QUOTABLES: Rashad Evans - "When Jon Jones loses, he's going to quit in a fight."

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"You know, just the simple fact that he even said that was kind of like? like? it's mind-boggling to me to even bring that up, you know what I'm saying, especially since the fact that, if he even did get the better of me in any practice, it was intended for him to get the better of me... [It was] me trying to be Ryan Bader, so that may be the only reason why he may have got the better of me or even one day he might have been having a good day and I might have been having a bad day, it happens in practice. Practice is practice. That's why you got to practice and you try different things because some days you'll be the shark, some days you'll be the bait. The greatest fighters in the world had days where they got got by somebody or something like that and they're just like, really, we're training together, we're supposed to be brothers. We're training partners and then you're going to brag because you took me down or you caught me with a punch? Are you serious, it's practice. It'd be one thing if you did it in a live fight or something like that but if it's at practice... to me it was just childish. It showed to me where his mind was at.

The simple fact that he did is just like, man, so this kid is going around telling people that got me in practice but that's funny, he never brings up when I got him in practice. He was like, you know, begging me to get up... for like 5 minutes [I'm] just slapping him in his face, hitting him, hitting him like this?

'get up! get up!'

'can you help me up?'

'no, I can't help you up, you got to get up, you got to earn your way up.'

And then I'm hitting him some more.

'uh, uh, uh, well, well, uh, the bell?s rung.'

I said, 'listen, if you quit now, you're going to quit in a fight. Work your way back up.' And I made him work his way back up because I was trying to help him. I wasn't trying to dominate him. I was like, if this kid is going to quit now, he will quit in a fight.

And I know he'll quit in a fight. Mark my words ? when Jon Jones loses, he's going to quit in a fight."

-Rashad Evans talks to Greg Savage on Sherdog Radio (transcribed by Zach Arnold at FightOpinion.com) about Jon Jones' comments that he got the best of Evans in training.

Penick's Analysis: It really is a shame these two aren't fighting right away. The talk between the two has continued, with each taking little pot shots at the other here and there, but in order for there to be an actual end to this feud they each need to win their next fight. Phil Davis and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson can each derail an Evans-Davis fight from taking place, but if they each win then that grudge match will be highly anticipated. As for these particular comments, it's a different look and opinion on Jones than is expressed by anyone else, but that doesn't mean it's a false perspective on Jones necessarily. We haven't seen him face any adversity yet in his UFC career, and there may be a question on how he reacts when someone is able to get him in trouble in a fight. If Evans' assessment is on point, it may not be pretty.

[Rashad Evans art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

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