having surgery based on the initial report from the UFC’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Steven Sanders.”
For the time being, Jones will attempt to avoid the procedure and fight through the injury. Kawa said Jones has been fitted for a hard cast and has been asked not to train until June 11.
The news of the injury couldn’t have come at a better time as both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard were forced off the UFC 130 card, as well as former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who had to pull out of the main event of UFC 131 after contracting diverticulitis again.
Kawa said that Jones does not want to delay anything further and will only go under the knife when it is absolutely necessary.
“When the pain is unbearable and/or he has an issue with the function of his thumb, that’s when Jon will have to have surgery,” he said.
Kawa added that Jones is hoping to return to defend his title as soon as he can, citing Rashad Evans as a possible opponent, should he get past light heavyweight prospect, Phil Davis, at UFC 133.
“We met with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and let them know we would like to set up a fight to get back in the cage as quickly as possible,” Kawa said.
“It could very likely still be Rashad if he gets by Phil Davis, but we could fight sooner, maybe September, October or November depending on what the UFC wants to do.”
The UFC 133 fight card, headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis and marking the return of the UFC to Philadelphia after a two-year absence, takes place Aug. 6 at the Wells Fargo Center.