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PENICK: Notebook 1/30 – Chicago memories, UFC on Fox 2 BTS thoughts, Jon Jones on Evans-Davis and heavyweight aspirations

Posted on Jan 31, 2012

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

-I’m a day removed from my trip to Chicago for UFC on Fox 2, and have not yet fully recovered from what was an immensely exhausting, yet incredibly fun weekend, filled with laughs, fights, and much more. It was great to catch up with friends old and new, enjoy a hysterically funny comedy show from Joe Rogan and friends on Friday night, then enjoy a UFC event solely as a fan for the first time at the United Center. Though the main card fights for the Fox event fell short of expectations, the preliminary card was mostly fantastic, and provided what will be one of the highlights of my time covering this sport: witnessing Charles Oliveira’s calf slicer live. In a weekend that featured great food, great drinks, great music, and good people, that is still going to be one of the most memorable things taken from my time in Chicago.

-Having been in the arena for the event, it was especially interesting this time around to check out Dana White’s video blogs surrounding the card. The most recent, technically for this Saturday’s UFC 143 card, goes behind the scenes on both the production side and before and after the fights themselves on Saturday night. Joey Beltran breaking down as he was brought to the back was one of those rarely seen moments, and the emotions were understandable after his “unbreakable” image was stomped out a bit by Lavar Johnson. Seeing Eric Wisely try to explain what happened to him against Charles Oliveira was highly intriguing, as was Nik Lentz’s face after his war with Evan Dunham. Michael Bisping’s portion was interesting as well, seeing him react to the decision loss, as well as comment on it in the back. Also, with White’s conversation with Chris Weidman at the end of the blog, it’s clear that they’ll attribute a less-than-spectacular winning performance over Demian Maia to his 32 lb. weight cut in 11 days.

-Moving on from Chicago, Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour on MMAFighting.com today had a great appearance from UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones. The Champ – who served as an analyst on Saturday’s Fox broadcast – commented on the Evans-Davis bout, and while he gave Evans some credit, he didn’t have many kind words for Davis’ performance.

“I think [Rashad's] top control looked a little tighter,” he said. “I think his guard passes looked pretty decent. With that being said, Phil, man, I don’t know what got into him. He did not look like a lion. I think with fighters, no matter how tough you are, there’s just lions and there’s wolves and there’s sheep. He just kind of looked like a sheep out there. He didn’t come with much.”

“I think he got a little intimidated by Rashad. And the pressure of being on FOX, how many millions of people were watching the fight, I just don’t think he handled the situation well. That’s why, when I was broadcasting, I said this is where we’ll see where Phil’s at, if he’s going to be a top-level guy or a mid-tier fighter. Judging by the performance [Saturday] night, I don’t know if I can consider himself a wolf.”

Jones shifted gears and discussed his upcoming fight with Evans in April. He said he wouldn’t be trained by Greg Jackson for the Evans fight – confirming Jackson’s comments on the matter last year – as he “wouldn’t want to put him in that position” with the former relationship Evans had with Jackson. He also said he hopes that he and Evans can regain the respect for each other they used to have, even if they’re never likely to be friends again after this feud.

“I’d love to have a respectful relationship with him, because actually, deep down, I kind of just liked hanging with the guy,” he said. “He was cool. We had good times. We did a lot of cool stuff together and it sucked that competition came between our friendship. After this fight, I just hope that the respect can be restored. Friendship is not necessary, but the respect should be restored.

-Though what he had to say about Evans and Davis was relevant and interesting, it was his comments on his fighting future that were the highlight of the interview:

“I actually asked Dana and Lorenzo if I could take a fight [at heavyweight] for the fans at the end of 2012,” he said. “I figure, beating [Dan] Henderson and Rashad, there would be a period of waiting on who I am going to fight next and during that period, at the end of 2012 I requested to fight at heavyweight. Just for the fans; but Dana and Lorenzo didn’t think that was the best thing for me to do right now, they want me to continue in the light heavyweight division. Not necessarily to move weight classes, just to fight a top ten heavyweight for the fans. They said they didn’t want that for me. [That's] not to say it wouldn’t happen still, but at the time they said they can think of some other matches.”

An eventual move to heavyweight has essentially been in the cards since Jones’ run began, as his 6’4″ frame is only going to induce an increase in mass as the 24-year-old continues to grow older. However, to have it happen that soon would have been much earlier than many expected. Still, if he gets past Evans, then defeats Dan Henderson, his next potential opponent would likely be an unproven fighter, or a name he may have already faced off against. The UFC doesn’t want to move him up too quickly, though, and while his future is absolutely going to be as a heavyweight, there’s no need to rush him there.

Nick DiazÂ Tadhg Steamfist Dixon Joe DoerksenÂ Chris Dolman Edson DragoÂ

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