3 Reasons Rashad Evans Is the Biggest Threat to Jon Jones

Before it was announced that Jon Jones would be facing Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, fight fans were expecting the long-awaited showdown between Jones and Rashad Evans.

Machida is a fighter who has already defeated Evans. If Jones defeats Machida many people will argue he can defeat Evans, too. That isn’t necessarily the case as Evans is a different fighter than he was when he faced Machida.

Read on to see why Rashad Evans is the best equipped light heavyweight to dethrone Jon Jones.

Evans Formerly Fought at Heavyweight

In the beginning of Evans’ career with the UFC he fought at heavyweight, not light heavyweight. In the season two finale of The Ultimate Fighter Evans bested his much larger opponent Brad Imes who stood 6’4”.

While it’s been a while since Evans fought at heavyweight we know that fighting opponents who are larger than him isn’t something he hasn’t faced before. Evans has the ability to get inside and land some great shots on Jones.

New Training and Fight Camps

After Rashad Evans’ split with Greg Jackson’s gym he began training at Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, Florida. He has also started bringing in different people for each of his fight camps.

“I don't need to have a team around me and I'll bring in what I need,” Evans told Bloodyelbow.com back in March. Evans went on to say talk about his coach Mike Van Arsdale as his “secret weapon” in preparing for all of his fights.

After watching Evans take out Tito Ortiz last August, “Suga” looked like a completely different fighter, one who might be able to stop the phenom that is Jones.

Former Training Partners

Before he left Greg Jackson’s gym, Evans and Jones were training partners. This is significant advantage for Evans for a few different reasons.

First and foremost, Evans has lots of experience with Jones, something no other fighter has had. He knows Jones’ strengths, but more importantly he knows where Jones’ weaknesses are.

It’s also a big advantage because Evans knows what the training is like at Jackson’s gym and he can plan for it. Evans might even know some of the things Jackson would be training Jones on, but Jones wouldn’t have any incite into Evans’ camp.

While none of this means that Evans will definitely defeat Jones it does make him the best equipped to do so. While Evans may not have any one certain skill Jones hasn’t faced before, Evans does know how to use his skills against Jones’ weak spots.