One of the most anticipated fights in MMA history will take place on Saturday when Jon “Bones” Jones puts his light heavyweight title belt on the line against former training partner and champ “Suga” Rashad Evans in the main event at UFC 145. The championship bout between the two bitter rivals will finally happen after it was postponed a couple times previously over the past year due to injuries to each fighter. Jones-Evans highlights what should be an exciting six-fight main card from Philips Arena in Atlanta that will televised live on Pay-Per-View at 10:00 p.m. (ET). If you follow UFC news closely, you would know that the rivalry between Jones (15-1) and Evans (21-1-1) developed from a previous friendship between the two as members of Greg Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts camp. When Evans was unable to fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the light heavyweight title at UFC 128 after injuring his knee, it was Jones who stepped in and took advantage of the opportunity with a third-round TKO to claim the belt. Jones has defended his championship twice since then with wins, but neither came in meetings with Evans as expected. First it was Jones that had to bow out of a planned matchup at UFC 133 with a hand injury, and then Evans was forced to withdraw from the main event at UFC 140 due to a thumb injury. Jones will enter the Octagon riding a six-fight winning streak and is currently a heavy -505 favorite according to Several Bookmakers while Evans is a +405 underdog after going 4-1 in his last five. That lone loss cost him the title against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida at UFC 98, a fighter Jones submitted via guillotine choke at UFC 140 in his second title defense. Evans is coming off a unanimous decision victory January 28 against Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis at UFC on Fox 2. Five other bouts will take place leading up to the UFC 145 main event in five different weight classes, including battles between welterweights (Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills), heavyweights (Brendan Schaub vs. Ben Rothwell), bantamweights (Miguel Torres vs. Michael McDonald), featherweights (Mark Hominick vs. Eddie Yagin) and lightweights (Mark Bocek vs. John Alessio). The remaining UFC 145 odds see MacDonald (12-1) as a big -475 favorite to beat Mills (14-4), who is a +375 dog. Schaub (9-2) is a solid -250 fave against the veteran Rothwell (31-8), a 2/1 shot to pull off the upset. Torres (39-4) is -130 against future star McDonald (14-1), who is EVEN money to walk away with a win for the eighth straight time.
