Former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans made it perfectly clear in his interview with ESPN.com that he is not interested in fighting teammates.
“I won’t fight Vitor [Belfort]. I won’t fight Thiago Silva. I won’t fight Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira. I won’t fight anybody who I train with,” Evans said, adding “I made that mistake before, and I won’t do that again. I lost a lot of relationships because I did that before.”
Evans’ “mistake” was in his decision to fight current light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The two had been teammates at Team Jackson before Evans left for Blackzilians in Florida.
Evans had previously stated he would never fight teammates when both he and friend Keith Jardine were fighting in the same weight class. Back then the two seemed to have a strong understanding of never taking such a bout. When asked if his friendship with Evans would prevent him from fighting for the title, Jardine simply stated “Absolutely.”
Evans can even be seen in his Fox Sports interview in 2009 (at mark 2:00-2:18) simply shaking his head and refusing the idea of potentially fighting Jardine for the title, despite Dana White‘s adamant assurance the fight would happen if necessary. It was as simple for Evans four years ago, and it appears he has turned back to his old ways on how he views friends fighting.
The comment from Evans comes on the heels of the ongoing struggles between the UFC and top middleweight contender Vitor Belfort. The wife and manager of Belfort, stated last week that Vitor will not take a middleweight fight outside a title shot, but will accept any bout at any higher weight class.
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