Malki Kawa explains the decision not to reschedule Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans
Posted on May 17, 2011, 12:13 AM by Joey Santosus
After a convincing victory over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128 to capture the Light Heavyweight belt, it was immediately confirmed that Jon "Bones" Jones would make his first title defense against none other than his former friend and Jackson's MMA training partner "Suga" Rashad Evans.
It was a bout that quickly became one of the most anticipated grudge matches in recent memory, so it came as no surprise when news that Jones would need surgery and have to pull out of the fight was met with disappointment among fans. However, when the champ revealed that he had decided against surgery just shortly after Evans was given a new opponent, that disappointment quickly turned to speculation that Jones may have exaggerated the severity of his injury in order to get out of the fight.
Jones' manager, Malki Kawa, however, has adamantly denied the claims, explaining that the decision not to reschedule the bout was a precautionary measure based on the possibility of the injury becoming a recurring issue in the comings months.
"The issue is, let's just say that Jon's hand isn't healed by then, let's say that Jon goes back to training camp in June or July and he goes and punches the mit and it goes and swells back up again and we decide that surgery is the best option because now that it's been healed and the swelling has gone away, lets say that the pain immediately comes back. Then Jon says, 'You know what, my hand is really killing.' Let's say that that happens, then what? Rashad is going to miss out on another opportunity to fight. So the fact of the matter is, I told the UFC, until Jon has all the pain and swelling in his hand go away, I didn't feel comfortable scheduling a fight. That's why they didn't schedule it. We couldn't commit to an Aug. fight."
"What I'm trying to say today is that at no point in time are we ever going to duck anybody. We're never going to say no to a fight, whether it's Rampage or it's Machida or it's Rashad; it doesn't matter, we're always going to do the fight. My concern as a manager is that my fighter is 100 percent healthy - For more from Kawa on the situation visit MMAMania.com
While there has been no exact date set for his return, Jones is expected to resume training when his cast is removed next month with hopes of competing again before the end of 2011. If successful in his UFC 133 match-up with Phil Davis, Evans will likely retain his position as number one contender, however, both Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida have also been mentioned as possible challengers.
Photo: UFC fighter Jon Jones before his fight against Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC-Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko at the San Diego Sports Arena on August 1, 2010, in San Diego, California. Francis Specker
Comments
I want to see Jones vs Evans so bad, pre fight trash talking should be really entertaining and the actual fight would b good too....hopefully UFC can put this together before one of them loses a fight and the hype for this fight dies of a bit
If Evans loses to Davis I bet he would be extra pissed. I'm sure he will play it super safe that night. Jones is right though. Their day will come. Maybe not exactly when we want it but it will come.
I've been a fan of rashad since the show and I know that jones got in his head and the best thing rashad can do right now is get back to jackson's gym, he should call greg and talk it out and have jones leave the camp. if he does that that's gonna help rashad because he's gonna have less pressure and more focused getting into the fight, and honestly I think the only reason jon jones did all this is to buy times. and even if rashad is not successful at beating him he's gunna to expose a lot of hist game
I agree if Rashad really is the number 1 contender then he should beat Davis, if he loses than he should of never had that spot. You have to maintain your status weather its champ, or number 1 contender, of being on the p4p list.
Well, the only guy to beat Evans is just now rebounding from a two fight losing streak with a victory over Couture... And Evans beat Rampage, who is the only other guy "in the mix." So there is no question that he deserves his spot as number one contender. If Davis pulls off a victory over him, which I feel is extremely doubtful, then that just shows that not only is Davis one up on Rashad, but likely the rest of the division as well...
@DAVID
WHOA that's a bit harsh. If Davis wins all the credit should go to him.nothing should be raking away from Rashad.The way I see people talk about Rashad is shocking a new comer to MMA would think Rashad hasn't beat top 205 guys and only has more than 1 loss tge way people talk about him
I wasnt saying dont give credit to Davis if he beats Rashad, Im saying Rashad should win, if he really is still the #1 contender
Well if he looses, clearly not.however it doesn't mean he shouldn't have been.Pettis was no.1 contender and if he looses would does that mean he should never have been no.1 contender ? No because he was given that position because he was the wec champ.the same thing will happen with the SF champs too.
I can't fault that logic. I'm glad Kawa came out and explained it.
If his hand did get ****ed up again in training, what then? Then Rashad will have been sitting on the shelf forever, and it would have been a lot more anger from Rashad and a lot more fan anger/disappointment than is already stirred up against Jones.
The guy just took out Bader and Shogun in a matter of a couple months. . . Neither one of them is easy. He deserves the time to heal.
Hmm interesting explanation, after reading it I don't understand why he's not having surgery. Why not just have the surgery, I say this because he said ''what if Jones hit the mits in a june or july and the pain comes back''.so in his own wirds he's suggesting Jones could still get injured.so I ask why take that chance ?
He's such a liar. Jones has already said he's had this injury since college and he was just going to have the surgery to get it out of the way. He even said it doesn't effect his striking or grapping. They should get their story straight before Malki goes out trying to make him look like he's not ducking.
I find myself a bit confused by this as well... For the same exact reason as you stated. When Jones back out of the fight, the statement he released more or less said that it was an elective surgery. But then when he announces he has decided not to have the operation after all, he says its because he found out it was elective... Something that he admittedly knew when he first withdrew form the bout.
Why is it the UFC champions are cursed? There are only GSP and Silva who seem to remain injury free and defend the belt regular enough for it to be 100% statement of top dog in the division.