One of the most highly anticipated fights of 2012 has been finalized as bitter foes and , former training partners turned hated rivals, will face off for Jones’ light-heavyweight belt on April 21 at UFC 145 in Atlanta. Place your MMA bets at WagerWeb.com.

This bout was expected after Evans Rashad Evans unanimously outpointed Phil Davis in a five-round light heavyweight fight at UFC on Fox 2 in Chicago on Jan. 28. Evans (22-1-1) handed a Davis (9-1) his first loss of his young career in a fight that was scored 50-45.

Evans moved into position to regain the light heavyweight title from Jones. Evans is 4-0 since losing the belt to Lyoto Machida in May 2009. Jones was in attendance for the Evans-Davis bout.

“As most people already know, there’s been a lot of hype, a lot of drama surrounding me and Rashad Evans, being former teammates,” Jones said before that fight. “So I’m really hoping and praying he wins this fight tonight, so I can get past this chapter in my story.”

The two former teammates have had an ongoing war of words since March 2011, when Jones, shortly after defeating Mauricio Rua to claim the 205-pound title, revealed he would be willing to defend the belt against Evans. Ironically, Evans was slated to face Rua for the title, but a knee injury suffered during training camp forced him to withdraw from the bout. That opened the title shot to Jones, who had helped Evans prepare for Rua. He then successfully defended it twice, beating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Machida to cap a banner 2011.

Evans had vowed that he would never fight Jones, his teammate under the tutelage of trainer Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, N.M.. He considered moving to middleweight or heavyweight to avoid such a confrontation. But Jones’ revelation offended Evans, prompting him to part ways with Jackson. Evans and Jones eventually agreed to fight Aug. 6 at UFC 133 in Philadelphia. But shortly after the fight was announced, Jones suffered a hand injury that forced him to pull out of the bout.

Atlanta is the site of Evans’ star-making win, as he knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 at the same arena that will host UFC 145.

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