Jon Jones Says Rashad Evans Ducked UFC 140 Fight

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/10/7/2475065/jon-jones-says-rashad-evans-ducked-ufc-140-fight

When Jon Jones pulled out of the initially planned bout with Rashad Evans for a hand injury that he and his camp originally claimed would require surgery, only to not have any procedure done and take a fight with Quinton Jackson instead, many people (myself included) said that the way things broke down made Jones look like he had ducked Evans. Now, the tables have (kind of) been turned and Jones accepted the fight for UFC 140 only to have Evans say that a hand injury will have him unable to fight on the card.

Now, Jones is doing the very savvy thing and telling MMA Fighting that Rashad is now the one doing the ducking:

Did you tell the UFC that since Evans wasn't ready to fight in December that you would rather wait a month or two to fight him so you can finally put this beef behind you?

Well, Dana White basically needed someone to save 140. I didn't necessarily want to fight at 140, but because it was Rashad, I said, 'You know what? I would take the fight in nine weeks.' I'm already in shape. I already know what I want to do. Rashad, predicting that I would say no, he kind of kicked himself in the butt because I said yes, he turns around and says, 'Oh, I didn't expect Jon to say yes. I don't want to fight him that soon.' So in reality, he's kind of the one who's ducking the fight. I feel like he's ducking the fight.

Rashad put himself in a dumb position by swearing up and down that he could fight at 140 and then, once the fight is offered, saying he can't get cleared. Jones is doing exactly the right thing in terms of handling it in the media.

He was made to look bad previously, and now he has flipped it and giving it right back.

How disappointed I am in not seeing Evans/Jones finally is totally separate from how happy I am to see Jon be aggressive in the media.

Both fighters are to blame for them not having fought.

Like Rashad was ever going to roll with a 5 week training camp for a title fight

I had a feeling this was going to happen, either with Jones and foot issue after Rampage or that Rashad's hand wouldn't give him enough time for a real camp for the fight , at this rate I'm not sure this fight ever gets made, this will be the fourth fight of the year for Bones, I'm sure if he wins he will want a good 4 months off or so, and Rashad should want to fight and not wait this time, shouldn't he?

This is a tricky thing here. I hope Rashad truely thought he would be ready and had a setback or something.

since most agreed that Boner ducked Shad the first time around(its totally clear he did considering he was not out for any time at all), its only fair we agree that Shad ducked Jones this time considering he was calling that Bones would try to duck him for the same event that Shad ended up declaring too soon.

So they are tied in the duck category.

Dragon ducks no man....he only expects Anderson Silva money, not the same as ducking.

Shad has pins in his hand and is in a cast. He popped his mouth off but he hasn't ducked anyone.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Shad has pins in his hand and is in a cast. He popped his mouth off but he hasn't ducked anyone.

This is true. He shouldn't have spoken up the day before and said Bones would duck him though. Karma is a bitch and Shad did it to himself, even though we all know he can't fight for atleast a few months from now. It was only 4 days ago that he was telling DW that he would get his cast off in a few days and he should know the status of his hand. He also said he had pins in his hand from the surgery.

Not sure they were expecting the news of still needing to not do anything for another 3 weeks once he got the cast off though

bobbitt15 wrote:

Not sure they were expecting the news of still needing to not do anything for another 3 weeks once he got the cast off though

Actually they did expect that as a worse case scenario. The video I'm talking about showed Rashad telling DW that he would know when he could start training after the doctor looked at his hand when the cast came off.

Why not move the fight to the 30th card, that would be the three weeks difference, and still sets up all the fireworks in 2012 for the champ whomever that is to go through Machida, Hendo, and anyone else. Be a banging New Years Eve card too.

I don't know if you can say he ducked him, he wants this fight bad, the more tests Jones goes through the better he is going to be, if Jones goes in there and works Machida, that is only going to give Jones more confidence, I think it was bad timing and his camp hoping that all would be well so he would be ready to bring it on the 10th, he shouldn't of said anything about Jones finding a way out of the fight, cause now it does look like he is the one that found a way out, fair or not.