MMA Roundup: Jones-Evans, Nick Diaz boxing, UFC Rio

Three types of people must love MMA trash talking above all others: promoters, MMA website owners and writers. The promoters sell tons of tickets for supposed grudge matches, MMA forums overflow with visitors and well…let’s just say that last summer, Chael Sonnen basically wrote a lot of these columns for me with his consistently entertaining rants.

And so it begins…

This week, our first story on the Roundup is the brewing rivalry between former training partners Jon Jones and Rashad Evans. Turns out that Jones has been talking about his training experiences with Evans to the media, most notably ESPN.com’s Josh Gross. Jones told Gross that “We fought each other in practice. A finish has been possible several times and it has always been me finishing him. I never did it out of respect that he was the elder of the school. It’s against protocol in a way. Some people would do it but I believe in tradition.”

There are some theories floating around, including from the mouth of the UFC’s own Joe Rogan, that Jones knows exactly what he’s doing with his remarks and that he’s playing Evans to get him upset. If you look at Evans’ Twitter responses, it’s clear that it’s working:

“@jonnybones must b high! Cuz remember him looking at me begging me 2 let him up cuz he couldn’t get back 2 his feet in training..”

“@Jonnybones it’s been on!! Get off your own fan bus cuz nobody is driving!! U ain’t as raw as u believe & I’m gonna show ya!!”

“@jonnybones u ain’t forgot what I can do 2 u! Dont believe your hype! As your coaches! I’m gonna introduce the world 2 the real u!”

“he is fake! The fighting is off the hook but as a person he is fake!”

And so on. Rashad even noticed a striking similarity between Jones’ choice of attire on The Tonight Show and a suit that he had previously worn himself.

Now, this “fake” thing has been going around about Jones, particularly that he’s not as humble as he claims. However, he himself isn’t running around calling himself humble. He’s a very confident person and he is apparently adept at playing mental games with opponents, as well. Sure, he’s done some good deeds that have gotten publicity, but there’s nothing saying that because you helped out a single mom that you’re above busting a dude in the face or talking a little crap to another fighter.

For whatever reason, Jones seems to get under a lot of people’s skin, most notably that of many fans and now, Rashad Evans.

Wake me up when one of these guys actually boxes

This may be a big story to a lot of people, but it’s a yawner to me. Let’s look at the archives, shall we? Vitor Belfort said he was going to box. Anderson Silva said he was going to box. Andrei Arlovski said he was going to box. Literally everybody from Kimbo Slice to Gegard Mousasi to King Mo Lawal has talked about taking up boxing. So you’ll excuse me if I’m not putting any money down on the chance of seeing Nick Diaz in a boxing ring in the near future.

Nonetheless, Cesar Gracie mentioned recently that they wanted to set up a match with Fernando Vargas, and more recently, Jeff Lacy has been mentioned as a possible opponent. The thing is, Gracie must have overstated their seriousness regarding this move, because Lacy says he hadn’t even been contacted by anyone about the fight.

““Honestly, I was a little stunned,” Lacy stated. “Nick has accomplished a great deal in mixed martial arts and is certainly one of the best in the sport, but getting in the ring with me for a boxing match is a path he needs to be very wary of taking. I’m willing to put it all on the line anytime, anywhere!” Lacy also went on to say that for the right money, he’d face Diaz in the cage, too. Could we see a two-part boxing/MMA matchup? I wouldn’t mind that, actually. Furthermore, a best of three with the deciding contest being a rochambeau style nut-kicking contest would do well on pay-per-view. Hell, do all three fights in one night, and in random order? Imagine the possibilities…what if the rochambeau part came first? Who could fight an MMA bout and a boxing match better while having severely bruised testicles?

Who are we kidding? This isn’t going to happen. It didn’t with all those other fighters, and it won’t with Diaz. Diaz believes that the money is better in boxing, but boxing is a lot like MMA: there’s not that much money in it unless you’re one of the best fighters in the world, and Diaz has a ways to go to prove that inside the squared circle. Also, put me down as someone who is confused by how Diaz complains about fighting too much, but wants to make more money. You get paid per fight, right? You made $175k disclosed for your last bout. Wouldn’t you want to fight more often and make that money more times per year? I’m sure sponsorships and other associated income pay more with more appearances, too. Sometimes you have to work more to make more money…that’s the way the world works for the rest of us, right?

UFC Rio starting to fill out, no opponent for Vitor

The UFC’s return to Brazil is starting to take shape, with Anderson Silva defending his middleweight title against Yushin Okami and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua facing Forrest Griffin in a fight I called for recently, as a matter of fact. Also on the card is going to be Thiago Tavares taking on Spencer Fisher in what will certainly be an entertaining fight, but one name that is still waiting for a dance partner is Vitor Belfort.

Belfort says that Lorenzo Fertitta told him it’s been hard to find him an opponent. Belfort wanted Wanderlei Silva, but Silva is fighting Chris Leben instead a month prior, having said that he would prefer to get his feet wet again before fighting such an important rematch after a long layoff.

It’ll be interesting to see how this card fills out. Will Belfort get an opponent? Will we get Royce Gracie or any other Brazilian legends on the card? With the fights already listed, it does look to be a good show in the making, and you can bet that there will be a lot more Brazilian names on the card before it’s all said and done. I don’t understand having Wanderlei fight Leben a month before instead of in Rio, but whatever.

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Tags: Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, Jon Jones, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Nick Diaz, Rashad Evans, Spencer Fisher, Thiago Tavares, UFC Rio, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Yushin Okami