Evans proves he's one of the P4P best, but is it enough to beat Jon Jones?
Posted on August 8, 2011, 08:54 AM by Anton Gurevich
Last Saturday, Rashad Evans added another "W" over former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with a convincing performance against "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz. Rashad Evans holds one of the most impressive records in MMA, 16-1 with victories over four former UFC Champions in Tito Ortiz, Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell.
In his first fight since UFC 114 victory over Rampage Jackson, Evans dominated Ortiz in every aspect of MMA, walking away with a spectacular 2nd Round TKO victory. It was a sweet return, and P4P-caliber performance against a very tough opponent.
In fact, the last man to finish Tito Ortiz was Chuck Liddell back at UFC 66. Since then, Ortiz faced four Top 10 UFC Light Heavyweights, all unable to KO/TKO, nor submit the future UFC Hall of Famer (or not).
Rashad Evans will now face the winner of UFC 135 match-up between Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson, which will take place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, on September 24th. Evans will look to win back the title he lost to Lyoto Machida back at UFC 98 via a brutal KO in Round 2.
MMA fans around the world are already speculating whether Evans is the man to dethrone Jon Jones. But make no mistake Jon Jones still has to beat Rampage Jackson, who will be more than ready for UFC 135. Jackson may be stylistically a better match-up for Evans, but definitely a tougher test than he was back at UFC 114.
But let's assume Rashad Evans will be fighting Jon Jones.
Since the mentioned above KO loss to Machida, Evans struggled on his feet against high-level strikers. Rampage Jackson and Thiago Silva tagged "Suga" with pretty good shots, and were only a few punches away from finishing the man who now trains at Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, Florida.
We saw the same thing in a fight with Tito Ortiz. People's Champ is not the best striker out there, yet, Ortiz stunned Evans with good knees in Round 1, reminding "Suga" that he still has something to work on.
Of course, Evans outstruck Ortiz 81-15 and was in full control throughout the fight, but the potential encounter with Jon Jones will be a different story.
Jones is a-good-enough wrestler to stop Evans' takedowns. According to CompuStrike statistics posted prior to UFC 133, Evans is successful only in 65% of his takedown attempts. That's a bad number to go with against a fighter who prior to UFC 128 triumph over Shogun Rua was successful in 91% of his takedown attempts, some of them against wrestlers such as Matt Hamill, Vladimir Matyushenko, Jake O'Brien and Ryan Bader.
There's a pretty good chance that Rashad Evans will be forced to stand with Jon Jones. And that's a bad idea, simply because, at least in my opinion, Jon Jones is currently the most dangerous striker in Mixed Martial Arts alongside the UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. His long reach and unorthodox combos are a nightmare for every fighter on the planet, especially for someone with a "problematic" striking like Rashad Evans.
Jon Jones' movement style and distance management will be Mission Impossible for Rashad Evans, who will have to work overtime with Tyrone Spong, if he wants to survive on his feet. Again, I was impressed with Evans' performance last Saturday, but I find it hard to picture him taking the title away from Jon Jones, if "Bones" defeats Jackson at UFC 135.
Further Reading: UFC 133 Recap
Comments
I think Rashad's got the best chance of beating Jone's right now. It won't be easy, but definitely possible
I agree I also think that Jones ducking Rashad says a lot about rashads ability
He didn't duck shit, he had an injury, troll, and Hashad didn't want to wait an extra six weeks in spite of the fact that he'd already been waiting since last year. Hashad is going to get smashed, ninja-style.
This is a fantastic article, perfect reflection of exactly how I feel, top to bottom. I can hardly even comment on it
dude ur tip rideing kind of hard
So we are sayin Rampage has absolutely 0 chance at beating JJ? And when i say we i mean yall, cuz he has a good chance at catching JJ, we havent even seen Jone's chin get tested yet at all and if one person can do that i think Rampage has that chance, its a punchers chance but its a chance.
Hands-down my most "weaked" comment since I've been using Lowkick, so much so I'm actually pretty stoked about it. The haters will see, I'm not "tip-rideing(sic)" anyone, reach into your basket of clichés for one that has a bit more validity. Seriously, MMA fans have to be the least creative sports fans when it comes to insulting those they disagree with - everything comes down to ****/tip riding, having someone's nuts in your mouth, being a hater or a fanboy, or being a Zuffadog. Seriously you kids need some ****ing new material.
Negative page has a chance its just that Rashad has a better chance
I also find hard to believe Rampage will take the belt away from Jones but who knows which Ramp is gonna show up?
Rashad showed that ring rust did not apply to him, apart from a few mistakes on the feet, he just showed a perfect display of his new and improved mma skills. The game plan was also good and certanly better than the jackson's plan for Machida (Jackson's biggest strategic error imo). He was really confident against Tito cause he knew Tito didn't have a lot to offer apart from great determination and good shape. (Sorry for the believers in the Tito hype).
Now Jones is a different animal. If you look at Rashad's awesome performance, it pretty much looked like a Jones's perf minus the unorthodox combos and the long reach. I think Rashad still got some work to do in order to beat Jones.
He really was impressive and i believe in his chances a lot more. He can beat Machida in a rematch hands down but not Jones yet.
