Wins likely earn Evans, Sonnen UFC title fights

CHICAGO -- The Ultimate Fighting Championship's second card on network television might not have done a lot to captivate casual viewers, but the event went a long way in setting up intriguing title fights later this year.

Workmanlike victories by Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen on the UFC on Fox 2 card on Saturday night at the United Center will almost assuredly land them in championship bouts in coming months.

For Evans, who won all five rounds of the main event against Phil Davis on all three judges' scorecards, his matchup against Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title has been in the works for nearly a year.

"I'm excited to get the opportunity to finally fight Jon and give the fans the fight they want to see," said Evans, the former champion. "I definitely want to put the rivalry to bed and more importantly get my belt back. Hopefully this is the last time you guys will have to say I'm the No. 1 contender. I'll fight Jon, and I'm pretty sure I'll get my belt back and I won't have to deal with that anymore.

"I felt like it was a big monkey on my back. I've been waiting to fight for the belt for a long time, and now that I get the opportunity, it feels really good."

Evans and Jones were close friends and training partners at Greg Jackson's camp in Albuquerque, N.M., when Jones first took the mixed martial arts world by storm with his combination of size and speed. Evans was an established contender and took Jones under his wing.

A rift was created when Evans had to back out of a title fight against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Jones volunteered to step in for Evans.

Jones won the title from Rua in March 2011 and has held it ever since. Evans made his displeasure known and left Jackson's team, triggering a bitter rivalry between himself and Jones.

Evans was supposed to fight Jones for his first defense, but Jones got hurt and had to pull out. Jones has since defended the belt twice as Evans has essentially had to wait for their schedules to line up, which will finally happen April 21 in Atlanta.

Evans says he has an advantage over everyone else who has faced Jones to this point.

"Jon Jones has one thing over other opponents that he doesn't have over me: We've faced each other many times, and I'm not too worried about the mystique of Jon Jones," Evans said. "I know Jon Jones at his core. I remember Jon Jones when he was like, 'Hey man, what is it like when everybody takes pictures with you?' I see Jon Jones a little bit differently than everybody else sees Jon Jones."

Sonnen also feels he has a leg up on his future championship opponent, Anderson Silva. Sonnen famously dominated Silva for 4½ rounds before getting caught in a triangle choke and losing when he was just minutes away from taking the belt in an August 2010 bout.

Sonnen has been begging and pleading for a rematch ever since, insisting Silva has continually rejected the fight.

The rematch appears inevitable after Sonnen scored a somewhat controversial unanimous decision win over Michael Bisping on the Fox card.

Sonnen and Silva will most likely meet in a soccer stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, sometime this summer. Sonnen immediately grabbed the microphone after his victory and delved even further into the professional wrestling shtick he has adopted in dealing with Silva.

At the postfight news conference later in the evening, Sonnen continued his insistence he will never get to fight Silva again, despite what UFC officials say.

"I'm not trying to go against the brass here, but the one thing they haven't revealed is they offered him the fight four times and he said no four times," he said. "Mysteriously, he's supposed to accept on the fifth?"

Two factors from that first fight have been largely ignored through all of Sonnen's bluster. Silva claims he was hurt before the first meeting, a claim that could be supported by his lackluster performance. Also, Sonnen tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone and was suspended by the California athletic commission for six months. He claims the testosterone was administered by a doctor as a result of a medical condition, but he did perform incredibly well in the fight. The rematch could go a long way to determining how much those factors mattered.

Though Bisping fell short, he proved himself a worthy contender. He held his own against a very skilled wrestler and believed along with many fans that he had won the fight.

"Although I didn't win, I feel I got somewhat a moral victory, although moral victories suck," he said. "It was a close fight, I could have won it, but I didn't. I will be fighting for the title (eventually), and I will bloody well win it."

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.