Jon Jones Heavy Favorite Over Rashad Evans at UFC 145, Wanted to Move to Heavyweight
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones opened as a heavy 6-to-1 favorite over Rashad Evans as the former teammates are finally scheduled to meet in the main event of UFC 145 on April 21 in Atlanta.
Evans dominated Phil Davis in the main event of UFC on Fox 2 this past Saturday for a unanimous decision win, but never came close to finishing the previously undefeated prospect, while Jones will be fighting for the first time since capping off his standout 2011 by choking out Loyoto Machida at UFC 140 in December.
After also scoring dominant wins over Ryan Bader, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson last year, Jones recently told MMAFighting he hoped to move up to heavyweight if he beat Evans and Dan Henderson, but the UFC shot down the idea.
“I actually asked Dana and Lorenzo, could I take a fight for the fans at the end of 2012,” Jones said. “I figured beating Henderson and Rashad, there would be a period where we’d figure out who I’m going to fight next, and during that period, at the end of 2012, I asked to fight a heavyweight — a Top 10 heavyweight,” Jones said. ”Dana and Lorenzo didn’t think that was the best for me to do right now. They wanted me to continue at the light heavyweight division. … They said they didn’t want that for me.”
Tickets for UFC 145 go on sale to UFC Fight Club members on Feb. 15, UFC newsletter subscribers on Feb. 16, and the general public on Feb. 17.
For complete coverage of UFC 145 stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
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I would like to see the spider step up and fight jones for his retirement fight if he gets past Sonnen again. Jones has plenty of time to get stronger before he goes after the big boys. Interesting thought though to see him in the cage with Mir, Carwin, Velasquez, etc.
6 to 1 seems pretty ridiculous. It’s going to be a great fight and Evans has a good chance to pull this off. This is definitely the toughest fight for Jones out there right now.
Its just the opening lines. it with fluxuate once people start betting on Rashad.
This is a fighter that will pose problems for Evans movement…Jones will be able to cut off the lateral footwork forcing the fight.
Seen it happen a couple of times where Evans has managed to stay away until the last round and barely escape trouble, 6-1 0r 2-1 i wouldn’t bet on Evans in this spot.
Maybe it’s just me, but requesting a fight at the end of the year for the fans and making the ASSumption that he’ll beat Evans and Hendo, seems kinda d!ckish. Almost makes me hope one of them knocks him the eff out.
@WILL
Are you just now starting to see who “Mr Jonny Bones is”? LOL This dude is full of himself like f***.
“I figured beating Henderson and Rashad, there would be a period where we’d figure out who I’m going to fight next,” Get the f*** out of here with that **** dude.
I would LOVE to see Jon Jones at HW. It would be interesting to see how he would do against a man HIS OWN SIZE. Because after all, that’s all he is. Sure the guy is a talented fighter, but most of what he does and is able to do IS because of his reach and size. His skills are nothing special IMO. So I say, IF he beats Rashad and Hendo, give him a hw! Let’s see how good his skills are when size doesn’t matter. “PLAYBOY”!!
no bsbiz lets do it by Ego and how well they can tie their shoe laces.
so what did his reach and size have to do with chocking machida out cold.he is very talented. what happened to no fighter bashing or does it just depend on which fighter you are dissing? should he have said well after i lose my belt to rashad or hendo i would like to move to heavyweight? whats wrong with a little confidence in yourself. my favorite fighter(chuck) said before every fight he was going to knock-out whoever it happened to be going against him. have you ever seen someone say i am probably going to lose this fight.NO. also i am pretty sure you are a sonnen fan and if that guy isnt full of himself nobody is
@will
I can understand that you think it is a little presumptuous to declare victory over Dan and Rashad. However, put yourself in his shoes:
1 Nothing in the Rashad fight last weekend posed a greater threat to Jones than his fight with Machida imo.
2 Nothing in Dan’s war with Shogun posed a greater threat to Jones than his fight with Machida imo. Dan is an overhand right waiting to happen. If Jones doesn’t get hit with it, he wins the fight, imo.
3 He’s an intelligent person that is trying to manage his career. He thinks, correctly, that a big money fight at HW is possible. If he is going to make that jump he will need to begin making preparations early for such a career move.
4 He’s kinda right in that after Dan/Rashad, who is really next that the fans would consider having a viable shot at challenging him? The only fight that comes to mind is Anderson, which Jones really doesn’t have much to gain from that fight. If he wins, well so what, he was the bigger fighter.
5 He’s looking for a challenge. Many people say he’s only better because he’s bigger. Here he tries to do something to silence some of those critics and he gains more critics.
