Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans will miss an additional six to seven months after his body rejected a cadaver ACL placed in his injured knee.
Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting passed along the news from colleague Ariel Helwani:
Evans, 35, has not fought since Nov. 16, 2013 due to complications from a knee injury. He was scheduled to fight Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 but suffered a torn ACL in training and was forced to pull out. Expected to miss eight months, Evans’ recovery took longer than anticipated, and his return featured a number of setbacks.
A bout with Glover Teixeira, initially booked for UFC Fight Night 61 later this month, was called off due to Teixeira’s own lingering knee problems. The UFC did not immediately book Evans for a subsequent event, and in recent weeks he’s been insinuating he was at less than 100 percent.
“They say I should be fine in a couple months,” Evans said last week, per Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting. “But I’m gonna really take my time and see when. I want to get my leg strong I want to be back where I used to be. The right one was skinnier than the left one and it just wasn’t feeling right, so I just want to really build it up.”
Evans (19-3-1) was viewed as one of the sport’s best light heavyweights before this injury. By the time he’s even close to recovered, Evans will be right around two years removed from his latest fight. It’ll be interesting to see how Evans looks once he gets back into the Octagon—if he can at all.
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