After a year of trash-talking and grandstanding following their coaching gigs on “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” Evans jumped out to an early lead after clipping Jackson with a quick right hand in the opening seconds of the fight. Jackson stumbled across the mat as Evans chased after him, but “Rampage” never went down and used the extended clinch time against the cage to regain his wits. Evans used the threat of the same punch again late in the round to set up a takedown attempt, which secured him a 10-9 lead through one round.

In the second, Evans again used the overhand right to set up the takedown attempts, and again as in the first round, the action often stalled while in the clinch against the cage. Jackson’s sprawl allowed him to stay upright for the round but Evans’ relentless pressure kept the ex-champs in close quarters. Often fighting from the clinch, Jackson couldn’t get the distance he needed for his preferred striking, and Evans went up two rounds to none.

In the third and final frame, Evans resorted to a stick-and-move game plan while shooting in and out of his opponent’s range. While initially proving too quick for his opponent, Evans saw the momentum of the fight turn on a dime when Jackson clipped and dropped him with a left hook just a minute into the round. The fight came dangerously close to a stoppage when Jackson unloaded a powerful barrage of blows, and referee Herb Dean was clearly mere moments away from stopping the fight.

“I was fighting through it,” Evans said. “In my mind, I was like, ‘I’m not giving up.’”

Evans miraculously survived the onslaught and got back to his feet, though he was still clearly wobbly and feeling the effects of the barrage. But either unable or unwilling to close the distance, Jackson remained at a distance, which allowed Evans time to recover. It was a crucial mistake that Jackson’s cornermen loudly screamed for him to correct. By then, though, it was too late, and Evans took another round on two of the three judges’ cards.

In the end, he earned the unanimous-decision win via scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

“The game plan was simple: not have a game plan at all,” Evans said. “At first he was sharp, but he kind of slowed down. I was able to use my speed.”

With the loss, Jackson, who hadn’t fought in 15 months due to a short-lived retirement and movie project, cost himself a title shot that UFC president Dana White guaranteed to the winner a few weeks ago. It also drops his overall record to 30-8 overall and 5-2 in the UFC.

Evans, now on deck for a shot at recently crowned champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, improves to 15-1-1 (10-1-1 UFC).

The birth of a rivalry can come from many places. Interstate rivalries are commonplace in college and pro sports, sometimes it’s a curse handed down from a trade that spurned on the Yankees and Red Sox. Sometimes it’s as simple as the right place and the right time, and that’s exactly what brought Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans to the boiling point of UFC 114.

The scene was set March 7, 2009.

Quinton Jackson defeated Keith Jardine and was in line to face then champion Rashad Evans for his 205-pound divisional title. The UFC brought Evans into the cage to face off with Jackson as the next logical fight, but the heat got turned up when the former Michigan State wrestler got right in the face of Jackson, after he had defeated his teammate Jardine just moments prior.

While some rivalries may be pushed into the spotlight, UFC president Dana White says nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to these two.

“Nothing was manufactured,” he said.

The culmination of the build-up will come on Saturday night, but it all started over a year ago in Columbus, Ohio, and it’s been burning ever since.

“You’ve seen the story a million times,” White said. “You bring the other guy in the Octagon and this is who you’re going to fight next. We did it with Brock (Lesnar) and Shane (Carwin) and they had a little exchange, theirs is more funny and respectful.

“Well Rashad got right up in (Jackson’s) face cause he just beat Keith Jardine and it was all downhill from there. (Rampage) didn’t like that, and nothing was manufactured about it.”

White says that bringing fighters in to “challenge” their next opponent a common practice, but there was no coaching ever given to either one of these guys, and what Jackson and Evans say about each other is exactly how they feel.

“We told them to go in there, this is going to be the next fight, Rogan will interview them both, and they just went nose to nose and this is where we are,” White commented.

The birth of the rivalry holds roots to last year, but in 2010 it’s finally time to settle the score as Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson square off at UFC 114 in Las Vegas.

Former UFC light heavyweight titleholders Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Sugar” Rashad Evans stand in each other’s way of getting a title shot against champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua when they step into the Octagon at UFC 114 on May 29, but for Evans it’s just another fight.