A tangent:
My take on Jones’ size is this – if you are able to safely make the weight, that is your fighting weight division. If you are bigger than everyone else, then everyone else needs to drop down. There are many people that are 6’4″ and can make 205lb on a given day 12 weeks from now. None of them are Jonny Bones Jones. It’s like saying every basketball player that’s 6’8″ should be able to do what Lebron does. Size is a weapon, if you don’t have the skillset to use it correctly, it’s useless.
well said sir. Reach shouldn’t be a weight class :)
So you’d rather them be arranged by height? By wingspan?
fcfighter, I agree with you on most your points and I have no problems with Jones trying to market himself. It’s jumping to fight #3 when fight #1 hasn’t even happened yet. If he would have mentioned that he would like to move up to HW at the end of the year for a fan fight and mentions being able to get past Evans and Hendo first, that’s fine with me. Going to his boss and requesting a fight with a Top 10 HW is completely different and shows a lack of respect to his upcoming opponents.
”Dana and Lorenzo didn’t think that was the best for me to do right now.” To me means, lets pump the breaks and get through Evans and Hendo first.
Again this is my opinion and I might be putting too much into it.
look at tim silvia he was a tool,, but much, much bigger then everyone else
Jones should be favored, but I’m def putting some cash down on rashad when I’m in Vegas on sat.
Spider moving up would be fun – if he does get past Sonnen.
It’s one thing for him to be confident, but the great ones never talk openly about looking past fighters like that. If rashad ends up smashing him…OMG! That would be so glorious…
And if not, I can’t see the ufc doing anything but moving him up down the road.
I didn’t see anything Saturday that leads me to believe Rashad has a chance. Davis is perhaps one of the worst strikers I have seen in a main event and yet Rashad couldn’t finish him?? In fact, who has Rashad finished that was good? Most of his fights are boring and he might get lucky here and there with a KO (which could happen to Jones too), but with the difference in reach, I don’t see it happen, he really didn’t close the distance on Davis who really was not a threat with his hands.
To me, The fight with Hendo is much more intriguing..
@will
I feel you, but consider this…
If you truly believe that you have all of the talent/tools/coaching to beat those guys then it is fair to make plans accordingly. Jones is the “heavy” favorite in the Rashad fight, albeit early. He would be the favorite in the Hendo fight as well. If he speaks according to the odds (presumptuous, yes) then he is speaking what most other people are thinking and is planning his career accordingly.
If the other fighters feel disrespected by Jones’ statements then they need to raise their game. I fell asleep on the Rashad v Davis fight. Dan hit Shogun with bricks and bottles and Shogun still zombied up and made that a close 5 round fight. It is a reasonable assumption, based on past performances by all, that these are Bones’ fights to lose. It may sound like bragging, but you gotta admit he’s not out of touch with reality.
Dana/Lorenzo have a glimpse at his potential and want to make sure they capitalize on his 205lb dollars before they send him upstairs. Think of it this way, they want to exhaust all possible sellable 205lb fights. Once he fights at HW, if he wins, they wouldn’t make very much on him at LHW – because he has now proven to be able to beat HWs. It would be like trying to sell tickets to a game between the Miami Heat vs Tiger Lily JuCo. Sure some people would buy tix to see #1/#3/#6, but most of us would just peruse the internet for the upload the next day. From a purely financial standpoint, it is too early for him to move up.
Most of you people/fans are hilarious in your comments about Bones’ ego, as well as your petulence in your assertions that Bones is overly arrogant in looking past upcoming fights.
A-B-C fighting (see ABC poker playing) is so lame if you think just a little bit. To begin with, gifted pioneers look outside the box, and don’t follow the same path as everyone else, which tends to touch on people’s envy, thus turning their emotions against the person and therefore their opinions.
Hilarious.
Really, though, it is you folks (with aforementioned opinions re: arrogance) who are being arrogant in declaring that Bones must develop his career the same as everyone else.
What right do you or anyone have to assert that?
Ronda Rousey has the same mentality/ego/arrogance and she backs it up, as does Bones Jones. It would be one thing if they didnt’ back up their words/egos but they DO, and people are upset about that?
Give him the benefit of the doubt, and if he is beaten then you can jump and scream and point fingers, shouting “I told you so!!” at the top of your lungs for as long as you like.
However, when Bones walks through Rashad and Henderson, please pause in silence and appreciate how wrong you were.
Anderson Silva has a silimar ego, and he says as much (“…I wouldn’t be champion if I was modest” – words to that effect) and he backs it up EVERY SINGLE FIGHT.
So does Bones.
Personally, I’m not a fan of his presented attitude (for cameras – we have no idea who he really is without cameras or fans around) but I both appreciate and admire his achievements and talents (which are still in their infancy to be quite frank).
I don’t see him having many problems with anyone in the LHW division at this point, but life is always full of surprises so who knows.
Silva stepped up to fight in LHW while he was champ, so why not Bones? Now might not be the right time, as UFC is working on developing a (hopefully) long-lasting talent/star/champion so their denial of his request is totally understandable.
Bones can look ahead because he really is that good.
If everyone followed preset, linear pathways to get to their destinations, life (and MMA as a whole) would not be worth watching at all.
Want examples? Nick Diaz and BJ Penn to name just two.
Try to hold your distain in check, folks. The kid is 24 years old. What were YOU doing at 24 years old? Holding a championship belt? Defending it against the top contenders and demolishing them?
Unlikely.
