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RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
It's very possible that everything Rashad Evans told Duane Finley (in his scorching interview at�BloodyElbow.com) is 100% true and addurate.� It's possible that he's been completely bent over a barrell in this whole Jon Jones situation.� Regardless, he's still handling the adversity very poorly.� Based on what I've read from my outside perspective (and don't fool yourself, we're ALL on the outside on damn near everything that happens), Rashad got screwed over pretty hard AND he's handling the aftermath like a total drama-queen.� Rashad Evans needs to suck it up, grin and bear it, go to Grudge, and move on with his career.� He should take solace that no one in the division knows Jones' strangths and weaknesses better than himself, and use that knowledge to his own benefit.
CHRIS PARK, MMATORCH UK SPECIALIST
No one really knows exactly what goes on behind closed doors (of the gym) but the facts speak for themself.
An opportunity arose, Jones took it and now he is the champ. If Rashad Evans wants to be champion - then fight. The "Friends Don't Fight" vodoo has gone and that is both good for the sport and will have one Mr. White jumping for joy.
If two friends dont want to fight then I respect that. But this is the fight business, and the rest of the sideshows don't interest me. So either fight, or don't.
MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Obviously I don't know all (or really any) of the details of the situation, but Rashad has come off as a bit of a baby here. Its Greg Jackson's job to train fighters. So basically Rashad is upset because he brought in a better fighter. And this all seems to have blown up since Rashad comically misinterpreted Jon Jones' comments about hating people asking him about Rashad and being willing to fight him if he captured the title. You'd have thought someone around him would've clued Rashad into what Jones meant at this point, but instead, a camp is splintering and teammates are fighting. Wait, isn't this what we wanted all along? Thanks Rashad.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
It's not as black and white as Evans made it out to be when he went off on Jones and Jackson in the interview with Finley this week, and with what Mike Winkeljohn had to say about the subject it sounds as if Evans has been slowly but surely distancing himself from Jackson's for awhile now. The sense of loyalty he felt was betrayed by Jackson and Jones here in this situation doesn't seem to have been there from his side. We don't know the ins and outs of the people involved, as we're not there in Albuquerque, so I'm sure there is some justification in his feelings, but likely not to the state that he presented it as earlier this week. Pretty much the fault lies in a lot of areas, and some things could have been handled differently, but when it comes down to it if he wants to be the champion again, this is a fight he needs to take regardless.
[Rashad Evans art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_8862.shtml
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