The UFC had offered each the match up before and they both turned it down for their own reasons, mostly timing.

A bout was scheduled to follow their opposing coaching roles on “The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights” headlining UFC 107 in Jackson’s hometown of Memphis in December of 2009, but Jackson pulled out of the fight to film the movie version of the 80’s television series “The A-Team.”

The decision to pull out of the fight left Jackson on the outside looking in with the Las Vegas-based promotion who sunk a lot of time and effort, not to mention money, into promoting the event.

Upon criticism from UFC president Dana White for pulling out of the UFC 107 main event, Jackson announced his retirement from the sport, but later decided to fulfill his contractual obligations with the UFC and return to combat, but there was a time when Evans didn’t think the two would ever fight.

“Things got kind of heated between him and Dana (White), and sometimes if you offend the bosses too much you may never come back no matter what you bring to the table,” Evans told MMAWeekly content partner TapouT Radio. “I was hoping that the situation didn’t go there, but I was thinking it was starting to go there. Luckily it didn’t. Luckily he decided that he wanted to come back and have a piece.”

Jackson hasn’t competed in over a year, defeating Evans’ teammate Keith Jardine at UFC 96 in March of 2009, but Evans isn’t expecting ring rust to be a factor in the fight.

“I‘m not going to be underestimating him. You know what I‘m saying? I think I‘m probably going to be fighting the best Quinton,” Evans commented to the media in a pre-fight conference call.

From the beginning, Evans has said that Jackson isn’t fast enough to defeat him, and believes his speed will be a deciding factor at UFC 114.

“I plan to go in there and use all of my tools, and hopefully that day my speed is, I’m on top of things. Like I’m super-fast that day and I believe I will be,” said the 30-year old athlete. “I’ve been training really good. I’ve had some really good training partners. I’ve been bringing in some great people for this camp.”

Evans brought in Strikeforce light heavyweight titleholder “King” Mo Lawal to help him prepare to face Jackson.

“Me and Mo have been cool since college, but you know one thing he does – he does a good Rampage. And at the same time he helped me with my takedown,” said Evans. “He’s got the best takedowns in the game. He’s got the best wrestling, so I’ve been working with him.”

The Greg Jackson trained fighter also stepped up his cardiovascular training for this fight.

“I did a lot more because I kind of got tired in my last fight,” said the Michigan resident. “I wanted to make sure I was in good shape the whole time because I wanted to make sure I could go and do my game plan. If I want to take him down 100 times, I can take him down 100 times and not get tired.”

White has called Jackson vs. Evans the biggest grudge match in UFC history and the two admittedly dislike each other. They’ve been jawing back and forth since Jackson’s UFC 96 win over Jardine, throughout “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” and they’ll be throwing verbal jabs in the other’s direction all the way up until the rivalry’s conclusion at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 29.

“He always says ‘Rashad, you talk too much. You talk too much.’ Let’s be honest, we’re both talking a lot. We’re both talking trash a lot and it’s a little bit fun,” said Jackson about the pre-fight banter. “We’ve both got a little big mouth. It’s part of the game, but don’t talk about me talking trash while you’re talking trash too.”

Emotions are riding high heading into this one, but Evans says it’s not going to affect his approach.

“I do want to go out dangerous and just start throwing punches at him and just seeing where they land, but at the same time I know there’s a strategy involved so I’ve got to stick to the strategy,” said Evans.

And while the two dislike each other personally, there’s always going to be a mutual respect for one another as fighters.

“You always got to respect somebody you fight. When you go in there and you fight you give it all you got you kind of exchange something with that person you fight. You kind of leave your spirit on them a little bit and that’s something you can always respect,” stated Evans.

“I don’t like him and I’ll never like him. You know what I’m saying? I’m sure we’ll probably, if he whoops me or I whoop him, I’m sure we’ll probably fight again and we’ll probably pick up right were we left off. But for the most part after the fight’s over, we’ll probably be cool for a minute.”

“The fight is going to take care of itself,” he added. “It’s just another fight.”