Rashad Evans at a pre-fight press conference for UFC 145 – Photo by Scott Cunningham for Getty Images
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans (17-2-1) hasn’t seen the inside of the Octagon since this past April when he lost to division title holder Jon Jones at UFC 145.
Following the defeat, Evans had talked about dropping down to middleweight in the hopes of garnering a title match with champ Anderson Silva.
It doesn’t appear that that scenario is likely to happen unless Evans earns a win at 185-lbs first, which is not the route the former champ wants to take following a statement he made during Tuesday night’s FUEL TV episode of “UFC Tonight.”
“I wanted to fight Anderson (Silva), but it didn’t end up happening because they said I needed one more fight to be a contender at middleweight. But I guess it’s not the same for everybody.”
“I was hoping in December, by the end of the year, but it looks like it’s not going to happen until maybe February or March. But who am I going to fight, that’s the main question?”
“I can’t go down, unless it’s something that really beckons for my calling.”
Who Evans would like to fight, if not Silva, is former opponent and light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida.
“The guy who i really want to fight more than anything is a guy I lost to, my first loss, and it’s Machida. I would love to get a chance to fight Machida again. He looked good against (Ryan) Bader and I want to get that one back. I want to get it back bad. That’s the one I really want the most.”
Machida knocked out Evans back in May 2009 in the main event of UFC 98 to capture the light heavyweight title. The defeat marked the first loss of Evans career, with the second coming this past April versus Jones.