Rashad Evans had no problems with Phil Davis in his light heavyweight fight on FOX Saturday, winning the five-round match by unanimous decision (though it didn’t go quite the way Evans had predicted). Evans’ win sets up a title shot against Jon Jones at UFC 145 on April 21st in Atlanta. Jones said during Saturday’s post-fight show that he was pumped for the fight.

“I feel so alive when I know who I’m fighting next and I have a new mission, and I have a new purpose,” he said. “I’m so excited about fighting Rashad. I can’t wait to get past this chapter in my career. I’ve been calling him the antagonist in my career because of all the hype and all the drama. So I’m a happy man. I’m excited to retain my title on April 21st.

“I try to look at it as no fight is a big fight, and not to fight people’s names, but people’s bodies, but I think I’m a little more emotionally attached to this fight, and it’s going to drive me to train harder than I’ve ever imagined.”

Th Jones-Evans fight was supposed to happen twice, but each fighter had to pull out with an injury. First it was Jones pulling out with a hand injury, then it was Rashad who had thumb injury postponing their December matchup. There is plenty of bad blood between the guys, so it should be a good one. I’m hoping Evans knocks Jones down a few pegs.

Rashad Evans and Jon Jones are set to fight for Jones’ UFC light heavyweight championship at some point in the future. The two were supposed to meet at UFC 133, but Jones pulled out because of a hand injury. Jones healed and beat Rampage Jackson at UFC 135 in late September. Once he gets clearance from his 180-day medical suspension, he’s expected to fight Evans. Only Evans thinks Jones may come up with another injury excuse.

“I just want to fight this dude bad. Jon knows what I can do to him. Do you think that Jon pulled out of the first fight because he was confident? No! He was afraid, and watch him try to pull out of this fight too,” Evans told Pro MMA Radio. “Watch him be like ‘Oh my foot is hurt’ or something like that to try and get out of this fight too, to try and make me fight somebody else. When it comes down to it, the kid, he doesn’t really want it.”

The feud between the two fighters has been well documented, so this is the latest twist in the friction between them. Evans was actually very respectful and complimentary of Jones’ ability throughout the show, but he’s confident he’ll win. He also said he’d wait for the fight if Jones comes up with another injury, noting that he knows how to break his former training partner’s will.

Evans should be careful about calling people out for faking injuries considering he’s had to pull out of fights, but his overall point is noted: he feels he has Bones’ number.

Fist pound to Bloody Elbow

One of the hottest prospects and emerging stars in the UFC has seen his rush of success and publicity come to an abrupt halt because of an injury. The news came out Monday that Jon Bones Jones had to pull out of his upcoming title fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 133 because of a hand injury. Phil Davis will replace Jones in the August fight and headline the main event.

Bones’ management team, Authentic Sports Management, issued a statement that explains the injury in more detail. They say “Jones has torn tissue in his right hand in the area between his thumb and forefinger.” They also added the following quote from Bones “This is an injury that’s been recurring since I was a college wrestler, it doesn’t affect my punching or grappling, but I am taking the time and the proper measures to correct this now, so that it doesn’t happen again,” said Jones. “I look forward to getting back to training and to my first title defense. As for Rashad, let’s see what happens with Phil Davis. I will be watching that fight with great interest.”

The good news for Jon Jones fans is that the injury should improve his overall health. What seems pretty clear is that Jones and his management team is taking things quite carefully. Everything moved so quickly for him to end up as the light heavyweight champion; he beat Ryan Bader and then was offered a shot at Shogun Rua in the ring following the win. Though he did not have much time in between fights, he still won. Now that Jones has the light heavyweight title his team has decided to slow things down to make sure he’s able to retain the title for quite some time. If that’s truly why they’re doing it, it’s a wise move.

As for the rest of the UFC 133 card, it still is pretty good. Little Nog and Rich Franklin will meet, Vitor Belfort faces Yoshihiro Akiyama, and our buddy Jorge Rivera is also on the card.