It is no secret that former teammates Rashad Evans and Jon Jones dislike each other. After Jones said that he needed surgery and a delay to his first title defense, Rashad Evans chose to take a fight with Phil Davis. Rashad has recently been very outsp…
It is no secret that former teammates Rashad Evans and Jon Jones dislike each other. After Jones said that he needed surgery and a delay to his first title defense, Rashad Evans chose to take a fight with Phil Davis. Rashad has recently been very outspoken about the fact that he truly believes that Jones is ducking him and avoiding their fight.
He spoke about it on Pro MMA Radio. Rashad stated, “It’s hard for me to imagine with Jon thinking he’s so great and that he thinks he can beat me but it’s just odd. When you don’t take a fight with somebody for one reason or another, that’s one thing, but to make up an injury, say you have an injury and you go as far as to say you’ll have surgery and then you don’t have it. That’s clearly a sign that you don’t want to fight somebody.”
Whether there is any truth to Rashad’s theory or not, it does seem to make some sense. Jones seemed certain that he needed surgery and now he suddenly decides to forgo an operation after Evans had already secured another bout.
Now that Rashad is slated to fight Phil Davis at UFC 133 in August, the match smells like a number one contender bout.
Just about a year ago, at UFC 114, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad “Suga” Evans defeated his arch nemesis Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, also a former titleholder, in a fight that would determine the No. 1 contender to the 205-pound belt, held…
Just about a year ago, at UFC 114, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad “Suga” Evans defeated his arch nemesis Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, also a former titleholder, in a fight that would determine the No. 1 contender to the 205-pound belt, held at the time by an injured Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
After earning his title shot, Evans chose not to take another fight and risk his contender status while waiting for Rua to heal, even fully well knowing the Brazilian-bred champion would be out for an extended period of time.
When Rua was finally ready to compete after a 10-month layoff, Evans injured himself in training, and in his place to fight for the belt was his teammate at Greg Jackson’s Submission Academy, the budding superstar Jon (Bones) Jones, who took the fight on only six weeks’ notice.
Jones ended up defeating Rua in devastating fashion at UFC 128, and since teammates have not traditionally fought each other in the UFC, Evans was forced to leave Jackson’s camp to cash in on his title shot—even though he was a pioneer of the club and Jones had only been there for a few years.
The bout between Jones and Evans was set to take place this August at UFC 133 in Philadelphia, but Jones pulled out, citing the need to get surgery on his injured hand. Since Evans had been without a fight for over a year, he decided to take a fight against undefeated, fast-rising contender Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis instead of waiting yet again for an injured champion to return.
But after further consideration, Jones decided to elect not for surgery, instead saying he would be ready to return to the cage this fall.
However, the UFC decided not to pull Evans from his fight with Davis, and now Evans will have to beat a tough fighter in order to retain his contender status. With Jones scheduled for a September-October return, it is up in the air now who he will make his first title defence against, since the UFC announces title fights months in advance in order to promote them.
One suggestion has been to match Jones up with the flamboyant Jackson if he defeats the surging Matt Hamill at UFC 130. But how do you give Jackson a title shot before Evans, considering Evans already defeated him in a fight that was supposed to determine the No. 1 contender? It just doesn’t make sense.
Another idea has been to match up Jones with Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, the former champion who is fresh off knocking 48-year old MMA legend Randy “The Natural” Couture into retirement with a brutal flying front kick at the UFC’s biggest event ever, UFC 129. This doesn’t make sense either since before the knockout Machida was on the bubble, having been decisioned by Jackson at UFC 123 last November and before that being knocked out by Rua and losing the light-heavyweight title at UFC 113.
Although Machida’s drubbing of Couture was an exciting and memorable moment in the annals of MMA history, it is not enough to overshadow the fact that he lost consecutive fights in the calendar year before it. Evans, on the other hand, has only lost one fight—in his whole career.
If this all seems complicated, that’s because it is, even though it doesn’t really have to be. The solution to this mess is obvious: Pull Evans from his fight with Davis. Although this is the main event of UFC 133, the UFC can replace it with a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, a fight that has been rumored to take place on the card as the co-main event but hasn’t yet been made official.
The dilemma with is that it doesn’t make sense to have a title fight on the undercard to a non-title fight headliner, even if it is featuring a more recognizable star in Evans. The UFC can solve this problem by scrapping the Davis-Evans fight altogether and having Evans wait another month or two extra to make his return to the Octagon against Jones.
The backfire to this plan is that it would mean Evans would have been out 16 or 17 months since his last fight, and he would likely suffer from ring rust when he finally does fight Jones. But the upside for Evans is tremendous, since he would have his title shot and not have had to unnecessarily risk losing it to Davis, who himself could use time off after having had five UFC fights in the past 13 months.
The fans win too by getting the fight they desperately want to see, since the feud between Evans and Jones has risen to a boiling point lately through their nightclub run-ins and online Twitter feuding. It makes sense for the UFC as well since the fight between Jones and Evans will surely be a financial boon to the company if the current hype level is any indication.
Evans has earned his title shot against Jon Jones. Dana White, make it happen.
Since MMA’s inception, the general concept of family has been an integral part of a sport that is often billed as individualistic. Now more than ever the sport has seen family competition, with fathers training sons, brothers fighting on the same cards…
Since MMA‘s inception, the general concept of family has been an integral part of a sport that is often billed as individualistic.
Now more than ever the sport has seen family competition, with fathers training sons, brothers fighting on the same cards, and overall family camaraderie on high display.
The Gracie family popularized the idea of one style being better than another, with numerous fighters and families have tried to disprove the Gracie theory, with not very many proving successful.
Take Royce Gracie for example at UFC 1. After his impressive wins over Art Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock, and Gerard Gordeau, Gracie realized his family’s true purpose: proving his family’s style was the best in the world. Surely a better feeling than any belt or dollar can give a fighter.
Flash forward to UFC 128 in New Jersey. Dan and Jim Miller of Sparta, N.J., fight in front of their hometown crowd at the Prudential Center. Though Dan lost and Jim won, nothing will take away the experience the brothers had that night.
And so, brotherly love has been redefined in and outside of the octagon. However, one question remaining is which brotherly duo is the best MMA has to offer?
The topic of MMA judging has become a topic of hot debate in recent years. Some decisions have begun to seem like absolute robbery. Dana White himself has even stated that he knows some of the judges are bad. But, no one seems to have the right answer….
The topic of MMA judging has become a topic of hot debate in recent years. Some decisions have begun to seem like absolute robbery. Dana White himself has even stated that he knows some of the judges are bad. But, no one seems to have the right answer. Nevada, however, is moving in the right direction at least.
MMAjunkie.com’s Steven Marrocco reported today that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has approved the use of monitors for the forthcoming UFC 130 event in Las Vegas. NSAC will now place seven-inch monitors next to the judges. NSAC passed this with a 5-0 vote.
The UFC is trying to spread this practice, already getting the monitors approved for UFC 131 in Vancouver and UFC 133 in Philadelphia.
Cageside monitors were previously used in California for three UFC events held there.
Oddly, the monitors are only optional and a movable arm can allow the judge to simply move the monitor aside if he or she elects not to use it at all.
UFC’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner, stated that this is “just another tool for the judges.” Hopefully this can help limit the number of bad decisions or unnecessary draws in the future.
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.”
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.”
It is no secret that former teammates Rashad Evans and Jon Jones dislike each other. After Jones said that he needed surgery and a delay to his first title defense, Rashad Evans chose to take a fight with Phil Davis. Rashad has recently been very outspoken about the fact that he truly believes that Jones is ducking him and avoiding their fight.
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