Jon Jones adamant he would never fight Rashad Evans

Jon Jones has risked the wrath of UFC president Dana White by making it clear he will not fight Rashad Evans, even if his team-mate blocks his way to the light-heavyweight title.

Jones is widely recognised as the biggest young talent in the UFC, with 11 wins and one disqualification to his name, and he is tipped to go right to the top of the 205lb division. However, by the time he gets there Jones' team-mate at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting gym, Rashad Evans, could already be the champion as he prepares to take on current title holder Mauricio Shogun Rua in 2011.

Victory for Evans would leave a dilemma for Jones, much as it would for Jon Fitch if Josh Koscheck beats Georges St-Pierre in December, and like Fitch, Jones admits there is not a chance he would share the same Octagon as his team-mate.

"Absolutely not," he replied when asked by ESPN if he would fight Evans. "If Rashad Evans won the belt, which I'm hoping he does, my only goal would be to be the toughest contender there is, and keep whipping butt without being champion.

"I'd stay at 205 and be the second best. That would be my goal. As I said, I'm hoping he wins, we're very proud of him. I couldn't do it, he's my mate."

Jones, who stands at 6ft 5' boasting an 84½-inch reach, has previously hinted that his long-term future could be at heavyweight. However, any dreams of a shot at Brock Lesnar are some way off admits the flamboyant Greco-Roman wrestler.

"All my dreams and aspirations are in the light-heavyweight division, and I'm growing and getting older, but I have quite some time left in the light-heavyweight division," he said. "I have a good work ethic because of the wrestling, cutting weight comes easily to me, so I'll wait until weight-cutting becomes miserable before I step up."

http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/51279.html

Fitch categorically tells ESPN he will not fight Koscheck


Jon Fitch has stated categorically that he will not fight Josh Koscheck, revealing to ESPN that he would move to the middleweight division if his AKA team-mate clinches welterweight gold.

Fitch and Koscheck both train at the American Kickboxing Academy, where Koscheck is preparing to fight champion Georges St-Pierre for the 170lb title at the end of the year. GSP beat his TUF 12 coaching rival in the past, but this time they square off in a five-round encounter.

UFC president Dana White has always expressed his displeasure at team-mates refusing to fight each other, and he has always maintained his belief that Fitch and Koscheck would stand toe-to-toe if the situation arose.

However, Fitch has confirmed otherwise, stating that he would leave the welterweight division if Koscheck made two successful defences of the title following a potential victory over St-Pierre.

"If Josh Koscheck is able to win and defend the belt, has two wins with the belt, then I'll move up to 185," Fitch told ESPN. "By that time two years have passed, I've fought all the welterweights I want to fight, including GSP non-title, so it'd be time to move up.

"It's not about friends, it's team-mates. It's family. It's something that's been part of this sport for a long time, the best teams have this type of mentality.

"I'm confident I could compete and even win the belt at 185, so I think it's better to have three belts at AKA than two. I'm a big welterweight and I think I have a skill set that matches up well against the 185-pounders."

http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/51276.html

White explodes over fighters avoiding their team-mates

UFC president Dana White has delivered an explosive verdict on fighters who refuse to face their team-mates, telling ESPN: "It's f****** ridiculous".

ESPN revealed on Tuesday that Jon Fitch categorically stated he would not fight American Kickboxing Academy team-mate Josh Kosheck, even if it was for the welterweight title. And on Wednesday, there were further quotes from Jon Jones saying he would rather stay as the light-heavyweight division's No. 2 than fight Greg Jackson colleague Rashad Evans.

White is keen to knock such thoughts on the head, knowing that it would stand in the way of MMA fans seeing some of the best match-ups the sport has to offer. And he told the fighters in question that it would be embarrassing for them not to fight their mates.

"It's f****** ridiculous. It's embarrassing," White told ESPN. "I think it's embarrassing to say 'I won't fight somebody because I train out of the same camp'.

"These guys train so hard, they put so much time and energy into it, why would you not want to fight somebody to prove you're the best in the world?

