Rashad Evans thinks Jon Jones is finding confidence and style, but he is still fake
As the hype and trash talk between Rashad Evans and Jon Jones heats up in the days leading up to their epic UFC 145 clash, Evans was interviewed yesterday. He had many things to say about the young champion. At first, he had praise for his former training partner, stating the following on usatoday.com:
?????“He’s gotten a lot better and he’s gotten more confident,before he would just kind of do things randomly and just whatever, but now I see a bit of a pattern. I see that he’s finding his style a little bit more.”
On Jones’ comeback victory over Lyoto Machida last December, Evans had the following to say:
“It showed he has a bit of a heart, man. Because he lost that first round pretty good, but then he came back and he looked pretty dang good. I was pretty surprised. I doubted Jon’s heart, but Jon, he showed me in that fight.”
Still, Evans was quick to follow up his compliments of Jones with words meant to get inside the Light Heavyweight champion’s head. He continued to insist that Jones is fake. When asked to explain this and why Evans thinks he can break Jones mentally, he responded:
“Because he allows me to. He can’t help it. He can’t help it. I’m his kryptonite and he knows it. Do you have to be authentic? For me, I would have to be an authentic person. That’s just me. But people play a character all the time. I guess that’s really no different than him. Only thing I’m saying is that he’s just playing a character. I’m saying he’s fake; that’s the only thing I’m saying. I’m not saying that the UFC shouldn’t invest in him because he’s fake. If he’s fake, he’s fake. He’s the only one who’s going to have to answer for his fakeness, not anybody else.”
It appears that Rashad Evans knows the type of evolving skill set and talent that his opponent will bring to the cage on April 21st in Atlanta. While he may respect this, he also has a great deal of detracting statements to make about a man that he once considered his younger brother. Only time will tell who will emerge victorious, but the war of words has reached a fever pace heading into UFC 145.
Further Reading: Jon Jones: I’m sorry I’m coming across as cocky
Photo: Francis Specker
