New beginnings…
Former light heavyweight champion “Suga” Rashad Evans has announced his drop to middleweight. In his next fight he will indeed drop 20 lbs to fight at the 185lb weight class where his fellow Fox co-host and current title holder Michael Bisping resides. Things could get interesting. The announcement comes after the 36 year old fighter after suffering back to back losses in his last 2 outings. Things seemed promising for the TUF 2 winner, after a long hiatus due to ACL surgery, “Suga” seemed to have high spirits as well as looking good physically. Then reality set in, after a demoralizing loss to Ryan Bader in a less than impressive outing, he suffered a soul crushing first K.O. to the underrated sleeping giant that is Glover Texiera. This left Evans with some soul searching, made evident in an almost hard to watch post fight interview of UFC on Fox 19. Well, soul searching over. It seems he took our advice from an older article and decided it was time to make the move to middleweight.
“Well, you know, the thing about it is the fact that it is a tough cut but at some point I feel like I need just to kind of start over again, kind of get something fresh, you know. And 185 is weight class that I’ve always thought about going but really never put the time and the discipline to make it happen and, you know, coming off two fights losing, I just want to find the way to bring some life back to wanting to compete again I feel like dropping to 185 is the best choice.”
Although the announcement has just been made there’s already talk of Rashad Evans first opponent…we’ll give you a hint, he’s a proud member of the U.S. military, he’s never shy, he was involved in the Joel Romero “seat gate” scandal, and his last name rhyme’s with “Fennedy”…yep, you guessed it.
“I can tell you I’m working towards that in making my cut down to middleweight,” Evans told Ariel Helwani. “As far as the opponent, nothing has been set in stone. There has been talks about a fight with Tim Kennedy, but other fights too as well, but nothing has been signed yet. I had Ali [Evans’ manager] with Joe Silva trying to set something up but nothing has been finalized yet.”
Rashad’s middleweight debut might be made even more exciting in the fact that his return would be pitch perfect for the 205 card in his home state of New York.
“It is absolutely perfect,” Evans said. “I couldn’t write anything better myself to be able to hopefully have an opportunity to compete in this card, to be a part of what this card means for the history of mixed martial arts, it’s just, it really means everything to me, and it’s a big opportunity, a big chance for me to get back on track and to make a statement, you know, it’s something that I look to do. If I get a chance to be on this card, I’m going to go out there and show off, I’m going to do my thing, and I’m going to enjoy doing it, you know what I’m saying. This is what its about. It’s just about being a part of history. No matter what happens in my life, I’ll live forever in this moment, I’ll be immortalized in this moment, being the fact that I can say that I competed in the first card at Madison Square Garden, UFC, mixed martial arts, and that for me it’s something that nobody can ever take away. I’ll just be happy I could be a part of that.”
Catch the full interview with Ariel Helwani of the MMA hour below: What do you think about Rashad Evans return? Is this a good idea or is he just prolonging the inevitable? Let us know in the comments section below and be sure to follow Generation Iron: MMA on Facebook and Twitter.