"It's not personal, it's business. It's the business we're in. You hear it from the AKA camp, you hear it from the Jackson camp, it drives me completely crazy, it's completely unprofessional, and it's f****** ridiculous."

Fitch explained that he would even move up to the middleweight division if Koscheck began to dominate at 170lbs, but White retains a belief that both men would step up if the situation arose.

"We'll see what happens with Koscheck and St-Pierre. If Koscheck wins the title, Fitch is going to move to 185? I doubt it. I actually think Fitch and Koscheck would fight each other."


http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/51282.html


I think this will all come to nothing anyway,It'll only be a problem if both Kos and Rashad win and Dana is adament that there first defences are going to be against Fitch and Bones,because to be honest,I don't think either will go on a run of successfully defending the title,even if they both somehow did win them in the first place,so Bones and fitch wouldn't have to wait long to get there shots at the belt anyway(plus the fact I can't see either Rashad or Kos actually winning the belts in the first place)

i think its shit how fighter wont fight their mates. at the end of the day they are in the business to be number one, i mean if rashad wins the title and holds it for ages how will dana promote jones if he was a clear number 1 contender.

i would not have problem with it if he said he would move weight to avoid Rashad.
but his idea of being the second best LHW in the world if Rashad is champ is retarded.
whats the point of fighting if you arent aiming to be champion?...it belittles the belt, the organisation and the champion.

if rashad became champ and jones number 1 contender then jones will be wanting his mate to lose anyway so he can get the shot.

It's probably better that mates don't fight - you would probably end up with glorified sparring sessions and it also opens up the opportunity for worked matches

Ginginho wrote:It's probably better that mates don't fight - you would probably end up with glorified sparring sessions and it also opens up the opportunity for worked matches

Whilst I agree with this I do dislike the fact people refuse to fight, its a sporting contest for goodness sake.

If Fitch refuses to fight Koscheck he propably wont have a choice in moving to middleweight. Why should he be allowed stay in the ww division knocking off genuine contenders and not make a title run.

It isnt that difficult to see why this pisses Dana off so much. There is so few top camps and once these guys start winning titles I think Dana will them to sh!t or get off the pot

This is becoming realy common now, and it's sooooooo boring! to be fair though if SHogun loses to Evans that would be the shocker of 2011!

JBJ would destroy evans by the way!

Condit has no problems fighting a team mate.


Carlos Condit talked more about a possible fight with Georges St. Pierre in an appearance on TapouT Radio this week. Fresh off his KO win over Dan Hardy at UFC 120, Condit reiterated his willingness to face St. Pierre in the UFC cage, despite the two both training under Greg Jackson.

Team mates refusing to fight each other has long been the target of UFC president Dana White’s ire but Condit bucked the trend at the post-UFC 120 press conference when he voiced his willingness to face his fellow Team Jackson fighter.

“A fight with me and Fitch would definitely make sense and a fight with GSP would be a huge opportunity for me, I definitely wouldn’t turn it down,” Condit said.

“We haven’t [actually trained together at Jackson’s]. He was there when I was having our baby so I wasn’t in the gym quite as much and now that I have been back he has been busy coaching The Ultimate Fighter, so we haven’t had a chance to train together.”

Asked about St. Pierre’s performance against Hardy - a five-round decision win - compared to his own, a first round KO, Condit said that different tactics were in play and that St. Pierre “plays it safe”.

“Georges St. Pierre didn’t have the same gameplan against Dan Hardy that I did. Like you guys say he is playing it safe these days and that is his prerogative. But I come to finish no matter who it is,” he explained.

“I am not the athlete nor the wrestler that Georges is and so I have to try and knock them out. It would be the same against Fitch or Koscheck or anybody.

Condit is line for a contenders match next and is looking at Jake Shields or a number of other names. He thinks any of the potential names will be similar in terms of preparation.

“[Shields] or any of the guys we just talked about: Fitch, Kampmann, Georges St. Pierre, Koscheck - all wrestlers, all would probably try and take me down. So yeah it does make it easier to train for them,” he says