Jones Vs Rashad (War of Words)

- Jones signed up at Jackson's under the proviso that he would NEVER fight any of the other Jackson's fighters.

- Rashad talked with Jones after the interview he gave where Jones said that he would fight him. Rashad was very surprised. Jones had never expressed this. The interview was pretaped and Rashad never received a call or text alerting him to it. His reaction on ESPN was one of surprise when he said "I'm not a punk; if he says he'll fight me, I'll fight him."

- They had a conversation afterward and Rashad left feeling like there was more that needed to be discussed...this bridge would be crossed when it needed to be.

- Regarding Jones' frustrated comments on the media conference call where he said he wouldn't be taking Rashad into the cage with him though he was his friend and replied with "I have a lot of people outside of Rashad who I can draw energy and power from and they'll all be with me."

- "That does sound a little bit cold-blooded", Rashad replied. "Jon's a young guy and when you're a young guy sometimes you talk a little too fast for your brain to keep up...I don't think it's acceptable at all. I don't think it's something I'd say."

- When Jones said "I absolutely hate when people mention Rashad Evans, especially throughout this training camp....for people to even be mentioning Rashad Evans right now...I think it's ludicrous. Rashad is not in my mind, he's not in my being, he as absolutely zero to do with my heart and who I am right now. This guy has nothing to do with Shogun and from here on out, I don't think I'll answer a question about Rashad."

- Rashad replied with "it sounds like he wants to fight, huh? Those sound like fighting words". He went on to say, "Ya know, I don't know how to judge the kid. It's kinda messed up, to be honest. Ya know, I can't control what anyone else says and it sounds to me like he's a little bit insecure about the whole thing. Sometimes when you open your mouth you show what you're afraid of more than anything. I don't know why he has such an adverse response like that to me. I've never challenged him or made him feel like he should do that sort of thing. It sounds to me -- if I was out of the situation -- that he was feeling insecure about me [not Shogun responding to Pepe's point]."

- Rashad goes on to point out fairly eloquently about how you have to answer reporters' questions to the best of your ability. You can't just expect to not talk about a situation where you stepped in for a friend and training partner in a title fight who was injured. He does say that that made Jon "sound like a baby".

- When asked to rank his feelings toward fighting Jones on a scale of 1-10, Rashad didn't say how likely he would be to fight Jon but said his mind is very open to it because of how things have gone. He's finding out that his teammate may fight him over TV and that this is not how things are done. Out of respect to the coach and Jon, he'll talk to them before he pulls the trigger.

- Rashad says that he's been working a lot with Trevor Wittman over the last few camps. Trevor is his guy and he's been spending time with him including the last 2 camps. By the way Rashad is talking, it seems like he doesn't have a problem fighting his training partners; that he agrees with Trevor. It sounds like Rashad had enough respect for Greg Jackson's agreement to not fight his training partners that he went along with Jackson's law. Now that the school has grown and Jones has said he would fight Evans and Jackson has not intervened and restated his mandate that Jones never fight any training partners, things may be different.

- Rashad says that the reality may be that he won't use Greg at all and has been playing around with the idea. 

This just makes Jones look like a bit of a ****... This thing with Rashad has made me not like him more than i already did...! What you guys think ..?

i'm sure it's hard for rashad to feel replaced the moment he bowed out of the shogun fight due to injury, but i don't like the way he has delayed and hand picked his fights in an effort to get a title shot.  jones has been a modest teammate throughout and now is his time to shine and focus on the championship; i can understand not wanting to get sidetracked into an ongoing discussion about rashad.

i think it is completely fine for jon jones to say the things he is saying. in any other professional sport you cant refuse to compete because you are friends with your opponent and with a camp as large as jackson's if those fighters want to keep climbing to the top you dont always have the option of dodging a fight. when i compete with a friend i fight that much harder, all the while maintaining my respect and friendship.  also jones has ever right to be annoyed with all this rashad hype. i dont blame him at all for not wanting any more questions about rashad. he is about to face off for the most competitive title in the most talented mixed martial arts promotion in the world against a living legend in what is sure to be an incredible fight. personally i cant stop talking about this fight with my friends, there is a lot to talk about it. worry about rashad when its his turn. rashad shouldnt be offended by jones saying he would fight him. if jones wins the title of course he is going to defend it! i think what the real issue is is that rashad has some sort of seniority entitlement. if he had the title jones would most likely be asked to pass up the fight being the new comer. he cant still expect jones to back down though if jones is the title holder. if rashad really believes his this not fighting your team mates philosophy then he should be the one to back down and not go after the title. its a two way street and jones is completely in the right.

Awsome! This would be a really awsome fight between to top lhw. I am sort of glad there is animosity building between the two and that Rashad is willing to back outta Jacksons, atleast for a bit, to make the fight happen. @ Thiago I only heard Bones fist comment on the matter where he said in an interview that he would fight Rashad, where and when did the rest of these comments go down, it seems to be happening pretty quickly

I'm a huge fan of both fighters so I'm not biased toward either guy.  I don't even know who I'd cheer for in a fight.  But right now it's looking like Jones is being a little childish.  He's a professional fighter and he took his teammate's spot in a title fight, of course you're going to be asked questions about it you can't just say "I hate these questions, stop it."  That's not how the pro sporting world works.  The way he's been acting toward Rashad seems really uncalled for.

Rashad on the other hand just doesn't seem to have a clue why Jones has been like this.  It was a general rule among Greg Jackson fighters that they not fight each other, yet outta nowhere Jones goes on ESPN and states that he would fight Rashad without even talking to Rashad about it.  Just seems like the least you could do is let the guy know so it's not a shock when you hear it on TV.

Not saying it wouldn't be an awesome fight.  It just could have been handled much more easily.

A tale of interpretation! It can go both ways, i can see how Rashad would be offended by some of the things said by Bones, BUT at the same time Bones is focusing on a title shot and Rashad is injured. Rashad isn't helping him train and while he's trying to prepare for this "once in a lifetime opportunity" people keep bringing up Rashad and possibly fighting him. I can't blame him for being frustrated with the media and at least he's being honest about the entire situation. He's doing promo work for UFC 128 to fight SHOGUN RUA, Not Rashad. As always, the media is doing its job and speculating towards the future instead of focusing on the present. Is it great hype, hells yeah it is, but i'm with Jones on this one - lets focus on SHOGUN and Rashad/Bones can cross their bridge IF the time comes.

@Zerohours .. I dont know really .. I Think alot of the stuff Rashad said was on mma live.. Ya but Jones also said Rashad is not in my heart at all ... This seems like he is saying Rashad is not his friend and as Rashad said there fighting words... and lynxguy i completly agree very uncalled for especially Rashad thought they were really good friends and he just says this i mean why like? he didnt have to say it... I would love to see Rashad knock Jones out but its a tough match up i think Rashad takes it by Decision but i think Shogun will win anyway.

rashad is looking like a drama queen, if they ask you to fight someone go off train somewhere fight then come back and keep going no biggie, he just doesnt wanna get beat down by jones.

Nobody wants to get beatdown by jones thats kind of the aim of the sport..? ... Rashad would dominate jones from bell to bell...

lol dominate jones? come on who are we kidding

Were not kidding anybody... Jones is a hype train thats going to get stopped.

dont know about hype train but he hes pretty damn good.