Roundtables
ROUNDTABLE: Has the excitement for UFC 145's Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans bout waned due to the lengthy wait?
Apr 20, 2012 - 8:30:29 PM ROUNDTABLE: Has the excitement for UFC 145's Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans bout waned due to the lengthy wait?

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Has your excitement for Saturday's UFC 145 main event between Rashad Evans and Jon Jones waned due to how long it has taken to finally happen? Or are you anticipating the bout as much as ever?


RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Look, I'm stoked there's a UFC PPV coming (finally). I always am. But I'm not any more excited for this fight than any other fight I can remember. The fight itself is likely to be anti-climactic, Jones is going to truck Evans and we all feel that way. Unless Evans can explode to a clinch and lateral drop, and stay on top, this fight is going to be another Jones masterpiece. So I'm as excited to see genius as always, but I don't have any more interest in this Jones fight than I did for the Rampage fight, the Machida fight, etc.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I'm highly anticipating the fight. It hasn't really lost a lot of interest. I do think that Rashad's chances are smaller now than they were, mainly because Jon Jones has had that much longer to train for him. Jones is so young is his career that any additional training has a bigger impact on him than it would if he had been fighting for 10-12 years already.


ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I'm excited it's happening at all. It's taken this long, but it's been a great build. The blow off from what happens after its over is what will be most interesting. Evans is next to last of top fighters left in the division. Next would be Dan Henderson. After those two, Jon Jones will be nearly unstoppable. It doesn't hurt that I'll be watching the fight live, so to say I'm excited, is an understatement.


BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

It certainly hasn't waned – but it has grown now that the fight is actually going to happen. The rest of the card doesn't particularly titillate me, but I'm looking forward to seeing these two go head to head and beat the absolute crap out of each other. They have a long history and it just makes it feel like a blood feud between the two, which adds to much to the watch ability of this fight. They should have put a co-main event on there that was worth advertising, perhaps the Koscheck vs. Hendricks fight, but I'll take what we're getting. As long as the main event doesn't turn out to be a 25 minute snooze fest the card will be well worth my money, and anyone else who is tuning in to watches too.


ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I'm anticipating it as much as ever... which is to say, not much. It is absolutely the right fight for the UFC to make at 205 pounds. Rashad Evans is the most deserving challenger to the light heavyweight title and the fight has a fairly compelling backstory. That story is not compelling enough (they were training partners for all of, what, a year?) to balance out my belief that Jon Jones will beat Evans without much difficulty.


DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK CONTRIBUTOR

This rivalry has gone on for so long now. I often have to remind myself why they started arguing in the first place. Nothing sells more PPV's than a heated rivalry though, and this one certainly ticks all the right boxes. It seems like an eternity since it was announced, and the UFC have hyped it to the moon and back. I should be sick of it all now, but I'm not. If you can't get excited for this fight, your watching the wrong sport my friends. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the UFC Primetime shows, listening intently for sniping comments from them both. It's fight week, and this match up is as good as it gets right now, even if it is a long time overdue.