The former light heavyweight champion shared some heartfelt words on status of his career.
Is Rashad Evans going to retire after his big knockout loss to Anthony Smith at UFC 225? That’s the question on a lot of people’s minds coming out of this big fight weekend. Ten years ago, Rashad was at the top of the sport. 2008 saw him knock out Chuck Liddell and take the light heavyweight title off Forrest Griffin. Now he’s the second match on the Fight Pass prelims, and it would be hard to claim he’s still able to hang with the killers coming up in the sport any more.
The Anthony Smith KO was his fifth loss in a row and second ugly finish after a nasty Glover Teixeira knockout in 2016. After UFC 225, Dana White admitted he sat down with Rashad and had a serious talk about his future.
“When he lost I had him come back to my room and we hung out and talked,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “It’s sad. Rashad was on Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter. He was around through the whole building of this company. We all get old, man. This is a young man’s sport.
”He’s been in big, huge fights. He’s been on the ride with us the whole way, and he got to close it out in his hometown of Chicago. So, not a bad run.”
White did everything but confirm Rashad’s retirement, and while it doesn’t sound like the UFC will be offering him more fights in the future, Evans still isn’t ready to say the word ‘retire.’ He did take to Instagram the day after the fight with some reflections on his career.
“I am at peace at what happened last night,” he wrote. “I am a true FIGHTER at heart and there is no greater peace than when I get a chance to bare my soul for millions to see. 24 times I was successful and I experienced heights I never would’ve dreamed were possible and 8 times I came up short. Those 8 times I came up short laid the true seeds of growth as a person. In each one of my defeats I learned more about LIFE which made me into the person I was destined to be. I thank my opponent Anthony Smith for giving me yet another chance to grow as a person.
”As for my future I do not know where I will go from here but I never did know anyways. I was just making it up as I went along. I joke but in reality that is the truth. In actuality none of us know what is ahead from one moment to the next. We all just hope it’s something we want. Sometimes it is something we want and some times it isn’t. But the secret in LIFE is accepting both as if you chose them. Which is true Alchemy.”
”In the End what will be will be because that is all LIFE has ever been. Everything else is an illusion of the mind.”
Whatever Rashad decides, he’s had a hell of a run. Watching him develop from his days on The Ultimate Fighter to a champion, it was impossible not to be impressed by his hard work and determination. Now let’s turn back the clock and remember the good times: