Rashad Evans speaks of his devastating loss to Glover Teixeira at UFC on FOX 19 and what it means for his future in the UFC.
It was a rough night for Rashad Evans at UFC on FOX 19. “Suga”, who has always been regarded as an elite light heavyweight, suffered his first knockout loss in seven years after falling to Glover Teixeira in the main event.
The heavy handed Brazilian backed Evans against the cage and crumpled the former light heavyweight champion with a left hook. Evans tried to recover but was flattened to the canvas with two more right hands. The Blackzilian fighter faced an equally devastating loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 98, losing via knockout in the second round and losing his 205-pound belt in the process.
Evans was to rebound with four straight wins over Thiago Silva, Quinton Jackson, Tito Ortiz, and Phil Davis before challenging Jon Jones for the title in a grudge match at UFC 145. The Ultimate Fighter season 2 winner lost via unanimous decision and appeared to have lost his motivation.
To make things worse, a series of injuries kept the 36-year-old on the sidelines for two years, where Evans was forced to watch the light heavyweight landscape pass him by. A lacklustre split decision loss to Ryan Bader last year signalled that the end was nigh for Rashad Evans.
Following his loss to Teixeira, Evans said he’s unsure of his future and is ’embarrassed’ by how things turned out in the Octagon.
“I don’t want to lose hope, I don’t want to lose heart in fighting because it’s what I like to do and I’m at a low right now,” Evans said at the post fight press conference (h/t Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting). “But at the end of the day something’s gotta change, I gotta do something. It’s embarrassing, it’s sad, but, welcome to being a fighter.”
Evans has battled through adversity in the past, but after clocking up twelve years in the sport and nearing his 37th birthday, the Florida-based fighter isn’t sure what he can do to change at this point.
“It’s hard to know what to change after an embarrassing and disappointing loss. I’m embarrassed and disappointed and you know, it’s sad, but, you have to go on, because this is what it’s about. Its easy to fight and to go through it when you’re on top and doing everything well, but the hardest thing is working through the disappointment, working through doubting yourself and everything else like that.
“It’s not easy but I think given some time and deciding what’s best for me,” Evans continued. “Then I’ll make the right decisions on what needs to change, but as of now it’s not a clear decision I can say.”