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Jon "Bones" Jones and "Suga" Rashad Evans meet tomorrow April 21, 2012 at UFC 145 for the Light Heavyweight title and if you didn't know, they don't like each other. They were teammates and friends, so it makes you wonder how they came to hate each other. Beefs in sports have gone on for ages and have entertained us along the way as they have begun due to jealousy, dishonesty, alpha male dominance, and clashing goals, and this is no different. We reconstructed the history between these two monsters of the octagon to figure out why there's no love between them. Complex presents: Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans: The History of the Beef.
Teammates Under Greg Jackson
Date: August 2008
Before the beef, Bones and Rashad were teammates and friends under coach Greg Jackson in New Mexico. Initially, Rashad was against Jones joining the team because he was an elite prospect in the same division. Greg Jackson spoke to him and it was established they would never fight so Evans gave the addition his blessing. After some time the two developed a friendship and made a pact never to fight each other.
Rashad Loses Light Heavyweight Title
Date: 5/23/2009
After a crazy undefeated streak that landed Evans the Light Heavyweight championship, Lyoto Machida handed him his first loss with a vicious knockout at UFC 98.
This marked a notable point in the relationship because it opened up the field to challenge for the Light Heavyweight title. Bones was still an up-and-coming fighter at this point, but he was straight-killing guys on his way up.
Evans Injures His Knee Before Title Shot
Date: 2/5/2011
Rashad fought his way back to a title shot but he injured his MCL and was forced to withdraw from his title match against Shogun Rua at UFC 128. Meanwhile, Jones was on a tear. At UFC 126, he faced Ryan Bader, an undefeated up-and-comer, and destroyed him.
Dana White and the UFC decided to offer up Evans' spot against Shogun to Bones because of his stellar performances. Evans graciously gave Jones his blessing and told him that he expected him to beat Shogun and become champion. Jones went for the title. You would think this was the point where things went left, but nope, not yet.
Jones Says He Would Fight Evans
Date: 3/3/2011
This is the biggest moment in the history of the beef. At the time, it didn't seem like a big deal. Before his title shot with Shogun, Jones did a 20 minute interview with Ariel Welhani on a number of different topics, one of which being, then teammate Rashad Evans. He noted that he thought Rashad would come back well from the injury and that he wanted his blessing before he took the title shot.
Then there was the part that made everything a little sticky. Welhani asked Jon about fighting Rashad because if Jones beat Shogun he'd be the title holder. A fight between the teammates could be called for by UFC president Dana White. His response was if that's what Dana White asked for, he would fight him. But Jones reiterated that he wouldn't want to fight him and it would be awkward for them both.
That's a far cry from saying, "I wanna fight Rashad," but the statement still irked Evans because they vowed to never do it. From that moment on the relationship was never the same.
The Post-Fight Confrontation After Jones' Title Win
Date: 3/19/2011
The next pivotal moment in this history of beef was the day Jones beat Shogun to become the youngest UFC Light Heavyweight Champion ever. Bones dismantled Shogun and landed a KO in the third round from a series of punches and knees to the head. After the fight, Rashad was brought into the octagon by the UFC to announce that he would be the next man to face Jones. Both men were rattled. There was also a major riff between Rashad and the Jackson team which prompted him to announce that he was leaving the team to form the Blackzillians. Somehow this all seemed like a precursor to an epic show down.
The Beef Hits the Interwebs
Date: May of 2011-Present
With the friendship tarnished and a fight looming, the guys first took their beef to Twitter last May and have continued to this point. Both Jones and Evans have taken their share of shots in the form of funny videos, "c'mon son" statements, retweeting of trash-talking fans, and even threw in a curveball gushy moment.
Nightclub Altercation
Date: 5/11/2011
It's not a real beef until there's a nightclub altercation, and this beef follows suit. The two crossed paths at Surrender, a Las Vegas nightclub, in May 2011 before there first supposed matchup at UFC 133 on August 6. Not many know what actually happened, but what is known is that the two were there with other fighters for the UFC Summit and had words.
Rashad claimed that Jones asked to speak to him privately and then told him that he would be his first highlight knockout. Jones said that Rashad was the one who started the shit-talking by saying he would smash him at their fight. It was also reported that GSP got annoyed and told them to take it outside. Either way, no punches were thrown.
