UFC
UFC 145: Rashad Evans on Jon Jones - "Anybody can lose, any given day, and he's going to find that out"
Feb 17, 2012 - 10:35:43 PM UFC 145: Rashad Evans on Jon Jones - "Anybody can lose, any given day, and he's going to find that out"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Despite being just 24-years-old, UFC Champion Jon Jones is supremely confident in his abilities, and believes that it's his time to reign atop the UFC's light heavyweight division for a long time to come. Of course, his UFC 145 opponent Rashad Evans doesn't think much of that belief, and said on Thursday that Jones will be in for a rude awakening when they fight in April.

"See, that's one thing that Jon doesn't understand. There's no such thing as 'time,'" Evans said at a ticket on-sale press conference in Atlanta (transcribed by MMAWeekly.com). "There's been so many people like him that's always been 'the one.' That's the secret, there is no 'one.' Anybody can lose, any given day, and he's going to find that out."

Evans found that out himself in his first title defense back in 2009. After knocking out Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin in back to back fights, Evans suffered his first - and to date only - loss when Lyoto Machida knocked him out at UFC 98. Since then he's won four straight fights, and hopes to recapture the title against a fighter he feels he has figured out after their time as teammates.

"I've got big advantages knowing what he's going to do, just knowing the range, where I need to fight him at," Evans said. "Just training with him and knowing what he's good at, where he likes to fight. I already know what I need to do. I'm not going to get in there and get frozen watching all the beautiful stuff he throws. I'm going to get in there and just mix it up.”

"This fight won't go five rounds."

For his part, Jones agreed on that last point.

"Mark his words," he said.

Penick's Analysis: The light heavyweight division especially has been rife with fighters believed to be "the man" prematurely, with Machida being the most notable example after knocking Evans out. That said, with Jones already winning three straight Championship fights, it's really hard to see him falling to that same situation. Could Evans be the man to topple him? Possibly, and the fact that they trained together in the past gives him an advantage that no one else can claim. However, that doesn't mean he'll necessarily be the one to get the better of the phenomenal young Champ. We'll find out come April 21 one way or another.

[Rashad Evans art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]