UnderGround Forum >> Jones: Evans trained w/ a kid, now he fights a man

The talk will all come to a close on April 21 at UFC 145 in Atlanta, but has the talk and the mind games already been overblown as the two fighters head into the bout?

“I believe so yeah,” UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones answered when asked that very question on MMAWeekly Radio. “I think Rashad’s the one playing into it more than some of the fans. Like he’s always attacking my personality, Jon’s fake, Jon’s cocky, and I’m not really here to judge who Rashad is as a person. I could really care less who Rashad is as a person.

“Ultimately I’m here not to make new friends, but to provide for my family, so that’s why I’m here. I actually like the fact that he’s so focused on my character and things cause I’m sitting here focusing on tactics, focusing on the love of martial arts, not the hatred for Rashad Evans.”

“It doesn’t matter that we trained together, absolutely not,” said Jones. “I think I benefited a lot training with him, I think he has some benefits training with me, but I think it’s funny everyone’s saying ‘Rashad’s going to be the guy because he has Jon’s number and he knows the way to beat Jon.’ I don’t think people really give me credit for my intelligence, or if they think I’m a great athlete who gets lucky, I don’t know what their thinking is.”

“I’m a very intelligent guy, and everything that Rashad thinks he remembers, I remember so much, and I’m going to use everything that I remember. I feel equally if not more empowered that I used to train with Rashad. I’ll admit in 2010 he was a little bit better of a fighter than me, stronger. If you watch my fights, I was so skinny when I first got to the UFC, I didn’t really have to cut weight. So he was a little better than me, stronger than me, in 2010 when he talks about the time he actually held me down,” Jones admitted.

“Fact is in 2011 when I was training for the Ryan Bader fight it was a complete different story. Something switched in 2011 in me and I’ve been finishing fights ever since. I think he’s going to realize, I’m not the 2010 little kid. It’s 2012 now and I’m an adult, and I’m the one that believes whole heartedly, and trains a lot different than I trained in 2010.”

read entire article...