Jones uses reach advantage to top Evans, keep UFC belt

When Jon Jones first entered Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, N.M., three years ago, Rashad Evans was one of the camp’s established stars and worried the new phenom in the camp one day would rise to his level and prove to be a worthy contender.

Jones showed on Saturday night he already has surpassed Evans.

The 24-year-old retained the light heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision over Evans in the main event of UFC 145 in Atlanta.

After a relatively even first round, Jones took control with a series of short left elbows that dazed Evans in the second round.

Evans landed a big right hand on his former friend and training partner early in the third round but didn’t capitalize. Jones used his massive reach advantage to control the distance the rest of the way and never was threatened.

Jones said the fight didn’t feel like the many training sessions between the two at the gym before Evans’ nasty split from the camp.

“I threw a lot of elbows,” Jones said. “That’s something you would never do to a training partner. I didn’t really feel like I was the cleanest on my feet, but who it was made this fight very important.”

It was the first title fight for Jones to go five full rounds.

“I had a goal to finish this fight, and I didn’t,” he said. “What a great competition. It’s the first time I went to five rounds, so I’m proving more things to myself.”

Jones won all five rounds on one card and four of the five on the other two.

Also, rising welterweight contender Rory MacDonald turned in another dominant performance with a second-round technical knockout of Che Mills. The 22-year-old Canadian, whose only career loss came against interim champion Carlos Condit in 2010, controlled Mills on the ground for nearly the entire bout.

Michael McDonald and Ben Rothwell each earned quick knockouts. McDonald, a 21-year-old bantamweight prospect, picked up his biggest win to date with a first-round KO of Miguel Torres. Rothwell took 1:10 to knock out Brendan Schaub in a heavyweight bout.

Mark Hominick lost for the third consecutive time as he dropped a bloody three-round split decision to Eddie Yagin.

Also, Las Vegan John Alessio returned to the UFC for the first time since 2006 and lost a unanimous decision to Mark Bocek in a lightweight bout.

On the undercard, Las Vegan Anthony Njokuani used a variety of kicks to keep John Makdessi off balance and control the lightweight contest for nearly the entire 15 minutes to win a unanimous decision.

Lightweight Mac Danzig won a unanimous decision over Efrain Escudero in a matchup of former “The Ultimate Fighter” winners. Kickboxing star Stephen Thompson dropped the first fight of his career to Matt Brown by decision in a welterweight bout, and heavyweight Travis Browne submitted Chad Griggs in the first round.

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