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[Cat--Smasher]

Evans perceives improved, more confident Jon Jones

"He's gotten a lot better and he's gotten more confident," Evans says of his former teammate at the Albuquerque camp run by coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn. "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."

"I think it's justified," he says. "He went in there and he had a great year. He put away some great fighters. He looks good. He's got the right image and he's got an exciting fight style, so why not?"

Jon has said that your confidence is based on a single day in training when you held him down. How often did you get the better of him in practice when you were his teammate at the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp?

There's days I got the better of him. I can't put a number to it. There's days I got the better of him, but it's training. There's days he got the better of me too, you know what I'm saying?

Why do you think he keeps bringing up that one day?

(laughs) Because he remembers it. He remembers that feeling. That's why he keeps bringing it up, because he hasn't forgotten about it. He's training right now so he doesn't experience that feeling again, because that's a very dark (thing to feel).

More than a year has passed since you left the Jackson-Winkeljohn gym. From what you can tell by watching his fights, how has Jon Jones developed as a mixed martial artist?

He's gotten a lot better and he's gotten more confident. He's just more confident and he's kind of finding his style.

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.

Last year you used the adjective "fatherless" when you described Jon's fighting style to me. Why is that necessarily a bad thing?

It's not necessarily a bad thing. But in some respects when you do have a fatherless style, you don't have a basis or understanding of why you're doing certain things. You just kind of do it for the hell of doing it.

But once you have a base for it, you bring a structure to it. Then you can make it look like you have a fatherless style, but you're making it fit into your program.

How have you evolved as a fighter over the past year?

I've gotten a lot better in many areas. With my striking, for one. My ground game has gotten a lot better. My game has gotten better in all areas.

Your wrestling looked extremely good when you beat Phil Davis in January. You were already quite good at wrestling in MMA. How did you get better there?

I guess just drilling. Just doing a lot of drills, more than anything, and just getting back to the wrestling.

The easiest thing it is to do, and I've seen a lot of wrestlers that do it, once they start getting into MMA, they forget all about their wrestling. They think, "Oh, well, I'm already on such a level with wrestling, I don't really need to focus on it any more."

But I'll always focus on my wrestling and make sure I bring in guys that can really push me, and technically push me to the next level.

Has that ever happened to you over the years? I think of your fight with Lyoto Machida as a moment when you seemed to just swing away.

It did happen, and that was the fight really that just kind of put the stamp on it mentally for me to be like, "Never forget where you came from. Never forget where your strength is."

Because I used to allow myself to be bothered by people being like, "Oh, he's just a wrestler, and all he's going to do is just lay and pray and stuff." So I tried to be everything except for what I really was, and that's a wrestler.

But there's a method behind my madness and I can't afraid to be me.

Machida seemed to do quite well in the first round of their fight last December, but Jon came back strong to take it. What did that show you about Jon?

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.

How surprised were you?

I was pretty surprised. I doubted Jon's heart, but Jon, he showed me in that fight.

Despite that, you say that you can break him mentally. Why do you say that?

Because he allows me to.

Ok. But what do you mean by that?

He can't help it. He can't help it. I'm his kryptonite and he knows it.

Greg Jackson initially wasn't to going to work Jon's corner, but he changed his mind. How much did that surprise you, if at all?

I'm not surprised. Once Greg said that he was able to stay at his gym, I knew he was going to work with him. I knew he was going to corner him. And that's fine. I expected him to do that.

That's just Greg for you. I can't be mad at somebody for being himself, you know?

Are you saying that he's just fulfilling his professional obligation, or something else?

It's like — who would Greg Jackson be if it wasn't for the original fighters who really put Greg Jackson on the map? Nobody would be hearing about him. Nobody would be hearing about this gym that he has in Albuquerque. He would just be a guy who likes fighting and who coaches guys.

But to turn your back and to against the grain on people who made you who you really are — to me, that's just low.

Are you referring to the situation involving yourself and Jon?

Well, think about it. It'd be one thing if it was just an isolated situation, but he goes and creates pretty much the same thing with the Georges St. Pierre thing too. It's like, how many times does he go against the grain?

And then you realize after all of that that he's trying to spit this, "Oh, it's about the team, it's about the team, it's about the team." But the team consists of "I" (meaning) him, Greg Jackson, and him getting the Coach of the Year award. That's the only thing he really cares about.

Because if it came down to holding it down and being who he was for the team, then the situation never exist. He would have never brought Jon Jones on and he would have never brought Carlos Condit on.

He never would have even brought Georges on because he had Diego at the time. But that was kind of a different issue because Diego was a wildfire back then.

UFC has been pushing Jon as a prominent face for the brand. How justified is that faith in him?

I think it's justified. He went in there and he had a great year. He put away some great fighters.

He looks good. He's got the right image and he's got an exciting fight style, so why not?

You've described that image as a false one. But do you have to be authentic to represent the promotion well?

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.

Evans perceives improved, more confident Jon Jones

[mmawolverine]

is it wrong to like rashad, ive gotte nover the nut grap he did in front of forrest and i think jones needs to be humbled before he continues is GOAT warpath, why not rashad?

[ryabusa]

Originally Posted by mmawolverine

is it wrong to like rashad, ive gotte nover the nut grap he did in front of forrest and i think jones needs to be humbled before he continues is GOAT warpath, why not rashad?

I'm with you. I like Rashad (don't understand the hate) and I hope he wins.

[The Return Of......]

Originally Posted by mmawolverine

is it wrong to like rashad, ive gotte nover the nut grap he did in front of forrest and i think jones needs to be humbled before he continues is GOAT warpath, why not rashad?

Because Rashad is not good enough to derail Jones

[lwbrewer]

Originally Posted by The Return Of......

Because Rashad is not good enough to derail Jones

I'll second that.

I think the reach will be to much for Rashad to overcome. Jones will hold his hand out and stop Rashad from getting to close. Kinda like when a adult holds back a little kid who's going wild wanting to hit you.

[W.Silva>C.Norris]

if rashaad times jones right, this fight could be over quick.. Im very curious to see how jones responds to taking punishment as well as dishing it out.

also, how awesome would rashaad vs hendo be???

[lwbrewer]

Hendo Rashad would be a great fight, but nothing for Hendo to gain unless Rashad had the title.

[zana1126]

And now he noticed!

[roaddawg]

I think fans just flat out like to see dominant champions face stiff competition and not glide through everyone like a hot knife through butter.

I really don't buy the humble excuse too much because in my eyes both Anderson Silva and GSP are very humble yet people want to see them brutally challenged if not defeated. We are even seeing that against JDS now with people clamoring for Mark Hunt/Overeem.

To be dominant as a champion is to be cursed. They both run hand and hand.

[Kimbo> Rampage]

Originally Posted by roaddawg

I think fans just flat out like to see dominant champions face stiff competition and not glide through everyone like a hot knife through butter.

I really don't buy the humble excuse too much because in my eyes both Anderson Silva and GSP are very humble yet people want to see them brutally challenged if not defeated. We are even seeing that against JDS now with people clamoring for Mark Hunt/Overeem.

To be dominant as a champion is to be cursed. They both run hand and hand.

That is the truth. Great Champions will always have a ton of supporters and a ton of people who want to see them lose. People care about Champions, whether in a good or bad way.

Originally Posted by W.Silva>C.Norris

also, how awesome would rashaad vs hendo be???

See Shields/Hendo. Rashad takes him down at will. He also could out-strike Dan. He has good power and good speed but that would be playing with fire. He would get KTFO if he took a big shot from Dan, we know that. He wouldnt be able to sit there and trade blow for blow with him like rampage did.