Scheduled Fights Cancelled Due to Injury
Date: 08/08/2011 and 12/10/2011
After the announcement at UFC 128, the two were set to face off at UFC 133. During training for the fight however, Bones tore a ligament in his thumb. Initially it was thought to require surgery so he couldn't fight. Evans claimed that Jones was dodging him. Jones' camp claimed the injury was legit.
Jones was replaced by undefeated wrestler Phil Davis and Evans beat him easily. Then at UFC 140, they were supposed to meet again, but this time Evans had a lingering thumb injury that took him out of the fight. Instead Jones fought Machida, the only person to beat Evans, and choked him out.
Jones Beats Machida and a Fight Date is Set
Date: 12/10/2011
Jones made Machida look silly but this is when the world got excited for the third time. Post fight, Rashad came out to the ring again to announce a title fight with Jones that led to an awkward but hilarious minute of TV. Both of them seemed tired of the talking and wanted to get it on in the octagon, exactly what everybody else was stammering for.
Pre-Fight Hype
Date: 2/19/2012
As one of the biggest fights in the Light Heavyweight division was about to take place, UFC had these guys do a ton of interviews in hopes of generating more excitement, and boy was that mission accomplished.
They did joint interviews for Comcast SportsNite (above), Fuel TV, and a UFC conference call. Individually, they did plenty of self promotion on Twitter and in other interviews, too. The two reached a point where they couldn't conduct an interview without arguing over either Jones being fake or cocky, or Evans supposedly lying or undermining him. Coach Greg Jackson was also another touchy subject for Rashad.
With Bones being endorsed by the UFC and reaching megastatus for an MMA fighter, Evans believes it's him against the world. That has definitely upped the intensity for their sit downs. Everyone has enjoyed the pre-fight hype. These guys legitimately don't like each other anymore and that has made coverage must-see TV.
The Pre-Fight Press Conference
Date: 4/18/2012
During Wedndesday's press conference, it became evident that Bones and Suga were tired of talking. The guys had essentially been talking about each other in interviews for a year because of the cancellations of past fights due to injury. Jones did throw a couple verbal jabs including hinting at steroid use, but overall, they remained pretty cordial and kept trash-talking to a minimum. Evans said that he didn't come into this business to make friends and that although he doesn't have baggage from the Greg Jackson situation, he doesn't care to be close to them again. Shots fired? Sounds like it.
The Weigh In
Date:4/20/2012
This was time for the men to get a little intimate. Jones and Evans came into the weigh in ripped and ready to go to war. Evans had a much calmer quiet demeanor when he arrived doing his weigh-in and then giving a finger salute to the man upstairs.
Jones however, came in like an animal making sure everyone there knew he had arrived. He flexed the guns and angrily walked to the stage like he was ready to get into the octagon. For their stare down, Bones got as close to Evans has he could without making out with him (II). Both men have awaited this matchup for long enough. They've been ready.
Fight Prediction
Inside Scoop, @JonnyBones Jones has been training intensely for the title defense and we have no reason to believe he won't be ready. He's got size and reach advantage and the ability to get a knockout. The only time he's ever looked human was when he fought Machida at UFC 140 and in the first round got hit with some counter punches and low-kick and punch combinations. Surely he has trained to avoid a repeat situation with Evans, though.
Inside Scoop, @SugaRashadEvans Evans seems prepared for this bout as he looks like he's in some of the best shape of his career in his last few fights. He's undersized but he's the faster fighter and has better hands. However, against Jones it'll be hard to get those punches off so his best bet will be to get him to the ground. Evans is a takedown specialist but Jones is nearly impossible to get to the ground and has yet to have that happen in his career. Evans also suffers from a glass jaw, so if Bones is able to land some good punches on him at his age, he could go down.
Prediction: Taking everything into account, we gotta go with Jones. As we said before Evans best bet will be to get Jones to the ground, but like we also said, that's nearly impossible. Unless Evans is able to land a solid set of counter punches and link those with combos that actually hurt Jones, we can't see him winning. Jones said he would get his first highlight knockout against Evans and we can't say that we'd be surprised if that happens. All things considered, it looks like Bones will keep his belt.
