As noted, the only fight that appears to be set and publicly known for the upcoming UFC debut event in New York in November is the Middleweight debut of Rashad Evans against Tim Kennedy.
Evans spoke about the move down from 205 pounds, where he is a former UFC champion, to the 185-pound division, where he is expected to face Kennedy in his next Octagon appearance at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden.
“I can tell you I’m working towards that in making my cut down to middleweight,” Evans told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com. “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.”
Regarding the actual physics involved in moving down a weight-class, as he already cut weight to make 205 pounds throughout the majority of his career, “Suga” Rashad told Helwani, “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.”
Evans continued, “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.”
For the complete interview, visit MMAFighting.com.
UFC 205 takes place from Madison Square Garden in New York on November 12, 2016.