UFC 128: Will problems with Rashad Evans mentally affect Jon Jones?

With UFC 128 just around the corner, the main event for the Light Heavyweight Championship is not the only story going into Saturday. The hot story as of late has been the internal problems in the Greg Jackson camp. The former contender for Mauricio Rua‘s belt, Rashad Evans has been going back and forth in a war of words with Jon Jones. During the UFC 128 conference call from last week, “Bones” was asked about the possibility of facing his friend and teammate if he wins the title (quote via MMAFighting.com):

“I want to be clear to other reporters, that I absolutely HATE when people mention Rashad Evans, especially throughout this training camp. He’s a friend of mine but I’m fighting Mauricio “Shogun,” one of the best fighters that’s been around for a long time. So for people to even be mentioning Rashad Evans right now, I think, is ludicrous. Rashad is not in my mind, he’s not in my being, he has absolutely zero to do with my heart and who I am right now. Right now it’s me vs. Jon Jones and right now I’m beating all the weakness out of myself, I’m beating all the give-up out of myself, I’m beating the lack of cardio, I’m beating the lack of confidence; any sign of weakness that’s within my heart right now, I’m getting rid of it. The fact that people are bringing up Rashad, it almost angers me. Rashad has nothing to do with “Shogun” and I think from here on out I won’t even answer a question about Rashad.”

Rashad had words of his own an interview from yesterday’s Pro MMA Radio Podcast:

“It sounds like he wants to fight, huh? Those sound like fighting words. I don’t know how to judge the kid. It’s kind of messed up, to be honest. I can’t control what anyone else says and it sounds to me like he’s a little bit insecure about the whole thing. Sometimes when you open your mouth you show what you’re afraid of more than anything. I don’t know why he has such an adverse response like that to me. I’ve never challenged him or made him feel like he should do that sort of thing. It sounds to me — if I was out of the situation — that he was feeling insecure about me. … (It made Jon) sound like a baby”.

I understand that Greg Jackson’s camp is very tight-knit and they have a “no fighting friends” policy. At the age of twenty three with the biggest fight of his life in three days, the last thing Jon Jones needs on his mind is drama within his circle. Could all this negative attention around Jones affect him going into this championship bout? Is he mentally prepared to deal with this or will it be too much? The legendary Bas Rutten once said that “fighting is ninety percent mental and ten percent physical”.

One of Jon Jones’s striking coaches, Trevor Wittman, said it best in a recent interview with Anton Gurevich:

“Mental aspect is more important than the technical one. You can learn all the technique in the world, but if you don’t go there with the right mindset – you’re not going to win your fight. Mental preparation is the key and any fighter out there has to be mentally tough to compete at high level.”

Shogun Rua is no easy walk in the park for anyone in the Light-Heavyweight division. You can physically prepare yourself to the best of your abilities, but at the end of the day if Jones doesn’t have his mind out of the gutter he’ll be taking a nap on the canvas. Jon needs to come to this fight prepared both mentally and physically. That would make him a greater threat than he already is and he could walk away champion. But until that happens, he shouldn’t be worried about fighting his friend and teammate. This Saturday he should be concerned about the Brazilian legend in the red corner trying to knock his head off.

Cover Photo: Esther Lin for Fanhouse