Just a month ago, both “Bones” Jones and “Suga” Rashad claimed they would never fight each other under any circumstances. It’s amazing what 11lbs of gold can do to a friendship.

The first signs of trouble came when Jones broke the non-aggression pact by admitting he would fight Evans if the UFC told him to. Evans was quick to respond, saying he “wasn’t a punk” and would accept the fight if Jones wanted it. You would never imagine these two were calling each other brother only a month and a half prior.

The root of Jones and Evans prior loyalty was undoubtedly due to the policies of mutual trainer Greg Jackson: At camp Jackson, fighters agree not to accept fights against each other under any circumstance. Jackson runs a tight nit group, many of the fighters describing it as being part of a big family.

Greg Jackson hasn’t responded well to the news, stating he would sit this fight out, training neither fighter. The news of the fight visibly upsets Jackson as he considers both Jones and Rashad as some of his closest friends. In an interview with Sherdog.com’s Jordan Breen, Jackson makes his feelings perfectly clear.

‘Fans think it’s great that these teammates are going to fight each other, but for me it’s like if I asked you, hey, wouldn’t it be great if your Mom fought your Dad? Wouldn’t it be awesome to see your Dad knock out your Mom’s teeth, wouldn’t that be great?’

It’s hard not to feel for the guy, he’s worked hard to create an environment where fighters can trust the people they train with. However, In a sport where guys beat each other for a living, it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. Even as unstable as the fight business is, the fight between Jones and Evans almost seemed predetermined. All it took was the right circumstances, and a little prodding from the media.

Writers, reporters and analyzers have been blasting every sound bite these two drop about each other, and Evan’s hasn’t shirked from the call. Rashad blasted both Jones and Jackson in an interview with Bloodelbow.com.

“You can’t say you are not going to have anything to do with it when you are a big part of the reason why the situation originated. That’s like spilling a glass of milk and then walking away and saying that you don’t want to have anything to do with it. You f**kn spilled the milk…so you’re at least going to help clean it up right? When Jon Jones came to the gym over a year ago Greg Jackson came to me and said, “listen, what do you feel about having this kid on the team?” I told him straight up that I didn’t like it. I told him that the kid was talented and that the sky was the limit with him but that was the type of guy I wanted to fight not train with. Greg came back saying, “No, no, no this will be just like you and Keith where he will be just like a brother.” I still told him that I didn’t want to do that. Then Greg said if that situation ever did arise between Jones and I that he would have to turn the fight down because that’s how it works. He would have to turn down the fight with me so that way I wouldn’t be put in a position where I looked like a punk. That’s how it works in the Greg Jackson system. After a while Greg was so high on this kid coming in and I met Jon Jones and he was a very nice and very sweet kid, so eventually I said f**k it, let’ s bring him in. After he got there and I trained with him and tried him out a little bit, something didn’t feel right so I moved my camp up to Denver to train at Grudge for awhile. That is where I spent the majority of my time over the past two fights… Then he comes across on national TV and says that he will fight Rashad if Dana White tells me to and I felt so f**cking utterly disrespected… I mean it’s one thing to say something in an interview but the least you could have picked up the phone and been like, “man I did an interview today and they kind of put me on the spot with a rough question and I answered it this way.” At least give me the heads up so that way I know and not look at it if he’s Judas or something. You know who Judas is? That interview was some backstabbing s**t but now it’s like whatever because now I know the game he is playing. Then for Greg to sit back and say he doesn’t want to have anything to do with it….why not? You f**kn created the situation. Be his coach and be in his corner. That’s what you want so do it. I don’t care if coaches against me. It doesn’t even matter… I feel disrespected by Jon because when I think about when we trained or when we were chilling, was the s**t even real? Or was he just trying to be a master manipulator and try to manipulate the situation so he could get what he wanted out of it? I don’t know and that is a question that I have in my mind but when I get down to it…that doesn’t even matter because we are going to get in there and we are going to fight.”

Evans has called for Jackson to “choose sides” and train either him or Jones, but Jackson will have none of it. Whatever happens between the two champs, it will be without Jackson in their corner. For the more inexperienced Jones, this could pose a problem for his preparation, as he has relied heavily on Jackson in all his
previous UFC wins, while Rashad has been training outside camp Jackson steadily for his last few fights.

Despite that seeming disadvantage, Evans is a heavy underdog. It would truly be a shock to the whole MMA world if he is able to dethrone the new light heavyweight king Jon Jones. Rashad has chosen to be offended and turn this into a grudge match, but the odds are very much in the favor of his younger, bigger more explosive former teammate.

While the falling out behind the bought is unfortunate, and the fighters futures at camp Jackson uncertain, none of it will matter in the fans minds come fight night. They clamored and pushed for this fight to happen and they’re going to get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ3VRJkYG3c&feature=player_embedded

If you don’t have time or can’t listen here’s the sum up.

