LAS VEGAS -- Seven years after the build toward their light heavyweight title bout saw a friendship torn apart, Jon Jones and Rashad Evans reunited to share top billing at International Fight Week. 

No, this isn't a rematch of their UFC 145 bout, which Jones won by unanimous decision. But one night before Jones defends his title in the main event of UFC 239 against Thiago Santos, his old rival Evans will headline Friday's 2019 class of the UFC Hall of Fame. 

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Admittedly, most of the fight week talk regarding both men have had little to do with each other as Jones, 31, closes in on tying the UFC record for title wins while Evans, 39, has shuffled from one interview to the next looking back on a 14-year pro career that ended last year. Yet this week's reunion showcased the full-circle journey of the current and former UFC 205-pound champion from brotherhood to enemies and back again.

The story arc of their friendship proved to be one of UFC's greatest soap operas as Evans famously went from mentoring the younger Jones and vowing never to fight his one-time teammate to doing just that following a bitter public split that served as the promotional fuel for their 2012 grudge match. The part of their tale, however, that very few people know about is how far Jones and Evans have come in the preceding years to repair that divide.

"I'm so happy for Rashad [entering the Hall of Fame]. I don't think it could go to a better person," Jones told CBS Sports on Thursday during a rare on-camera rendezvous between the two. "Rashad has been an ambassador of our sport for so many years. He's one of my original mentors and a guy I have looked up to for a very long time and I'm honored to do anything associated with Rashad."

There was a time, of course, when neither man could mention the other's name without a sentiment of disgust. The story of how the cracks began to form in their once great kinship go back to 2011 when Evans, two years after losing his title, was expected to challenge then-champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128. 

A late knee injury pulled Evans from the card. Jones, who was less than a month removed from beating Ryan Bader, accepted the chance to replace him on short notice after receiving Evans' blessing. Jones destroyed Rua to become the youngest UFC champion in history at 23, but it wasn't until Evans caught wind of an interview months later in which Jones shared he would be willing to fight his teammate that the fracture took place. 

Feeling betrayed by Jones after their vow never to fight, Evans orchestrated a bitter split from Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the war of words began. One year later, after two attempts to make the fight fell through due to injuries, Jones and Evans faced off in Atlanta at UFC 145. 

"It was hard at the time," Evans said. "I remember how emotional it was for me when we fought. I remember when we first locked up and hit each other, I just felt like a wave of exhaustion. We just both took a deep breath because there was so much emotion into that fight. But working through the fight and having it happen, it was a big healing process in the whole thing."

The victory for Jones will be best remembered as a thorough one, taking place within an insane span of 16 months in which Jones defeated former 205-pound champions Rua, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Evans and Vitor Belfort, in succession. Yet, among the five victories, Evans was the only fighter to survive the five-round distance.  

Years later, Jones was quick to dispel the myth some people have that he chose to carry Evans to the finish line out of some form of respect or pity. 

"It wasn't a respect thing, I wanted to take Rashad out," Jones said. "Those elbows just wasn't working on him, you know what I mean?"

The line from Jones triggered an animated response from Evans, who jumped in to add, "They worked a bit, they worked a bit. I was looking like 'goonie goo goo' for about two weeks after that." 

"I tried [to finish Evans]. But Rashad Evans kept fighting," Jones continued. "He's a worthy champion and is always going to be a champion. I gave him my best. It was my first real rivalry. I dreamt about the fight and I did all the extras to try and win the fight. I did a lot of studying. I brought him my absolute best at the time and he still made it through the fight."

All these years later, both fighters were willing to share secrets about the fight that they likely wouldn't have been as forthcoming with during the days when their beef was still real. For Jones, it was a reveal about how close his reign came to ending early in Round 3. 

"[Evans] is the one person who has given me, by far, the hardest punch I ever felt," Jones said. "That overhand right that he caught me with, it was the same overhand right that knocked out Chuck Liddell. I remember wobbling back and I did some type of weird foot motion and I'm trying to get my bearings together. To this day, no one has ever hit me as hard as Rashad Evans hit me with his overhand right."

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CBS Sports

Evans, meanwhile, was incredibly honest in sharing the fateful realization he encountered midway through the fight.

"Inside the Octagon is the first time I really felt that there was another level that I needed to go," Evans said. "I was just like, 'I'm outmatched. I'm just going to take this, I'm just going to take this like a man.' It's something that I began to see more and more with Jon throughout how he has competed against all of his opponents. Jon has always been able to start off at a certain pace but then pick it up throughout the fight and then, at the end of the fight, his opponents are like, 'Damn, this guy is at another level.' I think that's what makes Jon Jones, Jon Jones." 

If there was an unexpected factor that led to the beginning of the thaw in his hatred of Jones, Evans points back to UFC 145 weekend in Atlanta and the constant (and random) interactions he had with Jones' late mother Camille, who passed away in 2017 following a lengthy battle with diabetes.  

"I got a chance to meet his mom and know his mom and that relationship was something that was special to me because every single time I got to see his late mom, she would always speak to me, 'Rashad, you know you ain't going to walk by without saying hi,'" Evans said. "And she always made me give her that respect so it was something special to me and I just said, 'I have so much love for your son,' and we just started to talk."

Although the two fighters barely spoke in the years which followed their title fight, Jones points to a backstage meeting at a fight in 2016 as turning point in the rebuilding of his friendship with Evans. 

"I just went up to him and I was just like, 'Hey man, I hope you and me are always cool. At the end of the day, Rashad, I've got mad love for you,'" Jones said. "I just remembered a lot of the conversations we had when he was in more of a mentor role and I just wanted him to know that I never forgot any of that stuff. Rashad will always be held in a very special place in my heart. He's the man."

Jones began to think back to their early days as teammates when Evans acted as the protecting older brother who, over many dinners and training sessions together, taught the young fighter essential life lessons like how to file his taxes and what to avoid when navigating life in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

"I said, 'Are we good, man?' And [Evans] said, 'Of course we are good, Jon,'" Jones said. "I think we hugged it out and it was just a beautiful moment.

"First of all, there aren't many African-American men in this sport so I think it's important for us to have an open line of communication and to always support each other as black men. When you develop a friendship, it's bigger than a sport."

From one of UFC's all-time great rivalries to a full-circle brotherhood, Jones left no compliment unturned when describing the legacy that Evans leaves behind while entering the Hall of Fame.

"Rashad is Rashad. He is one of the first guys to teach us how to dress to the UFC. He was one of the first guys who brought the idea of being a brand to the UFC," Jones said. "I'm thankful for Rashad and Georges [St-Pierre] for teaching us that you are more than just a fighter, you are a brand. Speak well, dress well -- he is one of the pioneers of that. He was a UFC champion and a great representative of the sport and well spoken. He is a class act and a great father and a great friend, great mentor and a great teammate. Should I keep going?"