DENVER – Rashad Evans (16-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC), who faces the winner of Saturday's UFC 135 main event, admits he has an odd feeling that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (32-8 MMA, 7-2 UFC) will emerge victorious over UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones (13-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC).
But he'll also admit he's pulling for Jones. There's beef between them, and he wants nothing more than to face his former training partner in the cage.
"I would rather fight Jon Jones," Evans said Friday at a UFC Fight Club Q&A session in Denver. "We already have a situation with the whole Greg Jackson thing and the thing splitting up, so I would like to fight him."
Jones and Jackson meet in the featured contest of this weekend's UFC 135 event, which takes place at Denver's Pepsi Center.
Jones looks to defend the UFC's 205-pound title for the first time since earning it with an impressive win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua this past March. But Jackson has written off Jones' performance, claiming a "rusty" Rua presented little challenge.
Jackson has also criticized Jones' UFC track record for missing many of the division's key names. Evans believes "Bones" is deserving of praise for his accomplishments but also thinks there's something to be said for the amount of attention given to Jones so early in his career.
"I give Jon his credit," Evans said. "He's definitely putting a lot of work in, and he's had some very impressive fights and some very impressive wins. But he's still so young in the game.
"They want to crown him the future, but that can be a double-edged sword. They can crown him and say, 'Oh, you're this and your that,' but the minute he messes up, they take it all away, and then you can just be Milli Vanilli – a one-hit wonder."
Of course, Jones has shown precious few holes in his game during eight increasingly impressive octagon performances. Despite being deemed a heavy favorite by oddsmakers Jones will certainly face a stiff test in Jackson – an MMA superstar with a history of epic battles with the likes of Rua, Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell, among others.
Many Jackson supporters believe his decided experience advantage will lend him the edge. While Evans believes Jackson might win, he doesn't think those evaluations are entirely fair.
"He hasn't had those epic battles like 'Rampage,' but you can't deny that the kid definitely put in work," Evans said. "You can't take away what he's done. He hasn't fought like all the top guys in the weightclass, but he did destroy 'Shogun.'
"He's been running through people, so you can't deny the kid has put in work, but I do agree with 'Rampage' on the fact that he hasn't really put in the work that he has."
Evans believes' it's Jones' youthful aggression that will prove his biggest assets against Jackson. It's also an aspect of the champ's game that Evans thinks may soon start to fade.
"One thing that makes Jon good is that he's so young, he just throws anything," Evans said. "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 and start thinking about your moves, that's when you're going to start seeing a slight hesitation, and then he's just going to be like everybody else."
That, of course, remains to be seen, as Jones has yet to show signs of slowing down in the cage during his rapid rise to superstardom. But Evans is so confident he can hand Jones his first real defeat, he's not even overly concerned with adding new tricks to the arsenal that was on full display when the two were training partners in New Mexico.
"I don't really have to bring anything more than what he's already seen in training camp because that was enough then, and I think it will be enough for him now – and that's a promise," Evans said.
Source - MMAJunkie
