Something is not adding up for Rashad Evans.UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones (13-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is fired up to fight him. He knows that because Jones pulled him aside on Wednesday at a Las Vegas nightclub and made it very clear.
But with today's news that Jones passed on a surgery that derailed their fight, Evans (15-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) believes the champ's actions don't mirror his words.
In fact, he thinks the hand injury that benched Jones is a bluff.
"Jon doesn't need surgery," Evans today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "He did not need the surgery. No doctor will operate on him. They say he doesn't need it."
Evans and Jones were supposed to meet at UFC 133 before Jones withdrew citing an old wrestling injury that resurfaced in his title-winning fight against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at March's UFC 128 event – a date that was originally reserved for Evans before he injured his knee in training.
Evans is now scheduled to meet the rapidly rising Phil Davis at the late-summer pay-per-view card, which takes place Aug. 6 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. A date for Jones' return is unknown, but he is expected to fight by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the former training partners fight over Twitter in lieu of a real scrap.
According to recent reports, the two nearly came to blows at the Las Vegas nightclub. Evans said it never got that far, but the two did have an intense conversation in private.
"He pulled me over, and he's like, 'I just want to tell you right now – I'm going to destroy you,'" Evans recalled. "'You're going to be my first knockout highlight.'
"I'm looking at him in disbelief like, is this dude serious? So I was like, 'Ok, you are. Then why didn't you take the fight?'"
Jones' manager Malki Kawa today told MMAjunkie.com that the champion was set to undergo surgery on Thursday in Nevada before a pre-operation examination by a specialist raised doubts about the necessity of the procedure. Although the only way to fix the injury – a torn ligament in his right hand – is through surgery, Jones elected not to go under the knife.
"It's almost like you have a dent on a car, and in order to fix it, you replace the entire door. The door works, so why tear it apart to fix the issue? Jon's injury is serious. It will not repair itself. But he's willing to fight through the pain for now, and if it ever comes to the point where his hand simply doesn't work anymore, that's when he'll go for the surgery."
Evans, however, thinks the whole episode served another purpose.
"It's obvious he doesn't want to fight," he said. "Because if you don't need surgery and you're not going to have it, then why tell the UFC that you're going to have surgery and not have it?
"So pretty much what it comes down to is this guy faked a surgery. He's not fighting me. But he's so confident. He's saying he's going to destroy me and he's Jon Jones the great, but yet he doesn't even need surgery – or he's not going to have it."
Kawa has denied any ulterior motive was at hand in the recent developments and said the Jones camp has made decisions based on the information available at the time. Although several doctors initially suggested surgery, he said the specialist's recommendation was ultimately heeded because of his stature in the industry. Jones has been fitted with a removable cast and asked not to train until June 11.
Kawa said he's informed the promotion of Jones' recent developments. UFC president Dana White dismissed the idea that the champ is faking the injury, as Evans today suggested on Twitter.
"Nobody lies about injuries," White said. "We fly them to Las Vegas to see our doctor."
But Evans wonders aloud why the injury that Jones carried throughout his UFC career has suddenly kept him from fighting. While he's not about to suggest the promotion make the fight with the new information, he won't be silent about his feelings.
"I'm the kind of person that if there's going to be a story out, and it's going to say something happened, then I'm going to tell the truth about the whole situation," he said. "I'm not going to lie about it to make myself look better. I'm going to say what happened, and that's what happened.
"But the truth of the matter is there's nothing wrong with his thumb."
Evans said he's already begun preparations for his fight with Davis and needs a good performance to put him in line for a shot at Jones' belt.
The current feud is merely a distraction.
"I even hate the fact that I've got to talk about Jon Jones because I've got a great fighter in front of me," he said. "I'm coming back from injury and I need to go out there and have a good fight. So that's my main focus."
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