At UFC 145, Jon Jones is fighting his former training partner and friend, Rashad Evans. Things have been said and this fight is a long time coming.
This fight will take place on April 21, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Philips Arena.
Strengths For Jon Jones
Length – Jones just has a tremendous wingspan and often has over 6 inches of reach advantage of most people he is fighting. Machida, Shogun Rua, and Quinton Jackson couldn’t land a punch on the rangier Jones. All 3 were defeated. All 3 were former champions as was Evans.
Variety – Jones really mixes up his striking and wrestling so that he is unpredictable. Between his greco throws and spinning elbows, Jones does some things no other fighter in mma pieces together.
Height – Jones’ height causes problems for a lot of fighters having to reach up to land.
Accuracy – Jones is highly accurate and usually it takes a few punches before Jones gets into a dominant position and finishes the fight.
Strengths For Rashad Evans
Elusiveness – Rashad’s footwork is constant as well as his head movement. Expect Jon Jones to take his time with Evans and try to find his timing. Evans makes it very difficult sort of like a light heavyweight Dominick Cruz.
Power – Rashad has more 1 punch knockouts and finishes than Jon Jones does.
Wrestling – I wouldn’t say his wrestling is a true advantage against Jones who himself is a very good wrestler in his own right. Although Jones doesn’t have the “pedigree”, Jones is plenty a good in this department. Evans has a very good wrestling get up game. He is hard to hold down. Jones is known for having a dominating/stifling top game.
Who Will Win? Evans or Jones?
Jones is overdue for being caught with something from somebody. The guy has avoided damage from everyone. Evans has always been a fighter with surprising fights and surprising strikes. Lidell, Salmon, that tall cowboy from the TUF finale….With Evans elusive striking and KO power and likely to be a huge underdog in this one. You have to think that Evans knows enough from training with Jones to know some his patterns and nuances. Same goes for Jones though there. I still can’t see how Evans wins this fight. With the extreme reach advantage and overall total fight control of Jon Jones, I gotta think he is winning this fight. As usual though, expect never die determination and surprises from Rashad. So if the odds are extremely out of whack, I might just be going with Rashad here.