Evans is still on injury leave due to a strained MCL. According to him he’s undergoing stem cell and TPR therapy, and the recovery is going well. He aims to be fighting again by June this year.

Evans was rumored to be replacing Thiago Silva in UFC 130 against Rampage Jackson. Rashad said his management was pushing for the fight to happen, and it was a close thing. In the end, however, Dana White and Joe Silva weren’t ready for the rematch, and schedule Matt Hamill for the fight.

Rashad was also offered a fight against the younger Nogueira brother, but turned the fight down.  After being a top contender before the injury, he felt like the fight would be a “step back” in his career, and took his chances by passing the fight up.

Following the recent hype around Jon Jones, many have speculated that Evans could very well have to fight his teammate if Jones wins the title next week against Shogun. In past interviews, they have both stated they would never fight each other, but recently that line has become hazy. Rashad explains his reasoning behind not fighting Jones, saying it would put one of them at a disadvantage, as they would have to change camps for the fight. It doesn’t seem like the fight is totally out of the question, but it would be difficult.

Possible fights aside, Rashad is confident in his teammates chances against the champion Maurcio “Shogun” Rua. Evans says that, no disrespect to Shogun, Jones is just too athletic and dynamic for him, and proves it every day in the gym.

Rashad states he could make the cut to middleweight so he wouldn’t have to face his teammate, but that it is not his desire to do so. It would throw off his game too much to have to cut weight right before a fight. He did say, however, that if an interesting enough matchup were presented to him at middleweight, he would consider it, but the chances of it happening seem purely circumstantial.

Prelims:

• Jensen def. Forbes by submission (guillotine choke) Rd. 1 (1:06)
• Riley def. Brammer by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)
• Diabaté def. Cane by TKO (strikes) Rd. 1 (2:13)
• Guillard def. Lowe by TKO (strikes) Rd. 1 (3:28)
• Efrain Escudero def. Dan Lauzon by unanimous decision (29–27, 29–27, 29–27)
• Dong Kim def. Amir Sadollah by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

Main Card:

• Hathaway def. Sanchez by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–26)
• Nogueira def. Brilz by split decision (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)
• Russow def. Duffee by KO (punch) Rd. 3 (2:35)
• Bisping def. Miller by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 29–27)
• Evans def. Jackson by unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, 30–27)

Bonuses:

• $65,000 “Submission of the Night”—Ryan Jensen
• $65,000 “Knockout of the Night”—Mike Russow
• $65,000 “Fight of the Night”—Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz

Paul Daley def. Dustin Hazelett via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:24

Sam Stout def. Joe Lauzon via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

Jim Miller def. Duane “Bang” Ludwig via submission (arm-bar) – Round 1, 2:31

Junior Dos Santos def. Gilbert Yvel via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:07

Martin Kampmann def. Jacob Volkmann via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:03

Cole Miller def. Dan Lauzon via submission (kimura from inverted triangle) – Round 1, 3:05

Mark Munoz def. Ryan Jensen via submission (punches) – Round 1, 2:30

Jake Ellenberger def. Mike Pyle via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:22

Rafaello Oliveira def. John Gunderson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

The full card is below

Main

• Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
• Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller
• Carlos Condit vs. Paul Daley
• Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

Preliminary

• Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout
• Dan Lauzon vs. Cole Miller
• Martin Kampmann vs. Rory Markham
• Rafaello Oliveira vs. Sean Sherk
• Jake Ellenberger vs. Mike Pyle
• Ryan Jensen vs. Mark Munoz

Preliminary Card

Aaron Riley vs.  Shane Nelson

Nelson defeated Riley via TKO (Punches) at 1:44 of round 1.

Brandon Vera vs.  Mike Patt

Vera defeated Patt via TKO (Leg Kicks) at 1:27 of round 2.

Tim Boetsch vs.  Jason Brilz

Brilz defeated Boetsch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Kendall Grove vs.  Jason Day

Grove defeated Day via TKO (Strikes) at 1:32 of round 1.

Tamdan McCrory vs.  Ryan Madigan

McCrory defeated Madigan via submission (Punches) at 3:35 of round 1.
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Main Card

Gray Maynard vs.  Jim Miller

Maynard defeated Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Matt Hamill vs.  Mark Munoz

Hamill defeated Munoz via KO (Head Kick) at 3:53 of round 1.

Pete Sell vs.  Matt Brown

Brown defeated Sell via TKO (Punches) at 1:32 of round 1.

Shane Carwin vs.  Gabriel Gonzaga

Carwin defeated Gonzaga via TKO (Punches) at 1:09 of round 1.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs.  Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine

Jackson defeated Jardine via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

This sets up a match that I have really been looking forward to. Rampage -vs- Rashad Evans at UFC 98 should be a battle thats well worth the price of a PPV on its own.