UFC 145 Fight Card: What Rashad Evans Needs to Do to Defeat Jon Jones

Beating Jon Jones is easier said than done.

Jones is on top of his game, and if his previous title fights are any indication of what tonight's fight is going to be like, Rashad Evans is in for a long night of enduring pain and sorrow.

Some consider Jones to be the Michael Jordan of the sport, and those accusations aren't too far off. With that said, Evans is one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time. He's a former champion, and he's deserving of a title shot.

With a perfect game plan in place, Evans can dethrone Jones tonight at UFC 145, and this is what he must do to ensure the victory.

Get Inside

Jones smashes everyone he faces because he always holds the reach advantage.

When fighters are forced to fight on the outside against Jones, their chances of winning the fight go from slim to none. You can't play that game with Jones, and if Evans does tonight, he will get burned.

Having trained with him and being as educated as he is, Evans knows this. You can't knockout what you can't punch. He must do everything in his power to get inside of Jones, but once again, that's easier said than done.

What he must do first is use his movement to corner Jones against the cage. Once he cuts off the cage, it is crucial for Evans to instigate the clinch and work his game from there. Basically, he's going to have to take a page out of Randy Couture's playbook to defeat Jones.

From there, Evans has to make this fight dirty. But it all starts with him getting on the inside of Jones.

Get the Takedown

Once Evans has gotten inside of Jones and instigated the clinch, he has to score the takedown.

Evans best chance of winning this fight is getting on top of Jones and laying some brutal ground-and-pound on the champion.

With that said, if he doesn't get the takedown from the clinch, he's not completely out of this fight. As good of a wrestler as Jones is, I might give a slight edge in wrestling to Evans.

When it comes to transitioning from strikes to grappling, there is none better in the sport of MMA than Evans. He mixes in his strikes with his takedowns so well, and he somehow always seems to get his opponent off balance enough to shoot that double-leg and take the fight to the ground.

Grounding out a decision victory or stopping Jones by ground-and-pound aren't Evans' only options for winning this fight, but getting a few takedowns would certainly boost his confidence.

Test Jon's Chin

Can Jones really take a punch?

He took a nice shot in his last fight against Lyoto Machida. Though Jones rebounded well, that wasn't the hardest of shots. Granted, Machida is an excellent striker with knockout power, but that was one connection.

That may have convinced some that Jones can take a punch, but it's still questionable to me. It's a question that Evans could very well answer tonight.

When Evans gets inside of Jones, the takedown isn't the only thing he should be looking to score. That would be the first thing to look for, but connecting with Jones chin might be a better option. Evans has proved in the past that he has vicious knockout power, and if he connects with Jones' relatively untested chin, who knows what could happen.

Should Evans connect cleanly, we could all witness Jones being humbled by his former friend, training partner and dare I say, mentor.