MMA is different than other sports, particularly as it relates to competing against friends. Sure, tackling and blocking is the kind of aggressive thing you don't normally do to a friend, much less an acquaintance. But trying to knock someone out or break their arm is a totally different deal. Therefore, it's always interesting when two fighters who were supposedly friends choose to fight. Oftentimes one seems to think that they were closer than the other one did. Remember the whole Tito Ortiz-Chuck Liddell saga? Well, in the case of the upcoming UFC 145 main event between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and former champ Rashad Evans, we know two things: First, Jones agreed to fight Evans while in the cage pretty quickly. Second, Jones has gone on record indicating that the two were never really that close, even if Evans seemed to think they'd already decided not to fight one another.
"We were never really that close," Jones told Ultimate Insider host Jon Anik a ways back. "We had moments when we would talk about our families and relationships and being a pro athlete and how to stay away from certain things, how to go about certain things, we had those talks. We never got to the point where we were like brothers. We both kind of knew that we would compete against one another one day. It was what it was, and we just tried to handle it the best we could."
Regardless, the extreme bad blood would seem to indicate that either Jones is understating things, Evans felt vastly different, or the media circus following this whole saga has done a good job of manufacturing a feud between the two. Probably some combination of all of these factors.
Can't wait to find out how/if Evans can use his knowledge of Jones in training to his advantage. What we do know for certain is that emotions will play a role in the outcome of this fight.
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