• UFC 145

Rashad ready to ground-&-pound Jones into the dirt

ESPN staff
March 16, 2012
Rashad Evans is convinced he can take Jon Jones down © Getty Images
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Rashad Evans has been surprisingly open about his tactics for defeating Jon Jones at UFC 145, revealing he will simply ground-and-pound his way to victory.

Evans and Jones go to war in the main event on April 21, with the light-heavyweight title the prize for the winner. In a battle of two former team-mates, there is plenty of ill-feeling going into the bout.

Jones claims Evans is "jealous" of him, but Evans is concentrating all his efforts solely on the fight. The champion has only ever lost by disqualification, but Evans plans to do what no man has managed to date: put him on his back.

"I know I will beat Jon Jones," Evans said. "He can talk about improvements he's made, but there are still some things in his game he can never change.

"He's a long, rangy fighter and I'm going to get inside, unleash my stuff, take him down and ground-and-pound him. I'm at a level in my career where I can take down and ground-and-pound anyone.

"I know all about [Jones], all about his coaches and all about his camp. I could probably tell you what he's doing in the gym right now. He's in the exact same environment doing the exact same things with the exact same people.

"But I'm in a different environment, I knew I had to learn, had to mix things up and I had to change. Jon has no idea what I will do on the night. I know the real Jon, the nervous kid who would ask me to tell him how to dress, how to talk and how to fight. I know how he reacts when things don't go his way, how he can't handle it mentally."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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