Rashad Evans still plans to rematch Quinton Jackson.
That said, their upcoming rematch will not take place under MMA rules for ONE Championship. Instead, the former UFC light heavyweight champions are expected to collide under boxing rules this February in Florida.
Evans is one year younger than Jackson at 45.
“Boxing is something I’m a huge fan of and there’s nothing better than getting another chance to fight Rampage,” Evans told MMA Fighting. “Rampage is in pretty good shape right now. He was getting ready for Shannon ‘The Cannon’ [Briggs] so he’s in pretty good shape. I want to get a chance to do it again with it. We’ve got a pretty decent relationship. We’ve got a level of respect for each other, but we still have fun and we’re still clowning each other. I’ve still got to deal with him trying to clown me, or I’ll send him a message and try to clown him. We’re fiercely competitive with each other. That’s a good thing.”
Evans defeated Jackson by unanimous decision at UFC 114 after coaching Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), the heavyweight season that featured future UFC starts like the late Kimbo Slice, Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub, and Matt Mitrione, among others.
“With this fight, it’s fun because there’s not that anger-animosity, but at the same time, it’s still competitive,” Evans continued. “It’s still competitive like if he sees me looking a certain kind of way [he’ll say] ‘Hey, I see you getting ready, you’re looking pretty good’ and I’ll see him hitting the mitts or something like that and I’m like okay, he’s getting ready. It’s still the friendly competition and as the fight gets closer, all the shit talking’s going to come back. So it’s going to be fun.”
Evans has only fought once since retiring from UFC back in June 2018, registering a unanimous decision victory over Gabriel Checco under the Eagle FC banner. As for Jackson, he’s remained out of action since getting crushed by Fedor Emelianenko in late 2019.
Expect a finalized date and location for “Evans vs. Jackson 2” in the coming weeks.