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Jones thinks he's 'God's gift to the fight game' - Evans

Rashad Evans claims Jon Jones is afraid of him © UFC

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Rashad Evans has ramped up the war of words with former team-mate Jon Jones ahead of their UFC light-heavyweight title showdown, claiming the champion is running scared.

Jones made an emphatic first defence of his belt with a fourth-round submission of Rampage Jackson at the weekend, but Evans insists is Jones is overhyped. He claims Jones faked an injury to back out of their fight at UFC 133, when Jones pulled out with a hand injury.

"Do you think Jon pulled out of the first fight because he was confident? No - he was afraid," Evans told Pro MMA Radio. "Watch him try to pull out of this fight too. Watch him be like, 'Oh, my foot's hurt', or something like that so he can get out of this fight too. When it comes down to it he doesn't really want it.

"Right now, this dude's on cloud nine. He thinks that he's God's gift to the fight game. I think he's going to think that he can just walk right through me. Now that he's beat Rampage, he's going to think that there's nothing I could do.

"He's seen my style and he's going to think there's nothing I can do. He's going to go out there and just try and embarrass me. He thinks it's going to be an easy fight, but he's going to find out different."

Evans also directed his rage to trainer Greg Jackson, whose gym he left following a rift between him and Jones.

"I don't need Greg Jackson," Evans said. "I don't need him. He was great for me at the time, but I don't think there's anything I could have learned being at that camp. I've reached the top level that I could reach with that camp.

"I knew I had to leave a while ago. Things just got stagnant. Jon [Jones] will feel the same wayy. He won't be there forever. [And] If we're speaking honestly, Mike Winklejohn does about 85% of the coaching at Jackson's. Jackson is always travelling. Winklejohn is the one who picks up most of the slack."

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