UFC 197 Fight News: Ex-Champ Rashad Evans Goes Against Former Teammate Jon Jones, Picks Current Champ Daniel Cormier To Win
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans went out on a limb and picked current champion Daniel Cormier to come out victorious at UFC 197.
Cormier is slated to face the man who last held the 205-pound title belt, Jon Jones on April 23rd, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It will be a rematch between "DC" and "Bones", who first met each other at UFC 182 last January 2015.
In the fight, Jones, who was then the champion, managed to emerge victorious via a dominating unanimous decision verdict. But after a string of misdemeanors, Jones was stripped of his title in April of the same year.
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Cormier, on the other hand, took the chance and fought for the vacant belt, which he won in May 2015. He has since defended it once, against Alexander Gustfasson in October, where he won via split decision.
Being the current pound-for-pound king of mixed martial arts, many believe that Jones will be able to reclaim the title he held for four consecutive years. However, his former teammate Rashad Evans offered a dissenting opinion.
"I am going to go on record and I'm going to go with the upset on this one -- I'm going to go with DC," Evans told FOX Sports. "For some reason I just feel like DC's going to get this fight. I just feel like he is."
Evans adds that Jones' yearlong layoff will be a huge disadvantage for the former champion, noting that his ex-training partner has not gone through being in the sidelines for this period of time.
"I think the pace DC fought in his last fight, coupled with a few things that he could do better as far as when he takes a guy down and being heavy on top, making sure that they carry his weight when they get back up because that exhausts the guys," he added.
"Suga Rashad" has had the chance to face Jones. The two men met at the center of the Octagon in April 2012, where Jones won by unanimous decision.
