Rashad Evans: 'Rumble' will beat UFC champ Jon Jones via uppercut

He may be a biased party, but as a former champion, Rashad Evans’ opinion carries some weight. And he’s got a bold prediction for the UFC light-heavyweight title.

Evans believes his teammate, Anthony Johnson, will be the one to dethrone longtime titleholder Jon Jones later this year.

Johnson (19-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) continued a remarkable career turnaround and earned a title shot with a first-round TKO win over challenger-in-waiting Alexander Gustafsson (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC). In Saturday’s UFC on FOX 14 headliner, “Rumble” marched into Gustafsson’s home country at Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena in Sweden and pulled off the upset midway through the first round.

While early lines have Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) as a significant -400 (4-1) favorite, Evans, one of Johnson’s Blackzilian teammates, seems unconcerned.

As he wrote (via Instagram):

I’m extremely proud of my brother @anthony_rumble for his complete annihilation of Alexander Gustafson! Rumble’s journey to be where he is right now is story of inspiration. I’m blessed to have the privilege to watch my bro develop as a fighter and most importantly a person. Now let me be the first to tell you that Rumble is gonna knock Jones out with an uppercut!!

An event and date haven’t been set for the title fight, which is expected to take place this summer. Jones, of course, is stealing dealing with the fallout of a failed drug test due to cocaine.

How do you see the fight going? Make your prediction below.

And for complete coverage of UFC on FOX 14, check out the UFC Events section of the site.