The best need to fight the best, as this is what makes them BETTER, so if a HW fight will do that, why not?
“…the Great ones never talk openly about such things”…perhaps, but Bones is Bones – love him or not. Just because the “Great” ones never openly discuss such things, that doesn’t mean they are not THINKING such things.
Our society and peoples’ mentalities are such that they’d rather have a beautiful, shiny facade to “ooh” and “aaah” at/over. Too bad that open, naked honest is looked down upon – Bones says what’s on his mind, like many other fighters do, only he is the champion and so somehow he is held to a higher standard?
That makes no sense at all – have the same standard for all, or shut up already.
Muhammed Ali was the same way, only moreso vocally and he had his detractors, but he BACKED UP WHAT HE SAID, like Jones.
Don’t get your panties in a knot, folks….Bones is a beast and will walk through this next year with relative ease.
Sammy.
lol i think someone is hot for Jon Jones Bones lol. Serious he is so disrespectful with almost eveything he says, then to make it worse he acts like he is being respectful. that is why people hate Mr Jones, not because he is a good fighter but his disrespect while acting like
a good guy. If he is going to wear the black hat wear it and accept your a complete jerk.
As for walking through machida. I think Lyoto won the first round and made Jones look poor. only when Machida got cut he dropped his bundle. Jones is like Floyd Maywether but tries to act like a nice guy.
Is it just me or the guys at Greg Jackson’s do seem to throw shots specifically to cut open their opponents. At UFC 140 Jones’s elbow did seem to be intended to cut open Machida rather than to knock him out. Even at ufc 109, Nate Marquardt threw an elbow from bottom that was meant to cut open Chael Sonnen. I might be wrong but these Jackson guys look fishy during the fights.
Nonetheless, JBJ is great fighter but I really wish to see him getting his lights out.
Bb once again you can never base a future fight based off past fights.
Fcfighter, who good has rashad ko’d? Lol you mean like iceman, Forrest, tito, and salmon with that devastating head kick?
Sammy thanks for that 20 min dissertation about how were not allowed to have an opinion. That we can’t agree that bones is being a little douchey to speak about his fight after rashad and hendo as if its a foregone conclusion. If rashad beats bones I will come back and read your whole filibuster so that I can make sarcastic remarks about it.
Or you could watch the fight and comment on a new thread instead of being a jerk on this one.
There you go, my point exactly.. a washed up Tito (i mean did you see him against little nog), Forrest (I really don’t know how he got so bad, so fast) and a washed up Iceman… Salmon?? I don’t even know who he is..
Lets see…his leg kick couldn’t reach Jones’ head, haha..
Common opponents.. Rampage.. Jones finishes him (only one ever in UFC, right?), Evans and Rampage hug each other for 3 round.. Machida.. well we both know what happened.
I could care less about egos and who says what, I just want to see good fights, I guarantee this will not be a good fight.. Rashad probably won’t hit him..
@ Devin
Never recall making any comments about Rashad knocking anyone out. My comments were based on the assumption that a fighter is as good as his last fight, which is not a guaranteed forecaster of future events, but is as good as any other forecaster of future events. Rashad could not figure out a slightly clumsy (not bashing just noted a lack of balance) Phil Davis, how will he master the champ? This speaks to his ability to read the situation and adapt more so than a difficult matchup.
Bones, like many other fighters and fans, probably believes, while there is always a threat to be defeated, he will treat Rashad and Hendo like he did Machida – spend a round figuring them out then casually walk away from their lifeless bodies.
Na I won’t be a jerk, but I won’t let other people try to talk down to everyone on here either.
Rashad is a poor sport baby, he not only is going to lose this fight, but he lost a friend in the process because he is mad that the UFC asked Jones for a title shot a while back and he said yes… Like Rashad will only be friends as long as he holds the belt and not Jones. What a baby.
Bb, don’t go trying to downplay old wins cuz there in the past. Are we going to start saying that bones wins against vera, Machida, and even rua are “not that impressive” because they’ve all lost 2 or 3 fights recently? With that logic I could explain how Machida is the biggest bum of all time. Forrest was fresh off wins of shogun and rampage and rashad ko’d him. Then rashad beat up Silva, Evans, and now Davis.
And you and fc are officially on the kool aid. Rashad won’t hit him?? Lol. Are you guys trying to be silly, or just make us think you don’t really know mma? I love how Phil Davis was the next best thing and barely an underdog one minute, and now rashad’s 5 round domination including multiple crucifixes is now a “sloppy win”. Amazing lol. Imo bones is a little nervous and as I said, I’ll be making a wager on rashad in Vegas. Bones is the best we’ve seen maybe ever, but rashad will give him the best fight he’s ever had.
i dont think jone’s will have any problem at heavy weight.. he could go 5 rounds easily, and he is gona get better. only person really gona pose a little threat would be hendo, but still his chance is slimmer. he will definitely move to heavy weight within the next 2 years. i dont think he is “cocky”, he has a lot of self believe, and very soon he will be at the best pound for pound list.