You have to respect Evans’ loyalty to a friend. Sure, Evans vs. Jardine would be a good fight, but it’s not necessary. Either of these guys could be put up against the likes of Babalu, Tito Ortiz, Rampage or even Lyoto Machida. If they can get past these guys then they deserve a title shot. And Evans is a bit ahead of Jardine in the pack (at least in my opinion), so fighting Jardine would almost be a step backwards. Both of these guys can get primed for a title shot without ever facing each other.

Slightly off subject: Has anyone else noticed the extreme trends in the sport. When one camp is doing well, they all seem to do outstanding. When Gracie’s family ruled, the Lions den, Team Militech, now Greg Jackson’s boys outta New Mexico to name a few. One and all when they do good, they did great. As far as these two fighting each other, I must agree with Hyde. There are many many other fights you can line up other then having reluctant friends who don’t want to fight each other putting on a begrudged show that the fans won’t enjoy. How can you continue to be friends if you accidently knock out a few of his teeth? Or worse. Bottom line nobody likes to punch there friend in the face. How do you get really motivated for that fight. I know their professionals but as human beings we do have limits.

Jardine and Evens train together and in most cases that includes sparring. In my opinion, If one or the other becomes champion and is earning alot more money than the other (remember these men do this for a living, they have families) that will put strain on the friendship and we will see these two warriors battle. Remember Ortiz and Lidell. Bottom line is : this is a sport, for a line backer not to make a tackle in a football game because he is friends with the ball carrier is a joke. Is Rashad saying he will only fight fighters that he doesn’t like? If that is the case, then it won’t be long before we start to see fighters being stripped of their titles like in boxing for refusing to fight mandatory challengers. The UFC matchmakers shouldn’t have to take into consideration who are friends before doing their job and neither should the fighters.

I agree,but who know’s? Money can change things very quickly. But if they’re that good of friends maybe It shouldn’t happen. I hope this doesn’t turn in to another Chuck-Tito thing. By the way is It Lyoto Machida, or Ryoto Machida that’s coming into the UFC? Or are they the same person and somebody just fucked up the spelling

i have to agree with hyde evans fighting keith would be step back for himwhat i wanna see is evans fight forrest.I think the only reason these two should ever have to fight is either fo a title shot or if one o them is the champion.
i still think evans has a long way to go before he gets a title shot.

I see no reason why these guys shouldn’t fight each other. It’s just business. It would be no different than the Pete Sell v. Scott Smith fight (the undercard match at the TUF season 4 finale). Those guys gave each other high fives if they got a good shot off the other. It’s just business. Either Evans thinks he’ll hurt Jardine, which shows a lack of confidence in a man who profoundly whooped a strong fighter like Forrest Griffin and is therefore insulting, or he thinks Jardine actually has a chance to end his winning streak which suggests fear. This is business, boys. What’s he really going to do if Dana White makes the match?

Dont bite the hand the hand that feeds you.. If Dana wants the fight down the road, it will happen. Dana has done a lot for these guys’ careers..if not for the show, would we be talking about them..no, if not for the show, Rashad would be back in smaller venues after his first two boring fights in the ufc. As far as the jackson camp being compared to the militech camp, they have a lot of work to do. Matt hughes, Tim Sylvia, Jeremy Horn,Spencer fisher these guys fight the best fighters in the world..Keith Jardine beat Forrest, but Rashad hasnt beat anybody good yet, Diego hasnt beaten anybody great. Once these guys start taking fights where they might be underdogs, you cant compare the two camps yet. As of right now, the have three decent fighters, they may be great fighters but we wont know until they beat great fighters.

Personally I don’t think it would matter too much, with Rampage Jackson on the road to the title one of them will probably fight him next, and WHEN Rampage wins he’ll get Chuck.

As for being friends, I guess time will tell. I wouldn’t want to fight one of my best friends either, especially after watching him beat down Forest Griffin with ease.

Ps- This is exactly how the Tito/Chuck thing started. A dominant wrestler who didn’t want to fight a great striker that was his friend at the time.

I believe that the winner of Griffin vs Machida will get Evans

[quote comment=“1976”]Jardine and Evens train together and in most cases that includes sparring. In my opinion, If one or the other becomes champion and is earning alot more money than the other (remember these men do this for a living, they have families) that will put strain on the friendship and we will see these two warriors battle. Remember Ortiz and Lidell. Bottom line is : this is a sport, for a line backer not to make a tackle in a football game because he is friends with the ball carrier is a joke. Is Rashad saying he will only fight fighters that he doesn’t like? If that is the case, then it won’t be long before we start to see fighters being stripped of their titles like in boxing for refusing to fight mandatory challengers. The UFC matchmakers shouldn’t have to take into consideration who are friends before doing their job and neither should the fighters.[/quote. note your whole linebacker thing….tackling and kneeing teeth out have a different effect, the intent is to HURT the other person, not to knock them over….its to knock them out

If you look back to TUF 2 then you’ll remember they fought each other. Jardine lost to Evens. They both are two diffrent fighters now, but Jardines got hard hands and Evens got a taste in the first 20 seconds and I do belive this has made him a but gun shy to any fighter that is as fast and stronger than he.. Don’t get me wrong Evans is a great fighter but Jardine I belive has improved a great deal more, and has a good chin. Now if he were to be put aginst the “Ice Man” then buddy LEG KICK, this is the only way there’s a chance. Don’t stand toe to toe, this is the only way to survive. He fights to defensive on throws. GO JARDINE…