UFC President Dana White on Potential Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans Fight

Jon “Bones” Jones will replace his injured friend Rashad Evans in the UFC 128 main event as he challenges Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

The move was quick and unexpected, but it was originally assumed that Evans’ shot at the title would simply be moved back and that he would face the winner the fight at UFC 128.

But then we started hearing grumblings that Rashad Evans would not fight Jones due to their friendship outside of the cage.

This sent Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White on a tirade about how there’s no way that the two light heavyweights should avoid fighting one another and that they really haven’t known one another for more than a couple of months.

Perhaps taking what their boss said to heart, both Jones and Evans later revealed that they would be open to fighting one another, even though they are friends.

FanHouse’s Ariel Helwani asked the UFC President about the two fighters and what he thinks of the whole situation.

White wasn’t surprised that they came to that conclusion and commented that he didn’t believe that Jones and Evans were behind the refusal to fight one another.

“This has to be coming from the camp,” White speculated to Helwani. “Why would [Jackson's Submission Fighting] want these guys to fight each other? Because if they do, one guy is going to leave the camp and they make less money on that deal.”

He speaks the truth regarding the conflict of interest from the team. They obviously want their fighters to be in the spotlight, but having them fight one another is not the most desirable option.

One fighter will have to leave the camp and train elsewhere, which also opens the question of which fighter that would be. But Dana White doesn’t believe that should be an issue.

“The reality is, this isn’t a team sport,” he asserted. “You have to train with other people, you have to train with the best, it’s a fact. You don’t just become such ‘close friends’ that you don’t want to fight each other. It’s bull[expletive].”

Ariel Helwani dove deeper into the layers of this story, asking what’s next for Rashad Evans.

“If I was Rashad, I would say ‘whoever wins this fight, I want to fight,’” he answered. “The guy got injured, he was next in line for the fight.”

But with Jones and Shogun set to fight this Saturday night, there is not even a tentative date set for when Evans will get the title shot he earned.

“Now he’s got to sit around, he’s got to wait and see what happens with these two, he’s got to wait and see who wins,” White stated. “Do they come out 100 percent, or are they injured and do they have to wait awhile? Or do they want to fight again?”

Rashad Evans is expected to get the next shot at the title, but it’s hard to tell exactly how it will go.

Judging by how the UFC has handled the No. 1 contendership in other weight classes, namely Yushin Okami at middleweight, Evans could be waiting another year or longer if bigger-money fights become available.