I was blown away at just how good Rashad looked against a game Tito, so much for "ring rust" he looked better than ever after that lay off, even his striking looks to have improved. As to whether or not he could beat Jones, i think he could but i'm not 100% sure, he definately has all the necassary tools to do it, Jones chin hasn't really been tested yet and Rashad has the speed and the power to maybe land that testing shot, that's if Rampage doesn't get there first, Rampage definately has the power to test Jones' chin but maybe not so much the speed. Rashad and Jones did train together though at Jacksons so they both have a good insight into each others game, that makes it even more interesting IMO. I'm eager to see how the Jones vs Rampage fight turns out first but that depends on which Rampage we get IMO but we'll see........
I couldn't have said it better Anton. If the fight between Rashad and Bones does go down, wrestling will pretty much be thrown out the window. He'll have to work double time with K-1 strikers Tyrone Spong and Cosmo Alexandre, but he should find a nice lanky guy to work with. I think in a clinch Rashad would be able to hold is own but if he can't get in the inside and throw those shots like he did to Tito we can say good night to Sugar.
Brilliant article
Thanks a lot guys... I'm happy you enjoyed the read.
Woah woah... He looked good sure but titos not exactly in his prime (imo) and this win is the only thing weve seen in over a year. Lets let him have a couple more fights before we start throwing around terms like "p4p" and "best"...
Huh? Evans has been included in many "pro" pound for pound lists for a while now... I've had him at #10 for some time. Look at who he's beaten and consider that his one and only defeat came against Machida. Then think about that fact that, as an undersized Light Heavyweight, he moved up to Heavyweight to win The Ultimate Fighter. He certainly fits the criteria, but to each their own.
First off I dont like ranking fighters that arnt fighting. And one win against tito ortiz isnt about to make me think rashad evens is one of the best fighters in the world. Thats what p4p top 10 is the ten guys who when you strip all down are the best. Your gonna put rashad in there even at 10? how many people from LHW divsion do you have in youe p4p top10? your putting rashad ahead of jons, rampage, henderson, davis and machida... Personally I dont think LHW is that deep in p4p right now. Theres alot of other amazing fighters from all the other divisions to consider. I dont even know if rashad would even be in my top 20 right now. Im not gonna speculate to far a head when theres loads of proven champions stompin around the rings these days. Im not hating on rashad but im sayin we havnt seen much. Sure I think hes got potential but im not gonna start calling him one of the best fighters in the world for beating tito ortiz when we havnt seen anything else in a year. He gets the belt yeah hes gonna be hard to ignore.
Well, because JJ is so concentrated on Rashad he might be overlooking Rampage, which could get him in trouble. We might see a rematch between Suga and Rampage.
Is this a joke?
One of the P4P bests? He beat a guy who hadn't won a fight in 5 years. Tito was bound to get a win in that time span, anybody with a swinging **** that trains MMA as long as he did can knock someone out once in a while.
Rashad...mannnnn, this guy is the biggest douchebag in the sport hands down. His post fight interview where he was saying he "acts" ****y, but doesn't actually go to bed ****y like Jones did made me laugh.
I'm looking forward to the ass kicking Jones will lay down on Rashad. He'll get beat to the punch on his feet, he'll lose horribly on the ground, and how many sub wins does Rashad have?
There are guys that come around once in a decade, I think Jones is one of them, and only time will tell if he solidifies that comment. I suspect he will make the same runs as GSP, and AS in his weight division. He did beat Shogun although he was far from his best...anyone who has followed Rua's career knows he has the worst case of ring rust in the league. That being said, I think Jones can beat anyone in the LHW on their best night.
One of the "P4P" best, where do you come up with this shit.
Dude Ur on Jones tip way to hard bro, I admit Jones is a great fighter but to say that Rashad has no chance that is ludicrous, u need to stop the tip riding and start seeing it for what it is
Watch the fight bud, and we'll see where the comments sit afterward. On a dudes ****...really, you come up with that all on your own?
Sorry, I didn't read all the posts because I'm at work right now but I don't think that beating Tito after over a year off proves Evans is one of the "P4P Best". I like Evans but he has a way to go to join that list. I'll go check the P4P voting list but I suspect he's not there.
Good article! rashad looked awesome in his match up with tito, you could see the work had been put in. If rashad goes back to the gym and works on his weaknesses im sure he will have a good shot and jon jones(if he gets past rampage).
i don't think any LHW deserves to be on the P4P list.
the reason guys like Anderson silva,GSP etc.. are considerable for P4P is because they are overwhelmingly dominate in their division etc..
the last UFC LHW title holder to defend the belt was Machida against his "win" over Rua. its been getting passed around alot since 07' when Rampage defended the title against henderson(which was the last defense that wasn't off a highly questionable decision).
in short Rashad isn't even the best in his division let alone the P4P best. JJ is the only LHW close to P4P best and that is simply because as of now he is the best in the LHW division.
Jones looks unstoppable. but at the same time Rashad went through some big names with only 1 loss.
will sure be an interresting matchup...
may the best man win...
I Think This Articel Was written by a Jones Fan a bit unfair on Rashad chance he did train with Jones
I don't think anyone can beat Jones now. Evans looked great in his fight against Tito - moving cautiously, but powerfully, the way a panther would - but then again Tito is not at his best. Anderson Silva has also faced top guys and made them all look funny. The same will happen to Evans, when he enters the cage with the current champion.
evans is to much of a one dimensional striker to handle jones.
and wrestling he may be little better but.. eh.. not much..
good luck evans.
and lets face it tito. isnt BACK.. bader is over-rated but he is not a chump.tito got lucky.
see what happens when u put tito against a top level guy..
the win tonight for evans really didnt tell me much.
he did look great but, he wasnt fighting a top level fighter.so its hard to tell where he really is