Just over a year ago, Rashad Evans and Jon Jones were friends.
The upstate New York natives bonded and trained together at an elite mixed martial arts camp in Albuquerque, N.M. Nobody figured Jones and Evans would ever break the sport’s unwritten rule against fighting a teammate.
How these two light heavyweights ended up in the octagon at UFC 145 in Atlanta on Saturday night combines a little Greek tragedy and a good dose of “Warrior,” last year’s MMA film about brothers who fight for a title.
The UFC just hopes it makes for thrilling television when Jones defends his 205-pound title against the division’s former champion in the most anticipated pay-per-view bout of the spring.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.